1.1b.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.2.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1a.1b.1b.1.1.1.1b.1.1.1a Louis (The Younger) VII Le Jeune , King of France* 
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| Birth |
1120 |
| Death |
18 Sep 1180, PARIS, SEINE, FRANCE |
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 Pyrences.
Louis continued his fahter'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 hw was involved in a fruitless
conflict with Count Thibaut of Champagne and the papacy. But thereafther 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 Capetain advantage because Aquitaine might
have drained the resources of Louis's kingdom while bringing him little revenue.
Afther the death of Louis's second wife, he married Alix of Champagen, 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 that Louis
had with Henry between 1152 and 1174. Louis was helped by the quarrel
(1164-1170) between Henry and THOMAS BECKET, ARCH-BISHOP OF CANTERBURY, and a
revolt (1173-1174) of Henry's sons. Sugar, Abbot of Saint-Denis, who acted as
regent in 1147-1149 while Louis was away on the Second Crusade, is the primary
historian for Louis's reign.
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