page_title: Louis VI of France
section_title: Invasion of Henry V
hierarchical_section_title: Louis VI of France / Invasion of Henry V
caption_attribution_description: Papst Paschalis II. [oder Bischof Ruthard von Mainz?] überreicht Kaiser Heinrich V. den Reichsapfel als Symbol der weltlichen Macht
context_page_description: Louis VI, called the Fat or the Fighter, was King of France 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 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 death of Charlemagne in 814.
  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. A biography – The Deeds of Louis the Fat, prepared by his loyal advisor Abbot Suger of Saint Denis – offers a fully developed portrait of his character, in contrast to what little historians know about most of his predecessors.
context_section_description: On 25 November 1120, Louis' fortunes against Henry I of England were raised when Henry's heir, William Ætheling, drunkenly perished aboard the White Ship en route from Normandy to England, putting the future of Henry's dynasty and his position in doubt.
  By 1123 Louis was involved with a coalition of Norman and French seigneurs opposed to Henry. The plan was to drive the English King from Normandy and replace him with William Clito. Henry, however, easily defeated this coalition then instigated his son-in-law, Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor, to invade France.
  Henry V had married the Empress Matilda, the English King's daughter and the future mother of Henry II of England, 9 years earlier, in hopes of creating an Anglo-German empire, though the couple remained childless. 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.
  Thus in 1124, Henry V assembled an army to march on Rheims. It never arrived. In testament to how far Louis had risen as national protector, all of France rose to his appeal against the threat. 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.
  Henry V died a year after the aborted campaign.
caption: Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor, with Ruthard, Archbishop of Mainz. Paint on vellum. Parker Library, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.
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