LOUIS VI. (1081-1137), king of France, surnamed "the Fat," "the Wideawake" or "the Bruiser," was the son of Philip I. and Bertha of Holland. 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. On the death of Philip I., in 1108, Louis was faced by powerful and rebellious barons, but after a hurried coronation at Orleans, he continued his policy of putting down feudal brigands and destroying their strongholds in the Ile de France. So strong, however, 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. In his opposition to the English, Louis was equally energetic. He supported William Clito, son of Robert of Normandy, against Henry I., and although worsted in the war which followed he continued to uphold the claims of his protege. To oppose the forces of the emperor, Henry V., who had become the ally of the king of England, 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.
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. He encouraged the communal movement on the fiefs of his vassals, and granted privi leges 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 emancipa tion of the serfs, his attitude being to favour emancipation only when it promised greater chance of profit. He was a great bene factor to the Church, aided the new, reformed monastic congre gations of Citeau, Premontre and Fontevrault and chose his two chief ministers, Etienne de Garlande and Suger (q.v.) from the clergy. Louis died on Aug. 1, 1137.
See A. Luchaire, Louis le Gros, annales de sa vie et son regne (189o) ; and "Les Premiers Capetiens," in E. Lavisse's Histoire de France; Thomson, Development of the French Monarchy under Louis VI. le Gros (1895).