• Born: 1120, Paris, Île-de-France, France
• Married (1): 22 Jul 1137, Bordeaux Catherdral, Bordeaux, France
• Married (2): Bef 18 Nov 1153, Castile, Spain
• Married (3): 13 Nov 1160
• Died: 18 Sep 1180, Palais Royal de la Cité, Paris, Île-de-France, France
• Buried: 19 Sep 1180, Abbaye cistercienne de Notre-Dame-de-Barbeaux near Fontainebleau

  Research Notes:

His parentage is recorded by Orderic Vitalis. He became heir to the throne on the death of his older brother in 1131. Consecrated associate-king 25 Oct 1131, Notre-Dame de Reims, he received effective power from his father 28 Oct 1135, due to the latter's ill health.

He succeeded his father in 1137 as LOUIS VII "le Jeune/le Pieux" King of France. Duke of Aquitaine, by right of his first wife, 8 Aug 1137 at Bordeaux.

He declared war against Thibaut IV Comte de Champagne, who was fighting Raoul Comte de Vermandois, laid siege to and captured Vitry, but signed a peace treaty there in 1143. After the fall of Edessa in 1146, Pope Eugenius III addressed a bull to Louis VII 1 Dec 1145 urging a new crusade. He assembled his army at Metz 15 Jun 1147, and arrived in Constantinople 4 Oct 1147. He left the government in the hands of Suger Abbé de Saint-Denis, his brother Henri Archbishop of Reims and his cousin Raoul Comte de Vermandois. Although the crusade failed in its aim to capture Damascus end-Jul 1148, Louis VII gained much prestige as the first western king to lead a crusading army. After leaving Palestine in Summer 1149, he landed in Calabria where he discussed launching a new crusade aimed at taking vengeance on Byzantium with Roger II King of Sicily and Pope Eugenius III, but the scheme was later dropped for lack of support from Konrad III King of Germany who had entered an alliance with Emperor Manuel I. He arrived back in Paris end-1149.

Ralph de Diceto´s Abbreviationes Chronicorum record in 1180 that “Ludovicus rex Francorum” was buried “aput abbatiam Barbel quam ædificavit”. The Chronicle of Alberic de Trois-Fontaines records the death "XV Kal Oct" of "rex Ludovicus pius" and his burial "abbatiam Cisterciensis ordinis de Sancto Portu…Barbel". The necrology of the abbey of Saint-Denis records the death "XIII Kal Oct" of "Ludovicus rex". ¹

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BIOGRAPHY ²

Louis VII, byname Louis The Younger, French Louis Le Jeune... Capetian 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.