BIOGRAPHY Pierre Goubert: "The fifth king of the [Capetian]According to Edouard Perroy, [Louis VI] was 'gluttonous, obese, sensual, and brutal." But he was lucky enough to be advised by Suger, abbot and rebuilder of Saint-Denis, who wrote a laudatory biography of his master which impressed historians for a long time. Indeed, the king had some great designs, such as rekindling the internal quarrels of the powerful Anglo-Norman monarchy. But it defeated him several times, and in 1113 even brought the duchy of Brittany under its control. Then, as luck would have it, England was again troubled by anarchy, giving Louis VI a brief respite. He was more successful in moving twice to punish his vassal Guillaume VI of Auvergne, who was persecuting the bishop of Clermont. An even better omen for the authority of the Capetians was the king's ability to gather enough warriors from among the most powerful lords, who put a stop to their own quarrels long enough to rejoin the royal host before Reims and discourage the attack of [Holy Roman] Emporer Henry V. But the real success of Louis VI was at last to pacify his own lands. He devoted almost twenty years to quelling the hard-headed and well-entrenched brigand lords who defied him. His vassals gave him little help, but several communal militias lent assistance. It took him seven years to subdue the lord of Puiset and close to thirty to control the lord of Coucy. He even had to fight against the family of his favorite, Etienne de Garlande, who had confiscated almost all of the royal household offices and held the royal seal. Despite the confiscation of lands and oaths of submission, there was always work to be done. Having pacified, united, and even somewhat extended his lands, Louis VI ended his reign with a master stroke whose scope he was surely unable to foresee. He married his son Louis VII [#3134] to the sole heiress of one of his greatest vassals: no less than Guillaume X of Aquitaine [#3151], who died shortly before Louis VI and whose duchy, spreading from the Loire River to the Dordogne, had been extended by the acquisition of the duchy of Gascony, abutting the Pyrenees. To be sure, husband and wife kept their inherited domains separate, but at last the Capetians would venture forth under new skies where they could foresee a considerable broadening of their power; which took far more than a century to consolidate."

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Record Change December 08, 1999