Alix of France

Alix of France (summer 1151 – 1197/1198) was the second daughter born to King Louis VII of France and Duchess Eleanor of Aquitaine.

Childhood

The daughter of the King of France and the Duchess of Aquitaine, Alix was named after her aunt Petronilla of Aquitaine, who was also called "Alix". The birth of a second daughter to Eleanor and Louis instead of a badly needed son was one of the final nails in the coffin of their marriage. Her parents' marriage was annulled in 1152, although the princesses were declared legitimate, and the custody of young Alix and her sister Marie was awarded to their father. Their mother Eleanor left the French court and married Henry II, Duke of Normandy, who later became King of England. King Louis VII remarried twice.

Countess of Blois

Alix married Theobald V, Count of Blois, in 1164. Her sister Marie married Theobald's brother Henry. Alix served as regent when her husband left for the East, and since their son was underage, she continued as regent for several years after Theobald's death in 1191. Alix and Theobald had seven children:

1. Theobald (d. 1182)
2. Louis I, Count of Blois, who died in Constantinople in 1205
3. Henry (d. 1182)
4. Philip (d. 1202)
5. Margaret, Countess of Blois (d. aft. 1230), who married (1) Otto I, Count of Burgundy; (2) Gauthier II, Seigneur of Avesnes
6. Isabella (1180–1247/1248), married (1) Sulpice of Amboise; (2) Jean de Montmirail
7. Alix, Abbess of Fontevrault

Ancestry

Sources

• Meade, Marion. Eleanor of Aquitaine, 1991
• Wheeler, Bonnie, and Parsons, John Carmi, eds. Eleanor of Aquitaine: Lord and Lady, 2002