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Louis IX (25 April 1214 – 25 August 1270), also known as Saint Louis, was King of France from 1226 until his death in 1270. He is widely recognized as the most distinguished of the Direct Capetians. Following the death of his father, Louis VIII, he was crowned in Reims at the age of 12. His mother, Blanche of Castile, effectively ruled the kingdom as regent until he came of age, and continued to serve as his trusted adviser until her death. During his formative years, Blanche successfully confronted rebellious vassals and championed the Capetian cause in the Albigensian Crusade, which had been ongoing for the past two decades.
As an adult, Louis IX grappled with persistent conflicts involving some of the most influential nobles in his kingdom, including Hugh X of Lusignan and Peter I of Brittany. Concurrently, England's Henry III sought to reclaim the Angevin Empire, only to be decisively defeated at the Battle of Taillebourg. Louis expanded his territory by annexing several provinces, including parts of Aquitaine, Maine, and Provence. Keeping a promise he made while praying for recovery from a grave illness, Louis led the ill-fated Seventh Crusade and against the Muslim dynasties that controlled North Africa, Egypt, and the Holy Land. He was captured and ransomed during the Seventh Crusade, and later succumbed to dysentery during the Eighth Crusade. His son, Philip III, succeeded him.
Louis instigated significant reforms in the French legal system, creating a royal justice mechanism that allowed petitioners to appeal judgments directly to the monarch. He abolished trials by ordeal, endeavored to terminate private wars, and incorporated the presumption of innocence into criminal proceedings. To implement his new legal framework, he established the offices of provosts and bailiffs. Louis IX's reign is often marked as an economic and political zenith for medieval France, and he held immense respect throughout Christendom. His reputation as a fair and judicious ruler led to his being solicited to mediate disputes beyond his own kingdom. Louis IX expanded upon the work of his predecessors, especially his grandfather Philip II of France and reformed the administrative institutions of the French crown. He re-introduced, and expanded the scope of, the enquêtes commissioned to investigate governmental abuses and provide monetary restitutions for the crown.
Louis's admirers through the centuries have celebrated him as the quintessential Christian monarch. His skill as a knight and engaging manner with the public contributed to his popularity. Saint Louis was extremely pious, earning the moniker of a "monk king". Louis was a staunch Christian and rigorously enforced Catholic orthodoxy. He enacted harsh laws against blasphemy, and he also launched actions against France's Jewish population, including ordering them to wear a yellow badge of shame, as well as the notorious burning of the Talmud following the Disputation of Paris. Louis IX holds the distinction of being the sole canonized king of France.
His younger brother Charles I of Sicily (1227–85) was created count of Anjou, thus founding the Capetian Angevin dynasty.
In 1229, when Louis was 15, his mother ended the Albigensian Crusade by signing an agreement with Raymond VII of Toulouse. Raymond VI of Toulouse had been suspected of ordering the assassination of Pierre de Castelnau, a Roman Catholic preacher who attempted to convert the Cathars.
On 27 May 1234, Louis married Margaret of Provence (1221–1295); she was crowned in the cathedral of Sens the next day. Margaret was the sister of Eleanor of Provence, who later married Henry III of England. The new queen's religious zeal made her a well-suited partner for the king, and they are attested to have gotten along well, enjoying riding together, reading, and listening to music. His closeness to Margaret aroused jealousy in his mother, who tried to keep the couple apart as much as she could.
While his contemporaries viewed his reign as co-rule between the king and his mother, historians generally believe Louis began ruling personally in 1234, with his mother assuming a more advisory role. She continued to have a strong influence on the king until her death in 1252.
During the so-called "golden century of Saint Louis", the kingdom of France was at its height in Europe, both politically and economically. Saint Louis 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, the European centre of arts and intellectual thought at the time. The foundations for the notable college of theology, later known as the Sorbonne, were laid in Paris about the year 1257.
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 the lord 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 to be said in perpetuity for the souls of the men he had hanged.
In 1258, Louis and James I of Aragon signed the Treaty of Corbeil to end areas of contention between them. By this treaty, Louis renounced his feudal overlordship over the County of Barcelona and Roussillon, which was held by the King of Aragon. James in turn renounced his feudal overlordship over several counties in southern France, including Provence and Languedoc. In 1259 Louis signed the Treaty of Paris, by which Henry III of England was confirmed in his possession of territories in southwestern France, and Louis received the provinces of Anjou, Normandy (Normandie), Poitou, Maine, and Touraine.
In 1230, the king forbade all forms of usury, defined at the time as any taking of interest and therefore covering most banking activities. Louis used these anti-usury laws to extract funds from Jewish and Lombard moneylenders, with the hopes that it would help pay for a future crusade. Louis also oversaw the Disputation of Paris in 1240, in which Paris's Jewish leaders were imprisoned and forced to admit to anti-Christian passages in the Talmud, the major source of Jewish commentaries on the Bible and religious law. As a result of the disputation, Pope Gregory IX declared that all copies of the Talmud should be seized and destroyed. In 1242, Louis ordered the burning of 12,000 copies of the Talmud, along with other important Jewish books and scripture. The edict against the Talmud was eventually overturned by Gregory IX's successor, Innocent IV.
Louis also expanded the scope of the Inquisition in France. He set the punishment for blasphemy to mutilation of the tongue and lips. The area most affected by this expansion was southern France, where the Cathar sect had been strongest. The rate of confiscation of property from the Cathars and others reached its highest levels in the years before his first crusade and slowed upon his return to France in 1254.
In 1250, Louis headed a crusade to Egypt and was taken prisoner. During his captivity, he recited the Canonical hours every day. After his release against ransom, he visited the Holy Land before returning to France. In these deeds, Louis IX tried to fulfill what he considered the duty of France 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 Pope Leo III in Rome in 800. The kings of France were known in the Church by the title "most Christian king" ( Rex Christianissimus).
Louis founded many hospitals and houses: the House of the Filles-Dieu for reformed prostitutes; the Quinze-Vingt for 300 blind men (1254), and hospitals at Pontoise, Vernon, and Compiègne.
St. Louis installed a house of the Trinitarian Order at Fontainebleau, his chateau and estate near Paris. He chose Trinitarians as his chaplains and was accompanied by them on his crusades. In his spiritual testament he wrote, "My dearest son, you should permit yourself to be tormented by every kind of martyrdom before you would allow yourself to commit a mortal sin."
Louis authored and sent the Enseignements, or teachings, to his son Philip III. The letter outlined how Philip should follow the example of Jesus Christ in order to be a moral leader. The letter is estimated to have been written in 1267, three years before Louis's death.
Prior to his departure on crusade in 1248, Louis had sent enquêteurs across the kingdom to receive complaints about royal injustice, investigate those claims, and provide restitutions to deserving petitioners. Based on the evidence of administrative corruption and malfeasance compiled in the enquêteurs' reports, as well as the disastrous failure of the crusade itself, in the last sixteen years of his reign Louis initiated a sweeping series of reforms. This reform program was highlighted by the promulgation in December 1254 of what is known as the Great Reform Ordinance, a wide-ranging set of ethical principles and practical rules concerning the conduct and moral integrity of royal officers including baillis and enquêteurs. To ensure that the ordinance's precepts were upheld and enforced, the crown simultaneously relied upon a broad array of preventive strategies, intensive supervision, and accountability procedures, chief among them the reintroduction of the "enquêtes".William Chester Jordan, Louis IX and the Challenge of the Crusade: A Study in Rulership (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1979), pp. 35–64, 135–181; and Jean Richard, Saint Louis, roi d'une France féodale, soutien de la Terre sainte (Paris: Fayard, 1983), ed. and abridged by Simon Lloyd, trans. Jean Birrell as Saint Louis: Crusader King of France (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992), pp. 156–183. A 1261 inquest into the conduct of Mathieu de Beaune, bailli of Vermandois, illustrates Louis's commitment to accountability: testimonies from 247 witnesses were collected to investigate corruption allegations, showcasing the crown's rigorous oversight mechanisms and its mission to create a more transparent judiciary. Such measures reduced localized abuses of power and standardized legal proceedings across the realm.
Perhaps most emblematic of Louis's commitment to justice was his personal involvement in judicial proceedings. According to many local legends and contemporary accounts, the king frequently sat under a great oak tree in the forest of Vincennes near Paris, where he would personally hear cases and render judgements.Jean de Joinville, Life of Saint Louis
Perhaps greatest of all the intellectual minds active in France during Louis's reign was the theologian Thomas Aquinas. Aquinas's association with Paris represents one of the most fruitful collaborations between scholasticism and intellectual endeavor. Though Italian by birth, Aquinas conducted his most important work at the University of Paris, where he held the Dominican chair in theology twice (1256–1259 and 1269–1272). His Summa Theologica, widely considered to be the epitome of medieval scholastic theology, synthesized Aristotelian philosophy with Christian theology in an unprecedented systematic framework at a time when Aristotle was just getting popular in Europe again.
Another major scholastic figure,the German Dominican Albertus Magnus, was also active at the University of Paris from 1245 to 1248. His experimental approach to natural sciences, exemplified by botanical studies and mineralogical investigations, prefigured later scientific methods while maintaining a theological framework.Harran, Marilyn J. "Albertus Magnus, Saint." World Book Student. World Book, 2013. Web. Feb. 27, 2013.Louis IX's support for Dominican institutions facilitated Albertus's work, which helped transform Paris into the primary center for Aristotelian studies.
The primary motivation for building Sainte-Chapelle was to create a suitable sanctuary for Louis IX's collection of precious Christian relics including the crown of thorns. The foundation of the Chapelle was laid in 1241 and construction proceeded rapidly into the decade. On April 26, 1248 the Saint-Chapelle was consecrated as a private royal chapel for King Louis IX.
The completed structure was remarkable in size, measuring 36 meters (118 ft) long, 17 meters (56 ft) wide, and 42.5 meters (139 ft) high-dimensions that rivaled contemporary Gothic cathedrals. The chapel featured two distinct levels of equal size but different purposes, the upper level housed the sacred relics and was reserved exclusively for the royal family and their guests, while the lower level served courtiers, servants, and palace
On 8 February 1250, Louis lost his army at the Battle of Fariskur and was captured by the Egyptians. His release was eventually negotiated in return for a ransom of 400,000 bezants or about 200,000 livres tournois, a little less than the French crown's annual income, and the surrender of the city of Damietta.
Louis maintained regular correspondence and envoy exchanges with the Mongol rulers of his era. During his first crusade in 1248, he received envoys from Eljigidei, the Mongol military leader stationed in Armenia and Persia. Eljigidei proposed that Louis should launch an offensive in Egypt while he targeted Baghdad to prevent the unification of the Muslim forces in Egypt and Syria. In response, Louis sent André de Longjumeau, a Dominican Order priest, as a delegate to the Khagan Güyük Khan () in Mongolia. However, Güyük's death preceded the arrival of the emissary, and his widow and acting regent, Oghul Qaimish, rejected the diplomatic proposition.
Louis sent another representative, the Franciscan missionary and explorer William of Rubruck, to the Mongol court. Rubruck visited the Khagan Möngke () in Mongolia and spent several years there. In 1259, Berke, the leader of the Golden Horde, demanded Louis's submission. In contrast, Mongol emperors Möngke and Khubilai's brother, the Ilkhan Hulegu, sent a letter to the French king, soliciting his military aid; this letter, however, never reached France.
Jean de Joinville's narrative of the king's return home from crusade in July 1254 is marked by two fateful meetings. Upon disembarking at Hyères, forty miles east along the coast from Marseille, Louis and his entourage were met almost immediately by the abbot of Cluny, who presented him and the queen with two palfreys that Joinville estimated to be worth, by the standards of the first decade of the 1300s, five hundred livre tournois. The next day, the abbot returned to tell the king of his troubles, to which the king patiently and attentively listened. After the abbot's departure, Joinville posed to Louis whether the gift of the palfreys had made the king more favorable to the abbot's petition, and, when Louis replied in the affirmative, advised him that those men entrusted with administering the king's justice should be forbidden from accepting gifts, lest they "listen more willingly and with greater attention to those who gave them."Jean de Joinville, Life of Saint Louis. 324–327, cap. 652–656.
While still at Hyères, the king heard of a renowned Franciscan named Hugues de Digne active in the area and, ever the enthusiast for sermons, requested that the friar attend the court so that Louis might hear him preach.Jean de Joinville, Life of Saint Louis. 324–327
In 1259, Louis concluded the Treaty of Paris with Henry III of England. Henry III formally renounced all claims to Normandy, Anjou, Maine, Touraine, and Poitou-territories lost by his predecessors. In return, Louis IX recognized Henry III as Duke of Aquitaine and his vassal for Guyenne and Gascony, with Henry retaining control over these regions but under French suzerainty. The Treaty of Paris had already positioned Louis as a respected mediator in European affairs, and in January 1264, Henry III formally requested Louis IX to arbitrate the dispute between the crown and the barons. Louis convened the Mise of Amiens, a judgement that annulled the Provisions of Oxford and sided decisively with Henry, rejecting the baronial reforms. This ruling emboldened Henry's position but also deepened the conflict, as the barons, led by Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester, refused to accept the decision, which led to renewed warfare after 1264.
Louis IX's diplomatic reach extended across Western Europe and even into the Near East and Central Asia, earning him a reputation as one of the foremost arbitrators of his age. The king maintained diplomatic relations with the Mongols even after returning to France and in 1260, as the Mongols under Hulagu Khan sacked Baghdad and advanced into Syria, Louis maintained correspondence with Ilkhanate leaders, hoping to coordinate attacks against their mutual Mamluk adversaries.
King Louis IX also maintained diplomatic relations with Emperor Frederick II and frequently corresponded with him, but their relationship was far from cordial. The contemporary Arab historian Ibn Wasil mentions a letter that the emperor sent to Louis, after the latter's release from captivity, in order "to remind him of his (own) sound advice and the consequences of his obstinacy and recalcitrance, and to upbraid him for it". There is no other record of this letter, but Frederick did write to King Ferdinand III of Castile blaming the pope for a disaster that could have been avoided; in this letter, the emperor links "papal cunning" to "the fate of our beloved friend, the illustrious King of France".Translation from Seventh Crusade, 47; Ibn Wasil, Mufarrij al-kurūb, 173-5 Frederick II also allegedly sent secret letters and envoys to Sultan As-Salih Ayyub of Egypt, warning him of Louis IX's impending crusade and offering to delay or disrupt the French king's campaign.Ibn al-Dawadari, Kanz al-durar wa-jāmiʿ al-ghurar
King Louis IX enjoyed unparalleled prestige throughout Christendom and was respected even by his opponents as he was considered to be the 'Most Christian King' (rex Christianissimus). This title adopted by the French kings was later confirmed by the pope, while further papal concessions cemented France as the "eldest daughter of the church".J. Weitzel, 'Zur Zuständigkeit des Reichskammergerichts als Appellations gericht', ZSRG GA,90 (1973), 213–45; K. Perels, 'Die Justizverweigerung I'm alten Reiche seit 1495', ZSRG GA, 25 (1904), 1–51 The king's influence was rooted not in military dominance but in widespread respect for his fairness, personal integrity, and reputation as a Christian ruler. European monarchs and nobles frequently sought his judgment in disputes, viewing him as an impartial and principled mediator.
Louis died at Tunis on 25 August 1270, during an epidemic of dysentery that swept through his army. According to European custom, his body was subjected to the process known as mos Teutonicus prior to most of his remains being returned to France. Louis was succeeded as King of France by his son, Philip III.
Louis's younger brother, Charles I of Naples, preserved his heart and intestines, and conveyed them for burial in the Cathedral of Monreale near Palermo.
Louis's bones were carried overland in a lengthy processional across Sicily, Italy, the Alps, and France, until they were interred in the royal necropolis at Saint-Denis in May 1271. Charles and Philip III later dispersed a number of to promote Louis's veneration.
Louis and Margaret's two children who died in infancy were first buried at the Cistercian abbey of Royaumont. In 1820 they were transferred and reinterred to Saint-Denis Basilica.
Named in his honour, the Sisters of Charity of St. Louis is a Roman Catholic religious order founded in Vannes, France, in 1803. A similar order, the Sisters of St Louis, was founded in Juilly in 1842."Our Father and Patron St. Louis / St. Louis, King of France, 1214–1270 AD"
He is honoured as co-patron of the Third Order of St. Francis, which claims him as a member of the Order. When he became king, over a hundred poor people were served meals in his house on ordinary days. Often the king served these guests himself. His acts of charity, coupled with his devout religious practices, gave rise to the legend that he joined the Third Order of St. Francis, though it is unlikely that he ever actually joined the order.
The Catholic Church and Episcopal Church honor him with a feast day on 25 August.
United States
Things named after Saint Louis
Places
Many countries in which French speakers and Catholicism were prevalent named places after King Louis:
Buildings
Notable portraits
France
In fiction
Music
See also
Bibliography
(2025). 9780192802903, Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780192802903
(1998). 9781579580414, Routledge. ISBN 9781579580414
External links
Categories: 1214 Births, 1270 Deaths, 13th-century Kings Of France, People From Poissy, Burials At The Basilica Of Saint-denis, French Royal Saints, House Of Capet, People Of The Albigensian Crusade, Christians Of The Seventh Crusade, Christians Of The Eighth Crusade, Medieval Child Monarchs, 13th-century Christian Saints, Pre-reformation Anglican Saints, Deaths From Dysentery, Patron Saints Of France, Children Of Louis Viii Of France, Monarchs Taken Prisoner In Wartime, Medieval French Saints
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