General Notes

[Joanne's Tree.1 GED.GED]

[Etienne De Coligny.FTW]

[Alix De Montmorency.ged]

Louis VI, surnamed "the Wideawake," "the Bruiser," and Louis The Fat, (born 1081--died Aug. 1, 1137), the son of Philip I. and Bertha of Holland; king of France from 1108 to 1137; he brought power and dignity to the French crown by his recovery of royal authority over the feudal nobles in his domains of the Île-de-France and the Orléanais. He became associated with his father in the government about 1098, and by his victories over the English and the brigands, he won the support of the army against his step-mother, Bertrada, who tried to poison him. Louis was designated by his father as his successor in 1098 and was already effectively the ruler well before Philip's death in 1108. On the death of Philip I., Louis was faced by powerful and rebellious barons. He quickly recognized that his priority must be to bring the unruly barons of the royal lands under firm control and, after a hurried coronation at Orleans, he continued his policy of putting down feudal brigands and destroying their strongholds in the Île de France. So strong were his enemies, that 24 years of continuous warfare were needed to root out the robber barons who lived on the plunder of the roads leading to Paris, spending much of his reign in conflict with such men as Hugh de Puiset. His success won him the respect of his greater vassals and was crucial to later Capetian expansion. From his pacification program, Louis developed several important concepts for future kings: for example, that the king was a vassal of no man. Louis's major wars were against King Henry I of England during the periods 1104-13 and 1116-20. When Charles the Good, count of Flanders, was assassinated in 1127, Louis supported William Clito, son of Robert of Normandy, who became the successorand although worsted in the war which followed he continued to uphold the claims of his protegé. In 1124, to oppose the forces of the Holy Roman emperor, Henry V., who had become the ally of the king of England, he was able to muster forces from many parts of France to counter a threatened invasion by the emperor. Louis even succeeded in gathering a national army under his flag, and thus temporarily consolidated his realm. Not only did he consolidate France, however, but he extended his power by acquiring control over Flanders. Louis's last major achievement was to arrange a marriage between his son Louis VII and Eleanor, heiress of William X, duke of Aquitaine. In all his wars Louis fought in person, and for his prowess gained the reputation of a national hero, the protector of the poor, the Church, the peasants and the towns. Louis had a good relationship with the church and clergy. He has been presented by some historians as the father of communes or towns, but in fact he recognized towns only out of circumstance rather than from principle. He encouraged the communal movement of the fiefs of his vassals, and granted privileges to towns on his domains, but the title of "Father of the Communes," by which he is sometimes known, is not deserved. Neither was Louis the author of the movement for the emancipation of the serfs, his attitude being to favour emancipation only when it promised greater chance of profit. He was a great benefactor to the Church, aided the new, reformed monastic congregations of Cîteau, Prémontré and Fontevrault and chose from the clergy his two chief ministers, Abbot Suger of Saint-Denis, a most trusted adviser who is the primary historian for Louis's reign, and Étienne de Garlande. Louis died on Aug. 1, 1137. [SOURCE: Encyclopædia Britannica CD '97; Encyclopædia Britannica, 1971 ed., Vol. 14, pg. 414, LOUIS VI].