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'Louis IX' (
25 April 1215 –
25 August 1270), commonly 'Saint Louis', was
King of France from
1226 to his death. He was also
Count of Artois (as Louis II) from
1226 to
1237. Born at
Poissy, near
Paris, he was a member of the
House of Capet and the son of
King Louis VIII and
Blanche of Castile. He is the only
canonised king of France and consequently there are many places named after him. He established the
Parlement of Paris.
Sources
Much of what is known of Louis's life comes from
Jean de Joinville's famous biography of Louis, ''
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
canonization in
1297 by
Pope Boniface VIII.
Two other important biographies were written by the king's
confessor,
Geoffey of Beaulieu, and his
chaplain,
William of Chartres. The fourth important source of information is
William of Saint-Pathus' biography, 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.
Early life
Louis was eleven years old when his father died on
November 8,
1226. He was crowned king the same year in the cathedral at
Reims.
Assumption of power
Because of Louis's youth, his mother,
Blanche of Castile, ruled France as
regent during his minority. No date is given for Louis's assumption of the throne as king in his own right. 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 ruled as king with his mother assuming a more advisory role. She continued as an important counsellor to the king until her death in
1252.
On
May 27,
1234 Louis married
Marguerite de Provence (
1221 –
December 21,
1295), the sister of
Eleanor, the wife of
Henry III of England.
Louis was the elder brother of
Charles I of Sicily (
1227–
85), whom he created count of
Anjou, thus founding the second
Angevin dynasty. The horrific fate of that dynasty in Sicily as a result of the
Sicilian Vespers evidently did not tarnish Louis's credentials for sainthood.
Crusading
Louis brought an end to the
Albigensian Crusade in
1229 after signing an agreement with Count
Raymond VII of Toulouse that cleared his father of wrong-doing.
Raymond VI had been suspected of murdering a preacher on a mission to convert the
Cathars.
Louis's
piety and kindness towards the poor was much celebrated. He went on
crusade twice, in
1248 (
Seventh Crusade) and then in
1270 (
Eighth Crusade). Both crusades were complete disasters; after initial success in his first attempt, Louis's army of 15,000 men was met by overwhelming resistance from the Egyptian army and people. Eventually, on
April 13 1250, Louis was defeated and taken prisoner in
Mansoura, Egypt. Louis and his companions were then released in return for the surrender of the French army and a large ransom.
Following his release from Egyptian captivity, Louis spent four years in the crusader Kingdoms of Acre, Caesarea, and Jaffe. Louis used his wealth to assist the crusaders in rebuilding their defenses and conducting diplomacy with the Islamic powers of Syria and Egypt. Upon his departure from Middle East Louis left a significant garrison in the city of Acre for its defense against Islamic attacks. The historic presence of this French garrison in the Middle East was later used as a justification for the French Mandate following the end of the First World War.
Relations with the Mongols
Saint Louis had several epistolar exchanges with
Mongol rulers of the period, and organized the dispatch of ambassadors to them. Contacts started in
1248, with Mongolian envoys bearing a letter from
Eljigidei, the Mongol ruler of
Armenia and
Persia, offering a military alliance:
[1] when Louis disembarked in
Cyprus in preparation of his first Crusade, he was met in
Nicosia with two
Nestorians from
Mossul named David and Marc, who were envoys of the Mongol ruler
Eljigidei. They communicated a proposal to form an alliance with the Mongols against the
Ayubids and against the Califat in
Baghdad.
[2]
In response, Louis sent
André de Longjumeau, a Dominican priest, as an emissary to the Great Khan
Güyük in
Mongolia. Unfortunately Güyük died before their arrival at his court however, and his embassy was dismissed by his widow, who gave them gift and a letter to Saint Louis.
Eljigidei planned an attack on the Muslims in
Baghdad in 1248. This advance was, ideally, to be conducted in alliance with Louis, in concert with the
Seventh Crusade. However, Güyük's early death, caused by drink, made Eljigidei postpone operations until after the
interregnum, and the successful
Siege of Baghdad would not take place until 1258.
In 1253, Saint Louis further dispatched to the Mongol court the Franciscan
William of Rubruck, who went to visit the Great Khan
Möngke in
Mongolia. Möngke gave a letter to William in 1254, asking for the submission of Saint Louis.
[3]
Full military collaboration would take place in 1259-1260 when the
Frank knights of the ruler of
Antioch Bohemond VI and his father-in-law
Hetoum I allied with the
Mongols under
Hulagu to conquer Muslim
Syria, taking together the city of
Alep, and later
Damas.
[4] Contacts would further develop under
Philip the Fair, leading to a military cooperation between Christian powers and the Mongols against the
Mamluks.
Patron of arts and arbiter of Europe
Wooden statue of Saint Louis (perhaps a copy of the statue at the church of Mainneville?)
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 a ''primus inter pares'' among the kings and rulers of Europe. He commanded the largest army, and ruled the largest and most wealthy kingdom of Europe, a kingdom which was the European center of arts and intellectual thought (
La Sorbonne) at the time. For many, King Louis IX embodied the whole of
Christendom in his person. His reputation of saintliness and fairness was already well established while he was alive, and on many occasions he was chosen as an arbiter in the quarrels opposing the rulers of Europe.
The prestige and respect felt in Europe for King Louis IX was 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.
he died on ill sickness
Religious zeal
Later depiction of Louis IX
King Louis IX washing the feet of the poor.
The perception of Louis IX as the exemplary Christian prince was reinforced by his religious zeal. Saint Louis was a devout Catholic, and he built the ''
Sainte Chapelle'' ("Holy Chapel"), 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, on the other hand, cost only 60,000 livres to build). This purchase should be understood in the context of the extreme religious fervor that existed in Europe in the 13th century. The purchase contributed greatly to reinforcing the central position of the king of France in western Christendom, as well as to increasing the renown of Paris, then the largest city of western Europe. During a time when cities and rulers vied for relics, trying to increase their reputation and fame, Louis IX had succeeded in securing the most prized of all relics in his capital. The purchase was thus not only an act of devotion, but also a political gesture: the French monarchy was trying to establish the kingdom of France as the "
new Jerusalem."
Louis IX took very seriously his mission as "lieutenant of God on Earth," with which he had been invested when he had been crowned in
Rheims. Thus, in order to fulfill his duty, he conducted two
crusades, and even though they were unsuccessful, they contributed to his prestige. Contemporaries would not have understood if the king of France did not lead a crusade to the
Holy Land. In order to finance his first crusade Louis ordered the expulsion of all
Jews engaged in
usury. This action enabled Louis to confiscate the property of expelled Jews for use in his crusade. However, he did not eliminate the debts incurred by Christians. One-third of the debt was forgiven, but the other two-thirds was to be remitted to the royal treasury. Louis also ordered, at the urging of
Pope Gregory IX, the burning of some 12,000 copies of the
Talmud in Paris in 1243. Such legislation against the Talmud, not uncommon in the history of Christendom, was due to medieval courts' concerns that its production and circulation might weaken the faith of Christian individuals and threaten the Christian basis of society, the protection of which was the duty of any Christian monarch.
[5]
In addition to Louis's 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 prior to 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," 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").
Ancestors
Children
# Blanche (
1240 –
April 29,
1243)
# Isabelle (
March 2,
1241 –
January 28,
1271), married
Theobald V of Champagne
# Louis (
February 25,
1244 – January
1260)
#
Philippe III (
May 1,
1245 –
October 5,
1285)
# Jean (born and died in
1248)
# Jean Tristan (
1250 –
August 3,
1270), married
Yolande of Burgundy
# Pierre (
1251–
84), Count of Perche and Alençon; Count of Blois and Chartres in right of his wife,
Joanne of Châtillon
# Blanche (
1253–
1323), married
Ferdinand de la Cerda, Infante of Castille
# Marguerite (
1254–
71), married
John I, Duke of Brabant
#
Robert, Count of Clermont (
1256 –
February 7,
1317). He was the ancestor of King
Henry IV of France.
#
Agnes of France (''ca''
1260 –
December 19,
1327), married
Robert II, Duke of Burgundy
Death and legacy
During his second crusade, Louis died at
Tunis,
August 25,
1270, from what was traditionally believed to be
bubonic plague but is thought by modern scholars to be
dysentery. The local tradition of
Sidi Bou Said claims that the future Saint Louis did not die in 1270, but converted to Islam under the name of Sidi Bou Said, died at the end of the 13th century, and was buried as a saint of Islam in Djebel-Marsa.
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 other parts of his entrails were sealed in an urn and placed in the
Basilica of Monreale,
Palermo, where they still remain. 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.
Pope Boniface VIII proclaimed the
canonization of Louis in
1297; he is the only French monarch ever to be made a
saint.
Louis IX was succeeded by his son,
Philippe III.
Veneration as a saint
Louis IX is often considered the model of the ideal Christian monarch. Because of the aura of holiness attached to the memory of Louis IX, many
Kings of France were called Louis, especially in the
Bourbon dynasty (
Louis XIII to
Louis XVIII).
The
Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Louis is a
Roman Catholic religious order founded in
1842 and named in his honour.
Places named after Saint Louis
The cities of
Saint Louis, Missouri,
Saint-Louis du Sénégal in
Senegal,
Saint-Louis in
Alsace, as well as
Lake Saint-Louis in
Quebec, and the
Mission San Luis Rey de Francia in
California are among the many places named after the king.
The Cathedral Saint-Louis in
Versailles,
Basilica of St. Louis, King of France in St. Louis, Missouri, the
Cathedral-Basilica of St. Louis in St. Louis, Missouri, and the French royal
Order of Saint Louis (
1693–
1790 and
1814–
30) were also created after the king. The
Saint Louis Cathedral in New Orleans is also named after the king.
Many places in
Brazil called
São LuÃs in
Portuguese are named after Saint Louis.
Sidi Bou Said in Tunisia is said to have been named for this very Catholic French king
[3]. Tunisian legend tells the story of King Louis falling in love with a Berber princess, changing his name to Abou Said ibn Khalef ibn Yahia Ettamini el Beji (nicknamed "Sidi Bou Said") for which a quaint town on the Tunisian coast is named. He became, according to this legend, an Islamic saint. The grounds for this story are somewhat shaky, however, as the king obviously fought Islam with a unique religious zeal throughout his life.
Famous portraits
A portrait of St. Louis hangs in 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.
External links
★
Site about The Saintonge War between Louis IX of France and Henry III of England.
★
Account of the first Crusade of Saint Louis from the perspective of the Arabs..
★
A letter from Guy, a knight, concerning the capture of Damietta on the sixth Crusade with a speech delivered by Saint Louis to his men.
★
Etext full version of the Memoirs of the Lord of Joinville, a biography of Saint Louis written by one of his knights
★
Biography of Saint Louis on the Patron Saints Index
Bibliography
Joinville, Jean de, The History of St. Louis (Trans. Joan Evans).
References
1. The Crisis in the Holy Land in 1260
Peter Jackson
The English Historical Review, Vol. 95, No. 376 (Jul., 1980), pp. 481-513 [1]
2. "Histoire des Croisades", Rene Grousset, p.523, ISBN 226202569X
3. J. Richard, 1970, p. 202., Encyclopedia Iranica, [2]
4. "Histoire des Croisades", René Grousset, p581, ISBN 226202569X
5.
External links
★
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