General Notes

[Joanne's Tree.1 GED.GED]

[Etienne De Coligny.FTW]

[Alix De Montmorency.ged]

Louis VII, byname Louis The Younger, (born circa 1120--died Sept. 18, 1180, Paris), Capetian king of France who pursued a long rivalry, marked by recurrent warfare and continuous intrigue, with Henry II of England. Louis was associated with his father and anointed by Innocent II. in 1131. In 1137 he succeeded his father, and in the same year married at Bordeaux Eleanor, heiress of William II., duke of Aquitaine a few days before his effective rule began, and he thus temporarily extended the Capetian lands to the Pyrenees. Louis continued his father's pacification program by building the prestige of the kingship through an administrative government based on trustworthy men of humble origin and by consolidating his rule over his royal domains rather than by adding new acquisitions. In the first part of his reign he was vigorous and jealous of his prerogatives, but after his crusade he religiosity developed to such an extent as to make him utterly inefficient. His accession was marked by no serious disturbances, save the risings of the burgesses of Orleans and of Poitiers, but he came into violent conflict with Pope Innocent II. The archbishopric of Bourges became vacant, and the king supported as candidate the chancellor Cadurc, against the pop's nominee Pierre de la Châtre, swearing upon relics that so long as his lived Pierre should never enter Bourges. This brought the interdict upon the king's lands. He became involved in a war with Theobald [Thibaut], count of Champagne, which lasted two years. The royal army occupied Champagne, and captured Vitry, where many persons perished in the burning of the church. Geoffrey the Handsome, count of Anjou, by his conquest of Normandy threatened the royal domains, and Louis VII by a clever manoeuvre threw his army on the Norman frontier and gained Gisors, one of the keys of Normandy. Thereafter his relations with the popes were good; Alexander II, whom he supported against Frederick Barbarossa, took refuge in France. At his court, which met in Bourges, Louis declared on Christmas day, 1145, his intention of going on a crusade. St. Bernard preached the crusade at Vézelay (Easter, 1146), and Louis set out from Metz in June 1147, on the overland route to Syria. The expedition was disastrous, and he regained France in 1149, overcome by humiliation. He caused a council at Beaugency (on March 21, 1152) to annul his marriage with Eleanor of Aquitaine, under pretext of kinship. Eleanor married Henry II of England in the following May, and brought him the duchy of Aquitaine, and contented himself with an indemnity. Ironically, this act was probably to Capetian advantage because Aquitaine might have drained the resources of Louis's kingdom while bringing him little revenue. In 1154 Louis married Constance, daughter of the king of Castile, and their daughter Marguerite he affianced imprudently by the treaty of Gisors (1158) to Henry, eldest son of the king of England, promising as dowry the Vexin and Gisors. After the death of Constance (1160), Louis VII married Adèle of Champagne, whose Carolingian blood brought added prestige to the monarchy. By her Louis had an heir, the future Philip Augustus, born on Aug. 21, 1165. He had him crowned at Reims in 1179, and died on Sept. 18, 1180. Louis might have defeated Henry if he had made concerted attacks rather than weak assaults on Normandy in 1152. Anglo-Norman family disputes saved Louis's kingdom from severe incursions during the many conflicts that Louis had with Henry between 1152 and 1174. Louis was helped by the quarrel (1164-70) between Henry and Thomas Becket, archbishop of Canterbury, and a revolt (1173-74) of Henry's sons. Suger, abbot of Saint-Denis, who acted as regent in 1147-49 while Louis was away on the Second Crusade, is the primary historian for Louis's reign.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1961 ed., Vol. 14, p. 414-415, Louis VII; Encyclopaedia Britannica CD, 1997, Louis VII.