Page:Readings in European History Vol 1.djvu/234

 198 Readings in European History King Robert's care in regard to the selection of bishops. 93. Suger's account of Louis the Fat and his vassals. Robert took for wife Constance, a relative of this lord, whose soul was as constant as her name, and who well deserved the crown which she received. Her father was William, first duke of Aquitaine. She bore Robert four sons and two daughters. Now it happened that a certain Hugh, surnamed Beauvais, endeavored for some time to stir up hate and discord between the king and his wife. He even succeeded in rendering the queen hateful to Robert, in the hope that the dissension might turn to his profit. He also succeeded in inducing the king to grant him the title of Count of the Palace. One day, as the king was hunting in the forest accompanied by Count Hugh, who always followed him closely, twelve valiant knights in the hire of the queen's uncle, Foulques of Anjou, killed Hugh under the king's eyes. King Robert was for some time greatly saddened by this event. Nevertheless he reconciled himself with the queen, as he should. This prince was a wise servant of God. He always favored the humble and hated the arrogant. When an episcopal chair became vacant in his kingdom through the death of the bishop, he always exercised the greatest care that it should be given to a successor who would prove a useful person to the Church, however low might be his origin, and not to a nobleman accustomed to the disorders of the world. In this way he often aroused the strong opposition of the great of the realm, who despised the lowly and would have chosen men as insolent as themselves. III. How Louis THE FAT (1108-1137) BEGAN, WITH ABBOT SUGER'S AID, TO GET THE UPPER HAND OF HIS VASSALS The chief adviser of Louis was Suger, abbot of the great monastery of St. Denis, near Paris, who not only greatly aided the king in his task of strengthening the royal power, but wrote a life of him which is one of the most important of the French historical sources.