[3] He spent much of his twenty-nine-year reign fighting either the "robber barons" who plagued the Ile de France[4] or Henry I of England for his continental possession of Normandy.

Nonetheless, Louis VI managed to reinforce his power 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.

[5] 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, a panegyric composed by his loyal advisor, Suger, abbot of Saint Denis.

[a] Abbot Suger of Saint Denis, who wrote a biography of Louis VI, tells us: "In his youth, growing courage matured his spirit with youthful vigour, making him bored with hunting and the boyish games with which others of his age used to enjoy themselves and forget the pursuit of arms."

On Christmas Day 1100 he attended the royal court of Henry I of England in London, where according to Symeon of Durham, Louis appeared as "king elect of the Franks".

Louis's half-brother prevented him from reaching Rheims, and so Daimbert, Archbishop of Sens, crowned him in the cathedral of Orléans on 3 August.

The second great challenge facing Louis was to counter the rising power of the Anglo-Normans under their capable new king, Henry I of England.

In early 1109, Louis besieged his half-brother, Philip, the son of Bertrade de Montfort, who was involved in brigandry and conspiracies against the King, at Mantes-la-Jolie.

Amaury III de Montfort held many castles which, when linked together, formed a continuous barrier between Louis and vast swathes of his domains, threatening all communication south of Paris.

[13] In 1122, Aimeri, Bishop of Clermont, appealed to Louis after William VI, Count of Auvergne, had driven him from his episcopal town.

[14] Some of the outlaws became notorious for their cruelty, the most notable being Thomas, Lord of Coucy, who was reputed to indulge in torture of his victims, including hanging men by their testicles, cutting out eyes, and chopping off feet.

This violated an earlier agreement between Henry and the French King that Gisors should remain in the hands of a neutral castellan, or else be demolished.

This move threatened the Capetian domain and Louis was outraged, demanding Henry, as his vassal, appear before him to account for his actions.

Peace of sorts lasted three years until April 1116[17] when hostilities renewed in the French and Norman Vexins, with each king making gains from his rival.

[19] Louis then moved decisively to secure Flanders, apprehending the murderers of Charles the Good and ousting the rival claimants.

The new young Count fared badly, opposition was growing in the towns as a result of Clito's increasingly incompetent treatment of Flemish burghers.

Louis called a great assembly at Arras, whereby the archbishop of Reims excommunicated Thierry and laid an interdict over the city of Lille.

Like Louis, Henry V had designs on the Low Countries and an invasion of Northern France would enable him to strengthen his ambitions in Flanders, as well as support his father-in-law.

Henry V was unwilling to see the French barons united behind their King, who now identified himself as the vassal of St. Denis, the patron saint of Paris, whose banner he now carried and the proposed invasion was abandoned.

In 1128 Henry I married his sole surviving legitimate child, the dowager Empress Matilda, to Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou.

Louis had also made great strides in exercising his royal authority over his barons, and even Theobald II had finally rallied to the Capetian cause.

He married in 1104: 1) Lucienne de Rochefort — the marriage was annulled on 23 May 1107 at the Council of Troyes by Pope Paschal II.