More Capetians
(continued from page 1)
Castle at Dourdan, built by Philippe Auguste
Louis VII's son, Philippe Auguste, was much more ambitious and smarter than his father. Philippe came to the throne in 1180 AD, when he was only fourteen years old. He began well by marrying a woman who brought a rich part of France called Artois as her dowry, so he had more power and more money than his father had. Then Philippe encouraged Richard and John of England to fight against their father, Henry, so as to weaken England's hold on French territory in Normandy and Aquitaine. Philippe went on the Third Crusade, in 1188 (when he was 22), but came home early to continue pushing the English out of France. Richard's early death made this much easier, because John was not a good soldier. By the time Philippe died in 1223, at the age of 61, he had created a loyal civil service which administered and oversaw every province of his kingdom, all over France.
Philippe's son Louis VIII took over when Philippe died, and continued his policies without doing anything especially new, but then he only reigned for three years before he died. Louis increased the French king's power in the south of France through the Albigensian crusade. In the end, Count Raymond of Toulouse was forced to allow his daughter to marry one of Louis' sons, so that the French kings took over the direct rule of Toulouse (because Raymond had no sons, his daughter inherited his property).
Blanche of Castile
Because Louis VIII died young, in 1226, his son, Louis IX, was only twelve years old. Louis IX's mother, Blanche of Castile, ruled for him until he grew up. Blanche was a good ruler. But people in France didn't like her, because she was originally from Spain. Some lords thought this was a good chance to rebel and get back their independence. But it was too late. The king's armies were too strong for them, and the lords were not united enough to overcome him.
Saint Louis
Louis IX was so religious that he became a saint after he died, and he is usually called St. Louis. He built a famous chapel in Paris called the Sainte Chapelle. He succeeded in getting everyone to love him, and convinced pretty much everyone in France that it was always better to follow the king. St. Louis went on two crusades, the Seventh Crusade and the Eighth Crusade, both of which were failures. He died in Tunis on the Eighth Crusade in 1270, probably of dysentery.
St. Louis' descendants were not as well loved as he was. They put in more and more taxes, and were not as concerned with justice. But the French people still wanted to follow their kings, Louis's son Philippe III (1270-1285) and his grandson Philippe IV (1285-1314), who built the Conciergerie. The lords could never unite against the king as they did in England, and if they could not unite the alternative to the kings was civil war, which nobody wanted.
Philippe IV had three sons, Louis X (1314-1316), Philippe V (1316-1322), and Charles IV (1322-1328), but they all died young without leaving sons of their own. All three men had daughters, but the French lords refused to accept a woman as their queen, or even the sons of these women, Philippe IV's grandsons through their mothers. Instead, they chose one of Charles' cousins, Philippe of Valois, to be the next king. He was a grandson of Philippe IV, but through his father. The king of England, Edward III, was also a grandson of Philippe IV through his father, and he said he had as much right to the throne as Philippe of Valois did. When Edward attacked France to enforce his right to the throne, the Hundred Years' War began.
