August 1, 1137 – King Louis VI, “the fat “CAPET died in Paris, Seine, France. He was born on 1 Dec 1080. He was King of the Franks from 1108 until his death (1137). He was also the father-in-law of Eleanor of Aquitaine. Louis VI arranged a splendid marriage for his son with the heiress of the duchy of Aquitaine, Eleanor de Poitou, and the marriage took place at Bordeaux on 22 July. During the festivities the king was taken seriously ill with dysentery, which had long plagued him. He returned to Paris as speedily as possible and there he had himself laid on a bed of cinders in the form of a cross, on which he died at the age of fifty-six on 1 August 1137, at the château of Bethizy. He was buried at St. Denis. Louis was born in Paris, the son of Philip I and his first wife, Bertha of Holland. The first member of the House of Capet to make a lasting contribution to the centralizing institutions of royal power, Almost all of his twenty-nine-year reign was spent fighting either the robber barons who plagued Paris or the Norman kings of England for their continental possession of Normandy. Nonetheless, Louis VI managed to reinforce his power considerably and became one of the first strong kings of France since the division of the Carolingian Empire. The biography of Louis prepared by his loyal advisor Abbot Suger of Saint Denis offers a fully developed portrayal of his character, in contrast to what little is known about most of his predecessors. He married in 1115 Adélaide de Maurienne (1092–1154). She was the daughter of Umberto II, comte de Savoie and Gisela de Bourgogne, and they had seven sons and one daughter, of whom three sons and their daughter Constance would have progeny. In 1129 Abbé Suger started to build the abbey church of St. Denis, the first Gothic church with flying buttresses. Their children: Philip (1116 – 13 October 1131), not to be confused with his brother of the same name; This Philip died as a result of a fall from a horse while boar hunting. Louis VII (1120 – 18 September 1180), King of France Henry (1121–75), archbishop of Reims Hugues (born ca 1122) Robert (ca 1123 – 11 October 1188), count of Dreux Constance (ca 1124 – 16 August 1176), married first Eustace IV, count of Boulogne, and then Raymond V of Toulouse. Philip (1125–61), bishop of Paris, not to be confused with his elder brother. Peter of France (ca 1125–83), married Elizabeth, Lady of Courtenay With Marie de Breuillet, daughter of Renaud de Breuillet de Dourdan, Louis VI was the father of a daughter: Isabelle (ca 1105 – before 1175), married (ca. 1119) Guillaume I of Chaumont. Debretts Kings and Queens of Europe, London, 1988 , Williamson, David. biographical details
Posted on: Fri, 01 Aug 2014 13:51:53 +0000
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