Louis VII, called the Younger, or the Young, was King of the Franks from 1137 to 1180. He was the son and successor of King Louis VI and married Duchess Eleanor of Aquitaine, one of the wealthiest and most powerful women in western Europe. The marriage temporarily extended the Capetian lands to the Pyrenees.
Hugh, called the Great was the first count of Vermandois from the House of Capet. He is known primarily for being one of the leaders of the First Crusade. His nickname Magnus is probably a bad translation into medieval Latin of an Old French nickname, le Maisné, meaning "the younger", referring to Hugh as younger brother of King Philip I of France.
Theoderic, commonly known as Thierry of Alsace, was the fifteenth count of Flanders from 1128 to 1168. With a record of four campaigns in the Levant and Africa, he had a rare and distinguished record of commitment to crusading.
Philip I, commonly known as Philip of Alsace, was count of Flanders from 1168 to 1191. During his rule Flanders prospered economically. He took part in two crusades and died of disease in the Holy Land.
Theobald the Great (1090–1152) was count of Blois and of Chartres as Theobald IV from 1102 and was Count of Champagne and of Brie as Theobald II from 1125. Theobald held Auxerre, Maligny, Ervy, Troyes and Châteauvillain as fiefs from Odo II, Duke of Burgundy.
Baldwin IV was count of Hainaut from 1120 to his death.
Petronilla of Aquitaine was a French noble. She was the second daughter of William X of Aquitaine and Aenor of Châtellerault. She was the elder sister of William Aigret and the younger sister of Eleanor of Aquitaine, who was Queen consort of France, later England. She is variously called Alix and Petronilla; she typically went by Alix after her marriage, while Petronilla seems to have been her childhood name.
Alice of France was countess consort of Blois by marriage to Theobald. She served as regent of Blois during Theobald's absence from in 1190–1191, and during the minority of their son Louis from 1191 until 1197. The daughter of Eleanor of Aquitaine and Louis VII of France, she was the sister of Marie of France and the half-sister of: William IX, Henry the Young King, Richard I, Geoffrey of Brittany, Matilda of England, Eleanor of England, Joan of England, John of England; Margaret of France, Alys of France, Agnes of France, Philip II of France; and the stepdaughter of Henry II of England, and Constance of Castile, and Adela of Champagne.
The Valois was a region in the valley of the Oise river in Picardy in the north of France. It was a fief in West Francia and subsequently the Kingdom of France until its counts furnished a line of kings, the House of Valois, to succeed the House of Capet in 1328. It was, along with the counties of Beauvais, the Vexin, Vermandois, and Laon, part of the "Oise line" of fiefdoms which were held often by one individual or an individual family as a string of defences against Viking assault on Paris.
Vermandois was a French county that appeared in the Merovingian period. Its name derives from that of an ancient tribe, the Viromandui. In the 10th century, it was organised around two castellan domains: St Quentin (Aisne) and Péronne (Somme). In today's times, the Vermandois county would fall in the Picardy region of northern France.
The Count of Vermandois was the ruler of the county of Vermandois.
Eleanor of Blois or Champagne was a French noblewoman.
Matthew, Count of Boulogne, also known as Matthew of Alsace was the second son of Thierry, Count of Flanders and Sibylla of Anjou. Matthew forcibly abducted the nun Marie de Boulogne, daughter of Stephen, King of England, and constrained her into marriage, claiming the title of Count of Boulogne jure uxoris in 1160. The forced marriage was opposed by the Church and finally annulled in 1170, but he continued to rule as count until his death.
The crown lands, crown estate, royal domain or domaine royal of France were the lands, fiefs and rights directly possessed by the kings of France. While the term eventually came to refer to a territorial unit, the royal domain originally referred to the network of "castles, villages and estates, forests, towns, religious houses and bishoprics, and the rights of justice, tolls and taxes" effectively held by the king or under his domination. In terms of territory, before the reign of Henry IV, the domaine royal did not encompass the entirety of the territory of the kingdom of France and for much of the Middle Ages significant portions of the kingdom were the direct possessions of other feudal lords.
Adelaide of Vermandois was suo jure Countess of Vermandois and Valois from 1080 to 1120. She was the last landed ruler of the Carolingian dynasty.
Elisabeth, also known as Isabelle Mabille, was ruling Countess of Vermandois from 1168 to 1183, and also Countess of Flanders by marriage to Philip I, Count of Flanders. She was the eldest daughter of Ralph I, Count of Vermandois and his second spouse, Petronilla of Aquitaine.
Eleanor of Vermandois also known as Eléonore de Vermandois or Aénor de Vermandois was ruling countess of Vermandois in 1182-1213 and by marriage countess of Ostervant, Nevers, Auxerre, Boulogne and Beaumont.
Aénor was a feminine given name in medieval France. It is likely the origin of, and by the later Middle Ages was replaced by, the name Eleanor (Alienor).
Ida, Countess of Hainaut , daughter of Henry II, Count of Louvain, and Adela of Thuringa. Ida was sister to Godfrey I, Count of Louvain.
Ralph II Count of Vermandois, known as the Younger and the Leper, was born in 1145, and died June 3, 1167, from Leprosy. Ralph would begin reigning over Vermandois when his father died in 1152, Ralph ruled until his death. He was the count of Vermandois and Valois, son of Ralph I, who was also count of Vermandois and Valois, and Petronilla of Aquitaine.
