74-613: Louis VII (1120 – 18 September 1180), called the Younger or the Young (French: le Jeune ) to differentiate him from his father Louis VI , was king of France from 1137 to 1180. His first marriage was to Duchess Eleanor of Aquitaine , one of the wealthiest and most powerful women in western Europe. The marriage temporarily extended the Capetian lands to the Pyrenees . Louis was
148-573: A claim for his family, he sent his chancellor, Thomas Becket , to press for a marriage between Margaret and Henry's heir, Henry the Young King . Louis agreed to this proposal, and by the Treaty of Gisors (1158) betrothed the young pair, giving as a dowry the Norman city of Gisors and the surrounding county of Vexin . Louis was devastated when Constance died in childbirth on 4 October 1160. As he
222-421: A fever and returned to the Île-de-France. In 1154, Louis married Constance of Castile , daughter of King Alfonso VII of Castile . She also failed to supply him with a son and heir, bearing only two daughters, Margaret and Alys . By 1157, Henry II of England began to believe that Louis might never produce a male heir, and that the succession of France would consequently be left in question. Determined to secure
296-402: A fierce struggle, Louis took the castle and burned it to the ground, taking Hugh prisoner. Rashly, Louis released Hugh, and while Louis was engaged in war with Henry I of England and Theobald, Hugh raised another band of brigands and began ravaging the country again. When Louis returned his attention to Hugh, he found Le Puiset rebuilt and Hugh receiving aid from Theobald. Hugh held out against
370-513: A friendship with the abbot Suger, an advisor to his father who also served Louis during his early years as king. Following the death of Duke William X of Aquitaine , Louis VI moved quickly to have his son married to Eleanor of Aquitaine (who had inherited William's territory) on 25 July 1137. In this way, Louis VI sought to add the large, sprawling territory of the duchy of Aquitaine to his family's holdings in France. On 1 August 1137, shortly after
444-542: A male heir to the throne of France. On 18 May 1152, Eleanor married the Count of Anjou, the future King Henry II of England. She gave him the duchy of Aquitaine and bore him three daughters and five sons. Louis led an ineffective war against Henry for having married without the authorisation of his suzerain . The result was a humiliation for the enemies of Henry and Eleanor, who saw their troops routed, their lands ravaged, and their property stolen. Louis reacted by coming down with
518-582: A stanza from his celebrated poem J'a nuns hons pris , lamenting his captivity in Austria, was addressed to her. Marie died on 11 March 1198, not long after hearing the news of her son's death. She was buried in Meaux Cathedral . On 25 June 1562, rioting Huguenots devastated many edifices, including the Cathedral of Meaux; it was on this occasion that the tomb of Marie of Champagne, located in
592-403: A succession crisis. Soon a number of relatives raised claims, including William of Ypres , popularly thought to be complicit in the murder; Thierry of Alsace ; and Arnold of Denmark, nephew of Charles who seized Saint-Omer ; Baldwin, Count of Hainault , who seized Oudenarde , and Godfrey I, Count of Louvain and Duke of Brabant . Louis then moved decisively to secure Flanders, apprehending
666-520: The Angevin Empire . Later, Louis supported Henry and Eleanor's sons in their rebellion against their father to foment further disunity in the Angevin realms. His second marriage to Constance of Castile also produced two daughters, but his third wife, Adela of Champagne , gave birth to a son, Philip Augustus . Louis died in 1180 and was succeeded by his son, Philip II. Louis was born in 1120,
740-591: The Basilica of Saint-Denis in 1817. Louis' children by his three marriages: With Eleanor of Aquitaine : With Constance of Castile : With Adela of Champagne : Louis is a character in Jean Anouilh 's 1959 play Becket . In the 1964 film adaptation , he was portrayed by John Gielgud , who was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor . He was also portrayed by Charles Kay in
814-568: The Duchy of Normandy and quickly took possession of the castle at Gisors , a fortress of strategic importance on the right bank of the Epte , commanding the road between Rouen and Paris. This violated an earlier agreement between Henry and the French King that Gisors should remain in the hands of a neutral castellan , or else be demolished. This move threatened the Capetian domain and Louis
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#1732765069506888-623: 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
962-618: The Second Crusade in 1147, Louis stayed at the court of King Géza II of Hungary on the way to Jerusalem . During his stay in the Holy Land , disagreements with Eleanor led to a deterioration in their marriage. She persuaded him to stay in Antioch but Louis instead wanted to fulfil his vows of pilgrimage to Jerusalem. He was later involved in the failed siege of Damascus and eventually returned to France in 1149. Louis' reign saw
1036-540: The Second Crusade , Louis and his queen set out from the Basilica of Saint-Denis , first stopping in Metz on the overland route to Syria . Soon they arrived in the Kingdom of Hungary , where they were welcomed by the king Géza II of Hungary , who was already waiting with King Conrad III of Germany . Due to his good relationships with Louis, Géza II asked the French king to be his son Stephen 's godfather. Relations between
1110-414: The archbishopric of Bourges became vacant. The king supported the chancellor Cadurc as a candidate to fill the vacancy against the pope's nominee Pierre de la Chatre , swearing upon relics that so long as he lived, Pierre should never enter Bourges. The pope thus imposed an interdict upon the king. Louis then became involved in a war with Theobald II of Champagne by permitting Raoul I of Vermandois ,
1184-516: The peace included Henry's heir, William Adelin , doing homage to Louis for Normandy, a return of all territories captured by both kings with the painful exception of Gisors itself, which Louis was forced to concede to Henry. On 2 March 1127, the count of Flanders , Charles the Good , was assassinated in St. Donatian's Cathedral at Bruges . It was a scandal in itself but made worse because it precipitated
1258-463: The seneschal of France, to repudiate his wife, Theobald II's sister, and to marry Petronilla of Aquitaine , sister of the queen of France. As a result, Champagne decided to side with the pope in the dispute over Bourges. The war lasted two years (1142–44) and ended with the occupation of Champagne by the royal army. Louis was personally involved in the assault and burning of the town of Vitry-en-Perthois . At least 1,500 people who had sought refuge in
1332-649: The 1978 BBC TV drama series The Devil's Crown . He has a role in Sharon Kay Penman 's novels When Christ and His Saints Slept and Devil's Brood . The early part of Norah Lofts ' biography of Eleanor of Aquitaine deals considerably with Louis, seen through Eleanor's eyes and giving her side in their problematic relationship. Louis is one of the main characters in Elizabeth Chadwick 's novel The Summer Queen . Louis VI of France Louis VI (1 December 1081 – 1 August 1137), called
1406-486: The Aquitaine with which Eleanor was familiar. Louis and Eleanor had two daughters, Marie and Alix . In the first part of his reign, Louis was vigorous and zealous in the exercise of his prerogatives . His accession was marked by no disturbances other than uprisings by the burgesses of Orléans and Poitiers , who wished to organise communes . He soon came into violent conflict with Pope Innocent II , however, when
1480-518: The Counts of Anjou , Brittany, and Nevers . Louis seized the fortress of Pont-du-Chateau on the Allier , then attacked Clermont, which William was forced to abandon. Aimeri was restored. Four years later William rebelled again and Louis, though his increasing weight made campaigning difficult, marched again. He burned Montferrand and seized Clermont a second time, captured William, and brought him before
1554-619: The English crown, reneging on the oath he had sworn to Henry I to support Matilda. Stephen was thus in no position to bring the combined Anglo-Norman might against the French crown. Louis had also made great strides in exercising his royal authority over his barons, and even Theobald II had finally rallied to the Capetian cause. Finally, on 9 April 1137, a dying William X, Duke of Aquitaine appointed Louis VI guardian of his fifteen-year-old daughter and heiress, Eleanor of Aquitaine . Eleanor
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#17327650695061628-757: The Fat (French: le Gros ) or the Fighter (French: le Batailleur ), was King of the Franks from 1108 to 1137. Like his father Philip I , Louis made a lasting contribution to centralizing the institutions of royal power. He spent much of his twenty-nine-year reign fighting either the " robber barons " who plagued the Ile de France or Henry I of England for his continental possession of Normandy . Nonetheless, Louis VI managed to reinforce his power considerably, often resorting to force to bring lawless knights to justice, and
1702-571: The Green, Archbishop of Rheims , sent envoys to challenge the validity of the coronation and anointing, but to no avail. When Louis ascended the throne, the Kingdom of France was a collection of feudal principalities. Beyond the Isle de France the French kings had limited authority over the great duke and counts of the realm but slowly Louis began to change this and assert Capetian power. This process would take two centuries to complete but began in
1776-626: The Holy Land from 1179 until 1181. While her husband was away, Marie's father died and her half-brother, Philip Augustus , became king of France. He confiscated his mother's dower lands and married Isabelle of Hainaut , who was previously betrothed to Marie's eldest son. This prompted Marie to join a party of disgruntled nobles—including the queen mother Adela of Champagne and the archbishop of Reims —in plotting unsuccessfully against Philip. Eventually, relations between Marie and her royal brother improved. Marie's husband died soon after his return from
1850-515: The Holy Land in 1181, leaving her again as regent for their young son Henry. Marie, who had retired to the nunnery of Château de Fontaines-les-Nonnes near Meaux (1187–1190), served again as regent for Champagne as her son Henry II joined the Third Crusade from 1190 to 1197. He remained in the Levant, marrying Queen Isabella I of Jerusalem in 1192. Over the course of her regencies, Champagne
1924-567: The King until Theobald abandoned him. Once again Louis razed Le Puiset and Hugh, who had sworn never to return to his brigandage, rebuilt the castle and resumed terrorizing his neighbours. At the third attempt, Louis finally defeated Hugh and stripped him of his possessions for the last time. Hugh later died on an expiatory pilgrimage to the Holy Land . These were just some of the recalcitrant nobles Louis contended with. There were many more, and Louis
1998-468: The additional effort meant he could not defeat the English monarch as well or force him to abandon Gisors, and in March 1113 Louis was forced to sign a treaty recognizing Henry I as suzerain of Brittany and Maine. Peace of sorts lasted three years until April 1116 when hostilities renewed in the French and Norman Vexins , with each king making gains from his rival. By 1119, buoyed by several successes and
2072-455: The archbishop, asking when Becket refused Henry's conciliations, "Do you wish to be more than a Saint?" Louis also tried to weaken Henry by supporting his rebellious sons, and encouraged Plantagenet disunity by making Henry's sons, rather than Henry himself, the feudal overlords of the Angevin territories in France. But the rivalry among Henry's sons and Louis's own indecisiveness broke up the coalition (1173–1174) between them. Finally, in 1177,
2146-633: The arrows, and to prevent himself from being captured he defended the crag with his bloody sword, cutting off many heads and hands. Louis and his army finally reached the Holy Land in 1148. His queen Eleanor supported her uncle, Raymond of Poitiers , and prevailed upon Louis to help Antioch against Aleppo. But Louis's interest lay in Jerusalem, and so he slipped out of Antioch in secret. He united with King Conrad III of Germany and King Baldwin III of Jerusalem to lay siege to Damascus ; this ended in disaster and
2220-624: The capture (through treachery) of Les Andelys , Louis felt ready for a final encounter to end the war. In the fierce Battle of Bremule , in August 1119, Louis's troops broke and were routed, abandoning the royal banner and sweeping the King along with them in retreat to Les Andelys. A counterattack through Évreux to seize Breteuil failed, and Louis, his health failing, looked for peace. He appealed to Pope Calixtus II , who agreed to help and met with Henry at Gisors in November 1120. The terms of
2294-473: The cause of Alexander III, who lived at Sens from 1163 to 1165. In return for his loyal support, the pope bestowed upon Louis the Golden Rose . More important for English history would be Louis's support for Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury , whom he tried to reconcile with Henry II. Louis sided with Becket as much to damage Henry as out of piety—yet even he grew irritated with the stubbornness of
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2368-448: The church died in the flames. Condemned by the ecclesiastical authorities, Louis removed his armies from Champagne and returned them to Theobald. He accepted Pierre de la Chatre as archbishop of Bourges and shunned Raoul and Petronilla. Desiring to atone for his sins, he declared his intention of mounting a crusade on Christmas Day 1145 at Bourges. Bernard of Clairvaux assured its popularity by his preaching at Vezelay on Easter 1146. In
2442-467: The court at Orléans to answer for his crimes. Some of the outlaws became notorious for their cruelty, the most notable being Thomas, Lord of Coucy , who was reputed to indulge in torture of his victims, including hanging men by their testicles, cutting out eyes, and chopping off feet. Guibert of Nogent noted of him, "No one can imagine the number of those who perished in his dungeons, from starvation, from torture, from filth." Another notable brigand
2516-412: The daughter of his father's seneschal , in 1104, but repudiated her three years later. They had no children. On 3 August 1115 Louis married Adelaide of Maurienne , daughter of Humbert II of Savoy and of Gisela of Burgundy , and niece of Pope Callixtus II . They had eight children. Adelaide was one of the most politically active of all France's medieval queens. Her name appears on 45 royal charters from
2590-629: The founding of the University of Paris . He and his counsellor, Abbot Suger , pushed for greater centralisation of the state and favoured the development of French Gothic architecture , notably the construction of Notre-Dame de Paris . Louis' marriage to Eleanor was annulled in 1152 after the couple had produced two daughters, but no male heir. Immediately after their annulment, Eleanor married Henry , Duke of Normandy and Count of Anjou , to whom she conveyed Aquitaine . Following Henry's accession as King Henry II of England, these territories formed
2664-496: The king of the English, William Rufus , when he attacked Louis' inherited kingdom." In 1098, Louis was knighted by Guy I of Ponthieu . On Christmas Day 1100 he attended the royal court of Henry I of England in London, where according to Symeon of Durham , Louis appeared as "king elect of the Franks". By 1103 his father Philip I had already associated him with the government of the kingdom. Louis married Lucienne de Rochefort ,
2738-563: The kingdoms of France and Hungary remained cordial long after this time: decades later, Louis's daughter Margaret was taken as wife by Géza's son Béla III of Hungary . After receiving provisions from Géza, the armies continued the march to the East. Just beyond Laodicea at Honaz , the French army was ambushed by Turks. In the resulting battle of Mount Cadmus , the Turks first bombarded the French with arrows and heavy stones, then swarmed down from
2812-658: The lords of Montfort-l'Amaury . Amaury III de Montfort held many castles which, when linked together, formed a continuous barrier between Louis and vast swathes of his domains, threatening all communication south of Paris. In 1121, Louis established the marchands de l'eau, to regulate trade along the Seine . In 1122, Aimeri, Bishop of Clermont , appealed to Louis after William VI, Count of Auvergne , had driven him from his episcopal town. When William refused Louis' summons, Louis raised an army at Bourges , and marched into Auvergne, supported by some of his leading vassals, such as
2886-449: The lordship of Bourbon from his nephew, Archambaud, a minor. Louis demanded the boy be restored to his rights but Aymon refused the summons. Louis raised his army and besieged Aymon at his castle at Germigny-l'Exempt , forcing its surrender. In early 1109, Louis besieged his half-brother, Philip, the son of Bertrade de Montfort , who was involved in brigandry and conspiracies against the King, at Mantes-la-Jolie . Philip's plots included
2960-425: The marriage, Louis VI died, and Louis became king. The pairing of the monkish Louis and the high-spirited Eleanor was doomed to failure; she reportedly once declared that she had thought to marry a king, only to find she had married a monk. There was a marked difference between the frosty, reserved culture of the northern court in the Île-de-France , where Louis had been raised, and the rich, free-wheeling court life of
3034-405: The meantime, Geoffrey V, Count of Anjou , completed his conquest of Normandy in 1144. In exchange for being recognised as Duke of Normandy by Louis, Geoffrey surrendered half of the county of Vexin—a region vital to Norman security—to Louis. Considered a clever move by Louis at the time, it would later prove yet another step towards Angevin rule. In June 1147, in fulfillment of his vow to mount
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3108-439: The moment was gone. The people of Bruge rejected him and recognized Thierry of Alsace as their Count, and he quickly moved to enforce his claim. Louis called a great assembly at Arras, whereby the archbishop of Reims excommunicated Thierry and laid an interdict over the city of Lille. Louis abandoned William of Clito, who died during a siege at Alost on 27 July 1128, and after the whole country finally submitted to Thierry, Louis
3182-513: The mountains and massacred them. The historian Odo of Deuil gives this account: During the fighting the King Louis lost his small and famous royal guard, but he remained in good heart and nimbly and courageously scaled the side of the mountain by gripping the tree roots [...] The enemy climbed after him, hoping to capture him, and the enemy in the distance continued to fire arrows at him. But God willed that his cuirass should protect him from
3256-415: The murderers of Charles the Good and ousting the rival claimants. On 2 April he took Ghent , on 5 April Bruges, on 26 April he took Ypres , capturing William of Ypres and imprisoning him at Lille . He then quickly took Aire, Cassel and all the towns still loyal to William of Ypres. Louis's final act before leaving for France was to witness the execution of Charles the Good's murderers. They were hurled from
3330-438: The peasantry and loot churches and abbeys, the latter deeds drawing the ire of the writers of the day, who were mostly clerics. In 1108, soon after he ascended the throne, Louis engaged in war with Hugh of Crécy , who was plaguing the countryside and had captured Eudes, Count of Corbeil, and imprisoned him at La Ferté-Alais . Louis besieged that fortress to free Eudes. Also in 1108, a seigneur named Aymon Vaire-Vache seized
3404-531: The pope intervened to bring the two kings to terms at Vitry-en-Perthois . In 1165, Louis's third wife bore him a son and heir, Philip . Louis had him crowned at Reims in 1179, in the Capetian tradition (Philip would in fact be the last king so crowned). Already stricken with paralysis, Louis himself could not be present at the ceremony. He died on 18 September 1180 in Paris and was buried the next day at Barbeau Abbey , which he had founded. His remains were moved to
3478-434: The project was abandoned. Louis decided to leave the Holy Land, despite the protests of Eleanor, who still wanted to help her doomed uncle Raymond. Louis and the French army returned home in 1149. The expedition to the Holy Land came at a great cost to the royal treasury and military. It also precipitated a conflict with Eleanor that led to the annulment of their marriage. Perhaps the marriage to Eleanor might have continued if
3552-608: The reign of Louis VI and his father Philip I. The second great challenge facing Louis was to counter the rising power of the Anglo-Normans under their capable new king, Henry I of England . From early in his reign (and during his father's reign) Louis faced the problem of the robber barons who resisted the King's authority and engaged in brigandry, making the area around Paris unsafe. From their castles, such as Le Puiset , Châteaufort , and Montlhéry , these barons would charge tolls, waylay merchants and pilgrims, terrorize
3626-403: The reign of Louis VI. During her time as queen (1115–1137), royal charters were dated with both her regnal year and that of the king. Suger became Louis's adviser even before he succeeded his father as king at the age of 26 on 29 July 1108. Louis's half-brother prevented him from reaching Rheims , and so Daimbert, Archbishop of Sens , crowned him in the cathedral of Orléans on 3 August. Ralph
3700-415: The roof of the church of Saint Donatian where they had committed their crime. Louis had his own candidate in mind and marched into Flanders with an army and urged the barons to elect William Clito , son of Robert Curthose , who had been disinherited of Normandy by his uncle Henry I of England , as their new Count. He had no better claim to Flanders than being the King's candidate but on 23 March 1127 he
3774-451: The royal couple had produced a male heir, but this had not occurred. The Council of Beaugency found an exit clause, declaring that Louis and Eleanor were too closely related for their marriage to be legal, thus the marriage was annulled on 21 March 1152. The pretext of kinship was the basis for annulment, but in fact, it owed more to the state of hostility between Louis and Eleanor, with a decreasing likelihood that their marriage would produce
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#17327650695063848-660: The second son of Louis VI of France and Adelaide of Maurienne . The early education of the young Louis anticipated an ecclesiastical career. As a result, he became well learned and exceptionally devout, but his life course changed decisively after the accidental death of his older brother Philip in 1131, when Louis unexpectedly became the heir to the throne of France. In October 1131, his father had him anointed and crowned by Pope Innocent II in Reims Cathedral . He spent much of his youth in Saint-Denis , where he built
3922-468: The second son of Louis VI of France and Adelaide of Maurienne , and was initially prepared for a career in the Church . Following the death of his older brother, Philip , in 1131, Louis became heir apparent to the French throne and was crowned as his father's co-ruler. In 1137, he married Eleanor of Aquitaine and shortly thereafter became sole king following his father's death. During his march, as part of
3996-741: The soon to be Angevin Empire that would come to overshadow his successor, its seeds sown in the marriage between the Empress Matilda and Geoffrey Plantagenet and realised through their son, Henry II of England . Louis VI was interred in the Basilica of St Denis in Paris. He married in 1104: 1) Lucienne de Rochefort — the marriage was annulled on 23 May 1107 at the Council of Troyes by Pope Paschal II . Louis married in 1115: 2) Adélaide de Maurienne (1092–1154) With Marie de Breuillet , daughter of Renaud de Breuillet de Dourdan, Louis VI
4070-591: 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. In 1128 Henry I married his sole surviving legitimate child, the dowager Empress Matilda, to Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou . This would prove to be a dangerous alliance for the French monarchy during the reign of his successor, Louis VII of France . As Louis VI approached his end, there seemed to be reasons for optimism. Henry I of England had died on 1 December 1135 and Stephen of Blois had seized
4144-582: The war went well for Louis until the influential Theobald II, Count of Champagne , switched to Henry's side. By early 1112 Theobald had succeeded in bringing together a coalition of barons with grievances against Louis: Lancelin of Bulles, Ralph of Beaugency, Milo of Bray-sur-Seine, Hugh of Crecy, Guy of Rochfort, Hugh of Le Puiset and Hugh, Count of Troyes . In response Louis formed an alliance with Fulk V of Anjou and several Norman lords, including Amaury III de Montfort , Guillaume Crinspin and Robert of Bellême . Louis defeated Theobald's coalition but
4218-453: Was 7 and Alice was not yet 2. Custody of the girls was awarded to their father as they were at that time the only heirs to the French throne. Eleanor quickly moved on, marrying Henry, Duke of Normandy , on 18 May. Louis married Constance of Castile in 1154. Just 5 weeks after Constance died while giving birth to their second child and daughter, he married Adele of Champagne on 13 November 1160, who gave birth to Philippe in 1165. In 1153, Marie
4292-482: Was Hugh, Lord of Le Puiset , who was ravaging the lands around Chartres . In March 1111, Louis heard charges against Hugh at his court at Melun from Theobald II, Count of Champagne , the Archbishop of Sens , and also from bishops and abbots. Louis commanded Hugh to appear before him to answer these charges, but Hugh evaded the summons. Louis stripped him of his lands and titles and laid siege to Le Puiset. After
4366-507: Was a trip to Toulouse in 1159 to aid Raymond V, Count of Toulouse , who had been attacked by Henry II: Louis entered into the city with a small escort, claiming to be visiting his sister, the countess. Henry declared that he could not attack the city while his liege lord was inside, and went home. In 1169, Louis was petitioned by the bishop of Le Puy to stop the Viscount of Polignac from attacking travelers through Auvergne . The viscount
4440-453: Was besieged by Louis at Nonette and the county was turned into a prévôt . Louis' reign saw Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I press his claims to Arles , in southeastern France. When a papal schism broke out in 1159, Louis took the side of Pope Alexander III , the enemy of Frederick I, and after two comical failures of Frederick I to meet Louis at Saint-Jean-de-Losne (on 29 August and 22 September 1162), Louis definitely gave himself up to
4514-642: Was betrothed to Henry of Champagne by her father Louis. These betrothals were arranged based on the intervention of Bernard of Clairvaux, as reported in the contemporary chronicle of Radulfus Niger . After her betrothal, Marie was sent to live with the Viscountess Elizabeth of Mareuil-sy-Aÿ and then to the abbey of Avenay in Champagne for her Latin-based education. In 1159, Marie married Henry I, Count of Champagne . Marie became regent for Champagne when her husband Henry I went on pilgrimage to
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#17327650695064588-440: Was born around 1081 in Paris, the son of Philip I of France and Bertha of Holland . Abbot Suger of Saint Denis, who wrote a biography of Louis VI, tells us: "In his youth, growing courage matured his spirit with youthful vigour, making him bored with hunting and the boyish games with which others of his age used to enjoy themselves and forget the pursuit of arms." And "How valiant he was in youth, and with what energy he repelled
4662-478: Was desperate for a son, he married Adela of Champagne just 5 weeks later. To counterbalance the advantage this would give the king of France, Henry II had the marriage of their children (Henry "the Young King" and Margaret) celebrated at once. Louis understood the danger of the growing Angevin power; however, through indecision and a lack of fiscal and military resources in comparison to Henry II, he failed to oppose Angevin hegemony effectively. One of his few successes
4736-669: Was elected Count by the Flemings . It was a triumph for Louis and demonstrated how far the Crown had come under his leadership, but it was a brief triumph. The new young Count fared badly, opposition was growing in the towns as a result of Clito's increasingly incompetent treatment of Flemish burghers. William's knights ran amok and the Flemings rebelled against Louis's candidate. Ghent and Bruge appealed to Thierry, Count of Flanders to Arnold of Denmark. Louis attempted to intervene again but
4810-413: Was hailed as a "miracle" by Bernard of Clairvaux , an answer to his prayer to bless the marriage between Eleanor of Aquitaine and Louis VII. Marie was just 2 years old when her parents joined the Second Crusade to the Holy Land . With the birth of her sister Alice in 1150 instead of the desperately needed son and heir the couple hoped for, the marriage broke down and was annulled on 21 March 1152; Marie
4884-463: Was in constant motion against them, leading his army from castle to castle, bringing law and order to his domains. The result was increased recognition of the King's authority and the Crown's ability to impose its will, so that all sectors of French society began to see the King as their protector. After seizing the English Crown, Henry I of England deprived his brother, Robert Curthose , of
4958-459: Was obliged to confirm his claim. 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
5032-564: Was outraged, demanding Henry, as his vassal , appear before him to account for his actions. The two kings met, in force, in March 1109 at the borders of their respective territories at the bridge of Neauphle on the Epte. Henry refused to relinquish Gisors. Louis challenged the English King to single combat to settle the issue. When Henry refused, war was inevitable, a war which would last, on and off, for twenty years. The first years of
5106-519: Was suddenly the most eligible heiress in Europe, and Louis wasted no time in marrying her to his own heir, the future Louis VII, at the Cathedral of Saint-André in Bordeaux on 25 July 1137. At a stroke Louis had added one of the most powerful duchies in France to the Capetian domains. Louis died of dysentery 7 days later, on 1 August 1137. Despite his achievements, it would be the growing power of
5180-558: Was the father of a daughter: Marie of France, Countess of Champagne Marie of France (1145 – 11 March 1198) was a Capetian princess who became Countess of Champagne by her marriage to Henry I of Champagne . She served as regent of the County of Champagne three times: during Henry I's absence from 1179-1181; during the minority of their son Henry II from 1181–1187; and during Henry II's absence from 1190-1197. The daughter of Eleanor of Aquitaine and Louis VII of France , she
5254-541: Was the first member of the house of Capet to issue ordonnances applying to the whole of the kingdom of France. 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 (hence the epithet "le Gros" ). Details about his life and person are preserved in the Vita Ludovici Grossi Regis , a panegyric composed by his loyal advisor, Suger , abbot of Saint Denis. Louis
5328-430: Was the sister of Alice of France and the half-sister of: William Count of Poitiers , Henry the Young King , Richard I , Geoffrey of Brittany , Matilda of England , Eleanor of England , Joan of England , John of England ; Margaret of France , Alys of France , Agnes of France , Philip II of France ; and the stepdaughter of Henry II of England , and Constance of Castile , and Adela of Champagne . Marie's birth
5402-589: 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
5476-691: Was transformed from a patchwork of territories into a significant principality. Marie was a patron of literature and her court became a sphere of influence on authors and poets such as Andreas Capellanus , who served in her court and referred to her several times in his writing, Chrétien de Troyes , who credits her with the idea for his Lancelot: The Knight of the Cart , the troubadours Bertran de Born and Bernart de Ventadorn , Gautier d'Arras and Conon de Bétune . Being literate in both French and Latin, she amassed and maintained her own extensive library. Marie's half-brother King Richard , mentions her in
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