King Louis VIII: The Lion Of France (1187-1226)

On today's post we intend to turn our eyes back to the French monarchy, which hasn't been very on the center of our debates lately. In order to change that, we go back to another member of the Capet dynasty, aside of the previous subjects Philippe IV and Adhélaide d'Aquitaine, whose name is Louis, being the eighth of his name to rule France. Despite being overshadowed by his father and his son's deeds, we intend nonetheless to attempt to bring this character to the light in order to propose a further discussion regarding his character. 

Louis was the only son of Philippe II of France and his first wife, Isabelle of Hainault. Not much is known regarding his education and infancy, but what is known about his youth is that he was married to Blanche of Castille after rumorous of betrothal to Arthur of Brittany's sister. Blanche in turn was the granddaughter of Eleanor of Aquitaine, queen of France and afterwards of England. Curiously is that by the time Blanche and Louis were married, King John of England was the one responsible in working for the match alongside the French king, Philippe Augustus. Once the marriage occurred, Eleanor of Aquitaine, by the time she was 80, herself went to Castille to pick her granddaughter and take her to Paris. The event, so it seemed, was successful and there were reports that claimed the two were besotted for each other.

But what other record concerning Louis's actions as Dauphin of France (title used to the heirs of the French crown) regards him as the main opposition to the Angevin crown, that is, when the first Baron's War ecloded (the one which the English Barons struggle against King John in what had become a civil war, which had as a result the Magna Carta), he held the support of the said Barons as an alternative as monarch in contrast to King John. What went wrong was that those Barons switched the support towards the French prince for King John's heir, King Henry III, whose regency was being held by the Englishman William Marshall. And following the natural dislike the English held for the French, they opposited their own choice by supporting one of their keen, even though most did so under the threats of being excommunicated. The next paragraphs will corroborate the ideas we have explained:

"When the barons of England rebelled against John in 1216, Louis was offered the throne. Blanche was the next in line for the throne, if John and his line were defeated, being the daughter of John's sister Eleanor. In May 1216, Louis was named King of England, however he was not crowned. After capturing Windsor in June of 1216, Louis controlled over half of the English Kingdom. The fact that the barons had been supporting a French prince as their potential King shows their extreme dislike of King John. However it is not surprising that the barons deserted Louis after John's death and the regents of Henry III took over; the English nobles would have preferred a boy king who was being aided by William the Marshall to a foreinger who most likely would have given titles and land to his fellow Frenchmen. Louis was beaten both at Lincoln and off the coast of Sandwich, which resulted in the Treaty of Kingston in September of 1217. The English agreed to grant amnesty to all the barons who had fought with the French, and to restore their lands and possessions. They also had to pay Louis ten thousand marks since he had used all of his funds in the invasion. Louis in return had to remove all his troops from England and renounce his claims to the throne."

It all seemed, firstly, that England would be conquered by Louis VIII, a perspective that would almost bring back to France the old concept of empire so long launched by Charlemagne had it been successful. But, as it has been said on the paragraph before, the sudden exchanging of sides certainly made impossible this perspective to become real.

In addition,

"With the Earl of Pembroke acting as regent, a call for the English "to defend our land" against the French led to a reversal of fortunes on the battlefield. After his army was beaten at the Battle of Lincoln on 20 May 1217 and his naval forces were defeated at the Battle of Sandwich on 24 August 1217, Louis was forced to make peace on English terms. In 1216 and 1217, Prince Louis also tried to conquer Dover Castle, but without success."

That being said, we can tell that it was not the failure that earned Louis the nickname of "the lion of France". He was a brave warrior during his days as prince of France and even afterwards, having collected a few victories on the battlefield and outside of it.

Moving forward, then, we come accross with his ascension as King of France on July 14, 1223, being crowned in Reims Cathedral on August 6 of the same year. So how can we describe his reign as sovereign of France when he was king for only three years?

"One of his first acts as King was prohibiting the recording of debts related to Usury in an attempt to resolve the problems that resulted in this practice, both in Church and State courts."

Furthemore,

"One of the most significant events of Louis's reign was the continuation of the Albigensian Crusade under his command. Before his intervention, the Cathars had been winning victories and taking back control of parts of southwestern France. His decision to support the crusade against the southern barons was influenced by his hopes of enforcing royal rights."

As we may perceive, Louis was forced to deal directly with aristocracts that, likewise in England, held greater power in their own duchies in opposition to the crown. Hence why this inner crusade was found necessary. One of these oppositors, Raymond VIII, Count of Toulouse, was greatly damaged by making himself an enemy of the Crown, though Blanche of Castille would interfere in order to unite both families in marriage.

Nonetheless, aside of these political aspects, there are, naturally, the religious ones, which are not entirely separated of the former one. We have a period of heresies following mainly the 11th and 13th centuries, which urged the Pope to insist that the crusades should be addressed to such enemies, who were clearly not true christians in his view, instead of a bloodshed being spent between two christian realms.

Unfortunately, however, without seeing the success of such crusade, Louis, the Lion of France, came to die of disentery on November 8, 1226. As it states below:

"At this time, most of the fortifications and towns surrendered without much resistance, however Avignon held out for about three months before being captured. Louis died of dysentery on November 8, 1226, before any decisive victory in the south was accomplished. His widow, Blanche of Castille, allowed the Crusade to continue for several years until finally offering Raymond a treaty in 1229. [...]" 

Following Louis' death, the crown of France was inherited by his son, Louis IX, who was to be known as St Louis in History and beyond. Above, the first picture on the left, you shall see a manuscript depicting Louis VIII's death and if there is any interest to know furthermore about such manuscripts, you shall find the link downwards.

Bibliography:

-http://mappinggothic.org/person/408

-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_VIII_of_France

-https://www.britannica.com/biography/Louis-VIII

-http://www.enluminures.culture.fr/documentation/enlumine/fr/rechexperte_00.htm