Louis VI of France

Louis VI, called the Fat or the Fighter, was King of the Franks from 1108 to 1137. Chronicles called him "King of Saint-Denis". Louis was the first member of the house of Capet to make a lasting contribution to centralizing the institutions of royal power. He spent almost all of his twenty-nine-year reign fighting either the "robber barons" who plagued Paris or the 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 death of Charlemagne in 814.

1 December 1081

Born on the same birth day (1 December): Aleksandr Panayotov Aleksandrov • Billy Raimondi • Brad Delson • Doug Mulray • Eligiusz Niewiadomski • Henry Williamson • Iftikhar Anjum • Lee Trevino • Magdalena of Valois • Masahudu Alhassan • Nate Torrence • Obba Babatundé • Steve Gibb • Stuart Garson • Tasso Wild • Thomas Schie • Wally Lewis • Wan Li