Louis VII of France
| Louis VII | |
|---|---|
|
|
| King of the Franks | |
|
Junior king Senior king |
25 October 1131 – 1 August 1137 1 August 1137 – 18 September 1180 |
| Coronation | 25 October 1131 in Reims Cathedral (as Junior king) 25 December 1137 in Bourges (as King) |
| Predecessor | Louis VI |
| Successor | Philip II |
| Born | 1120 |
| Died | 18 September 1180 (aged 59–60) Saint-Pont, Allier |
| Burial | Saint Denis Basilica |
| Spouse |
Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine Constance of Castile Adèle of Champagne |
| Issue |
Marie, Countess of Champagne Alix, Countess of Blois Margaret, Queen of Hungary Alys, Countess of Vexin Philip II of France Agnes, Byzantine Empress |
| House | Capet |
| Father | Louis VI of France |
| Mother | Adélaide of Maurienne |
| Religion | Roman Catholicism |
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, hence his nickname, and married Eleanor of Aquitaine, one of the wealthiest and most powerful women in western Europe. Eleanor came with the vast Duchy of Aquitaine as a dowry for Louis, thus temporarily extending the Capetian lands to the Pyrenees, but their marriage was annulled in 1152 after no male heir was produced.
Immediately after the annulment of her marriage, Eleanor married Henry Plantagenet, Duke of Normandy and Count of Anjou, to whom she conveyed Aquitaine. When Henry became King of England in 1154, as Henry II, he ruled over a large empire that spanned from Scotland to the Pyrenees. Henry's efforts to preserve and expand on this patrimony for the Crown of England would mark the beginning of the long rivalry between France and England.
Louis VII's reign saw the founding of the University of Paris and the disastrous Second Crusade. Louis and his famous counselor, Abbot Suger, pushed for a greater centralization of the state and favoured the development French Gothic architecture, notably the construction of Notre-Dame de Paris.
He died in 1180 and was succeeded by his son Philip II.
Louis was born in 1120 in Paris, the second son of Louis VI of France and Adelaide of Maurienne. The early education of Prince Louis anticipated an ecclesiastical career. As a result, he became well-learned and exceptionally devout, but his life course changed decisively after the accidental death of his older brother Philip in 1131, when he unexpectedly became the heir to the throne of France. In October 1131, his father had him anointed and crowned by Pope Innocent II in Reims Cathedral. He spent much of his youth in Saint-Denis, where he built a friendship with the Abbot Suger, an advisor to his father who also served Louis well during his early years as king.
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