| Notes |
- In the first part of Louis VII's reign he was vigorous and jealous of
his prerogatives, but after his crusade his piety limited his ability
to become an effective statesman. His accession was marked by no
disturbances, save the uprisings of the burgesses of Orléans and of
Poitiers, who wished to organize communes. But soon he came into
violent conflict with Pope Innocent II. The archbishopric of Bourges
became vacant, and the king supported as candidate the chancellor
Cadurc, against the pope's nominee Pierre de la Chatre, swearing upon
relics that so long as he lived Pierre should never enter Bourges.
This brought the interdict upon the king's lands.
Louis became involved in a war with Theobald II of Champagne, by
permitting Raoul I of Vermandois and seneschal of France, to repudiate
his wife, Theobald's niece, and to marry Petronilla of Aquitaine,
sister of the queen of France. Champagne also sided with the pope in
the dispute over Bourges. The war lasted two years (1142-44) and ended
with the occupation of Champagne by the royal army. Louis was
personally involved in the assault and burning of the town of Vitry.
More than a thousand people who had sought refuge in the church, died
in the flames. Overcome with guilt, Louis declared on Christmas Day
1145 at Bourges his intention of going on a crusade. Bernard of
Clairvaux assured its popularity by his preaching at Vezelay (Easter
1146).
Meanwhile in 1144, Geoffrey the Handsome, count of Anjou, completed
his conquest of Normandy, threatening the royal domains. Louis VII by
a clever manoeuvre threw his army on the Norman frontier and gained
Gisors, one of the keys of Normandy.
In June 1147 Louis and his queen, Eleanor, set out from Metz,
Lorraine, on the overland route to Syria. Just beyond Laodicea the
French army was ambushed by Turks. The French were bombarded by arrows
and heavy stones, the Turks swarmed down from the mountains and the
massacre began. The historian Odo of Deuil reported:
"During the fighting the king [Louis] lost his small and famous royal
guard, but he remained in good heart and nimbly and courageously
scaled the side of the mountain by gripping the tree roots ... The
enemy climbed after him, hoping to capture him, and the enemy in the
distance continued to fire arrows at him. But God willed that his
cuirass should protect him from the arrows, and to prevent himself
from being captured he defended the crag with his bloody sword,
cutting off many heads and hands."
Louis and his army finally reached the Holy Land in 1148. His queen
Eleanor supported her uncle, Raymond of Antioch, and prevailed upon
Louis to help Antioch against Aleppo. But Louis' interest lay in
Jerusalem, and so he slipped out of Antioch in secret. He united with
Conrad III of Germany and King Baldwin III of Jerusalem to lay seige
to Damascus; this ended in disaster and the project was abandoned.
Louis decided to leave the Holy Land, despite the protests of Eleanor,
who still wanted to help her doomed uncle Raymond of Antioch. Louis
and the French army returned to France in 1149.
The expedition came to a great cost to the royal treasury and
military. It also precipitated a conflict with Eleanor, leading to the
annulment of their marriage at the council of Beaugency (March 1152).
The pretext of kinship was the basis for annulment. Its reasons had
more to do with quarrels between Louis and Eleanor, her scandalous
behavior during the Crusades, and the decreasing odds that their
marriage would produce a male heir to the throne of France. Eleanor
subsequently married Henry, Count of Anjou in the following May, which
brought him the duchy of Aquitaine. Louis VII led an ineffective war
against Henry for having married without the authorization of his
suzerain; but in August 1154 gave up his rights over Aquitaine, and
contented himself with an indemnity.
In 1154 Louis married Constance, daughter of Alfonso VII, king of
Castile. She, too, failed to give him a son and heir, bearing two more
daughters:
Marguerite of France(1158-1197), married (1) Henry the Young King; (2)
King Bela III of Hungary
Alys, Countess of the Vexin (October 4, 1160), engaged to Richard I of
England; she married William III Talvas, Count of Ponthieu
As part of a peace process with Henry II of England, Louis imprudently
pledged his daughter, Marguerite, in the treaty of Gisors (1158) to
Henry, Henry's eldest son, promising as a dowry the Norman Vexin and
Gisors.
Constance died in childbirth on the 4th of October 1160, and five
weeks later Louis VII married Adèle of Champagne. Henry II, to
counterbalance the advantage this would give the king of France, had
the marriage of their children celebrated at once. Louis VII
understood the danger of the growing Angevin power, however, through
indecision and lack of fiscal and military resources compared to
Henry's, Louis failed to oppose Angevin hegemony effectively. One of
the few military successes of Louis, in 1159, was his expedition in
the south to aid Raymond V, Count of Toulouse who had been attacked by
Henry II. At the same time the emperor Frederick I in the east was
making good the imperial claims on Arles. When the schism broke out,
Louis took the part of the pope Alexander III, the enemy of Frederick,
and after two comical failures of Frederick to meet Louis VII at Saint
Jean de Losne (on the 29th of August and the 22nd of September 1162),
Louis definitely gave himself up to the cause of Alexander, who lived
at Sens from 1163 to 1165. Alexander gave the king, in return for his
loyal support, the golden rose.
Finally, in 1165 Adèle gave birth to them much longed-for son, along
with a daughter a few years later. Louis and Adèle's children were:
Philip II Augustus (August 22, 1165-1223)
Agnes of France (1171-1240), who married (1) Alexius II Comnenus; (2)
Andronicus I Comnenus; (3) Theodosius Branas
Louis VII received Thomas Becket and tried to reconcile him with King
Henry II. Louis sided with Thomas Becket as a way to weaken Henry
politically. He also supported Henry's rebellious sons, but the
rivalry between Henry's sons and Louis' own indecisiveness contributed
to the break up of the coalition (1173-1174). Finally in 1177 the pope
intervened to bring the two kings to terms at Vitry.
His reign was a difficult and unfortunate one, from the point of view
of royal territory and military power. Yet the royal authority made
progress in the parts of France distant from the royal domains. More
direct and more frequent connection was made with distant vassals, a
result largely due to the alliance of the clergy with the crown. Louis
thus reaped the reward for services rendered the church during the
least successful portion of his reign. His greater accomplishments lie
in the development of agriculture, population, commerce, the building
of stone fortresses, as well as an intellectual renaissance.
Considering the significant disparity of political leverage and
financial resources between Louis and his Angevin rival, not to
mention Henry's superior military skills, Louis should be credited
with preserving the Capetian dynasty.
He was to be succeeded by his son by Adèle, Philip II Augustus and had
him crowned at Reims in 1179. However, already stricken with
paralysis, King Louis himself was not able to be present at the
ceremony.
Louis VII died on September 18, 1180 at the Abbey at Saint-Pont,
Allier and is interred in Saint Denis Basilica.
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1120 - 1180 (60 years)