378220740. King Louis VI Capet & 378220741. Queen Adelaide of Maurienne
12/1/1081,
Louis born at Château Bethizy near Paris, France, s/o 756441480. King Philip
I & 756441481. Bertha of Holland.
1091, Louis’
father divorced his mother. [Bertha retired to her dower land of
Montreuil-sur-Mer.]
1092,
Adelaide born in Savoy, d/o 756441482. Humbert II, Count of Savoy & 756441483.
Gisele de Burgundy. [Adelaide
the sister of Pope Calixte II, and a descendent of Charlemagne.]
1092, Louis
created as Comte du Vexin, de Mantes et de Pontoise by his father.
1093, Louis’
mother died.
1096, Louis’
father King Philip married his mistriss Bertrade in Orleans; an act opposed by
Pope Urban II. [This would be a source of conflict between Louis and his
father, who would be under a constant threat of excommunication for the
relationship.]
1097 at
Chaumont in the Vexin, Prince Louis repelled King William’s Anglo-Norman
forces, killing 700 of the attackers horses with their bows.
5/1098 at
Abbeville, Louis knighted by Gui I, count of Ponthieu.
1098, Louis
led the forces of the Vexin in defensive warfare against King William Rufus of
England. (S) Early Gothic Column-Figure Sculpture in France, P110.
8/13/1099, Pope Paschal II succeeded Urban II [and would
be Pope for 19 years.]
1100, Louis crowned King “rex designatus” by his father [a Capet
tradition to retain power.] King Philip began to share the throne with his son.
1100-08, Louis VI was the first royal child to use a seal [which was
used on several documents]: ‘sigillum lodovici designati regis.’ (S) When Ego
Was Imago, Bedos-Rezak, 2010, P91.
8/2/1100, King William Rufus of England killed in a hunting incident;
William and Robert’s younger brother Henry claimed the English crown. [Duke
Robert was away on crusade.]
8/5/1100, Henry I crowned King of England.
12/25/1100,
King Henry I of England, hosting Louis VI at his Christmas court, received a
letter with the seal of King Philip [sent by Queen Bertrade] asking that he
secretly have Philip’s successor murdered. [Bertrade wanted her son to
succeed.] Henry sent Louis back to Paris where he demanded vengeance. Louis was
subsequently poisoned by someone in Bertrade’s service [but survived.]
12/25/1101,
King Louis at King Henry’s Christmas court in London. (S) Church Historians of
England, Pt1, 1856, P120.
1102, Prince
Louis marched 700 knights against the Count of Foucy at Rheims who had been
victimizing the local churches. [Prince Louis was a frequent adventurer with
his knights attacking local barons in revolt.]
1103,
Attacking Geoffrey Borel at Meung, Louis set fire to the tower and then had the
defenders shot to death when they jump to safety. [Louis was known to give
mercy, but not to those who gave none.]
10/19/1103,
Adelaide’s father died; her brother Amadeus III succeeding in Savoy.
1104, Louis
married Lucienne de Rochefort, d/o Guy, count of Rochefort, seneschal of King
Philip.
12/1104, Ivo
of Chartres wrote a letter calling for the genealogies of Louis and Lucienne to
be reviewed at a synod at Soissons.
4/1105,
Serlo, bishop of Seez, preached against men with long hair and used scissors to
cut the tresses the royal family and many magnates. [Louis VII, s/o Louis VI,
would again wear his hair to his shoulders.]
1105,
Viscount Milo of Troyes for captured the castle of Montlhéry. Louis VI
destroyed the castle except for the main tower; and forgave the viscount.
4/1106,
Louis [likely] attended the wedding of his sister Constance at Chartres, hosted
by Adela of Normandy. [Adela the sister of William the Conqueror. Louis’ father
King Philip attended.]
1106, at Nimes,
King Philip and his son King Louis met Pope Pope Pascal II, where the Pope
asked for support for his German policy.
9/28/1106,
King Henry I of England captured his brother Robert Curthose at the battle of
Tinchebray, Normandy; uniting England
and Normandy.
1107, at Troyes, Prince Louis met with his father and Pope Paschal. An
agreement was made over homage, investiture, and the grant of temporalities of
new bishops. (S) The Papal Monarchy, Morris, 1989, P158.
5/23/1107, Louis’ marriage annulled by the Pope on the grounds of
consanguinity, at the request of King Philip. [1116, Lucienne married Guichard,
lord of Banjeu.]
7/29/1108, Louis succeeded his father on his death. Louis named Stephen
Garlande as chancellor. Stephen’s
brother Gilbert was a royal butler. [Paris, Orleans and Bourges formed a
considerable portion of the royal domain.]
8/3/1108 at
the Cathedral of Sainte-Croix, Orléans, Louis crowned by the archbishop of Sens
[because he was in dispute with the archbishop of Reims – who normally would have
performed the ceremony].
Aft. 3/1109,
Louis had his 1st confict with the forces of King Henry I of
England; which soon followed with conflicts along the border with supporters of
Duke Robert Curthose, King Henry’s brother.
1109, King
Louis, with 4000 knights, raided the lands of Robert, count of Meulan. (S)
Anselm of Bec, Vaughn, 1987, P351.
1109, Louis,
supporting William Clito, s/o Duke Robert Curthose, challenged King Henry I of
England to single combat to determine the fate of Normandy [King Henry refused.]
Aft. 1109,
Locenis, a town of Robert de Beaumont in Normandy, was sacked by King Louis VI
of France.
1109-11,
There was widespread famine in France.
1110, King
Louis laid out Les Halles adjacent to his palace [which became the largest
market in Europe]. (S) Paris in the 50s, Karnow, 2011.
1110, King
Louis ordered Bishop Gaudry’s palace ransacked. [Gaudry was an “eccentric
cleric”. Louis believed he was responsible for the murder of Gerard of
Quierzy.]
3/12/1111,
Thibaut of Blois headed a delegation to a royal council at Melun to ask King
Louis VI to suppress the attacks by Hugh le Puiset, referred to as “a mad dog”.
[King Louis launched a campaign against Hugh.]
1111, Louis
attacked the lands of the Count of Meulan, vassal of King Henry [who also owned
property near Paris from which he could easily attack Louis.]
1111-12,
Louis led campaigns against Hugh, lord le Puiset. He staged his operations from
Toury in Beauce, which was supervised by Sugere. Hugh was wounded and captured.
4/1112,
Louis was bribed by supporters of Bishop Gaudry to dissolve communes in Noyon
and Saint-Quentin. A riot ensued in which the bishop and other nobles were
killed. [Communes were early self-governing civil units with local
administration and finances.]
1112,
Exercising his power, Louis forbid the Count of Blois to build new castles
without his consent.
1112, Louis
released Hugh, lord le Puiset under a peace oath. [Hugh ignored the oath an
rebuilt his castle and joined Theobald of Blois in opposition to Louis.]
1112, King
Louis defeated in battle near le Puiset [50 miles south of Paris] by Theobald
of Blois and Hugh le Puiset.
1112, King
Louis moved the capital from Orleans to Paris.
3/1113, at
Gisors, King Louis had to yield Maine and Brittany by treaty to England after
Theobald of Blois and a coalition of barons supported King Henry.
1113, Louis
gve the abbey of Saint-Denis the primacy over the other churches of the
kingdom. (S) Approaches to Medieval Architecture, Bork, 2011, P68.
1114, King
Louis ended the commune at Laon [which he had initially supported in 1111.]
1114, Louis
VI razed the castles of Crecy and Nouvion of excommunicated Thomas de Marle of
Laon. (S) Oxford Encyc. of Medieval Warfare, V1, 2010, P77.
[–––Louis
& Adelaide–––]
3/1115 in
Paris, Louis married Adelaide. [Arranged by Yves, Bishop of Chartres – an
apparently happy marriage in which Adelaide’s name appears on many documents
with Louis’; and in which she was actively involved in the education of her
children.]
3-4/1115 at
Amiens, Louis besieged Castillon, castle of Enguerrand I of Coucy. Louis took
an arrow in the siege but was not seriously wounded.
4/1116, War
broke out again between King Louis and King Henry, who had just returned from
England [King Henry would spend the next 4 years in Normandy]. Most skirmishes
occurred on the border of the Norman and French Vexin.
1116, King
Louis formed an alliance with Flanders and Fulk V of Anjou. (S) Gothic King’s
of Britain, Potter, 2008, P53.
6-7/1117,
Louis VI and Baldwin VII of Flanders unsuccessfully invade Normandy. (S)
Flanders and the Anglo-Norman World, Oksanen, 2012, P259.
8/3/1117,
Louis granted a fair to the abbey of Morigny. (S) Consolidation of Local
Authority, Bush, 2007, P72.
1118, King
Louis defeated Theobald of Blois and Hugh le Puiset at the battle of Janville.
1118, Louis
gave the abbey of Saint Denis the market and customs at Toury. (S) Approaches
to Medieval Architecture, Bork, 2011, P68.
1118, A
charter of Louis and Adelaide: “… in the tenth year of the reign of King Louis
and the third year of Queen Adelaide …’ (S) Women in the Middle Ages, Gies,
2010. [Other records ‘… King Louis with the consent of Queen Adelaide …’; ‘…
acting upon Adelaide’s intercession or plea …’.]
2/1/1119, Pope Calixtus II succeeded Gelasius
II. [Pope Calixtus the brother of Adelaide.]
1119, The
organization of the Templars was founded to protect pilgrims in the Holy Land.
(S) Chronicles of the Age of Chivalry, 2000, P181.
1119, Louis
VI took Cluny and all its dependent priories under his protection, acquiring in
return the right to build castles on their lands with the permission of the
abbot of Cluny.
1119, King
Louis, supported by Amaury de Montfort, invaded Normandy. Louis 1st
burnt Ivry, then approached Bretueil, held by Ralph de Gael, who offered stiff
resistance. At the height of the battle, 200 knights of King Henry arrived
ahead of his main army. The French forces retreated. (S) Henry I, Green, 2006,
P153.
1119, King
Louis captured Les Andelys.
8/20/1119,
King Louis and his forces defeated at the battle of Bremule by King Henry I. A
thousand knights were engaged; 80 French knights were killed. Henry I suffered
a blow to the head, but was saved by his chain mail. King Louis lost his horse
and his banner. Henry returned to Rouen; Louis went on to Chartres, where the
city surrendered.
1119, After
Bremule, Louis assembled a council of nobles at Rheims, presided over by Pope
Calixtus II, where he became self-proclaimed “King of France” and “special son
of the church of Rome”, no longer “King of the Franks”; the beginning of France
as a political entity and power. [At this point in his life Louis was already
described as “heavy”, with the “appetitie of a hunter”.]
1120, King
Louis named Stephen Garlande his seneschal [chief official.]
1120, King
Louis donated his father’s crown to Saint Denis. (S) Les Lieux de Memoire, V4,
Nora, 2010, P17.
1120, The
‘curia regis’ became permanently seated at Paris. (S) Development of the French
Monarchy, Thompson, 1895, P41.
Aft.
11/25/1120 [the White Ship disaster], With the death of his only legitimate
son, King Henry I of England agreed to do simple homage to King Louis for his
lands in Normandy.
1121,
Laon, King Louis VI confirms an exchange of properties between
Barthélémy of Joux, bishop of Laon, and the Cistercian abbey of Foigny, and
ordered that his confirmation be strengthened with the impression of his royal
image. (S) When Ego Was Imago, Bedos-Rezak, 2010, P154.
By 10/1121,
Louis’ son Philip is identified as the king designate.
1122, Louis
raised a large army which he used to restore the Bishop of Clermont to
Auvergne, opposing William, count of Avuergne; besieging William’s castle at
Pont-du-Chateau.
1122 at
Worms, An agreement between the papacy and the empires that clergy would elect
the bishops, the church consecrate the bishops, and the king give the regalia.
1122,
“Sugere” elected the abbot of St. Denis. Louis had the messengers imprisoned
because the election was without royal assent. Upon meeting with Sugere, Louis
accepted the election. [Eventually Louis chose as an advisor Abbot Suger, who
also wrote his biography and became his royal minister.]
1123, King
Louis sent an embassy to Rome headed by Suger, Abbé de Saint-Denis.
1123,
Through the influence of Louis VI, Simon de Vermandois elected bishop of the
dual diocese of Noyon-Tournai. (S) Murder of Charles the Good, Galbert, 2005,
P136.
8/1124,
Louis, having assembled an army from across France, repeled invading Emperor
Henry V in Lorraine. Before going into battle Louis acquired the red silk
banner, the Oriflamme of St. Denis, to carry into battle. An easy victory,
Louis returned the Oriflamme to St. Denis.
12/13/1124, Pope Calixtus II died; succeeded by Pope
Honorius II.
1125, Count
Thibaut received 3 counties in Champagne from his uncle Count Hugues. These
strategic lands on either side of King Louis VI posed a threat to the
Capetians.
1125, In a
charter of Louis VI his sons are named: ‘… assensu … filiorumque nostrorum,
videlicet Philippi regis designati, Ludovici quorue ac Henrici’. (S) Charters
of King David I, Barrow, 1999, P6.
1126, Louis
again had to defend the Bishop of Clermont to Auvergne, opposing William, count
of Avuergne. Louis, with Charles the Good of Flanders, Fulk V of Anjou, and
Conan of Brittany, and Norman knights, besieged the castle at Montferrand.
William X, duke of Aquitaine, who was overlord of the castle, questioned Louis’
authority, but was forced to accept Louis’ authority. After capturing the
castle, Louis had the hands of those captured cut off.
1126, A
charter by Louis VI to the city of Beauvais [One of the oldest known written in
French.] (S) View of the State of Europe, Hallam, 1840, P327.
1/1127,
Adelaide’s half-sister Jeanne, d/o Rainier de Montferrat married William Clito,
son and heir of Robert, duke of Normandy, eldest s/o William the Conqueror. (S)
An Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Swanton, 1998, P257.
4/12/1127,
Louis in Bruges, Flanders to revenge the killing of his cousin Charles the Good
[murdered 3/2/1127]. [King Louis hung 22 of 30 conspirators from the tower of
Bruges; 2 others were captured and killed later; 6 pardoned.]
1127, Louis
VI countersigned the charters of St. Omer and Bruges in Flanders. (S)
Development of the French Monarchy under Louis VI, Thompson, 1895, P90.
12/1127, At
his Christmas court, Louis VI encouraged his nobles to aid William [Clito] the
Norman in his campaign against King Henry I of England. (S) Robert Curthose,
Aird, 2008, P271.
4/1128,
Louis, at the influence of Adelaide, supported William Clito as the new Count
of Flanders.
5/1128, King
Louis convoked a council in Arras in which the archbishop of Reims
excommunicated Thierry of Alsace and his sympathers, a contender with William
Clito for the title to Flanders. (S) Henry I, Hollister, 2001, P321.
1128, Louis
captured the Garlande castle [a powerful family in revolt headed by his
seneschal of 1120.]
1128,
Thierry of Alsace unsuccessfully besieged for 6 days by King Louis VI at Lille.
Louis received a leg wound from a “missile” from a catapult that left him with
a permanent limp, and combined with his weight was unable to mount a horse.
Louis abruptly returned to France, leaving William Clito without his aid.
[William died in battle in July.]
7/1128,
Louis approved the Peace of Laon, acknowleging Thierry of Alsace as count of
Flanders; and which included a protection for the dower rights of widows. (S)
Aristocracy in the County of Champagne, Evergates, 2007, P337.
1129, Louis
crowned his son Philip, King “rex designatus”. ‘Ludovicus et Philippus, filius
ejus, divina ordinante providencia reges Francorum.’ (S) Charters of King David
I, Barrow, 1999, P6.
1129, King
Louis met with Hugh of Pontigny, Bernard of Clairvaux, and Henry, archbishop of
Sens, over issues with the Cistercian abbots. (S) Boundaries of Charity,
Newman, 1996, P146.
1129, King
Louis confirmed the foundation and privileges of Saint-Vincent. (S) Memory and
the Medieval Tomb, Valdez del Alamo, 2000, P259.
1130, King
Louis made Paris his primary residence.
1130, Louis
VI was driven by the constant complaints of the clergy and the entreaty of
Ralph, count of Vermandois, to organize and expedition against Thomas, lord of
Coucy and Boves. King Louis surprised Thomas before Coucy, and Thomas was
mortally wounded in the battle. (S) Cambridge Medieval History, Vs1-5, Bury.
10/1130,
King Louis assembled a council at Etampes which recognized Pope Innocent II.
1/1131, Pope
Innocent II joined King Louis VI at Orleans. (S) The Papacy, Robinson, 1990,
P286.
1131, The
abbot of Coulombs asked Louis VI to judge a case concerning
Prudemanche near Brezolles.
11/1131 at
Rheims, Louis crowned his son Louis, King “rex designatus” on the death of
Philip.
1132, Louis
made peace with the Garlande family and reinstated Stephen Garlande as
chancellor [but not seneschal. The seneschal office was vacant for 4 years.]
1132, Louis
protected Adelaides’s dower rights in his gifts to two collegiate chaptes. (S)
Aristocracy in the County of Champagne, Evergates, 2007, P337.
1133, King
Louis purchased Saint-Pierre de Montmarte from the Comte de Meulan.
1133-4,
Adelaide founded the Abbey of the Women of Montmartre with lands donated by
King Louis. (S) Medieval Cathedrals, Clark, 2006, P19.
1134, Louis
VI granted to Humbert, bishop of Puy-en-Velay, the exercise of regalian rights
in the absence of his lord, the Count of Tripoli. (S) Development of the French
Monarchy under Louis VI, Thompson, 1895, P28.
1135, King
Louis attacked St-Brisson-sur-Loire [45 miles southeast of Orleans], who’s lord
had been attacking passing merchants.
11/1135,
Louis, due to an illness, appointed Count Thibaut II of Champagne guardian of
his son Louis. [Louis recovered from this illness.]
12/2/1135,
King Henry I of England died in Rouen, Normandy.
12/22/1135, Stephen crowned king of England.
10/28/1135
at Châteauneuf-sur-Loire, In ill health, Louis VI transferred effective power
to his son Louis VII.
1136, Louis
attacked Thomas Marle, who had killed Louis’ cousin Hugh de Vermandois. [Thomas
was killed in the battle by Hugh’s brother Ralph.]
1136, 'Our
provost,’ declares Louis VI in his pariage [partitioning] with the
bishop of Paris, shall do fidelity to the bishop; and his provost reciprocally
to the king. (S) Crisis of the 12th Century, Bisson, 2009, P360.
5/1137, King
Stephen of England, on the continent, met with King Louis VI of France. (S)
Tradition and Change, Greenway, 2002, P177.
By 6/1137,
Louis had again fallen ill in the forest of Yveline near Melun; and took refuge
at Bethisy. [NE of Paris.]
1137, Before
dying, Duke Guillaume X, duke of Aquitaine, made Louis the ward for his
daughter Eleanor. Louis arranged for her marriage to his son Louis.
8/1/1137,
Louis “the glorius” died at the castle of Bethisy-Saint-Pierre wearing a
monastic habit.
[–––Adelaide–––]
1137,
Adelaide conspired against Suger, Abbé de Saint-Denis, triggering a quarrel
with her son Louis VII.
1138,
Adelaide married 2nd Matthew de Montmorency, Constable of France. [1
daughter.]
Adelaide
retired to her lands at Compiegne.
1146, King
Louis VII confirmed a donation of his mother Adelaide to an abbey.
1147,
Adelaide [likely] attended the dedication ceremony for the new church of
Sainte-Pierre at the abbey Montmartre near Paris, consecrated by Pope Eugenius
III. Bernard of Clairvaux and Pierre, abbot of Cluny, performed as acolytes.
1153,
Adelaide founded Royallieu near Compiegne.
1153,
Adelaide retired to the abbey Montmartre near Paris.
11/18/1154,
Adelaide died; buried at Montmartre in the abbey of Sainte-Pierre.
(S) Memoires
of the Queens of France, V1, Bush, 1843. (S) The Capetians, Bradbury, 2007. (S)
Foundation for Medieval Genealogy.
Family notes:
Louis is often called “the fat”. His biographer,
Sugere, the abbot of St. Denis, and a personal friend, called his work “The Deeds
of Louis the Glorious”. Over the years “glorious” was altered to “grossus” –
the fat.
457 acts of Louis VI are recorded, of which over 100
are references to acts now lost. (S) English Govt. in the 13th
Century, Jobson, 2004, P34. Adelaide is mentioned in 90 royal acts. (S) When
Ego Was Imago, Bedos-Rezak, 2010, P92.
Louis had at least 9 illegitimate children.
Louis often left important offices vacant for multiple
years in an attempt to end hereditary succession to these offices.
Louis used councellors
from ordinary backgrounds, his “council of those who surround us”, even
using them to represent him in presiding over disputes. These led to the
emergence of legal specialists.
Children
of Louis and Adelaide: [8 sons, 1 daughter]
i. King Philip Capet, born 8/29/1116 in France.
1129, Louis
crowned Philip, King “rex designatus”.
10/13/1131,
Philip died after being thrown from his horse after is was scared by a roaming
pig. [Afterwards, it was forbidden to allow a pig to roam the streets.]
ii. King Louis VII Capet (189110370), born 1120 in
France.
iii. Henri Capet, born 1121-23 in France.
1134, Henri
‘tonsured’.
1142, Henri
the archdeacon of Orleans.
1150, Henri
consecrated bishop of Beauvais.
1162, Henri
elected archbishop of Reims.
11/13/1175,
Henri died, buried at Reims.
iv. Count Robert I of Dreux (94555228), born ~1125
in Fance. [5th son]
v. Peter of Courtenay (94555142), born 9/1126 in
France.
vi. Constance Capet, born 1128 in France.
2/1140,
Constance married Eustace of Blois, s/o King Stephen of England.
8/1153,
Eustace died.
8/10/1154,
Constance married Count Raymond V of Toulouse.
Raymond
became a supporter of King Henry II.
By 1176,
Raymond returned his support to King Louis.
11/1177,
Baudouin IV King of Jerusalem confirmed a sale of property, with the consent of
‘… Constantiæ sorori regis Franciæ’.
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