THE SCENE: No one would accuse Louis VI (aka Louis the Fighter) of being the kind of king who is afraid to get his hands dirty.
THE TEXT: Each side paused there with the stream in the middle, but the lord Louis became angry when he saw one of the enemy who took more risks than the others break through the obstacles. Having greater courage than his followers, the lord Louis spurred his horse on, leapt to the attack, and struck his foe with his lance. With one blow he knocked him into another man behind him and brought them both down. Thus, although it little befitted a king to do such a thing, he arranged a splendid bath for his foe all the way up to his helmet in that stream. He did not delay to follow up his successes, but entered the narrow space from which the other had come out and, fighting like a champion in single combat, kept on pushing back the enemy. When the French saw this, they found amazing courage. They broke through the obstacles, rushed across the stream, and began to slaughter their foes, pursuing and driving them under duress all the way back to the castle.
– The Deeds of Louis the Fat, Suger, 12th Century AD
