or Louis VI the Fighter.

King de France (1108-1137).

Son of Philippe I and Berthe of Holland. Elected in 1098, associated by his father with the crown since 1100, it was the first of Capétiens to affirm truly its royal authority. While being pressed on the Church and the people, it succeeds, at the cost of a keen war which lasted almost until its death, to purge the royal field of the feudal plunderers which, such Hugues of Puiset or Thomas de Marle, or the lords of Morello cherry, Coucy, Monthléry, etc, infested the Ile-de-France of their armed robberies.

It also strengthened its authority in the kingdom, while intervening in the business of certain great strongholds, in particular in Bourbonnais, Auvergne and Flanders; advised by Suger, it could protect the kingdom against the companies from the emperor Henri V who, in 1124, had invaded the Champagne but which finally had to be withdrawn without fighting; on the other hand, its long fight against most frightening of its vassal, Henri I ^er of Beauclerc, duke of Normandy and king d' Angleterre, hardly got but vexations to him.

Its reign ended however in a great success: the marriage of his/her son and designated heir, Louis (future Louis VII), with Aliénor, heiress of the duke of Aquitaine, Guillaume X (1137).

The reign of Louis VI is marked by an urban rise, with the creation of new boroughs, which is accompanied by a dispute of the power of the lords. However, it was believed wrongly that Louis VI had systematically supported the movement of emancipation of the communes: it did it, actually, only in the case and insofar as it found its interest there.

With him, the royalty inaugurates its role of guardian of the law and order and justice against feudal violences, and thus makes sure the material and moral support of all those, in particular the Church, that these violences injured or threatened. Suger was its biographer in his Life of Large Louis the, made up one around 1144, work which announces the Large Chronicles of France.