General Notes

Louis VII ruled from 1137-1180.

Louis VII
b. c. 1120
d. Sept. 18, 1180, Paris
byname LOUIS THE YOUNGER, French LOUIS LE JEUNE, Capetian king of Francewho pursued a long rivalry, marked by recurrent warfare and continuousintrigue, with Henry II of England.
In 1131 Louis was anointed as successor to his father, Louis VI, and in1137 he became the sole ruler at his father's death. Louis marriedEleanor, daughter of William X, duke of Aquitaine, in 1137, a few daysbefore his effective rule began, and he thus temporarily extended theCapetian lands to the Pyrenees. Louis continued his father's pacificationprogram by building the prestige of the kingship through anadministrative government based on trustworthy men of humble origin andby consolidating his rule over his royal domains rather than by addingnew acquisitions. From 1141 to 1143 he was involved in a fruitlessconflict with Count Thibaut of Champagne and the papacy. But thereafterhis relations with the popes were good; Alexander II, whom he supportedagainst Frederick Barbarossa, took refuge in France. But the major threatto his reign came from Geoffrey, count of Anjou and, briefly, ofNormandy, and Geoffrey's son Henry, who later (1154) became King Henry IIof England as well as ruler of both Anjou and Normandy. After Louisrepudiated his wife Eleanor for misconduct on March 21, 1152, she marriedHenry, who then took over control of Aquitaine. Ironically, this act wasprobably to Capetian advantage because Aquitaine might have drained theresources of Louis's kingdom while bringing him little revenue. After thedeath of Louis's second wife, he married Alix of Champagne, whoseCarolingian blood brought added prestige to the monarchy (1160); theirson became Philip II Augustus.

Louis might have defeated Henry if he had made concerted attacks ratherthan weak assaults on Normandy in 1152. Anglo-Norman family disputessaved Louis's kingdom from severe incursions during the many conflictsthat Louis had with Henry between 1152 and 1174. Louis was helped by thequarrel (1164-70) between Henry and Thomas Becket, archbishop ofCanterbury, and a revolt (1173-74) of Henry's sons. Suger, abbot ofSaint-Denis, who acted as regent in 1147-49 while Louis was away on theSecond Crusade, is the primary historian for Louis's reign.

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Coronation
Loius VII, the Yong, was born in 1120.  He was associated w ith the throne in 1131 and became king on 1 August, 1137.
He reigned for fourty-three years and died, of a series o f strokes, aged sixty, at Paris on 18 September, 1180.  H e was buried at the abbey of Barbeaux, Melun, France.
Reign