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Louis VII (1120 – September 18, 1180), called the Younger, or the Young was King of the Franks from 1137 to 1180. He was the son and successor of King Louis VI (hence the epithet “the Young”) and married Duchess Eleanor of Aquitaine, one of the wealthiest and most powerful women in western Europe. The marriage temporarily extended the Capetian lands to the Pyrenees.

Eleanor was the eldest child of Guillaume X, Duke of Aquitaine, and Aénor de Châtellerault. She became Duchess upon her father’s death in April 1137, and three months later she married Louis, son of her guardian King Louis VI of the Franks.

Shortly afterwards, Louis VI died and Eleanor’s husband ascended the throne, making Eleanor queen consort. The couple had two daughters, Marie and Alix.

Eleanor sought an annulment of her marriage, but her request was rejected by Pope Eugene III. Eventually, King Louis VII agreed to an annulment, as fifteen years of marriage had not produced a son.

The marriage was annulled on March 21, 1152 on the grounds of consanguinity within the fourth degree. Their daughters were declared legitimate, custody was awarded to Louis, and Eleanor’s lands were restored to her.

Immediately after their annulment, Eleanor married Henry Plantagenet, Duke of Normandy and Count of Anjou, to whom she conveyed Aquitaine, which following Henry’s ascension to the English throne as King Henry II and created an Angevin Empire.

Later, King Louis VII supported Henry’s rebellious sons to foment further disunity in the Angevin realms. King Louis VII went on to marry his second cousin, Infanta Constance of Castile, but still failed to produce a male heir.

Infanta Constance of Castile was a daughter of King Alfonso VII of León and Castile and Berengaria of Barcelona, but her year of birth is not known.

Infanta Constance died in childbirth with their second daughter. His third marriage to Adela of Champagne, five weeks after Constance’s death.

Adela of Champagne was the third child and first daughter of Theobald II, Count of Champagne and Matilda of Carinthia, and had nine brothers and sisters. She was named after her paternal grandmother Adela of Normandy, daughter of King William the Conqueror of England.

She was finally able to give him a son, Prince Philippe Agusté. King Louis VII died in 1180 and was succeeded by his son as King Philippe II Augusté.

King Philippe II Augusté was King of France from 1180 to 1223. His predecessors had been known as kings of the Franks (Latin: rex Francorum), but from 1190 onward, Philippe II Augusté became the first French monarch to style himself “King of France” (rex Francie).