Louis Vii, King of France

Louis 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 (1099-1137). Louis soon aroused the opposition of Pope Innocent II (reigned 1130-43) 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).

Eleanor of Aquitaine

Birth	1122	France, Aquitaine, Gironde ⚑ More on this location
Death	1 APR 1204	France, Loire, Fontevrault ⚑ More on this location
Grave		France, Loire, Maine-et-Loire, Fontevraud Abbey ⚑ More on this location

Aged: 82.3 years

She inherited the duchy of Aquitaine from her father in 1137, the same year in which she was married to Louis VII of France. She accompanied her husband on the Second Crusade to the Holy Land, where it was rumored that she committed adultery. The scandal, and the fact that she had not given the king a male heir, resulted in an annulment of their marriage in 1152 under the pretext of blood kinship between her and the king. Later that year, Eleanor married and gave her possessions to Henry Plantagenet, count of Anjou, who in 1154 became Henry II, king of England. In 1170, the queen induced her husband to invest their son Richard the Lion-Hearted with her personal dominions of Gascony, Aquitaine, and Poitou. When Richard and his brothers rebelled against their father in 1173, Eleanor, already alienated from the king because of his unfaithfulness, supported her sons. Consequently, she was placed in confinement until 1185. After her release, she secured the succession of her son Richard, who had become heir apparent at the death in 1183 of his eldest brother. From the death of King Henry II in 1189 until Richard's return from the Third Crusade in 1194, Eleanor ruled as regent. During this time, she foiled the attempt of her son John in 1193 to conspire with France against the new king. After the return of Richard, she arranged a reconciliation between the two brothers. Eleanor continued to be prominent in public affairs until she retired to the abbey in Fontevrault, France, where she died on April 1, 1204.

Children

First Name

Birth Dt

Death Dt

Birth Place

Spouses