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Louis IX (25 April 1214 - 25 August 1270), commonly Saint Louis, was King of France from 1226 until his death. He was also styled Louis II, Count of Artois from 1226 to 1237. Born at Poissy, near Paris, he was an eighth-generation descendant of Hugh Capet, and thus a member of the House of Capet, and the son of Louis VIII and Blanche of Castile. He worked with the Parliament of Paris in order to improve the professionalism of his legal administration. He is the only canonised king of France; consequently, there are many places named after him, most notably St. Louis, Missouri; Île Saint-Louis in Paris; Saint-Louis, Haut-Rhin and Mission San Luis Rey de Francia in the United States; São Luís do Maranhão, Brazil; and both the state and city of San Luis Potosí in Mexico. Sources Much of what is known of Louis's life comes from Jean de Joinville's famous Life of Saint Louis. Joinville was a close friend, confidant, and counsellor to the king, and also participated as a witness in the papal inquest into Louis' life that ended with his canonisation in 1297 by Pope Boniface VIII. Two other important biographies were written by the king's confessor, Geoffrey of Beaulieu, and his chaplain, William of Chartres. The fourth important source of information is William of Saint-Parthus' biography,[1] which he wrote using the papal inquest mentioned above. While several individuals wrote biographies in the decades following the king's death, only Jean of Joinville, Geoffrey of Beaulieu, and William of Chartres wrote from personal knowledge of the king. All three are likely to be biased in his favor. Early life Louis was born on 25 April 1214 at Poissy, near Paris, the son of Prince Louis the Lion and Princess Blanche, and baptised in La Collégiale Notre-Dame church. His grandfather was King Philip II of France. Tutors of Blanche's choosing taught him most of what a king must know-Latin, public speaking, writing, military arts, and government.[2] He was 9 years old when his grandfather died and his father ascended as Louis VIII.[3] A member of the House of Capet, Louis was twelve years old when his father died on 8 November 1226. He was crowned king within the month at Reims cathedral. Because of Louis's youth, his mother ruled France as regent during his minority. His younger brother Charles I of Sicily (1227-85) was created count of Anjou, thus founding the second Angevin dynasty. No date is given for the beginning of Louis's personal rule. His contemporaries viewed his reign as co-rule between the king and his mother, though historians generally view the year 1234 as the year in which Louis began ruling personally, with his mother assuming a more advisory role.[4] She continued as an important counselor to the king until her death in 1252. On 27 May 1234, Louis married Margaret of Provence (1221 - 21 December 1295), whose sister Eleanor later became the wife of Henry III of England. Crusading When he was 15, Louis' mother brought an end to the Albigensian Crusade in 1229 after signing an agreement with Count Raymond VII of Toulouse that cleared the latter's father of wrongdoing. Raymond VI of Toulouse had been suspected of murdering a preacher on a mission to convert the Cathars. Louis went on two crusades, in his mid-30s in 1248 (Seventh Crusade) and then again in his mid-50s in 1270 (Eighth Crusade). The seventh crusade He had begun with the rapid capture of the port of Damietta in June 1249,[5] an attack which did cause some disruption in the Muslim Ayyubid empire, especially as the current sultan, Al-Malik as-Salih Najm al-Din Ayyub was on his deathbed. But the march from Damietta toward Cairo through the Nile River Delta went slowly. The rising of the Nile and the summer heat made it impossible for them to advance and follow up their success.[6] During this time, the Ayyubid sultan died, and a sudden power shift took place, as the sultan's wife Shajar al-Durr set events in motion which were to make her Queen, and eventually place the Egyptian army of the Mamluks in power. On 6 April 1250 Louis lost his army at the Battle of Fariskur[7] and was captured by the Egyptians. His release was eventually negotiated, in return for a ransom of 400,000 livres tournois (at the time France's annual revenue was only about 1,250,000 livres tournois), and the surrender of the city of Damietta.[8] Following his release from Egyptian captivity, Louis spent four years in the Crusader kingdoms of Acre, Caesarea, and Jaffa, using his wealth to assist the Crusaders in rebuilding their defences[9] and conducting diplomacy with the Islamic powers of Syria and Egypt. Upon his departure from the Middle East, he left a significant garrison in the city of Acre for its defence against Islamic attacks; the historic presence of this French garrison in the Middle East was later used as a justification for the French Mandate. Louis exchanged multiple letters and emissaries with Mongol rulers of the period. During his first crusade in 1248, Louis was approached by envoys from Eljigidei, the Mongol ruler of Armenia and Persia.[10] Eljigidei suggested that King Louis should land in Egypt, while Eljigidei attacked Baghdad, to prevent the Saracens of Egypt and those of Syria from joining forces. Louis sent André de Longjumeau, a Dominican priest, as an emissary to the Great Khan Güyük Khan in Mongolia. However, Güyük died before the emissary arrived at his court, and nothing concrete occurred. Louis dispatched another envoy to the Mongol court, the Franciscan William of Rubruck, who went to visit the Great Khan Möngke Khan in Mongolia. The eighth crusade In a parliament held at Paris, 24 March 1267, he and his three sons took the cross. On hearing the reports of the missionaries, Louis resolved to land at Tunis. Louis ordered his younger brother, Charles of Anjou, to join him at Tunis. The crusaders, among whom was Prince Edward of England, landed at Carthage 17 July 1270, but the disease broke out in the camp, and on 25 August, Louis himself was carried off by the scourge.[9] Patron of arts and arbiter of Europe Louis' patronage of the arts drove much innovation in Gothic art and architecture, and the style of his court radiated throughout Europe by both the purchase of art objects from Parisian masters for export, and by the marriage of the king's daughters and female relatives to foreign husbands and their subsequent introduction of Parisian models elsewhere. Louis' personal chapel, the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris, was copied more than once by his descendants elsewhere. Louis most likely ordered the production of the Morgan Bible, a masterpiece of medieval painting. Saint Louis ruled during the so-called "golden century of Saint Louis", when the kingdom of France was at its height in Europe, both politically and economically. The king of France was regarded as "primus inter pares, first among equals, among the kings and rulers of the continent. He commanded the largest army, and ruled the largest and wealthiest kingdom in Europe, a kingdom which was the European centre of arts and intellectual thought at the time. The foundations for the famous college of theology which was later known as the Sorbonne were laid in Paris about the year 1257.[6] The prestige and respect felt in Europe for King Louis IX were due more to the attraction that his benevolent personality created rather than to military domination. For his contemporaries, he was the quintessential example of the Christian prince, and embodied the whole of Christendom in his person. His reputation for saintliness and fairness was already well established while he was alive, and on many occasions he was chosen as an arbiter in quarrels among the rulers of Europe.[4] Shortly before 1256 Enguerrand IV, Lord of Coucy arrested and without trial hanged three young squires of Laon whom he accused of poaching in his forest. In 1256 Louis had him arrested and brought to the Louvre by his sergeants. Enguerrand demanded judgment by his peers and trial by battle which was refused by the king because Louis thought it obsolete. Enguerrand was tried, sentenced and ordered to pay 12,000 livres. Part of the money was to pay for masses in perpetuity for the men he had hanged. In 1258, Louis and James I of Aragon signed the Treaty of Corbeil, under which Louis renounced his feudal overlordship over the County of Barcelona, which was held by the King of Aragon. James in turn renounced his feudal overlordship over several counties in southern France. Religious nature The perception of Louis IX as the exemplary Christian prince was reinforced by his religious zeal. Louis was a devout Catholic, and he built the Sainte-Chapelle ("Holy Chapel"),[4] located within the royal palace complex (now the Paris Hall of Justice), on the Île de la Cité in the centre of Paris. The Sainte Chapelle, a perfect example of the Rayonnant style of Gothic architecture, was erected as a shrine for the Crown of Thorns and a fragment of the True Cross, precious relics of the Passion of Jesus. Louis purchased these in 1239-41 from Emperor Baldwin II of the Latin Empire of Constantinople, for the exorbitant sum of 135,000 livres (the chapel, however, cost only 60,000 livres to build). Louis IX took very seriously his mission as "lieutenant of God on Earth", with which he had been invested when he was crowned in Rheims. To fulfill his duty, he conducted two crusades, and even though they were unsuccessful, they contributed to his prestige. In 1230 the King forbade all forms of usury. Where the profits of the Jewish and Lombard money-lenders had been exorbitant, and the original borrowers could not be found, Louis exacted from the usurers a contribution towards the crusade which Pope Gregory was then trying to launch.[6] Louis also ordered, at the urging of Pope Gregory IX, the burning in Paris in 1243 of some 12,000 manuscript copies of the Talmud and other Jewish books. Eventually, the edict against the Talmud was overturned by Gregory IX's successor, Innocent IV.[11] In addition to Louis' legislation against Jews and usury, he expanded the scope of the Inquisition in France. The area most affected by this expansion was southern France where the Cathar heresy had been strongest. The rate of these confiscations reached its highest levels in the years before his first crusade, and slowed upon his return to France in 1254. In all these deeds, Louis IX tried to fulfill the duty of France, which was seen as "the eldest daughter of the Church" (la fille aînée de l'Église), a tradition of protector of the Church going back to the Franks and Charlemagne, who had been crowned by the Pope in Rome in 800. Indeed, the official Latin title of the kings of France was Rex Francorum, i.e. "king of the Franks" (until Louis' grandfather's reign, Philip II whose seal reads Rex Franciae, i.e. "king of France"), and the kings of France were also known by the title "most Christian king" (Rex Christianissimus). The relationship between France and the papacy was at its peak in the 12th and 13th centuries, and most of the crusades were actually called by the popes from French soil. Eventually, in 1309, Pope Clement V even left Rome and relocated to the French city of Avignon, beginning the era known as the Avignon Papacy (or, more disparagingly, the "Babylonian captivity"). St. Louis installed a house of the Trinitarian order in his château of Fontainebleau. He chose Trinitarians as his chaplains, and was accompanied by them on his crusades. Children 1.Blanche (12 July/4 December[12] 1240 - 29 April 1243), died young 2.Isabella (2 March 1241 - 28 January 1271), married Theobald II of Navarre 3.Louis of France (23 September 1243 or 24 February 1244[12] - 11 January or 2 February January 1260). Betrothed to Infanta doña Berenguela of Castile in Paris on 20 August 1255.[12] 4.Philip III (1 May 1245 - 5 October 1285), married firstly to Isabella of Aragon in 1262 and secondly to Maria of Brabant in 1274 5.John (1246/1247[12]-1248), died young 6.John Tristan of Valois (1250 - 3 August 1270), married Yolande of Burgundy 7.Peter I of Alençon (1251-84), married Joanne of Châtillon 8.Blanche of France, Infanta of Castile, married Ferdinand de la Cerda, Infante of Castille 9.Margaret of France (1254-71), married John I, Duke of Brabant 10.Robert, Count of Clermont (1256 - 7 February 1317), married Beatrice of Burgundy. Henry IV of France was his direct male-line descendant. 11.Agnes of France (c. 1260 - 19 December 1327), married Robert II, Duke of Burgundy Louis had his children that predeceased him buried at the Cisterian abbey of Royaumont.[13] Death and legacy During his second crusade, Louis died at Tunis, 25 August 1270. As Tunis was Muslim territory, his body was subject to the process known as mos Teutonicus (a postmortem funerary custom used in medieval Europe whereby the flesh was boiled from the body, so that the bones of the deceased could be transported hygienically from distant lands back home.[14]) for its transportation back to France.[14] He was succeeded by his son, Philip III. Louis was traditionally believed to have died from the bubonic plague but the cause is thought by modern scholars to have been dysentery. The bubonic plague did not strike Europe until 1348, so the likelihood of his contracting and ultimately dying from the bubonic plague was very slim. Christian tradition states that some of his entrails were buried directly on the spot in Tunisia, where a Tomb of Saint-Louis can still be visited today, whereas his heart and other parts of his entrails were sealed in an urn and placed in the Basilica of Monreale, Palermo, where they still remain. (Sicily was at that time ruled by his younger brother, Charles of Anjou, and the French army returned to France through the Kingdom of Naples and Sicily.) His corpse was taken, after a short stay at the Basilica of Saint Dominic in Bologna, to the French royal necropolis at Saint-Denis, resting in Lyon on the way. His tomb at Saint-Denis was a magnificent gilt brass monument designed in the late 14th century. It was melted down during the French Wars of Religion, at which time the body of the king disappeared. Only one finger was rescued and is kept at Saint-Denis. Veneration as a saint Pope Boniface VIII proclaimed the canonization of Louis in 1297;[15] he is the only French monarch to be declared a saint. Louis IX is often considered the model of the ideal Christian monarch.[16] Because of the aura of holiness attached to his memory, many kings of France were called Louis, especially in the Bourbon dynasty, which directly descended from one of his younger sons. The Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Louis is a Roman Catholic religious order founded in 1842 and named in his honor. He is honored as co-patron of the Third Order of St. Francis, which claims him as a member of the Order. Even in childhood, his compassion for the poor and suffering people had been obvious to all who knew him and when he became king, over a hundred poor people ate in his house on ordinary days. Often the king served these guests himself. Such acts of charity, coupled with Louis' devout religious practices, gave rise to the legend that he joined the Third Order of St. Francis. Though it is unlikely that Louis did join the order, his life and actions proclaimed him one of them in spirit.[2] Places named after Saint Louis The cities of San Luis Potosí in Mexico; St. Louis, Missouri; St. Louis, Michigan; San Luis, Arizona; San Luis, Colorado; Saint-Louis du Sénégal; Saint-Louis in Alsace; as well as Lake Saint-Louis in Quebec, the Mission San Luis Rey de Francia in California and rue Saint Louis of Pondicherry are among the many places named after the king and saint. The Cathedral Saint-Louis in Versailles; the Basilica of St. Louis, King of France and the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis, both in St. Louis, Missouri; and the St. Louis Cathedral, New Orleans were also named for the king. The French royal Order of Saint Louis (1693-1790 and 1814-1830), the Île Saint-Louis as well as a hospital in the 10th arrondissement of Paris also bear his name. The national church of France in Rome also carries his name: San Luigi dei Francesi in Italian or Saint Louis of France in English. Many places in Brazil called São Luís in Portuguese are named after the French Saint Louis. Port-Louis, the capital city of Mauritius, as well as its cathedral are also named after St. Louis, who is the patron saint of the island. Famous portraits A bas-relief of St. Louis is one of the carved portraits of historic lawmakers that adorns the chamber of the United States House of Representatives. Saint Louis is also portrayed on a frieze depicting a timeline of important lawgivers throughout world history in the Courtroom at the Supreme Court of the United States. A statue of St. Louis by the sculptor John Donoghue stands on the roofline of the New York State Appellate Division Court at 27 Madison Avenue in New York City. The Apotheosis of St. Louis is an equestrian statue of the saint, by Charles Henry Niehaus, that stands in front of the Saint Louis Art Museum in Forest Park. In fiction Davis, William Stearns, "Falaise of the Blessed Voice" aka "The White Queen". New York, NY: Macmillan, 1904 Peter Berling, The Children of the Grail References 1.Jump up ^ Vie de St Louis, ed. H.-F. Delaborde, Paris, 1899 2.^ Jump up to: a b "Saint Louis, King of France", Archdiocese of St. Louis, MO. 3.Jump up ^ Plaque in the church, Collégiale Notre-Dame, Poissy, France. 4.^ Jump up to: a b c Goyau, Georges. "St. Louis IX." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 9. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 24 Feb. 2013 5.Jump up ^ Tyerman, p. 787 6.^ Jump up to: a b c "Lives of Saints", John J. Crawley & Co., Inc. 7.Jump up ^ Trevor N Dupuy (1993). The Harper Encyclopedia of Military History. HarperCollins. p. 417. 8.Jump up ^ Tyerman, pp. 789-798 9.^ Jump up to: a b Bréhier, Louis. "Crusades." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 4. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1908. 24 Feb. 2013 10.Jump up ^ Peter Jackson (July 1980). "The Crisis in the Holy Land in 1260". The English Historical Review 95 (376): 481-513. doi:10.1093/ehr/XCV.CCCLXXVI.481. ISSN 0013-8266. JSTOR 568054. 11.Jump up ^ http://5tjt.com/the-pope-who-saved-the-talmud/ 12.^ Jump up to: a b c d Capetian Kings 13.Jump up ^ Authority, the Family, and the Dead in Late Medieval France, Elizabeth A. R. Brown, French Historical Studies, Vol. 16, No. 4 (Autumn, 1990), 810. 14.^ Jump up to: a b Westerhof, Danielle (16 October 2008,). Death and the Noble Body in Medieval England. Boydell Press. p. 79. ISBN 1843834162. 15.Jump up ^ Louis IX, Oxford Dictionary of Saints, (Oxford University Press, 2004), 326. 16.Jump up ^ Louis IX, Oxford Dictionary of Saints, 326. Bibliography Davis, Jennifer R. "The Problem of King Louis IX of France: Biography, Sanctity, and Kingship," Journal of Interdisciplinary History Autumn 2010, Vol. 41, No. 2: 209-225. review of Gaposchkin (2008) and Le Goff (2009) Gaposchkin, M. Cecilia. The Making of Saint Louis: Kingship, Sanctity, and Crusade in the Later Middle Ages (Cornell University Press, 2008) pp. 352. ISBN 9780801476259. Jordan, William Chester. Louis IX and the Challenge of the Crusade: A Study in Rulership (Princeton, 1979), a highly influential study says Davis (2010) Le Goff, Jacques. Saint Louis (University of Notre Dame Press, 2009) pp. 952. ISBN 0268033811. Streyer,J.R. "The Crusades of Louis IX" In K.M. Setton, editor, "A History of the Crusades" (Philadelphia,1962) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Another version: Louis was the fourth child of King Louis VIII and his queen, Blanche of Castile, but, since the first three died at an early age, Louis, who was to have seven more brothers and sisters, became heir to the throne. He was raised with particular care by his parents, especially his mother. Experienced horsemen taught him riding and the fine points of hunting. Tutors taught him biblical history, geography, and ancient literature. His mother instructed him in religion herself and educated him as a sincere, unbigoted Christian. Louis was a boisterous adolescent, occasionally seized by fits of temper, which he made efforts to control. When his father succeeded Philip II Augustus in 1223, the long struggle between the Capetian dynasty and the Plantagenets of England (who still had vast holdings in France) was still not settled, but there was a temporary lull, since the English king, Henry III, was in no position to resume the war. In the south of France the Albigensian heretics, who were in revolt against both church and state, had not been brought under control. Finally, there was ferment and the threat of revolt among the great nobles, who had been kept in line by the firm hand of Philip Augustus. Louis VIII managed to bring these external and internal conflicts to an end. In 1226 Louis VIII turned his attention to quelling the Albigensian revolt, but he unfortunately died at Montpensier on Nov. 8, 1226, on returning from a victorious expedition. Louis IX, who was not yet 13, became king under the regency of his redoubtable mother. The Queen Mother's first concern was to take Louis to Reims to be crowned. Many of the most powerful nobles refrained from participating in the ceremony, but Blanche was not a woman to be discouraged by adversity. While continuing her son's education she vigorously attacked the rebellious barons, particularly Hugh of Lusignan and Peter of Dreux (Pierre Mauclerc), duke of Brittany. Without support from King Henry III of England the baronial coalition collapsed, and the Treaty of Vendôme gave Blanche a brief respite. She took advantage of it to put an end to the Albigensian revolt. Louis's troops were sent into Languedoc, where they forced Raymond VII, count of Toulouse, to concede defeat. On April 11, 1229, the King imposed the Treaty of Paris on Raymond, in accordance with the terms of which Raymond's daughter was to marry the King's brother Alphonse, and, after their deaths, all of Languedoc would revert to the royal domain. As a political debut it was a magnificent success. When the students at the University of Paris revolted for a trivial reason, Louis, on his mother's advice, closed the university and ordered the students and professors to disperse, thereby strengthening the royal authority. The problem of the Plantagenet holdings in France remained. Supported by Peter of Dreux, Henry III landed in Brittany and attempted an expedition in the west of France. Louis IX, though only 15, personally commanded the troops. He ordered the château at Angers to be rebuilt and pushed toward Nantes, where Henry was based. There was not even a battle, for, after a futile ride to Bordeaux, Henry withdrew. Truces were renewed, and Peter of Dreux submitted to Louis's authority. When Blanche laid down the reins of government in 1234, the kingdom was temporarily at peace. Louis IX could now think about marriage. He was a splendid knight whose kindness and engaging manner made him popular. And he was a just king: although he exacted what was due him, he had no wish to wrong anyone, from the lowest peasant to the richest vassal. He often administered justice personally, either in the great hall of the Palais de la Cité, which he later endowed with a magnificent chapel, or in his Vincennes manor, where he assembled his subjects at the foot of an oak, a scene often recalled by his biographer Jean de Joinville, the seneschal of Champagne. He was also a pious king, the protector of the church and friend of those in holy orders. In 1228 he founded the noted Abbey of Royaumont. Although respectful of the pope, he staunchly resisted unreasonable papal demands and protected his clergy. Blanche had selected Margaret, daughter of Raymond Berengar IV, the count of Provence, as Louis's wife. The marriage was celebrated at Sens, May 29, 1234, and Louis showed himself to be an eager and ardent husband, which made Blanche intensely jealous of her daughter-in-law. Louis and Margaret had 11 children. After subduing Thibaut of Champagne, Louis IX had to set out again for Aquitaine. This time the rebel was Hugh of Lusignan, who had married the widowed mother of Henry III. Once again Henry descended on the Continent, this time at Royan, with a powerful force. The majority of the nobles in the west of France united with him. An almost bloodless encounter at the bridge of Taillebourg in 1242 resulted in defeat for the English, and Henry returned to London. With each truce slightly more progress was made toward gaining a peace that would put a permanent end to the Hundred Years' War between France and England. After his victory over the English, Louis IX fell seriously ill with a form of malaria at Pontoise-lés-Noyon. It was then, in December 1244, that he decided to take up the cross and go to free the Holy Land, despite the lack of enthusiasm among his barons and his entourage. The situation in the Holy Land was critical; Jerusalem had fallen into Muslim hands on Aug. 23, 1244, and the armies of the Sultan of Egypt had seized Damascus. If aid from the West was not forthcoming, the Christian kingdom of the east would soon collapse. In Europe the times had never been more propitious for a crusade. There was a respite in the great struggle between the Holy Roman Empire and the papacy; moreover, Louis IX's forceful attitude toward the Holy Roman emperor, Frederick II, had dampened the latter's enthusiasm for war. The kingdom of France was at peace, and the barons agreed to accompany their sovereign in the Seventh Crusade. The preparations were long and complex. After entrusting the regency to his mother, Louis IX finally embarked from Aigues-Mortes on Aug. 25, 1248. He took his wife and children with him, since he preferred not to leave the mother and daughter-in-law alone together. His fleet comprised about 100 ships carrying 35,000 men. Louis's objective was simple: he intended to land in Egypt, seize the principal towns of the country, and use them as hostages to be exchanged for Syrian cities. The beginning was promising. After wintering in Cyprus, the expedition landed near Damietta, Egypt, in June 1249. The King was one of the first to leap onto land, where he planted the oriflamme of St. Denis on Muslim territory. The town and port of Damietta were strongly fortified, but on June 6 Louis IX was able to enter the city. He then pushed on toward Cairo, but the rain-swollen waters of the Nile and its canals stopped him for several months. It was necessary to capture the citadel of al-Mansurah. After several attempts, a pontoon bridge was finally built, and the battle took place on Feb. 8, 1250. The outcome of the struggle was for a long time undecided, and the King's brother Robert of Artois was killed. Louis finally gained control of the situation through his energy and self-possession. But the army was exhausted. The Nile carried thousands of corpses away from al-Mansurah, and plague struck the survivors. The King had to issue orders for the agonizing retreat toward Damietta. Louis IX, stricken in turn, dragged himself along in the rear guard of his disintegrating force. The Egyptians harassed the fleeing army and finally captured it on April 7, 1250. After long negotiations, the King and his principal barons were freed for a high ransom, and Louis rejoined his wife at Acre. The crusaders would have preferred to return to France, but the King decided instead to remain. In four years he was to transform a military defeat into a diplomatic success, conclude advantageous alliances, and fortify the Christian cities of Syria. He returned to his kingdom only upon learning of his mother's death. The saintly Louis enjoyed immense prestige throughout western Christendom. He took advantage of this to open negotiations for a lasting peace with the English king, Henry III, who had become his brother-in-law. The discussions extended over several years, but the treaty was finally signed in Paris on May 28, 1258. The terms of the treaty were generous with regard to the Plantagenets. Although Louis could have stripped Henry III of all his continental holdings, he left him Aquitaine and some neighbouring territories. In return, the King of England acknowledged himself to be Louis's vassal. In Louis's eyes this was the most important point, for in the 13th century the power of a sovereign was measured less by the extent of his possessions than by the number and importance of his vassals. A just and equitable ruler, Louis also wanted to create goodwill between his children and those of the Plantagenets. The King's reputation for impartiality was so great that he was often called upon to arbitrate disputes outside France, as he once did in a violent dispute between Henry III and his barons. He took advantage of his authority to reorganize the administration of his kingdom. Some of his officials, profiting by his absence, had abused their power. Louis IX appointed royal investigators charged with correcting abuses on sight and with hearing complaints. Two well-known ordinances, in 1254 and 1256, carefully outlined the duties and responsibilities of officials in the royal domain, and Louis closely supervised their activities. Royal officials were forbidden to frequent taverns or to gamble, and business activities such as the purchase of land or the marriage of their daughters could be carried out only with the King's consent. Further ordinances forbade prostitution, judicial duels, and ordeal by battle. The King imposed strict penalties on counterfeiting, stabilized the currency, and compelled the circulation of royal coinage. In general, his measures strengthened royal justice and administration and provided a firm base for French commercial growth. Louis should not, however, be portrayed as a stained-glass figure. Like all men he had faults. He was quick-tempered and sometimes violent, and he had to struggle against his gluttony. He made his decisions alone but knew how to choose wise counsellors, and his sincere piety did not prevent him from curbing the abuses of the clergy, sometimes brutally. The King devoted attention to the arts and to literature. He directed the construction of several buildings in Paris, Vincennes, Saint-Germain, and Corbeil (to house relics of the "True Cross." He encouraged Vincent of Beauvais, his chaplain, to write the first great encyclopaedia, Speculum majus. During his reign foreign students and scholars flocked to the University of Paris. The King was very high spirited. Nothing would be more inaccurate than to imagine him entirely steeped in piety. After meals he gladly descended into his gardens, surrounded by his intimates, and discussed diverse topics with them. There, each one indulged in quodlibet, or in talking about anything that pleased him. But throughout the latter part of his reign he was obsessed by the memory of the Holy Land, the territory of which was rapidly shrinking before the Muslim advance. In 1269 he decided once again to go to Africa. Perhaps encouraged by his brother Charles of Anjou, he chose Tunisia as the place from which to cut the Islamic world in half. It was a serious mistake for which he must take responsibility, and he eventually had to bear the consequences of it. Ill and weak, he knew that he risked dying there. The expedition landed near Tunis at the beginning of July 1270 and at first won a succession of easy victories. Carthage was taken. But once again plague struck the army, and Louis IX could not withstand it. After having entrusted the future of the kingdom of France to his son Philip, to whom he gave excellent instructions (enseignements), asking him especially to protect and assist the poor, who were the humblest of his subjects, he died in August 1270. The crusade dissolved, and Louis's body was brought back to France. All along the way, through Italy, the Alps, Lyon, and Cluny, crowds gathered and knelt as the procession passed. It reached Paris on the eve of Pentecost in 1271. The funeral rites were solemnly performed at Notre-Dame de Paris, and the coffin went to rest in the abbey of Saint-Denis, the tomb of the kings of France. Without awaiting the judgment of the Roman Catholic Church, the people considered Louis IX to be a saint and prayed at his tomb. Pope Boniface VIII canonized Louis IX, the only king of France to be numbered by the Roman Catholic Church among its saints, in 1297. Encyclopædia Britannica 2006 Ultimate Reference Suite.
William B.
