France during the Crusades
Louis VII (1137-1180)
Whereas his father had had to fight almost continuously in the first part of his reign, Louis VII succeeded peacefully to the throne and with a fair degree of respect around the realm. His marriage to Eleanor made him at one strong the greatest landholder in France with the exception of the English king Henry II.
The marrige of Louis VII and Eleanor of Aquitaine lasted fifteen years, but it was not a happy marriage and it produced no sons. Aquitaine therefore did not enter the royal demesne; instead, Eleanor married Henry Plantagenet, who soon became the King of England, and the great French duchy became the property of the English, not the French.
Louis enjoyed other successes, however. Not least of these was that he managed to preserve royal territory against his wily and powerful rival, King Henry II of England. He did this not through success on the battlefield but by supporting Henry's opponents and lending support to the many plots against the English king. He also eventually had success in marriage: his third wife was Adèle of Blois, which brought the powerful lords of Champagne onto the side of the crown.
In most other respects, however, Louis met with one setback after another. This was the king who went on the Second Crusade, which resulted only in embarassing failure. His annulment of his marriage to Eleanor was handled badly, made worse by his half-hearted war on England because Eleanor had immediately married Henry, which war he gave up on almost at once and signed over Aquitaine to England. That sort of feebleness did not sit well with the French barons.
Louis continued to feud with Henry. He supported Alexander III during a split in the papacy. He supported Henry's sons when they rebelled against his father, and received Thomas Becket when he fled England. In every case, his support was so indecisive, however, that he did as much harm as good. In his later years, he fell completely under the influence of the Count of Champagne. He did manage to produce a son, however, who proved to be one of the great medieval French kings: Philip II.