St Louis of France (1214-70) king
King
St Louis IX of France is the only canonised king of France. He helped
the Church against the Albigensian heresy and went on two Crusades.
He
had a reputation for personal holiness, gave patronage to the arts and
was balanced in disputes with other powers.
Early life
Louis was born in 1214 at Poissy, near
Paris, the son of King Louis VIII and Blanche of Castile. When he was
twelve years old (1226), his father died.
He was then crowned king at
Reims cathedral, while his mother ruled France as regent till he was
about twenty.
She remianed his advisor until her death in 1252. In
1234 Louis married Margaret of Provence (1221–1295), whose sister
Eleanor was the wife of Henry III of England.
Benevolent monarch
During Louis's boyhood, there
had been a crusade in the south of France against the Albigensians and
toward the end Louis had some involvement. After this he worked to unify
France but he showed a willingness to negotiate and yield where
necessary to English and Spanish claims. Louis had a benevolent
personality and his reign was regarded as a golden era when the kingdom
of France was at its height in Europe, both politically and
economically. With his reputation for saintliness and fairness, he was
regarded as the first among the kings and rulers of Europe and often was
called to mediate in their disputes.
Friend of Thomas Aquinas
Louis founded a hospital
for the poor, sick, and blind, known as the Quinze-Vingts (15 x 20
- originally for 300 inmates). Robert de Sorbon, the founder of the
Sorbonne (University of Paris) was his confessor and his personal
friend, and Thomas Aquinas was a frequent guest at his table. Once, it
is said, Thomas dropped out of the conversation, lost in thought, and
then suddenly struck the table with his fist and exclaimed, "That is a
decisive argument against the Manichees!" Louis at once called for
writing materials, so that Thomas could record the argument before he
had a chance to forget it.
Patron of the arts
Louis's reign coincided with
the great era of building of Gothic cathedrals in France. Louis's
patronage of the arts helped the development of Gothic art and
architecture. He built the Sainte-Chapelle in the centre of Paris within
the royal palace complex (now the Paris Hall of Justice), on the Île de
la Cité.
Eight Crusade (1248-54)
Louis fought in two
Crusades, both of which were total failures. To finance the first he
ordered the expulsion of all Jews engaged in usury and the confiscation
of their property, for use in his crusade. He also ordered at the urging
of Pope Gregory IX, the burning of many manuscripts of the Talmud and
other Jewish books. In 1248 he led an army to Cyprus, where he was
joined by 200 English knights. In 1249 they went on to Egypt and took
the city of Damietta, but discipline broke down and Louis was unable to
keep the soldiers from looting.
Little achieved
In 1250 Louis lost the Battle of
Fariskur and was captured by the Egyptians. His release was eventually
negotiated in return for a high ransom and the surrender of the city of
Damietta. He sailed to Palestine, visited the few Holy Places that were
accessible. He spent four years in the Crusader kingdoms of Acre,
Caesarea, and Jaffa. He used his wealth to help the Crusaders rebuild
their defences and in diplomacy with the Islamic powers of Syria and
Egypt. When he left the Middle East to return to France in 1254, there
was a garrison in the city of Acre for its defence against Islamic
attacks.
9th Crusade (1270)
In 1270 Louis joined another crusade, which landed in Tunis, where he immediately caught typhoid fever and died on 25th August.
Rex Christianissimus ("the most Christian king")
Louis
IX is best understood if we see him as trying 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 Latin title of the kings of France was Rex Francorum, "king of the Franks" and Rex Christianissimus ("the
most Christian king"). 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.