undertaken by his mother, the formidable Queen Blanche. She had originally been chosen by her grandmother, Eleanor, to marry the French heir, considered a more suitable queen than her sister Urraca; as regent, she proved this to be so, being associated in the kingship not only during her son's minority, but even after he came into his own. Louis, too, proved a largely acclaimed King – though he expended much money and effort on the Crusades, only for it to go to waste, as a French king he was admired for his austerity, strength, bravery, justice, and his devotion to France. Dynastically, he established two notable Capetian houses: the House of Anjou (which he created by bestowing the County of Anjou upon his brother, Charles I (1227–1285)), and the House of Bourbon (which he established by bestowing Clermont on his son Robert (1256–1317) in 1268, before marrying the young man to the heiress of Bourbon, Beatrice (1257–1310)); the first house would go on to rule Sicily, Naples, and Hungary; the second would eventually succeed to the French throne, collecting Navarre along the way. Apogee of royal power At the death of Louis IX (who shortly after was set upon the road to beatification), France under the Capetians stood as the pre-eminent power in Western Europe. This stance was largely continued, if not furthered, by his son Philip III (1245–1285), and his son Philip IV (1268–1314), both of whom ruled with the aid of advisors committed to the future of the House of Capet and of France, and both of whom made notable – for different reasons – dynastic marriages. Philip III married as his first wife Isabel (1247–1271), a daughter of King James I of Aragon (1208–1276); long after her death, he claimed the throne of Aragon for his second son, Charles (1270–1325), by virtue of Charles' descent via Isabel from the kings of Aragon. Unfortunately for the Capetians, the endeavour proved a failure, and the King himself died of dysentery at Perpignan, succeeded by his son, Philip IV. Philip IV had married Joan I (1271–1305), the queen of Navarre and countess of Champagne. By this marriage, he added these domains to the French crown. He engaged in conflicts with the Papacy, eventually kidnapping Pope Boniface VIII (–1303), and securing the appointment of the more sympathetic Frenchman, Bertrand de Goth (1264–1314), as Pope Clement V; and he boosted the power