Louis IX

Louis IX (1214-1270), or St. Louis, was king of France from 1226 to 1270. One of the greatest French kings, he consolidated the Crown's control over the great lords, proved his passion for justice, and went on two crusades.

Born on April 25, 1214, the oldest of the 12 children of Louis VIII and Blanche of Castile, the half-Spanish Louis IX grew up to be a tall, handsome, blond, and jovial prince. By temperament nervous and energetic, Louis disciplined himself with fasting. His deeply religious mother raised him to be a truly Christian king and, as such, he applied Christian principles to his public acts as well as his private life. Louis was only 12 when he became king; his Spanish mother, in France since she was 12, became regent until Louis could accept active rule at 21.

Louis IX accepted his responsibilities as king with dedication and detachment. He worked to make peace and justice prevail. His detachment came from his conviction that kingship was not an opportunity to conquer others, or to exploit them for personal enrichment, or to use power to satisfy one's vanity. He believed that his obligations were to serve the Church and to lead his people to eternal salvation.

In 1247 Louis sent investigators throughout his realm to hear complaints against royal officials. He then issued ordinances, which became a moral code to guide his officials. Louis banned prostitution, gambling, blasphemy, and judicial duels. In an age when coinage varied widely in value, he issued gold and silver coins which quickly became accepted and helped to establish a uniform coinage throughout the realm.

His efforts to assure justice and to be accessible to all made Louis not only widely loved but frequently asked by foreign princes to arbitrate their disputes. Thus Louis was called to arbitrate a quarrel between Henry III of England and his barons in 1264. He was firm with pope and emperor in defense of his royal rights. By identifying his passion for justice with the Crown, his subjects outside the royal domain appealed to him. This helped to extend royal authority throughout the realm and to make him the most powerful king in western Europe. His charity was as widely known as his sense of justice, for he founded abbeys, convents, hospitals, and almshouses for the poor. His interest in art can be seen in his building of the beautiful Gothic Ste-Chapelle in Paris for the Crown of Thorns.

Louis's foreign policy of peace with his neighbors enabled him to go on two crusades. After a serious illness in 1244 he decided to lead a crusade to recover Jerusalem. Divided by internal or foreign problems, other rulers did not participate. Louis's crusade was largely French, the best organized and financed of all crusades. His plan was to damage Egypt so much that it would surrender Jerusalem to him. His army captured Damietta on June 5, 1249, the day after landing in Egypt. The courageous king was one of the first off his ship to establish a beachhead. But he was persuaded by his brother Robert of Artois to head for Cairo rather than Alexandria, and his army of about 15, 000 was trapped on the way at EI Mansûra. Supplies coming up the Nile were cut off, and his army was weakened by death and sickness. Louis therefore had to fall back on Damietta. On the way Louis and his army were captured and held for ransom. Once freed, Louis spent 4 years in Palestine, where he built fortifications and tried to salvage the kingdom of Jerusalem. He returned to France in 1254.

The failure of the crusade prompted Louis to make another effort. The original plan of going to Syria or Egypt was diverted to an attack on Tunisia by Louis's brother Charles of Anjou, King of Sicily, who had interests in Tunisia. About 10, 000 crusaders landed in July 1270. When Louis took sick and died there in August, Charles of Anjou made a profitable peace and returned bearing the remains of the beloved king, who was universally mourned in Europe. He was canonized by Pope Boniface VIII in 1297.

Further Reading

The best and most famous life of Louis was written by Jean, Sire de Joinville, who accompanied the King on his first crusade, The Life of St. Louis (trans. 1955). One of the best modern biographies in English is Margaret Wade Labarge, Saint Louis: Louis IX, Most Christian King of France (1968). A summary of Louis's life is in The Cambridge Medieval History (8 vols., 1911-1936). Louis IX and the other rulers of the Capetian dynasty are covered in Robert Fawtier, The Capetian Kings of France: Monarchy and Nation, 987-1328 (trans. 1960). The best account of his two crusades is in Kenneth M. Setton, ed., A History of the Crusades, vol. 2 (1962).

Additional Sources

Richard, Jean, Saint Louis: Crusader King of France, Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1992. □

Louis IX or Saint Louis, 1214–70, king of France (1226–70), son and successor of Louis VIII. His mother, Blanche of Castile , was regent during his minority (1226–34), and her regency probably lasted even after Louis reached his majority; she was his chief adviser until her death. During the early years of the reign, the queen mother suppressed several revolts of the great nobles, led by Pierre Mauclerc ( Peter I ), duke of Brittany, and supported by Duke Raymond VII of Toulouse and King Henry III of England. In 1240–43, Louis subdued new revolts in S France, securing the submission of Poitou and of Raymond VII, and repulsing a weak invasion (1242) by Henry III. Louis took the cross in 1244, but did not leave on the crusade to Egypt (the Seventh Crusade; see Crusades ) until 1248. Defeated and captured (1250) at al-Mansurah, he was ransomed but remained in the Holy Land until 1254, helping to strengthen the fortifications of the Christian colonies. After his return he attempted to bring about a peaceful settlement of territorial claims with Henry III. Agreement was reached in the Treaty of Paris, ratified in 1259. By its terms Louis ceded Limoges, Cahors, and Périgueux to Henry in exchange for Henry's renunciation of Normandy, Anjou, Maine, Touraine, and Poitou and his recognition of the king of France as suzerain for the reduced duchy of Aquitaine. Louis made a favorable treaty with King James I of Aragón by yielding the French claim to Roussillon and Barcelona in return for James's abandonment of his claim to Provence and Languedoc. A respected arbitrator, Louis settled succession disputes in Flanders and Hainaut and in Navarre; he attempted unsuccessfully to settle the bitter controversy between Henry III and the English barons by judging in favor of the king. In 1270, Louis undertook the Eighth Crusade, but he died soon after landing in Tunis. He was succeeded by his son, Philip III. Under Louis IX, France enjoyed unprecedented prosperity and peace. Louis continued the reforms of his grandfather, Philip II. He curbed private feudal warfare, simplified administration, improved the distribution of taxes, encouraged the use of Roman law, and extended the appellate jurisdiction of the crown to all cases. Louis was pious and ascetic, yet a good administrator and diplomat. He was canonized in 1297. Feast: Aug. 25.

Bibliography: See memoirs of his contemporary, Jean de Joinville; biography by M. W. Labarge (1968); W. C. Jordan, Louis the Ninth (1979); J. Le Goff, Saint Louis (2009).

Louis IX, St (1214–70) King of France (1226–70). He succeeded his father, Louis VIII, and worked effectively to stabilize the country and to come to terms with the English who maintained territorial claims in France. Henry III of England was forced to acknowledge French suzerainty in the disputed region of Guienne. He had a profoundly religious nature and built the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris, to house holy relics brought from Constantinople. Prompted by his recovery from a severe illness he raised the Seventh Crusade, which was directed against Egypt, and sailed in 1248. After initial successes he was captured by Sultan Turanshah and only released upon payment of a ransom in 1250. His involvement in the Crusades was recounted by JOINVILLE. He later mounted another Crusade to Tunis where he died. He was canonized by Pope Boniface VIII in 1297, his sanctity conferring immense prestige on the Capetian dynasty.

Louis IX, St (1214–70), King of France from 1226. Having resolved in 1244 to go on a Crusade, he sailed in 1248 and captured the Egyptian port of Damietta in 1249. In 1250, however, the crusaders were routed and Louis taken prisoner. He returned to France in 1254, imposed peace on Flanders, and signed treaties with Aragon and England. He embarked on a further crusade in 1270, but died of dysentery at Tunis.

A man of austere and prayerful life, Louis embodied the highest ideals of medieval kingship. He built the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris for the Crown of Thorns which he acquired from the Emp. Baldwin II in 1239. Feast day, 25 Aug.

Louis IX (1214–70) King of France (1226–70), later known as Saint Louis. His mother, Blanche of Castile, was regent from 1226 to 1236 and during his absence from France (1248–54). In 1242, Louis defeated the English at Taillebourg. He was captured on the Sixth Crusade.