King Louis VII
(1120-1180)

Died aged 60

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 the epithet "the Young") and married 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. During his march, as part of 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 his wife 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 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 was annulled in 1152 after no male heir was produced. Immediately after their annulment, Eleanor married Henry Plantagenet, Duke of Normandy and Count of Anjou, to whom she conveyed Aquitaine, which following Henry's ascension to the throne created an Angevin Empire. He later supported Henry's rebellious sons to further disunity in the Angevin realms. Louis later re-married to Constance of Castile, but still failed to have a male heir. His third marriage to Adela of Champagne, finally gave him a son, Philip. Louis died in 1180 and was succeeded by his son Philip II.

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