Louis VI (1081-1137) was king of France from 1108 to 1137. He was the first to curb the violent nobility in the royal domain and to establish the prestige of the Crown on a firm foundation.

The fifth Capetian king of France, Louis VI was a giant of a man, proud of his physical strength and courage in battle. In 1100 he was associated in active rule with his vice-ridden father, King Philip I. At the urging of friends and bishops he finally married, when 35 years old, a niece of Pope Callistus II, Adelaide of Maurienne, who gave him six sons and three daughters, thus assuring the succession in the Capetian family.

Like his father, Louis was determined to become master of the royal domain--limited at the time to the Île-de-France, the Laonais, and the Orléanais--by fighting the rebellious nobility in it. Louis led his knights into the...