When Philippe II, known as Philippe Auguste, died in 1223, he was the most powerful king in the West. He was buried in the Saint-Denis Basilica, probably opposite to the high altar. His son, Louis VIII, reigned for only three years and died in 1226. His widow, Blanche de Castille, decided to erect two tombs covered in gold and silver raised in the centre of the transept crossing. The perimeter of the mausoleum of Philippe Auguste was sculpted with forty-eight effigies of bishops. The tombs were destroyed by English troops during the Hundred Years’ War, along with the tomb of St. Louis, and the gold and silver was stolen and melted down.