Louis Capet VII

• Preferred Name: Louis Capet VII^{[1] [2] [3] [4] [5]}
  
• Gender: M
  
• Death: 18 SEP 1180 in Melun, Seine-et-Marne, Région Parisienne, France at LATI: N8.5397 LONG: E0.6598
  
• Royal House: with note: Description: Capet
  
• Titre: BET 8 AUG 1137 AND 21 MAR 1152 with note: GEDCOM data
  
• http://familysearch.org/v1/TitleOfNobility: King of Francefrom 1137
  
• Titre: BET 1 AUG 1137 AND 18 SEP 1180 with note: GEDCOM data
  
• Occupation: Roi, Noble
  
• Birth: 5 SEP 1119 in Reims, Marne, Champagne-Ardenne, France at LATI: N9.2546 LONG: E0.0313
  
• Marriage+Annulment: 21 MAR 1152 with note: Previous data record was correct
  
• FSID: LZBY-5LP
  
• Burial: 19 SEP 1180 in Abbaye de Barbeau, Chartrettes, Seine-et-Marne, Île-de-France, France at LATI: N8.4879 LONG: E0.7008
  
• Notes:

  === Life Sketch ===
  Louis VII (called the Younger or the Young) (French: Louis le Jeune) (1120 - 18 September 1180) was King of France, the son and successor of Louis VI (hence his nickname). He ruled from 1137 until his death. He was part of the genetic ascendancy of the House of Capet. His reign was dominated by feudal struggles (in particular with the Angevin family), and saw the beginning of the long feud between France and England. It also saw the beginning of construction on Notre-Dame de Paris, the founding of the University of Paris and the disastrous Second Crusade.
  
  Louis VII was born in 1120, the second son of Louis VI of France and Adelaide of Maurienne. As a younger son, Louis VII had been raised to follow the ecclesiastical path. He unexpectedly became the heir to the throne of France after the accidental death of his older brother, Philip, in 1131. A well-learned and exceptionally devout man, Louis VII was better suited for life as a priest than as a monarch.
  
  In his youth, he spent much time in Saint-Denis, where he built a friendship with the Abbot Suger which was to serve him well in his early years as king.
  
  In the same year he was crowned King of France, Louis VII was married on 25 July 1137 to Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine, heiress of William X of Aquitaine. The pairing of the monkish Louis VII and the high-spirited Eleanor was doomed to failure; she once reportedly declared that she had thought to marry a King, only to find she'd married a monk. They had only two daughters, Marie and Alix.
  
  In the first part of Louis VII's reign he was vigorous and jealous of his prerogatives, but after his Crusade his piety limited his ability to become an effective statesman. His accession was marked by no disturbances, save the uprisings of the burgesses of Orleans and of Poitiers, who wished to organize communes. But soon 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 Pope's nominee Pierre de la Chatre, swearing upon relics that so long as he lived Pierre should never enter Bourges. This brought the interdict upon the King's lands.
  
  Louis VII then became involved in a war with Theobald II of Champagne, by permitting Raoul I of Vermandois and seneschal of France, to repudiate his wife, Theobald II's niece, and to marry Petronilla of Aquitaine, sister of the queen of France. Champagne also sided with the Pope in the dispute over Bourges. The war lasted two years (1142-1144) and ended with the occupation of Champagne by the royal army. Louis VII was personally involved in the assault and burning of the town of Vitry-le-François. More than a thousand people who had sought refuge in the church died in the flames. Overcome with guilt, and humiliated by ecclesiastical contempt, Louis admitted defeat, removing his armies from Champagne and returning them to Theobald, accepting Pierre de la Chatre, and shunning Ralph and Petronilla. Desiring to atone for his sins, he then declared on Christmas Day 1145 at Bourges his intention of going on a crusade. Bernard of Clairvaux assured its popularity by his preaching at Vezelay (Easter 1146).
  
  Meanwhile in 1144, Geoffrey the Handsome, Count of Anjou, completed his conquest of Normandy. In exchange for being recognized as Duke of Normandy by Louis, Geoffrey surrendered half of the Vexin-a region considered vital to Norman security-to Louis. Considered a clever move by Louis at the time, it would later prove yet another step towards Angevin power.
  
  In June 1147, in fulfillment of his vow to go on crusade, Louis VII and his queen, Eleanor, set out from Metz, Lorraine, on the overland route to Syria. Soon they arrived to the Kingdom of Hungary where they were welcomed by the king Géza II of Hungary, who was already waiting with the German emperor. Due to his good relationships with Louis VII, Géza II asked the French king to be his son Stephen's baptism godfather. After receiving provisions from the Hungarian king, the armies continued the march to the East. Just beyond Laodicea the French army was ambushed by Turks. The French were bombarded by arrows and heavy stones, the Turks swarmed down from the mountains and the massacre began. The historian Odo of Deuil reported:
  
  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 the arrows, and to prevent himself from being captured he defended the crag with his bloody sword, cutting off many heads and hands.
  
  Louis VII and his army finally reached the Holy Land in 1148. His queen Eleanor supported her uncle, Raymond of Antioch, and prevailed upon Louis to help Antioch against Aleppo. But Louis VII's interest lay in Jerusalem, and so he slipped out of Antioch in secret. He united with Conrad III of Germany and King Baldwin III of Jerusalem to lay siege to Damascus; this ended in disaster and the project was abandoned. Louis VII decided to leave the Holy Land, despite the protests of Eleanor, who still wanted to help her doomed uncle Raymond of Antioch. Louis VII and the French army returned home in 1149.
  
  The expedition came to a great cost to the royal treasury and military. It also precipitated a conflict with Eleanor, leading to the annulment of their marriage at the council of Beaugency (March 1152). The pretext of kinship was the basis for annulment; in fact, it owed more to the state of hostility between the two, and the decreasing odds that their marriage would produce a male heir to the throne of France. Eleanor subsequently married Henry, Count of Anjou, the future Henry II of England, in the following May giving him the duchy of Aquitaine, three daughters, and five sons. Louis VII led an ineffective war against Henry for having married without the authorization 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 a fever, and returned to the Ile-de France.
  
  In 1154 Louis VII married Constance of Castile, daughter of Alfonso VII of Castile. She, too, failed to give him a son and heir, bearing only two daughters, Marguerite of France, and Alys.
  
  Louis having produced no sons by 1157, Henry II of England began to believe that he might never do so, and that consequently the succession of France would be left in question. Determined to secure a claim for his family, he sent the Chancellor, Thomas Becket, to press for a marriage between Princess Marguerite and Henry's heir, also called Henry (later Henry the Young King). Louis, surprisingly, agreed to this proposal, and by the Treaty of Gisors (1158) betrothed the young pair, giving as a dowry the Norman Vexin and Gisors.
  
  Louis VII receiving clergymen, from a late medieval manuscript. Constance died in childbirth on 4 October 1160, and five weeks later Louis VII married Adela of Champagne. Henry II, to counterbalance the advantage this would give the King of France, had the marriage of their children (Henry "the Young King" and Marguerite) celebrated at once. Louis understood the danger of the growing Angevin power; however, through indecision and lack of fiscal and military resources compared to Henry II's, he failed to oppose Angevin hegemony effectively. One of his few successes, in 1159, was his trip to Toulouse to aid Raymond V, Count of Toulouse who had been attacked by Henry II: after he entered into the city with a small escort, claiming to be visiting the Countess his sister, Henry declared that he could not attack the city whilst his liege lord was inside, and went home.
  
  At the same time the emperor Frederick I (1152-1190) in the east was making good the imperial claims on Arles. When the schism broke out, Louis VII took the part of the Pope Alexander III, the enemy of Frederick I, and after two comical failures of Frederick I to meet Louis VII at Saint Jean de Losne (on 29 August and 22 September 1162), Louis VII definitely gave himself up to the cause of Alexander III, who lived at Sens from 1163 to 1165. Alexander III gave the King, in return for his loyal support, the golden rose.
  
  More importantly for French - and English - history would be his 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 piousness - yet even he grew irritated with the stubbornness of the archbishop, asking when Becket refused Henry's conciliations, "Do you wish to be more than a Saint?"
  
  He also supported Henry's 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 amongst Henry's sons and Louis's own indecisiveness broke up the coalition (1173-1174) between them. Finally, in 1177, the Pope intervened to bring the two Kings to terms at Vitry-le-François.
  
  In 1165, Louis' third wife bore him a son and heir, Philip II Augustus. 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, King Louis VII himself was not able to be present at the ceremony. He died on 18 September 1180 at the Abbey at Saint-Pont, Allier and is interred in Saint Denis Basilica.
  
  The reign of Louis VII was, from the point of view of royal territory and military power a difficult and unfortunate one. Yet the royal authority made progress in the parts of France distant from the royal domains: more direct and more frequent connection was made with distant vassals, a result largely due to the alliance of the clergy w
  
  Henry Archbishop of Reims (1162-1175)
  Taken from wikipedia
  
  Henry of France (circa 1121 - 13 November 1175), Bishop of Beauvais (1149-1162), then Archbishop of Reims (1162-1175), was the third son of Louis the Fat, King of France and
  
  Louis VII of France Wikipedia Page
  Louis VII (1120 - 18 September 1180), called the Younger or the Young (French: le Jeune), was King of the Franks from 1137 to 1180. He was the son and successor of King Louis VI, hence his nickname, a
  
  BIO
  BIO: King of France, 25 Dec 1170-1180. Divorced Eleanor of Aquitaine 1152.
  
  ** from http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/CAPET.htm#Alixdiedafter1200MGuillaumeIIIPonthieu as of 6/10/2016
  
  LOUIS de France,
  
  Louis VII (called the Younger or the Young) (French: Louis le Jeune) (1120-18 September 1180)
  Louis VII (called the Younger or the Young) (French: Louis le Jeune) (1120-18 September 1180) was King of the Franks from 1137 until his death. He was the son and successor of King Louis VI of France,
  
  === !#552-V2-T11; !#18-V2-T14; ===
  !#552-V2-T11; !#18-V2-T14;
  
  === Annulment ===
  King Louis and Eleanor's marriage was annulled in 1152, and Louis maintained custody of their daughters
  
  === https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_VII_of_France ===
  
  Jones, Dan (2012). The Plantagenets:The Warrior Kings and Queens Who Made England. New York: Viking Press. ISBN 9780670026654.
  
  === Louis VII born c. 1120 died Sept. 18, 1 ===
  Louis VII born c. 1120 died Sept. 18, 1180, Paris byname Louis The Younger, French Louis Le JeuneCapetian king of France who pursued a long rivalry, marked by recurrent warfare and continuous intrigue, with Henry II of England. In 1131 Louis was anointed as successor to his father, Louis VI, and in 1137 he became the sole ruler at his father's death. Louis married Eleanor, daughter of William X, duke of Aquitaine, in 1137, 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. From 1141 to 1143 he was involved in a fruitless conflict with Count Thibaut of Champagne and the papacy. But thereafter his relations with the popes were good; Alexander II, whom he supported against Frederick Barbarossa, took refuge in France. But the major threat to his reign came from Geoffrey, count of Anjou and, briefly, of Normandy, and Geoffrey's son Henry, who later (1154) became King Henry II of England as well as ruler of both Anjou and Normandy. After Louis repudiated his wife Eleanor for misconduct on March 21, 1152, she married Henry, who then took over control of Aquitaine. Ironically, this act was probably to Capetian advantage because Aquitaine might have drained the resources of Louis's kingdom while bringing him little revenue. After the death of Louis's second wife, he married Alix of Champagne, whose Carolingian blood brought added prestige to the monarchy (1160); their son became Philip II Augustus. 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.
  
  === Source: Weis, Frederick Lewis, Ancestral ===
  Source: Weis, Frederick Lewis, Ancestral Roots, Seventh Edition, Genealogical Publishing Co., Baltimore, [1992], 102-25. Louis VII, called The Young (1121?-80), king of France (1137-80), son and successor of Louis VI. In the first year of his reign he married Eleanor of Aquitaine, daughter of William X, duke of Aquitaine. Louis soon aroused the opposition of Pope Innocent II because of his support of a rival to the papal candidate for the archbishopric of Bourges, and his lands were placed under papal interdict. Louis next fought a 2-year war and conquered Champagne in 1144. In 1147 he joined the unsuccessful Second Crusade as one of its two chief military leaders (the other was Conrad III of Germany). Louis returned to France two years later, and in 1152 his marriage to Eleanor was annulled; in the same year she married Henry of Anjou, later Henry II, king of England. Louis warred with Henry for the possession of Aquitaine but renounced all rights to the duchy in 1154, the year Henry became king of England. Between 1157 and 1180 Louis continued sporadic warfare against Henry, who held many of the French provinces. Louis was succeeded by his son Philip II (Philip Augustus).
  
  === Louis VII, Roi des Francs was born circa ===
  Louis VII, Roi des Francs was born circa 1121.3 He was the son of Louis VI Capet, Roi des Francs and Adelaide di Savoia.1 He married, firstly, Eleanor, Duchesse d'Aquitaine, daughter of Guillaume X, Duc d'Aquitaine and Eleanor Châtellérault de Rochefoucauld, on 25 July 1137 at Bordeaux Cathedral, Bordeaux, Dauphine, FranceG.4 He and Eleanor, Duchesse d'Aquitaine were divorced in 1152 on the grounds of consanguity.3 He married, secondly, Constanza de Castilla, daughter of Alfonso VII, Rey de Castilla and Berengaria de Provence, in 1154. He married, thirdly, Adele de Champagne, daughter of Thibaud IV, Comte de Blois and Matilda Prinzessin von Kärnten, on 13 November 1160.5 He died on 18 September 1180 at Paris, FranceG.5 He was buried at Abbey Barbeaux, Melun, Île-de-France, FranceG.
  Louis VII, Roi des Francs also went by the nick-name of Louis 'le Jeune' (or in English, 'the Younger.1') He succeeded as the Roi des Francs in 1137.1
  Children of Louis VII, Roi des Francs and Eleanor, Duchesse d'Aquitaine
  Marie Capet, Princesse de France+6 b. 1145, d. 11 Mar 1198
  Alix Capet, Princesse de France+6 b. 1150, d. 1198
  Children of Louis VII, Roi des Francs and Constanza de Castilla
  Marguerite Capet, Princesse de France+ b. 1158, d. 1198
  Alys Capet+ b. 4 Oct 1160, d. c 1220
  Children of Louis VII, Roi des Francs and Adele de Champagne
  Philippe II Auguste Capet, Roi de France+1 b. 21 Aug 1165, d. 14 Jul 1223
  Agnes Capet, Princesse de France b. 1171, d. a 1240
  
  === [[Category: Second Crusade]] ===
  [[Category: Second Crusade]]
  
  {{European Aristocrat
  | house = House of Capet
  | image = European Aristocrats Project-3.png}}
  {{Euro Aristo 742-1499|title place=France}}
  
  == Important Notice ==
  : This profile is the result of ongoing merges. Interested parties are encouraged to edit text into a rational whole. The privacy of historic figures should be open (public) at all times. If not please ask a manager to correct it.
  ----
  
  ==Louis VII, Roi de France==
  
  {|style: border=1; cellpadding=10; cellspacing=10
  |1120:|| Louis is born.
  |-
  |1131:|| Phillip dies. Louis is Dauphin.: Louis VII was suited for priesthood. In youth, he spent time in Saint-Denis, where he made friends with Abbot Suger, who served him in hisearly years as king.
  |-
  |1137:|| Louis marries Eleanor of Aquitaine. Becomes king of France.
  |-
  |1144:|| Conquers Champagne after 2 year war.
  
  : Geoffrey "the Handsome", Count of Anjou, conquers Normandy. : Surrenders half of Vexin so Louis will call him Duke of Normandy. Vexin was vital to Norman security, so it was considered a clever move by Louis. Later, it would later to be another step for Angevin power.
  |-|Easter 1146:|| Bernard of Clairvaux fires up the masses to go to war.It results in a Crusade.
  |-|Jun 1147:|| Unsuccessful Second Crusade; one of two chief military leaders
  :the other was Conrad III of Germany.: Raymond of Poitiers welcoming Louis VII in Antioch. In June 1147 Louis VII and his queen, Eleanor, set out from Metz, Lorraine, on the overland route to Syria.
  : Just beyond Laodicea the French army was ambushed by Turks. As they were bombarded by arrows and heavy stones, the Turks swarmed down fromthe mountains and the massacre began. Odo of Deuil reported that Louis lost his small but famous royal guard in the fight but scaled the mountain side by gripping the tree roots to avoid capture. The enemy went after him, and even shot arrows. But Louis was unscathed, defending the crag with by sword, cutting off heads and hands.
  |-
  |1148:|| Reaches Holy Land.: Eleanor supported her uncle, Raymond of Antioch, and prevailed upon Louis to help Antioch against Aleppo. But Louis VII's interest lay in Jerusalem, and so he slipped out of Antioch in secret. He sided with Conrad III of Germany and Baldwin III of Jerusalem to lay siege to Damascus. A disaster, the project was abandoned. Louis VII decided to leave, despite the protests of Eleanor, who still wanted to help her doomed uncle Raymond of Antioch. Louis VII and the French army returned home in 1149.
  : The expedition was a great cost to the royal treasury and military. It also precipitated a conflict with Eleanor (Louis arrested her), leading to the annulment of their marriage at the council of Beaugency (March 1152). Consanguinuity was the basis; in fact, it owed more to thestate of hostility between the two, and the decreasing odds that their marriage would produce a male heir to the throne of France.
  : At the same time the emperor Frederick I (1152-1190) in the east was making good the imperial claims on Arles. When the schism broke out, Louis VII took the part of the Pope Alexander III, the enemy of Frederick I, and after two comical failures of Frederick I to meet Louis VII at Saint Jean de Losne (on 29 August and 22 September 1162), Louis VII definitely gave himself up to the cause of Alexander III, who lived at Sens from 1163 to 1165. Alexander III gave the King, in return for his loyal support, the golden rose.
  |-
  |1149:||Returns home.
  |-
  |1152:|| m. to Eleanor annulled.: Eleanor runs offwith Henry of Anjou. Louis goes to war for possession of Aquitaine. Didn't work.: Henry scored the duchy of Aquitaine, and had 3 daughters, and five sons with the wealthy Duchess of Aquitaine. Louis VII's ineffective waragainst Henry for marrying without the authorization of his suzerain was a humiliation for the enemies of Henry and Eleanor. The English couple routed those troops, ravaged their lands, and stole their property. Louis reacted by coming down with a fever, and returned to the Ile de France.
  |-
  |1154:|| Renounces rights to Aquitaine.
  
  m. Constance of Castile
  : dau Alfonso VII of Castile.
  |-
  |1157 - 1180:|| continues sporadic warfare against Henry II.
  |-
  |04 Oct 1160:|| Constance dies in childbirth.
  
  Louis m. Adela of Champagne
  |-|1177:||Pope brings Louis and Henry I of England to terms at Vitry.: Louis supported Henry's rebellious sons, and encouraged Plantagenet disunity choosing them (over Henry I) to be the feudal overlords of French Angevin territory. But sibling rivalry and Louis's indecisiveness broke the coalition (1173-1174).
  |-
  |1179:|| Phillip Augustus crowned at Reims: near the end of Louis' life, his third wife bore son and heir, Philip II Augustus. He was the last French king to be crowned in Capetian tradition. But Louis was not present for the ceremony since he was stricken with paralysis.
  |-
  |18 Sep 1180:|| Dies. Succeeded by son Philip II: Abbey at Saint-Pont, Allier and is interred in Saint Denis Basilica.
  |}
  
  ===Early Life===
  : p. Louis VI of France and Adelaide of Maurienne
  : 2nd son.
  
  ===Other Facts===
  * war with Theobald II of Champagne: for letting Raoul I of Vermandois, Seneschal of France, to ditch hiswife, Theobald II's niece, and marry Petronilla of Aquitaine (sis of the French queen).
  Champagne sided with the Pope in a dispute over Bourges. The war lasted two years (1142-44) and ended with the occupation of Champagne by the royal army.
  * lands were placed under papal interdict Pope Innocent II (reigned 1130-43): for supporting a rival to the papal candidate for the archbishopric of Bourges.
  
  * assaulted and burned Vitry.: 1000+ people sought refuge in the church, then died in flames. Guilty and humiliated by ecclesiastical contempt, Louis admitted defeat. He removed his armies from Champagne and returned them to Theobald, accepting Pierre de la Chatre, and shunning Ralph and Petronilla. To atone for his sins, he declared on Christmas Day 1145 at Bourges his intention to go on crusade.
  
  * arrested Eleanor of Aquitaine: Louis was smitten with Eleanor to the point factions popped up at court. Her enemies seized the opportunity to knock her out when her and uncle Raymond got too cozy during Louis' crusade. For that, Louis locked her down.
  
  * supported Thomas Becket: Louis supported Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, and tried to reconcile his relationship with Henry II. But this move was also made to damage Henry.: Even Louis grew irritated with Becket's stubbornness. When Becket refused Henry's conciliations, Louis asked: "Do you wish to be more thana Saint?"
  
  ===Links===* [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/odo-deuil.html Odo of Deuil: The Crusade of Louis VII]
  
  * [[Wikipedia:Louis VII of France]]
  
  === Sources ===
  * '''Royal Ancestry by Douglas Richardson Vol. I page 129'''
  * '''Royal Ancestry by Douglas Richardson Vol. III page 21'''LOUIS VII (CAPET-13) OF FRANCE, King of France, 1137-80, son and heir,born in 1120-21. He married (1st) in the Cathedral of Saint-Andre in Bordeaux July 1137 '''ELEANOR (or ALIENOR, ELEONORE) OF AQUITAINE'''. She was born about 1124. They had two daughters, Marie and Alix. They were divorced 21 March 1152; she married (2nd) 18 May 1152 '''HENRY II''', King of England, and died at Poitiers (Vienne) 31 March 1204. He married (2nd) in the Cathedral of Saint-Croix in Orleans (Loiret) in 1154 CONSTANCE (or CONSTANZA) OF CASTILE, She was born about 1140. Theyhad two daughters, Margaret (or Marguerite) and Alix). His wife, Constance, died in childbirth 4 October 1160. He married (3rd) in Notre Dame Cathedral at Paris 13 Nov. 1160 ADELE ) (or ALA, AALIS) OF BLOIS, She was born about 1140. They had one son, Philippe-''Auguste'' (II) [King of France] and one daughter, Agnes. LOUIS VII, King of France, died at Paris 18 (or 19) Sept. 1180, and was buried in the Abbey of Notre-Dame-deBarbeau (Fontaine-le-Port, Seine-et-Marne) near Fontainebleau.His widow, Adele, died at Paris 4 June 1206.
  * Royal and Noble Genealogical Data by Brian Tompsett v. March 25, 2001. B.C.Tompsett@dcs.hull.ac.uk
  * Eleanor of Aquitane and the Four Kings; Amy Kelly, Vintage Books, 1957
  
  * Fredrick Weis (1992). Ancestral Roots, 7th ed.
  
  
  ----: Page edited according to Jan 2014 [http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Acknowledgements Style Standards]. Gedcoms in Changes.
  
  ----
  
  === Bio ===
  Louis VII (ca. 1120-1180) was king of France from 1137 to 1180. He strengthened the authority of the royal court, went on the Second Crusade, and repelled the aggressions of Henry II of England.
  
  Sixth Capetian king of France, Louis VII succeeded his father, Louis VI, in 1137. Louis VII was a devout king with a passion for justice, but for many years one lacking in political good sense. By maintaining order in the royal domain and assuring justice, his court received on appeal many cases and earned respect for the Crown. Thanks to his trusted adviser, Suger, Abbot of St-Denis, the administration of the kingdom became more efficient and stronger and won increasing loyalty. Much of Louis's trouble arose from his marriage in 1137 to Eleanor, the heiress of unruly Aquitaine, which she brought to the King as her dowry.
  
  A year after the fall of Edessa in 1144, Pope Eugenius III asked the King to organize a new crusade. To overcome the widespread lack of enthusiasm, Louis invited Bernard of Clairvaux to preach the crusade, and the eloquent Cistercian awakened fervor for the project. Louis also won the support of the German Conrad III, who led a German army-the first time the French and Germans had undertaken an enterprise in common. The Second Crusade failed before the walls of Damascus in 1148.
  
  During the crusade Queen Eleanor aroused the jealousy of Louis by her questionable conduct with her uncle, Raymond of Poitiers. Pope Eugenius III tried to repair the broken marriage on their return from the East and forbade its dissolution. After Eleanor gave birth to a second child, another girl, and after the death in 1151 of Suger, who had managed to save the marriage as long as he was alive, in March 1152 a council of bishops declared the marriage annulled for reasons of kinship. Less than 2 months later Eleanor married the Duke of Normandy and Count of Anjou, Henry Plantagenet, who thereby acquired Aquitaine. Louis thus found himself confronted by a shrewd and aggressive vassal who ruled western France from the English Channel to the Pyrenees. Two years later Henry became King Henry II of England.
  
  Experience and the events of 1151-1154 made Louis wiser. He limited his objectives to the possible, never risked serious losses in battle, and resorted to alliances and the support of the Church to strengthen his position against Henry II. Thanks to the rebellions of Henry's sons, egged on by their mother, Eleanor, against their father, and the great difficulty Henry had in controlling his unruly vassals, Louis was able to survive this seemingly one-sided contest and to maintain his authority and orderly government in his kingdom. Louis became partially paralyzed the year before he died and lived out his life as an invalid
  
  === TABLEAUX GENEALOGIQUES DES SOUVERAINS DE ===
  TABLEAUX GENEALOGIQUES DES SOUVERAINS DE LA FRANCE ET DE SEU GRANDS FEUDATAIRES (GS NUMBER 944 D22L) TAB 6, VOL 2 P.35; TABLETTES CHRONOLOIQUES (GS NUMBER 944 D22T) VOL 1 P.52, 152; BETHAMIS GENEALOGICAL TABLES (GS NUMBER Q929.2 B465G) TAB 254; STAMMTEFELIN ZUR GESCHICITE DER EUROPAISCHEN STAATEN (GS NUMBER 940 D22F) VOL 2 P.14 ANDERSON'S ROYAL GENEALOGIES (GS NUMBER Q929.2 AN23R) TAB 374; GENEALOGISHE TABELLIN (GS NUMBER ESQ940 D2V) TAB 31; FRANCE PUBLICATION F.H., VOL 22 P.155, 207; ANCESTRAL FILE, LDS GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY;
  
  === !SOURCE OF INFORMATION: Ancestral Roots ===
  !SOURCE OF INFORMATION: Ancestral Roots of Sixty Colonists Who Came to New England between 1623 and 1650. The Lineage of Alfred the Great, Charlemagne, Malcolm of Scotland, Robert the Strong, and Some of Their Descendants. By Frederick Lewis Weis. GPC 1982. Line 101-25. King of France 25 Dec. 1137-1180.
  === Life Sketch ===
  Louis VII (called the Younger or the Young) (French: Louis le Jeune) (1120 – 18 September 1180) was King of France, the son and successor of Louis VI (hence his nickname). He ruled from 1137 until his death. He was part of the genetic ascendancy of the House of Capet. His reign was dominated by feudal struggles (in particular with the Angevin family), and saw the beginning of the long feud between France and England. It also saw the beginning of construction on Notre-Dame de Paris, the founding of the University of Paris and the disastrous Second Crusade.
  
  Louis VII was born in 1120, the second son of Louis VI of France and Adelaide of Maurienne. As a younger son, Louis VII had been raised to follow the ecclesiastical path. He unexpectedly became the heir to the throne of France after the accidental death of his older brother, Philip, in 1131. A well-learned and exceptionally devout man, Louis VII was better suited for life as a priest than as a monarch.
  
  In his youth, he spent much time in Saint-Denis, where he built a friendship with the Abbot Suger which was to serve him well in his early years as king.
  
  In the same year he was crowned King of France, Louis VII was married on 25 July 1137 to Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine, heiress of William X of Aquitaine. The pairing of the monkish Louis VII and the high-spirited Eleanor was doomed to failure; she once reportedly declared that she had thought to marry a King, only to find she'd married a monk. They had only two daughters, Marie and Alix.
  
  In the first part of Louis VII's reign he was vigorous and jealous of his prerogatives, but after his Crusade his piety limited his ability to become an effective statesman. His accession was marked by no disturbances, save the uprisings of the burgesses of Orleans and of Poitiers, who wished to organize communes. But soon 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 Pope's nominee Pierre de la Chatre, swearing upon relics that so long as he lived Pierre should never enter Bourges. This brought the interdict upon the King's lands.
  
  Louis VII then became involved in a war with Theobald II of Champagne, by permitting Raoul I of Vermandois and seneschal of France, to repudiate his wife, Theobald II's niece, and to marry Petronilla of Aquitaine, sister of the queen of France. Champagne also sided with the Pope in the dispute over Bourges. The war lasted two years (1142–1144) and ended with the occupation of Champagne by the royal army. Louis VII was personally involved in the assault and burning of the town of Vitry-le-François. More than a thousand people who had sought refuge in the church died in the flames. Overcome with guilt, and humiliated by ecclesiastical contempt, Louis admitted defeat, removing his armies from Champagne and returning them to Theobald, accepting Pierre de la Chatre, and shunning Ralph and Petronilla. Desiring to atone for his sins, he then declared on Christmas Day 1145 at Bourges his intention of going on a crusade. Bernard of Clairvaux assured its popularity by his preaching at Vezelay (Easter 1146).
  
  Meanwhile in 1144, Geoffrey the Handsome, Count of Anjou, completed his conquest of Normandy. In exchange for being recognized as Duke of Normandy by Louis, Geoffrey surrendered half of the Vexin—a region considered vital to Norman security—to Louis. Considered a clever move by Louis at the time, it would later prove yet another step towards Angevin power.
  
  In June 1147, in fulfillment of his vow to go on crusade, Louis VII and his queen, Eleanor, set out from Metz, Lorraine, on the overland route to Syria. Soon they arrived to the Kingdom of Hungary where they were welcomed by the king Géza II of Hungary, who was already waiting with the German emperor. Due to his good relationships with Louis VII, Géza II asked the French king to be his son Stephen's baptism godfather. After receiving provisions from the Hungarian king, the armies continued the march to the East. Just beyond Laodicea the French army was ambushed by Turks. The French were bombarded by arrows and heavy stones, the Turks swarmed down from the mountains and the massacre began. The historian Odo of Deuil reported:
  
  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 the arrows, and to prevent himself from being captured he defended the crag with his bloody sword, cutting off many heads and hands.
  
  Louis VII and his army finally reached the Holy Land in 1148. His queen Eleanor supported her uncle, Raymond of Antioch, and prevailed upon Louis to help Antioch against Aleppo. But Louis VII's interest lay in Jerusalem, and so he slipped out of Antioch in secret. He united with Conrad III of Germany and King Baldwin III of Jerusalem to lay siege to Damascus; this ended in disaster and the project was abandoned. Louis VII decided to leave the Holy Land, despite the protests of Eleanor, who still wanted to help her doomed uncle Raymond of Antioch. Louis VII and the French army returned home in 1149.
  
  The expedition came to a great cost to the royal treasury and military. It also precipitated a conflict with Eleanor, leading to the annulment of their marriage at the council of Beaugency (March 1152). The pretext of kinship was the basis for annulment; in fact, it owed more to the state of hostility between the two, and the decreasing odds that their marriage would produce a male heir to the throne of France. Eleanor subsequently married Henry, Count of Anjou, the future Henry II of England, in the following May giving him the duchy of Aquitaine, three daughters, and five sons. Louis VII led an ineffective war against Henry for having married without the authorization 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 a fever, and returned to the Ile-de France.
  
  In 1154 Louis VII married Constance of Castile, daughter of Alfonso VII of Castile. She, too, failed to give him a son and heir, bearing only two daughters, Marguerite of France, and Alys.
  
  Louis having produced no sons by 1157, Henry II of England began to believe that he might never do so, and that consequently the succession of France would be left in question. Determined to secure a claim for his family, he sent the Chancellor, Thomas Becket, to press for a marriage between Princess Marguerite and Henry's heir, also called Henry (later Henry the Young King). Louis, surprisingly, agreed to this proposal, and by the Treaty of Gisors (1158) betrothed the young pair, giving as a dowry the Norman Vexin and Gisors.
  
  Louis VII receiving clergymen, from a late medieval manuscript. Constance died in childbirth on 4 October 1160, and five weeks later Louis VII married Adela of Champagne. Henry II, to counterbalance the advantage this would give the King of France, had the marriage of their children (Henry "the Young King" and Marguerite) celebrated at once. Louis understood the danger of the growing Angevin power; however, through indecision and lack of fiscal and military resources compared to Henry II's, he failed to oppose Angevin hegemony effectively. One of his few successes, in 1159, was his trip to Toulouse to aid Raymond V, Count of Toulouse who had been attacked by Henry II: after he entered into the city with a small escort, claiming to be visiting the Countess his sister, Henry declared that he could not attack the city whilst his liege lord was inside, and went home.
  
  At the same time the emperor Frederick I (1152–1190) in the east was making good the imperial claims on Arles. When the schism broke out, Louis VII took the part of the Pope Alexander III, the enemy of Frederick I, and after two comical failures of Frederick I to meet Louis VII at Saint Jean de Losne (on 29 August and 22 September 1162), Louis VII definitely gave himself up to the cause of Alexander III, who lived at Sens from 1163 to 1165. Alexander III gave the King, in return for his loyal support, the golden rose.
  
  More importantly for French — and English — history would be his 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 piousness — yet even he grew irritated with the stubbornness of the archbishop, asking when Becket refused Henry's conciliations, "Do you wish to be more than a Saint?"
  
  He also supported Henry's 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 amongst Henry's sons and Louis's own indecisiveness broke up the coalition (1173–1174) between them. Finally, in 1177, the Pope intervened to bring the two Kings to terms at Vitry-le-François.
  
  In 1165, Louis' third wife bore him a son and heir, Philip II Augustus. 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, King Louis VII himself was not able to be present at the ceremony. He died on 18 September 1180 at the Abbey at Saint-Pont, Allier and is interred in Saint Denis Basilica.
  
  The reign of Louis VII was, from the point of view of royal territory and military power a difficult and unfortunate one. Yet the royal authority made progress in the parts of France distant from the royal domains: more direct and more frequent connection was made with distant vassals, a result largely due to the alliance of the clergy w
  
  Henry Archbishop of Reims (1162–1175)
  Taken from wikipedia
  
  Henry of France (circa 1121 – 13 November 1175), Bishop of Beauvais (1149–1162), then Archbishop of Reims (1162–1175), was the third son of Louis the Fat, King of France and
  
  Louis VII of France Wikipedia Page
  Louis VII (1120 – 18 September 1180), called the Younger or the Young (French: le Jeune), was King of the Franks from 1137 to 1180. He was the son and successor of King Louis VI, hence his nickname, a
  
  BIO
  BIO: King of France, 25 Dec 1170-1180. Divorced Eleanor of Aquitaine 1152.
  
  ** from http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/CAPET.htm#Alixdiedafter1200MGuillaumeIIIPonthieu as of 6/10/2016
  
  LOUIS de France,
  
  Louis VII (called the Younger or the Young) (French: Louis le Jeune) (1120-18 September 1180)
  Louis VII (called the Younger or the Young) (French: Louis le Jeune) (1120-18 September 1180) was King of the Franks from 1137 until his death. He was the son and successor of King Louis VI of France,
  
  === TABLEAUX GENEALOGIQUES DES SOUVERAINS DE ===
  TABLEAUX GENEALOGIQUES DES SOUVERAINS DE LA FRANCE ET DE SEU GRANDS FEUDATAIRES (GS NUMBER 944 D22L) TAB 6, VOL 2 P.35; TABLETTES CHRONOLOIQUES (GS NUMBER 944 D22T) VOL 1 P.52, 152; BETHAMIS GENEALOGICAL TABLES (GS NUMBER Q929.2 B465G) TAB 254; STAMMTEFELIN ZUR GESCHICITE DER EUROPAISCHEN STAATEN (GS NUMBER 940 D22F) VOL 2 P.14 ANDERSON'S ROYAL GENEALOGIES (GS NUMBER Q929.2 AN23R) TAB 374; GENEALOGISHE TABELLIN (GS NUMBER ESQ940 D2V) TAB 31; FRANCE PUBLICATION F.H., VOL 22 P.155, 207; ANCESTRAL FILE, LDS GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY;
  
  === [[Category: Second Crusade]] ===
  [[Category: Second Crusade]]
  
  {{European Aristocrat
  | house = House of Capet
  | image = European Aristocrats Project-3.png}}
  {{Euro Aristo 742-1499|title place=France}}
  
  == Important Notice ==
  : This profile is the result of ongoing merges. Interested parties are encouraged to edit text into a rational whole. The privacy of historic figures should be open (public) at all times. If not please ask a manager to correct it.
  ----
  
  ==Louis VII, Roi de France==
  
  {|style: border=1; cellpadding=10; cellspacing=10
  |1120:|| Louis is born.
  |-
  |1131:|| Phillip dies. Louis is Dauphin.: Louis VII was suited for priesthood. In youth, he spent time in Saint-Denis, where he made friends with Abbot Suger, who served him in hisearly years as king.
  |-
  |1137:|| Louis marries Eleanor of Aquitaine. Becomes king of France.
  |-
  |1144:|| Conquers Champagne after 2 year war.
  
  : Geoffrey "the Handsome", Count of Anjou, conquers Normandy. : Surrenders half of Vexin so Louis will call him Duke of Normandy. Vexin was vital to Norman security, so it was considered a clever move by Louis. Later, it would later to be another step for Angevin power.
  |-|Easter 1146:|| Bernard of Clairvaux fires up the masses to go to war.It results in a Crusade.
  |-|Jun 1147:|| Unsuccessful Second Crusade; one of two chief military leaders
  :the other was Conrad III of Germany.: Raymond of Poitiers welcoming Louis VII in Antioch. In June 1147 Louis VII and his queen, Eleanor, set out from Metz, Lorraine, on the overland route to Syria.
  : Just beyond Laodicea the French army was ambushed by Turks. As they were bombarded by arrows and heavy stones, the Turks swarmed down fromthe mountains and the massacre began. Odo of Deuil reported that Louis lost his small but famous royal guard in the fight but scaled the mountain side by gripping the tree roots to avoid capture. The enemy went after him, and even shot arrows. But Louis was unscathed, defending the crag with by sword, cutting off heads and hands.
  |-
  |1148:|| Reaches Holy Land.: Eleanor supported her uncle, Raymond of Antioch, and prevailed upon Louis to help Antioch against Aleppo. But Louis VII's interest lay in Jerusalem, and so he slipped out of Antioch in secret. He sided with Conrad III of Germany and Baldwin III of Jerusalem to lay siege to Damascus. A disaster, the project was abandoned. Louis VII decided to leave, despite the protests of Eleanor, who still wanted to help her doomed uncle Raymond of Antioch. Louis VII and the French army returned home in 1149.
  : The expedition was a great cost to the royal treasury and military. It also precipitated a conflict with Eleanor (Louis arrested her), leading to the annulment of their marriage at the council of Beaugency (March 1152). Consanguinuity was the basis; in fact, it owed more to thestate of hostility between the two, and the decreasing odds that their marriage would produce a male heir to the throne of France.
  : At the same time the emperor Frederick I (1152–1190) in the east was making good the imperial claims on Arles. When the schism broke out, Louis VII took the part of the Pope Alexander III, the enemy of Frederick I, and after two comical failures of Frederick I to meet Louis VII at Saint Jean de Losne (on 29 August and 22 September 1162), Louis VII definitely gave himself up to the cause of Alexander III, who lived at Sens from 1163 to 1165. Alexander III gave the King, in return for his loyal support, the golden rose.
  |-
  |1149:||Returns home.
  |-
  |1152:|| m. to Eleanor annulled.: Eleanor runs offwith Henry of Anjou. Louis goes to war for possession of Aquitaine. Didn't work.: Henry scored the duchy of Aquitaine, and had 3 daughters, and five sons with the wealthy Duchess of Aquitaine. Louis VII's ineffective waragainst Henry for marrying without the authorization of his suzerain was a humiliation for the enemies of Henry and Eleanor. The English couple routed those troops, ravaged their lands, and stole their property. Louis reacted by coming down with a fever, and returned to the Ile de France.
  |-
  |1154:|| Renounces rights to Aquitaine.
  
  m. Constance of Castile
  : dau Alfonso VII of Castile.
  |-
  |1157 - 1180:|| continues sporadic warfare against Henry II.
  |-
  |04 Oct 1160:|| Constance dies in childbirth.
  
  Louis m. Adela of Champagne
  |-|1177:||Pope brings Louis and Henry I of England to terms at Vitry.: Louis supported Henry's rebellious sons, and encouraged Plantagenet disunity choosing them (over Henry I) to be the feudal overlords of French Angevin territory. But sibling rivalry and Louis's indecisiveness broke the coalition (1173–1174).
  |-
  |1179:|| Phillip Augustus crowned at Reims: near the end of Louis' life, his third wife bore son and heir, Philip II Augustus. He was the last French king to be crowned in Capetian tradition. But Louis was not present for the ceremony since he was stricken with paralysis.
  |-
  |18 Sep 1180:|| Dies. Succeeded by son Philip II: Abbey at Saint-Pont, Allier and is interred in Saint Denis Basilica.
  |}
  
  ===Early Life===
  : p. Louis VI of France and Adelaide of Maurienne
  : 2nd son.
  
  ===Other Facts===
  * war with Theobald II of Champagne: for letting Raoul I of Vermandois, Seneschal of France, to ditch hiswife, Theobald II's niece, and marry Petronilla of Aquitaine (sis of the French queen).
  Champagne sided with the Pope in a dispute over Bourges. The war lasted two years (1142–44) and ended with the occupation of Champagne by the royal army.
  * lands were placed under papal interdict Pope Innocent II (reigned 1130-43): for supporting a rival to the papal candidate for the archbishopric of Bourges.
  
  * assaulted and burned Vitry.: 1000+ people sought refuge in the church, then died in flames. Guilty and humiliated by ecclesiastical contempt, Louis admitted defeat. He removed his armies from Champagne and returned them to Theobald, accepting Pierre de la Chatre, and shunning Ralph and Petronilla. To atone for his sins, he declared on Christmas Day 1145 at Bourges his intention to go on crusade.
  
  * arrested Eleanor of Aquitaine: Louis was smitten with Eleanor to the point factions popped up at court. Her enemies seized the opportunity to knock her out when her and uncle Raymond got too cozy during Louis' crusade. For that, Louis locked her down.
  
  * supported Thomas Becket: Louis supported Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, and tried to reconcile his relationship with Henry II. But this move was also made to damage Henry.: Even Louis grew irritated with Becket's stubbornness. When Becket refused Henry's conciliations, Louis asked: "Do you wish to be more thana Saint?"
  
  ===Links===* [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/odo-deuil.html Odo of Deuil: The Crusade of Louis VII]
  
  * [[Wikipedia:Louis VII of France]]
  
  === Sources ===
  * '''Royal Ancestry by Douglas Richardson Vol. I page 129'''
  * '''Royal Ancestry by Douglas Richardson Vol. III page 21'''LOUIS VII (CAPET-13) OF FRANCE, King of France, 1137-80, son and heir,born in 1120-21. He married (1st) in the Cathedral of Saint-Andre in Bordeaux July 1137 '''ELEANOR (or ALIENOR, ELEONORE) OF AQUITAINE'''. She was born about 1124. They had two daughters, Marie and Alix. They were divorced 21 March 1152; she married (2nd) 18 May 1152 '''HENRY II''', King of England, and died at Poitiers (Vienne) 31 March 1204. He married (2nd) in the Cathedral of Saint-Croix in Orleans (Loiret) in 1154 CONSTANCE (or CONSTANZA) OF CASTILE, She was born about 1140. Theyhad two daughters, Margaret (or Marguerite) and Alix). His wife, Constance, died in childbirth 4 October 1160. He married (3rd) in Notre Dame Cathedral at Paris 13 Nov. 1160 ADELE ) (or ALA, AALIS) OF BLOIS, She was born about 1140. They had one son, Philippe-''Auguste'' (II) [King of France] and one daughter, Agnes. LOUIS VII, King of France, died at Paris 18 (or 19) Sept. 1180, and was buried in the Abbey of Notre-Dame-deBarbeau (Fontaine-le-Port, Seine-et-Marne) near Fontainebleau.His widow, Adele, died at Paris 4 June 1206.
  * Royal and Noble Genealogical Data by Brian Tompsett v. March 25, 2001. B.C.Tompsett@dcs.hull.ac.uk
  * Eleanor of Aquitane and the Four Kings; Amy Kelly, Vintage Books, 1957
  
  * Fredrick Weis (1992). Ancestral Roots, 7th ed.
  
  
  ----: Page edited according to Jan 2014 [http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Acknowledgements Style Standards]. Gedcoms in Changes.
  
  ----
  
  === Bio ===
  Louis VII (ca. 1120-1180) was king of France from 1137 to 1180. He strengthened the authority of the royal court, went on the Second Crusade, and repelled the aggressions of Henry II of England.
  
  Sixth Capetian king of France, Louis VII succeeded his father, Louis VI, in 1137. Louis VII was a devout king with a passion for justice, but for many years one lacking in political good sense. By maintaining order in the royal domain and assuring justice, his court received on appeal many cases and earned respect for the Crown. Thanks to his trusted adviser, Suger, Abbot of St-Denis, the administration of the kingdom became more efficient and stronger and won increasing loyalty. Much of Louis's trouble arose from his marriage in 1137 to Eleanor, the heiress of unruly Aquitaine, which she brought to the King as her dowry.
  
  A year after the fall of Edessa in 1144, Pope Eugenius III asked the King to organize a new crusade. To overcome the widespread lack of enthusiasm, Louis invited Bernard of Clairvaux to preach the crusade, and the eloquent Cistercian awakened fervor for the project. Louis also won the support of the German Conrad III, who led a German army—the first time the French and Germans had undertaken an enterprise in common. The Second Crusade failed before the walls of Damascus in 1148.
  
  During the crusade Queen Eleanor aroused the jealousy of Louis by her questionable conduct with her uncle, Raymond of Poitiers. Pope Eugenius III tried to repair the broken marriage on their return from the East and forbade its dissolution. After Eleanor gave birth to a second child, another girl, and after the death in 1151 of Suger, who had managed to save the marriage as long as he was alive, in March 1152 a council of bishops declared the marriage annulled for reasons of kinship. Less than 2 months later Eleanor married the Duke of Normandy and Count of Anjou, Henry Plantagenet, who thereby acquired Aquitaine. Louis thus found himself confronted by a shrewd and aggressive vassal who ruled western France from the English Channel to the Pyrenees. Two years later Henry became King Henry II of England.
  
  Experience and the events of 1151-1154 made Louis wiser. He limited his objectives to the possible, never risked serious losses in battle, and resorted to alliances and the support of the Church to strengthen his position against Henry II. Thanks to the rebellions of Henry's sons, egged on by their mother, Eleanor, against their father, and the great difficulty Henry had in controlling his unruly vassals, Louis was able to survive this seemingly one-sided contest and to maintain his authority and orderly government in his kingdom. Louis became partially paralyzed the year before he died and lived out his life as an invalid
  
  === Louis VII born c. 1120 died Sept. 18, 1 ===
  Louis VII born c. 1120 died Sept. 18, 1180, Paris byname Louis The Younger, French Louis Le JeuneCapetian king of France who pursued a long rivalry, marked by recurrent warfare and continuous intrigue, with Henry II of England. In 1131 Louis was anointed as successor to his father, Louis VI, and in 1137 he became the sole ruler at his father's death. Louis married Eleanor, daughter of William X, duke of Aquitaine, in 1137, 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. From 1141 to 1143 he was involved in a fruitless conflict with Count Thibaut of Champagne and the papacy. But thereafter his relations with the popes were good; Alexander II, whom he supported against Frederick Barbarossa, took refuge in France. But the major threat to his reign came from Geoffrey, count of Anjou and, briefly, of Normandy, and Geoffrey's son Henry, who later (1154) became King Henry II of England as well as ruler of both Anjou and Normandy. After Louis repudiated his wife Eleanor for misconduct on March 21, 1152, she married Henry, who then took over control of Aquitaine. Ironically, this act was probably to Capetian advantage because Aquitaine might have drained the resources of Louis's kingdom while bringing him little revenue. After the death of Louis's second wife, he married Alix of Champagne, whose Carolingian blood brought added prestige to the monarchy (1160); their son became Philip II Augustus. 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.
  
  === !#552-V2-T11; !#18-V2-T14; ===
  !#552-V2-T11; !#18-V2-T14;
  
  === Annulment ===
  King Louis and Eleanor's marriage was annulled in 1152, and Louis maintained custody of their daughters
  
  === Louis VII, Roi des Francs was born circa ===
  Louis VII, Roi des Francs was born circa 1121.3 He was the son of Louis VI Capet, Roi des Francs and Adelaide di Savoia.1 He married, firstly, Eleanor, Duchesse d'Aquitaine, daughter of Guillaume X, Duc d'Aquitaine and Eleanor Châtellérault de Rochefoucauld, on 25 July 1137 at Bordeaux Cathedral, Bordeaux, Dauphine, FranceG.4 He and Eleanor, Duchesse d'Aquitaine were divorced in 1152 on the grounds of consanguity.3 He married, secondly, Constanza de Castilla, daughter of Alfonso VII, Rey de Castilla and Berengaria de Provence, in 1154. He married, thirdly, Adele de Champagne, daughter of Thibaud IV, Comte de Blois and Matilda Prinzessin von Kärnten, on 13 November 1160.5 He died on 18 September 1180 at Paris, FranceG.5 He was buried at Abbey Barbeaux, Melun, Île-de-France, FranceG.
  Louis VII, Roi des Francs also went by the nick-name of Louis 'le Jeune' (or in English, 'the Younger.1') He succeeded as the Roi des Francs in 1137.1
  Children of Louis VII, Roi des Francs and Eleanor, Duchesse d'Aquitaine
  Marie Capet, Princesse de France+6 b. 1145, d. 11 Mar 1198
  Alix Capet, Princesse de France+6 b. 1150, d. 1198
  Children of Louis VII, Roi des Francs and Constanza de Castilla
  Marguerite Capet, Princesse de France+ b. 1158, d. 1198
  Alys Capet+ b. 4 Oct 1160, d. c 1220
  Children of Louis VII, Roi des Francs and Adele de Champagne
  Philippe II Auguste Capet, Roi de France+1 b. 21 Aug 1165, d. 14 Jul 1223
  Agnes Capet, Princesse de France b. 1171, d. a 1240
  
  === https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_VII_of_France ===
  
  Jones, Dan (2012). The Plantagenets:The Warrior Kings and Queens Who Made England. New York: Viking Press. ISBN 9780670026654.
  
  === !SOURCE OF INFORMATION: Ancestral Roots ===
  !SOURCE OF INFORMATION: Ancestral Roots of Sixty Colonists Who Came to New England between 1623 and 1650. The Lineage of Alfred the Great, Charlemagne, Malcolm of Scotland, Robert the Strong, and Some of Their Descendants. By Frederick Lewis Weis. GPC 1982. Line 101-25. King of France 25 Dec. 1137-1180.
  
  === Source: Weis, Frederick Lewis, Ancestral ===
  Source: Weis, Frederick Lewis, Ancestral Roots, Seventh Edition, Genealogical Publishing Co., Baltimore, [1992], 102-25. Louis VII, called The Young (1121?-80), king of France (1137-80), son and successor of Louis VI. In the first year of his reign he married Eleanor of Aquitaine, daughter of William X, duke of Aquitaine. Louis soon aroused the opposition of Pope Innocent II because of his support of a rival to the papal candidate for the archbishopric of Bourges, and his lands were placed under papal interdict. Louis next fought a 2-year war and conquered Champagne in 1144. In 1147 he joined the unsuccessful Second Crusade as one of its two chief military leaders (the other was Conrad III of Germany). Louis returned to France two years later, and in 1152 his marriage to Eleanor was annulled; in the same year she married Henry of Anjou, later Henry II, king of England. Louis warred with Henry for the possession of Aquitaine but renounced all rights to the duchy in 1154, the year Henry became king of England. Between 1157 and 1180 Louis continued sporadic warfare against Henry, who held many of the French provinces. Louis was succeeded by his son Philip II (Philip Augustus).

• m. 25 JUL 1137 in Bordeaux, Gironde, Aquitaine, France

1. Marie of France Countess of Champagne, b. 6 APR 1145 in Rance, Lot-et-Garonne, Aquitaine, France     d. 11 MAR 1198 in Troyes, Aube, Champagne-Ardenne, France
2. Alix Countess of Blois, b. 1150 in , Paris, Ile-de-France, France     d. 1198 in Castile, Spain

1. Alix (Adele) Capet, b. ABT 1170     d. 1221

• m. 18 NOV 1153 in Castile, Spain

1. Alix du Vexin Capet comtesse du Vexin, b. 4 OCT 1160 in Paris, Île-De-France, France     d. 18 JUL 1221 in Angoulême, Charente, Poitou-Charentes, France

• m. 13 NOV 1160 in Paris, France

1. Philippe Augustus II Roi de France, b. 21 AUG 1165 in Gonesse, Val-d'Oise, Île-de-France, France     d. 14 JUL 1223 in Mantes-la-Jolie, Yvelines, Île-de-France, France

1. Title: Unsourced citation
   
2. Title: Unsourced citation
   
3. Title: King Louis VII, "Find A Grave Index"
   Author: "Find A Grave Index," database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVJ1-BKC8 : 12 December 2022), King Louis VII, ; Burial, Fontaine-le-Port, Departement de Seine-et-Marne, Île-de-France, France, Abbaye de Barbeau; citing record ID 7138, Find a Grave, http://www.findagrave.com.
   Publication: Name: https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVJ1-BKC8;
   
4. Title: Wikipedia article
   Author: main body of the article
   Publication: Name: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_VII_of_France;
   Note: historical biography of Louis VII
   
5. Title: Unsourced citation