ouis 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). [Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia]

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