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Louis VI the Fat

Louis VI the Fat
Sceau de Louis VI.jpg
Seal of Louis VI of France
King of the Franks
Reign 29 July 1108 – 1 August 1137
Coronation 3 August 1108 in Orléans Cathedral
Predecessor Philip I
Successor Louis VII
Born (1081-12-01)1 December 1081
Paris, France
Died 1 August 1137(1137-08-01) (aged 55)
Béthisy-Saint-Pierre, France
Burial Saint Denis Basilica, Paris, France
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
House Capet
Father Philip I, King of the Franks
Mother Bertha of Holland
Religion Roman Catholicism

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".

Louis was the first member of the House of Capet to make a lasting contribution to the centralizing institutions of royal power, He spent almost all of his twenty-nine-year reign 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 in 843.

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. A biography - The Deeds of Louis the Fat, prepared by his loyal advisor Abbot Suger of Saint Denis - offers a fully developed portrait of his character, in contrast to what little historians know about most of his predecessors.

Louis was born on 1 December 1081 in Paris, the son of Philip I and Bertha of Holland.

Suger tells us: "In his youth, growing courage matured his spirit with youthful vigour, making him bored with hunting and the boyish games with which others of his age used to enjoy themselves and forget the pursuit of arms." And..."How valiant he was in youth, and with what energy he repelled the king of the English, William Rufus, when he attacked Louis' inherited kingdom."

Louis married Lucienne de Rochefort, a French crown princess, in 1104, but repudiated her three years later. They had no children.

On 3 August 1115 Louis married Adelaide of Maurienne, daughter of Humbert II of Savoy and of Gisela of Burgundy, and niece of Pope Callixtus II. They had eight children. Adelaide was one of the most politically active of all France's medieval queens. Her name appears on 45 royal charters from the reign of Louis VI. During her time as queen (1115-1137), royal charters were dated with both her regnal year and that of the king.


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