Louis VII, called the Younger, or the Young, was King of France from 1137 to 1180. He was the son and successor of King Louis VI 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.
Effigy of Louis VII on his seal
Equestrian image of Louis VII on two-sided royal seal. Legend: ET DVX AQVITANORVM.
Géza II of Hungary and Louis VII of France. Image from the Hungarian Chronicon Pictum (1358)
Raymond of Poitiers welcoming Louis VII in Antioch (15th-century illustration)
Louis VI, called the Fat or the Fighter, was King of the Franks from 1108 to 1137. Chronicles called him "King of Saint-Denis". Louis was the first member of the house of Capet to make a lasting contribution to centralizing the institutions of royal power. He spent almost all of his twenty-nine-year reign fighting either the "robber barons" who plagued Paris or the kings of England for their continental possession of Normandy. Nonetheless, Louis VI managed to reinforce his power considerably and became one of the first strong kings of France since the death of Charlemagne in 814.
Louis VI's seal
The crowning of Louis VI in Orléans.
Motte and castle at Gisors.
Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor, with Ruthard, Archbishop of Mainz. Paint on vellum. Parker Library, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.
