Louis VIII of France
Louis VIII ruled France for only three years, from 1223 to 1226, and had already spent a decade as the most active prince in Europe. Born in Paris in 1187, the son of Philip II Augustus, he was called the Lion. His first campaigns were against the English in Poitou and Gascony. In 1216, invited by English barons in revolt against King John, he invaded England, landed in Kent unopposed, entered London, and was proclaimed king there; he held over half the country and much of the baronage at one point. John's sudden death in October 1216 transferred support to the nine-year-old Henry III, and after defeats at Lincoln and at sea off Sandwich in 1217 Louis accepted payment to withdraw. He commanded at Bouvines in 1214 in the campaign that broke the coalition against his father. He succeeded in 1223, the first Capetian to inherit without having been crowned in his father's lifetime — the dynasty was by then secure enough not to need it. He took Poitou and most of Gascony from the English within a year. His major undertaking was the Albigensian Crusade, which he had joined earlier as a prince. He led a royal army south in 1226, took Avignon after a three-month siege, and received the submission of most of Languedoc, converting a papal crusade into a royal annexation and extending the crown to the Mediterranean. He introduced the apanage system, granting territories to younger sons. He died of dysentery at Montpensier on the way home in November 1226, leaving his son Louis IX aged twelve.
- Lived: 1187 CE – 1226 CE
- Nationality: French
- Roles: king, head_of_state
