Louis VI of France

Louis VI
Louis VI of France
King of the Franks
Reign 29 July 1108 – 1 August 1137 (&1000000000000002900000029 years, &100000000000000030000003 days)
Coronation 3 August 1108(1108-08-03) (aged 26) in Orléans Cathedral
Predecessor Philip I
Successor Louis VII
Spouse Lucienne de Rochefort
Adélaide de Maurienne
Issue
Philip, King of the Franks
Louis VII, King of the Franks
Henry, Archbishop of Reims
Robert, Count of Dreux
Constance, Countess of Toulouse
Philip, Archdeacon of Paris
Peter, Lord of Courtenay
Father Philip I, King of the Franks
Mother Bertha of Holland
Born 1 December 1081(1081-12-01)
Paris, France
Died 1 August 1137(1137-08-01) (aged 55)
Béthisy-Saint-Pierre, France
Burial Saint Denis Basilica, Paris, France

Louis VI (1 December 1081 – 1 August 1137), called the Fat (French: le Gros), was King of the Franks from 1108 until his death (1137). Chronicles called him "roi de Saint-Denis".

Contents

Reign

The first member of the House of Capet to make a lasting contribution to the centralising institutions of royal power,[1] Louis was born in Paris, the son of Philip I and his first wife, Bertha of Holland. Almost all of his twenty-nine-year reign was spent fighting either the "robber barons" who plagued Paris or the Norman kings of England for their continental possession of Normandy. Nonetheless, Louis VI managed to reinforce his power considerably and became one of the first strong kings of France since the division of the Carolingian Empire. His biography by his constant advisor Abbot Suger of Saint Denis renders him a fully rounded character to the historian, unlike most of his predecessors.

In his youth, Louis fought the Duke of Normandy, Robert Curthose, and the lords of the royal demesne, the Île de France. He became close to Suger, who became his adviser. He succeeded his father on Philip's death on 29 July 1108. Louis's half-brother prevented him from reaching Rheims and so he was crowned on 3 August in the cathedral of Orléans by Daimbert, Archbishop of Sens. The archbishop of Reims, Ralph the Green, sent envoys to challenge the validity of the coronation and anointing, but to no avail.

On Palm Sunday 1115, Louis was present in Amiens to support the bishop and inhabitants of the city in their conflict with Enguerrand I of Coucy, one of his vassals, who refused to recognise the granting of a charter of communal privileges. Louis came with an army to help the citizens to besiege Castillon (the fortress dominating the city, from which Enguerrand was making punitive expeditions). At the siege, the king took an arrow to his hauberk, but the castle, considered impregnable, fell after two years.

Just before his death in 1137, William X, Duke of Aquitaine appointed Louis guardian of his daughter and heir, the young Eleanor of Aquitaine, and expressed his wish for her to marry Louis' son. The prospect of adding the Aquitaine to his son's domains made him so happy he could hardly speak.[2]

Louis VI died on 1 August 1137, at the castle of Béthisy-Saint-Pierre, nearby Senlis and Compiègne, of dysentery. He was interred in Saint Denis Basilica. He was succeeded on the throne by his son Louis VII, called "the Younger," who had originally wanted to be a monk.

Marriages and children

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.[3]

He married in 1115: 2) Adélaide de Maurienne (1092–1154)[4]

With Marie de Breuillet, daughter of Renaud de Breuillet de Dourdan, Louis VI was the father of a daughter:

Ancestry

Notes

  1. ^ Norman F. Cantor, The Civilization of the Middle Ages 1993, p 410.
  2. ^ Weir, Alison (1999). Eleanor of Aquitaine, a Life. London: Jonathan Cape. p. 22. ISBN 0-345-40540-4. 
  3. ^ Jim Bradbury, The Capetians: kings of France, 987-1328, (Hambledon Continuum, 2007), 132.
  4. ^ Jim Bradbury, The Capetians: kings of France, 987-1328, 132.

References

Louis VI of France
Born: 1 December 1081 Died: 1 August 1137
Regnal titles
Preceded by
Philip I		 King of the Franks
29 July 1108 – 1 August 1137
with Philip as junior king (14 April 1129 – 13 October 1131)
Louis VII as junior king (25 October 1131 – 1 August 1137)		 Succeeded by
Louis VII
Merovingians
(481–751)
Clovis I (481–511) • Chlothar I (511–561) • Charibert I (561–567) • Guntram (561–593) • Chilperic I (561–584) • Sigebert I (561–575) • Chlothar II (584–629) • Dagobert I (629–639) • Sigebert II (639–656) • Clovis II (639–657) • Chlothar III (657–673) • Theuderic III (673–691) • Clovis III (691–695) • Childebert III (695–711) • Dagobert III (711–715) • Chilperic II (715–721) • Chlothar IV (717–719) • Thierry IV (721–737) • Childeric III (737–751)
Carolingians
(843–888, 898–922, 936–987)
Pepin III (751–768) • Carloman I (768–771) • Charlemagne (768–814) • Louis I (814–840) • Charles I (843–877) • Louis II (877–879) • Louis III (879–882) • Carloman II (879–884) • Charles II (885–888) • Charles III (898–922) • Louis IV (936–954) • Lothair IV (954–986) • Louis V (986–987)
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House of Valois
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