LUIGI VIII, called the Lion, king of FRANCIA. - Son of Filippo Augusto, born in Paris on 5 Sept. 1187, died during a journey to Paris in 1226. He reigned over France for only 40 months (1223–26), but in that brief period he deserved the appellation “lion”: “he was difficult to arouse and difficult to calm.” Before reigning, he had collaborated in the work of conquest undertaken by his father, Filippo Augusto; elected king, he continued II.
He came close to conquering England; only the submission of King Giovanni to Pope Innocenzo III (1213) and the latter’s death (1216) saved England from Capetian domination. Having become king, L. continued the reconquest of the English fiefs in France, annexing Poitou, together with La Rochelle, to the crown.
L. VIII was above all “the secular arm” in the crusade against the Albigensians, after the death of Simone di Montfort. He succeeded in taking Avignon, but died before completing the conquest of Languedoc. The acquisition of the seneschalcy of Beaucaire extended royal dominion, for the first time, as far as the Mediterranean.
At this point the Capetians had increasingly extensive southern interests. At his death, L. VIII left to his widow, Bianca di Castiglia, regent for a child only a few months old, a larger kingdom and a more firmly established power.