Born ‎ Sep 5, 1187 at Paris,France, died ‎ Nov 8, 1226 at Montpensier-en-Auvergne,France‎, 39 years
Nickname: The Lion
Name Prefix: King
Name Suffix: Of France
Louis VIII, byname Louis the Lion, or The Lion-Heart, French: Louis le Lion, or Louis Coeur-de-Lion, Capetian king of France from 1223 who spent most of his short reign establishing royal power in Poitou and Languedoc.

On May 23, 1200, Louis married Blanche of Castile, daughter of Alfonso VIII of Castile, who effectively acted as regent after Louis's death. In 1212 Louis seized Saint-Omer and Aire to prevent a powerful Flanders from being on the flank of his county of Artois. In 1216, after the barons rebelling against King John of England had offered the English throne to Louis in return for his aid, Louis went to England to aid the rebels. Initially he was successful, but eventually he was defeated at sea and suffered defections. In 1217, when peace was concluded at Kingston, Louis was secretly paid 10,000 marks. In 1224, now king, he seized Poitou and, in 1226, he launched a successful crusade against the Albigensian heretics, capturing the major fortress of Avignon before returning toward Paris because of illness.

Louis was the first Capetian to grant appanages on a large scale and to have a reversion clause that made alienation of royal property more difficult. Louis also developed other particular rights for the kingship, such as the concept that fealty was sworn not only to the individual king but also to the kingship. His eldest son, Louis IX (afterward St. Louis), peacefully succeeded him while his other sons received appanages.

Born ‎ Mar 4, 1188 at Valencia,Spain, died ‎ Nov 27, 1253 at Palais du Louvre,Paris,France‎, 65 years, buried ‎ Nov 30, 1253 at Maubuisson Abbey,Seine-et-Oise,France
Name Suffix: Of Castille
She was the daughter of Alfonso VIII, king of Castile, queen of Louis VIII of France and mother of Louis IX of France. Blanche was married to Louis in 1200. Regent for her son from his accession at the age of 12 in 1226 to his coming of age in 1234, she retained a strong influence over him thereafter. Blanche went to London for Henry III of England's marriage to Eleanor of Provence in 1236. She and Louis IX brought what was said to be the Holy Cross to Paris from the east in 1241, and built the Sainte-Chapelle to house it. Blanche was again regent for Louis during his first crusade, which departed in 1248: when news of her son's capture reached her in 1250, she had the messengers hanged. She held discussions with the Pastoureaux mob when it reached Paris in 1251, but later had it's leaders seized and put to death. She died two years before Louis' return in 1254.