Medieval France
(1187–1226). King of France from 1223 until 1226, son of Philip II Augustus, and father of Louis IX. Though a sickly child, nearly dying in 1191, Louis became an ambitious and able soldier, who energetically assisted his father in military activities. (For his prowess, Louis was described by Nicolas de Brai as Louis the Lion.) In 1212, he seized the towns of Aire and Saint-Omer from the rebellious count of Flanders, Ferrand, and in 1215–16 he gathered a large army for an expedition against England.
In 1224, after becoming king, he invaded and took Poitou from the English, and the following year he tried unsuccessfully to conquer Gascony. Perhaps his greatest military victory was against the Albigensian heretics in Languedoc. Beginning in 1218–19, when still prince, Louis continued to fight against the Albigensians as king; in 1226, with papal and comital support, he attacked Languedoc, conquered Avignon, and forced the rest of the south to submit to his rule. He died soon after, on November 8, 1226, leaving the throne to the child Louis IX under the regency of his mother, Blanche of Castile.
Kelly DeVries
[See also: ALBIGENSIAN CRUSADE; BLANCHE OF CASTILE]
Choffel, Jacques.
Louis VIII le Lion. Paris: Fayard, 1983.
Fawtier, Robert. The Capetian Kings of France: Monarchy and Nation (987–1328), trans. Lionel Butler and R.J.Adam. London: Macmillan, 1960.
Hallam, Elizabeth. Capetian France, 987–1328. London: Longman, 1980.
Petit-Dutaillis, Charles. The Feudal Monarchy in France and England from the Tenth to the Thirteenth Century, trans. E.D.Hunt. New York: Harper and Row, 1964.
This is the complete article, containing 255 words
(approx. 1 page at 300 words per page).
View More Summaries on Louis VIII
