Louis VI of France
Louis VI (late 1081 – 1 August 1137), called the Fat[1] (French: le Gros) or the Fighter (French: le Batailleur), was King of the Franks from 1108 to 1137.[2] Like his father Philip I, Louis made a lasting contribution to centralizing the institutions of royal power.[3] He spent much of his twenty-nine-year reign fighting either the "robber barons" who plagued the Ile de France[4] or Henry I of England for his continental possession of Normandy. Nonetheless, Louis VI managed to reinforce his power considerably, often resorting to force to bring lawless knights to justice, and was the first member of the house of Capet to issue ordonnances applying to the whole of the kingdom of France.[5]
Louis VI
29 July 1108 – 1 August 1137
3 August 1108, Orléans
Philip (1129–1131)
late 1081
Paris, France
1 August 1137 (aged 55–56)
Béthisy-Saint-Pierre, France
Louis was a warrior-king, but by his forties his weight had become so great that it was increasingly difficult for him to lead in the field (hence the epithet "le Gros"). Details about his life and person are preserved in the Vita Ludovici Grossi Regis, a panegyric composed by his loyal advisor, Suger, abbot of Saint Denis.
Challenges to royal authority[edit]
When Louis ascended the throne, the Kingdom of France was a collection of feudal principalities. Beyond the Isle de France the French kings had limited authority over the great duke and counts of the realm but slowly Louis began to change this and assert Capetian power. This process would take two centuries to complete but began in the reign of Louis VI and his father Philip I.
The second great challenge facing Louis was to counter the rising power of the Anglo-Normans under their capable new king, Henry I of England.
Intervention in Flanders[edit]
On 2 March 1127, the count of Flanders, Charles the Good, was assassinated in St. Donatian's Cathedral at Bruges. It was a scandal in itself but made worse because it precipitated a succession crisis. Soon a number of relatives raised claims, including William of Ypres, popularly thought to be complicit in the murder; Thierry of Alsace; and Arnold of Denmark, nephew of Charles who seized Saint-Omer; Baldwin, Count of Hainault, who seized Oudenarde, and Godfrey I, Count of Louvain and Duke of Brabant.[19]
Louis then moved decisively to secure Flanders, apprehending the murderers of Charles the Good and ousting the rival claimants. On 2 April he took Ghent, on 5 April Bruges, on 26 April he took Ypres, capturing William of Ypres and imprisoning him at Lille. He then quickly took Aire, Cassel and all the towns still loyal to William of Ypres.[19] Louis's final act before leaving for France was to witness the execution of Charles the Good's murderers. They were hurled from the roof of the church of Saint Donatian where they had committed their crime.[19]
Louis had his own candidate in mind and marched into Flanders with an army and urged the barons to elect William Clito, son of Robert Curthose, who had been disinherited of Normandy by his uncle Henry I of England, as their new Count. He had no better claim to Flanders than being the King's candidate but on 23 March 1127 he was elected Count by the Flemings.[19] It was a triumph for Louis and demonstrated how far the Crown had come under his leadership, but it was a brief triumph. The new young Count fared badly, opposition was growing in the towns as a result of Clito's increasingly incompetent treatment of Flemish burghers.[20] William's knights ran amok and the Flemings rebelled against Louis's candidate. Ghent and Bruge appealed to Thierry, Count of Flanders to Arnold of Denmark.[19] Louis attempted to intervene again but the moment was gone. The people of Bruge rejected him and recognized Thierry of Alsace as their Count, and he quickly moved to enforce his claim. Louis called a great assembly at Arras, whereby the archbishop of Reims excommunicated Thierry and laid an interdict over the city of Lille.[21] Louis abandoned William of Clito, who died during a siege at Alost on 27 July 1128, and after the whole country finally submitted to Thierry, Louis was obliged to confirm his claim.[19]
Alliance of the Anglo-Normans and Anjou[edit]
In 1128 Henry I married his sole surviving legitimate child, the dowager Empress Matilda, to Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou. This would prove to be a dangerous alliance for the French monarchy during the reign of his successor, Louis VII of France.
He married in 1104: 1) Lucienne de Rochefort — the marriage was annulled on 23 May 1107 at the Council of Troyes by Pope Paschal II.[25]
Louis married in 1115: 2) Adélaide de Maurienne (1092–1154)[25]
With Marie de Breuillet, daughter of Renaud de Breuillet de Dourdan,[31] Louis VI was the father of a daughter: