Louis VI of France

Louis VI (1 December 1081 – 1 August 1137), called the Fat (French: le Gros) or the Fighter (French: le Batailleur), reigned as King of the Franks from 1108 to 1137. Like his father Philip I, Louis made a lasting contribution to centralizing the institutions of royal power. He spent much of his twenty-nine-year reign fighting – either against the "robber barons" who plagued the Île-de-France, or against Henry I of England for the English continental possessions in Normandy. Nonetheless, Louis VI managed to reinforce his influence considerably, often resorting to force to bring lawless knights to justice, and was the first member of the House of Capet to issue ordonnances applying to the whole of the kingdom of France.

Louis was a warrior-king, but by his forties his weight had become so great that it was increasingly difficult for him to lead in the field (hence the epithet "le Gros"). Details about his life and person are preserved in the Vita Ludovici Grossi Regis ("The Life of King Louis the Fat"), a panegyric composed by his loyal advisor, Suger, abbot of Saint Denis.