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Louis IX of France

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Louis IX of France Louis IX of France “Louis IX” redirects here. For other uses, see Louis IX 1 Sources (disambiguation). “São Luís” redirects here. For the city, see São Luís, Much of what is known of Louis’s life comes from Jean Maranhão. de Joinville's famous Life of Saint Louis. Joinville was a close friend, confidant, and counsellor to the king, and Louis IX (25 April 1214 – 25 August 1270), commonly also participated as a witness in the papal inquest into Saint Louis, was a Capetian King of France who reigned Louis’ life that ended with his canonisation in 1297 by from 1226 until his death. Louis was crowned in Reims at Pope Boniface VIII. the age of 12, following the death of his father Louis VIII Two other important biographies were written by the the Lion, although his mother, Blanche of Castile, ruled king’s confessor, Geoffrey of Beaulieu, and his chap- the kingdom until he reached majority. During Louis’s lain, William of Chartres. The fourth important source minority, Blanche dealt with the opposition of rebellious of information is William of Saint-Parthus' biography,[1] vassals and put an end to the Albigensian crusade which which he wrote using the papal inquest mentioned had started 20 years earlier. above. While several individuals wrote biographies in the As an adult, Louis IX faced recurring conflicts with some decades following the king’s death, only Jean of Joinville, of the most powerful nobles, such as Hugh X of Lusig- Geoffrey of Beaulieu, and William of Chartres wrote nan and Peter of Dreux. Simultaneously, Henry III of from personal knowledge of the king. All three are likely England tried to restore his continental possessions, but to be biased in his favor. was defeated at the battle of Taillebourg. His reign saw the annexation of several provinces, notably Normandy, Maine and Provence. 2 Early life Louis’s actions were inspired by Christian values, he de- cided to punish blasphemy, gambling, interest-bearing loans and prostitution, he bought the relics of Christ for which he built the Sainte-Chapelle and tried to convert the Jews of France. Louis IX was also a reformer and developed French royal justice, in which the king is the supreme judge to whom anyone is able to appeal to seek the amendment of a judg- ment. He banned trials by ordeal, tried to prevent private wars that were plaguing the country and introduced the presumption of innocence in criminal procedure. To en- force the correct application of this new legal system, Louis IX created provosts and bailiffs. According to his vow made after a serious illness, and confirmed after a miraculous cure, Louis IX took an ac- tive part in the Seventh and Eighth Crusade in which he died from dysentery. He was succeeded by his son Philip III. A devout Catholic, he is the only canonized king of France. Consequently, there are many places named after Coin of Saint Louis, Cabinet des Médailles. – The Latin in- scription reads LVDOVICVS (i.e. “Louis”) DEI GRACIA (i.e. him. extquotedblby the Grace of God extquotedbl, where Latin gra- tia was spelt gracia) FRANCOR REX (i.e. extquotedblKing of the Franks extquotedbl, where Francor. is the abbreviation of Francorum). Louis was born on 25 April 1214 at Poissy, near Paris, the son of Prince Louis the Lion and Princess Blanche, 1 2 3 CRUSADING and baptised in La Collégiale Notre-Dame church. His Louis began his first crusade with the rapid capture of the grandfather was King Philip II of France. Tutors of port of Damietta in June 1249,[5] an attack that caused Blanche’s choosing taught him most of what a king must some disruption in the Muslim Ayyubid empire, espe- know—Latin, public speaking, writing, military arts, and cially as the current sultan, Al-Malik as-Salih Najm al- government.[2] He was 9 years old when his grandfather Din Ayyub was on his deathbed. But the march from died and his father ascended as Louis VIII.[3] A member Damietta toward Cairo through the Nile River Delta went of the House of Capet, Louis was twelve years old when slowly. The rising of the Nile and the summer heat made his father died on 8 November 1226. He was crowned it impossible for them to advance and follow up their king within the month at Reims cathedral. Because of success.[6] During this time, the Ayyubid sultan died, and Louis’s youth, his mother ruled France as regent during the sultan’s wife Shajar al-Durr set in motion a sudden his minority. power shift that would make her Queen and eventually His younger brother Charles I of Sicily (1227–85) place the Egyptian army of the Mamluks in power. On 6 April 1250 Louis lost his army at the Battle of Fariskur[7] was created count of Anjou, thus founding the second Angevin dynasty. and was captured by the Egyptians. His release was even- tually negotiated in return for a ransom of 400,000 livres No date is given for the beginning of Louis’s personal tournois (at the time France’s annual revenue was only rule. His contemporaries viewed his reign as co-rule be- about 1,250,000 livres tournois) and the surrender of the tween the king and his mother, though historians gener- city of Damietta.[8] ally view the year 1234 as the year in which Louis began ruling personally, with his mother assuming a more advi- Following his release from Egyptian captivity, Louis sory role.[4] She continued as an important counselor to spent four years in the Crusader kingdoms of Acre, the king until her death in 1252. Caesarea, and Jaffa, using his wealth to assist the Crusaders in rebuilding their defences[9] and conducting On 27 May 1234, Louis married Margaret of Provence diplomacy with the Islamic powers of Syria and Egypt. (1221 – 21 December 1295), whose sister Eleanor later Louis exchanged multiple letters and emissaries with became the wife of Henry III of England. Mongol rulers of the period. During his first crusade in 1248, Louis was approached by envoys from Eljigidei, the Mongol military commander stationed in Armenia and 3 Crusading 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. When Louis was 15, his mother brought an end to the Louis sent André de Longjumeau, a Dominican priest, as Albigensian Crusade in 1229 after signing an agreement an emissary to the Great Khan Güyük Khan (r. 1246-48) with Count Raymond VII of Toulouse that cleared the in Mongolia. Güyük died before the emissary arrived at latter’s father of wrongdoing. Raymond VI of Toulouse his court, however, and nothing concrete occurred. In- had been suspected of murdering a preacher on a mission stead his queen and now regent, Oghul Qaimish, politely to convert the Cathars. turned down the diplomatic offer.[11] Louis went on two crusades, in his mid-30s in 1248 Louis dispatched another envoy to the Mongol court, (Seventh Crusade), and then again in his mid-50s in 1270 the Franciscan William of Rubruck, who went to visit (Eighth Crusade). the Great Khan Möngke (1251-1259) in Mongolia. He spent several years at the Mongol court. In 1259, Berke, the ruler of the Golden Horde, westernmost part of 3.1 The seventh crusade the Mongolian Empire, demanded the submission of Louis.[12] On the contrary, Mongolian Emperors Möngke and Khubilai’s brother, the Ilkhan Hulegu, sent a letter seeking military assistance from the king of France, but the letter did not reach France.[13] 3.2 The eighth crusade In a parliament held at Paris, 24 March 1267, Louis and his three sons took the cross. On hearing the re- ports of the missionaries, Louis resolved to land at Tu- nis, and he ordered his younger brother, Charles of An- jou, to join him there. The crusaders, among whom was Prince Edward of England, landed at Carthage 17 July Equestrian statue of King Saint Louis at the Sacré-Cœur. 1270, but disease broke out in the camp. Many died of 3 dysentery,[14] and on 25 August, Louis himself died.[9] utation for saintliness and fairness was already well es- tablished while he was alive, and on many occasions he was chosen as an arbiter in quarrels among the rulers of 4 Patron of arts and arbiter of Eu- Europe.[4] rope Shortly before 1256, Enguerrand IV, Lord of Coucy, ar- rested 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 the king refused because he 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 over- lordship 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. 5 Religious nature Pope Innocent IV with Louis IX at Cluny 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 Louis IX allowing himself to be whipped as penance.
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