14. Loins VI.
CHAPTER XIV. Louis VI. (1108-1137)
Philip I. was succeeded by his son Louis VI., called sometimes le Batailleur, the Fighter; sometimes l'Eveillé, the Wide-awake. Both these names seem to show that he was an active, warlike king; and indeed, it was under his reign that the French kings first came to be considered as important people, and as decidedly more powerful than their great vassals. When Louis first became sole king, on the death of his father, he found his vassals oppressing the merchants and poor people in their lands, and quite disobedient to him. He had happily a genius for war, and was at the head of a body of soldiers made up of brave young men who were sent to Paris by the great vassals.
The clergy were friendly to him, and the common people respected and loved him, because he showed himself a lover of justice and a defender of the weak. The great vassals had taken land close to the walls of Paris, and the first care of Louis was to drive them back to a respectful distance, which he did with the help of a small army. He then attacked and defeated two counts, who were disturbing the churches of Rheims and of Orleans, and he carried on many other small wars with his different vassals, in which he was usually the conqueror, till at last they were all brought into good order, and made to submit to him.
He did justice upon all wicked men, calling them before his court, giving them a fair trial, and punishing them if they were found guilty of ill-treating their neighbours or doing any other harm. Louis went to war with the Normans, but they were too strong for him, and he was obliged to go back to his own kingdom, and spend a few years of quiet.
But soon after<ward>, the King of England and the Emperor of Germany made a plan together to attack the eastern side of France, and take one of Louis's chief cities from him. Louis called upon his vassals to come to his help, and they, who were by this time accustomed to obey him, came together in great numbers. Louis brought out the Oriflamme, the royal standard or flag, which was considered especially sacred, was usually kept on the altar of the church at St. Denis, and was used only on great occasions. It was of flame-red silk, with three points on its lower side, tipped with green.
Louis collected so large an army that the German emperor did not dare to come into France; he gave up his plan, and Louis made peace with the King of England.
Soon after this they had to march against the Duke of Aquitaine, one of his most powerful vassals, who ruled over most of the south of France.
The duke, like so many others of the king's enemies, submitted when he saw Louis come against him, and their dispute was settled as the king wished. The next expedition was against the people of Flanders, some of whom had murdered their count. The king here put many people to death with horrible cruelty, made a new, count, and went home again.
Louis was now growing old, and, as was the custom with the kings of France, he had his eldest son Philip crowned and made king along with him, to help him in performing his duties as king, though, as Philip was only fourteen when he was crowned, he can hardly have been of much use to his father. But he was a very intelligent and promising boy, and his father was deeply grieved when two years afterwards his son met with an accident of which he died. The young prince was riding through the streets of Paris when a pig ran between the legs of his horse, which fell over with the prince upon it, hurting him so much that he died that night. His younger brother, Louis, called the Young, was then crowned king with his father.
Louis lived after this for about six years. Before he died he arranged a marriage between his son Louis and the daughter of the Duke of Aquitaine, a young lady who would have the greater part of the south of France for her own on the death of her father. The Duke of Aquitaine proposed the marriage, and Louis was very much pleased at it, thinking that Aquitaine, which had hitherto obeyed only its own duke, and treated the French king with very little respect, would now become a part of the French kingdom.
The bride and bridegroom were both children, but they were married at Bordeaux, and the bride, whose name was Eleanor, was crowned Queen of France. Eleanor was to have many adventures, and most of them unpleasant ones, in the course of her life. She was to be the wife of two kings, the mother of two, to reign both in France and England, and to pass some years in prison. The two fathers of Louis and Eleanor were both ill at the time of the marriage, and died shortly after<ward>. The Duke of Aquitaine never returned from a pilgrimage which he had been making, and Eleanor became mistress of Aquitaine. Louis VI. died at Paris, and his son, the young Louis, became sole king.
In these days a king is not usually admired because he has fought a great number of battles. It is considered so great a misfortune to have to go to war, that in thinking of the best and greatest kind of king we usually imagine one who keeps his country in peace. But in those times no King of France could have made himself respected or obeyed without conquering his great vassals, who at the beginning of his reign were(, as I said,) almost as powerful as himself. Louis VI. did conquer many of them, and even when he failed, as in his war with the Duke of Normandy, he showed courage and energy which made his weaker enemies afraid of him. His wars prepared more peaceful reigns for his son and grandson. From this time the King of France was not only the chief man in France, but was respected and looked upon as an important person in all Europe.
Louis was much beloved by all his subjects. He was just and generous, "and so mirthful that some even reckoned him a simpleton." In his reign lived several great men, of whom I shall mention two in particular. One was an abbot named Suger, the dearest friend of Louis, whose life he wrote, and whose son, Louis VlI., he helped in the government of the kingdom. The other was also an abbot, named Bernard, called afterwards St. Bernard, a great friend of the Pope, and one of the most eloquent men that ever lived, which means that he could speak well and persuade his hearers to believe as he did and to do as he wished. Both Suger and St. Bernard, however, though they became famous in the reign of Louis VI., have more to do with the reign of his son, Louis VII., and therefore I will leave what more is to be said of them for another chapter.
Louis VI. is usually known as Louis le Gros, or the Fat, because in his old age he became fat from illness. The more active names which he won when he was young give a better idea of his nature.
