Page "History of France" Paragraph 73

Thanks to Abbot Suger's political advice, King Louis VII ( junior king 1131 – 1137, senior king 1137 – 1180 ) enjoyed greater moral authority over France than his predecessors.

Powerful vassals paid homage to the French king.

Abbot Suger arranged the 1137 marriage between Louis VII and Eleanor of Aquitaine in Bordeaux, which made Louis VII Duke of Aquitaine and gave him considerable power.

However, the couple disagreed over the burning of more than a thousand people in Vitry during the conflict against the Count of Champagne.

King Louis VII was deeply horrified by the event and sought penitence by going to the Holy Land.

He later involved the Kingdom of France in the Second Crusade but his relationship with Eleanor did not improve.

The marriage was ultimately annulled by the pope under the pretext of consanguinity and Eleanor soon married the Duke of Normandy – Henry Fitzempress, who would become King of England as Henry II two years later.

Louis VII was once a very powerful monarch and was now facing a much stronger vassal, who was his equal as King of England and his strongest prince as Duke of Normandy and Aquitaine.