French Royalty. During the winter of 1199/1200 Eleanor of Aquitaine, aged 79 years, travelled to Castile to visit her daughter and to select a wife for the French heir to the throne. During her stay in Palencia she chose her twelve-year-old granddaughter Blanche to strengthen the peace treaty between John of England and Philippe II Auguste. Blanche accompanied her to Fontevraud and from there she travelled alone. In May the court travelled to Normandy to celebrate the wedding. France had been placed under the interdict after the king had repudiated his second wife and the wedding could therefore not be celebrated on French territory. Afterwards the young couple lived together in Paris. They were taught together, played together and grew up together. Their first child was born in 1205, but died soon afterwards. In 1214, she gave birth to a son who was named after the father and who will later succeed him. A month after the death of Philippe II Auguste they were crowned in Reims. In the following years Louis has to fight in the west and south, conquers La Rochelle and Poitou, and Blanche manages the kingdom from Paris. In 1226, he besieges Avignon and takes the city in September. As a result Beaucaire, Nîmes, Carcassonne, Béziers and Narbonne surrender. The army is seized by a dysentery epidemic, the Siege of Toulouse is abandoned due to the weakened army. His health, which has always been weak, took another downturn. In November, he became sick and died on the 8th. He is buried a week later in Saint-Denis and his eldest son, only 12 years old, is crowned king. Blanche becomes regent for him and soon has to fight for her power. A child on the throne gives several barons hope for more power and larger territories. A group with Pierre de Bretagne, Hugh X de Lusignan, and Thibaut IV de Champagne is supported by the English king and count Raymond VII of Toulouse. They rebel but Blanche raises an army and defeats them in the same winter. In March, they swear loyalty to the king and the rebellion is over. To secure the peace in the south she signs a peace treaty with her cousin Raymond VII of Toulouse and marries her son Alphonso to his daughter. With the years Blanche becomes more and more secure in her power and even reigns without a council. In 1234, she marries her son to Marguerite de Provence in hope to later include the Provence into the kingdom. The two women can't stand each other from the beginning. With the years Louis restricted her power, but she remains his closest advisor and when he felt unwell she is there to take over for him. When Louis left France for the crusade she is installed as regent, but is not given full power. In February 1250 Louis army is defeated at Mansurah, he is imprisoned and his younger brother Robert is killed. After paying a huge ransom he is released but remains in the holy land to secure the Christian interests. In 1251, she suppresses a rebellion of peasants and afterwards retires to Maubuisson.