King Louis VIII of FRANCE, KING

                          In Louis IX of France were united the qualities of a just andupright sovereign, a fearless warrior, and a saint. This crusading kingwas a living embodiment of the Christianity of the time: he lived for thewelfare of his subjects and the glory of God. His father was Louis VIII,of the Capet line, and his mother was the redoubtable Queen Blanche,daughter of King Alfonso of Castile and Eleanor of England. Louis, theoldest son, was born at Poissy on the Seine, a little below Paris, onApril 25,1214, and there was christened. Much of his virtue is attributedto his mother's care, for the Queen devoted herself to her children'seducation. Louis had tutors who made him a master of Latin, taught him tospeak easily in public and write with dignity and grace. He wasinstructed in the arts of war and government and all other kinglyaccomplishments. But Blanche's primary concern was to implant in him adeep regard and awe for everything related to religion. She used often tosay to him as he was growing up, "I love you my dear son, as much as amother can love her child; but I would rather see you dead at my feetthan that you should commit a mortal sin."  Louis never forgot hisupbringing. His friend and biographer, the Sieur de Joinville,[1] whoaccompanied him on his first crusade to the Holy Land, relates that theKing once asked him, "What is God?" Joinville replied, "Sire, it is thatwhich is so good that there can be nothing better." "Well," said theKing, "now tell me, would You rather be a leper or commit a mortal sin?"The spectacle of the wretched lepers who wandered along the highways ofmedieval Europe might well have prompted a sensitive conscience to asksuch a question. "I would rather commit thirty mortal sins," answeredJoinville, in all candor, "than be a leper." Louis expostulated with himearnestly for making such a reply. "When a man dies," he said, "he ishealed of leprosy in his body; but when a man who has committed a mortalsin dies he cannot know of a certainty that he has in his lifetimerepented in such sort that God has forgiven him; wherefore he must standin great fear lest that leprosy of sin last as long as God is inParadise."  After a reign of only three years, Louis VIII died, and QueenBlanche was declared regent for her eleven-year-old son. To forestall anuprising of restless nobles, she hastened the ceremony of Louis'coronation, which took place at Rheims on the first Sunday of Advent,1226. The boy was tall, and mature for his age, yet he trembled as hetook the solemn oath; he asked of God courage, light, and strength to usehis authority well, to uphold the divine honor, defend the Church, andserve the good of his people. The ambitious barons, who were not presentat the coronation, were soon making extravagant demands for moreprivileges and lands, thinking to take advantage of the King's youth. Butthey reckoned without the Queen; by making clever alliances, shesucceeded in overcoming them on the battlefield, so that when Louisassumed control some years later, his position was strong. In May, 1234,Louis, then twenty, married Margaret, the oldest daughter of RaymondBeranger, Count of Provence. They had eleven children, five sons and sixdaughters. This line continued in power in France for five hundred years.In 1703, as the guillotine fell on Louis XVI, it will be recalled thatthe Abbe Edgeworth murmured: "Son of St. Louis, ascend to Heaven"  Aftertaking the government of the realm into his hands, one of the youngKing's first acts was to build the famous monastery of Royaumont, withfunds left for the purpose by his father. Louis gave encouragement to thereligious orders, installing the Carthusians in the palace of Vauvert inParis, and assisting his mother in founding the convent of Maubuisson.Ambitious to make France foremost among Christian nations, Louis wasoverjoyed at the opportunity to buy the Crown of Thorns and other holyrelics from the Eastern Emperor at Constantinople. He sent two Dominicanfriars to bring these sacred objects to France, and, attended by animpressive train, he met them at Sens on their re
       turn. To house therelics, he built on the island in the Seine named for him, the shrine ofSainte-Chapelle, one of the most beautiful examples of Gothicarchitecture in existence. Since the French Revolution it stands empty ofits treasure.  Louis loved sermons, heard two Masses daily, and wassurrounded, even while traveling, with priests chanting the hours. Thoughhe was happy in the company of priests and other men of wisdom andexperience, he did not hesitate to oppose churchmen when they provedunworthy. The usual tourneys and festivities at the creation of newknights were magnificently celebrated, but Louis forbade at his court anydiversion dangerous to morals. He allowed no obscenity or profanity. "Iwas a good twenty-two years in the King's company," writes Joinville,"and never once did I hear him swear, either by God, or His Mother, orHis saints. I did not even hear him name the Devil, except if he met theword when reading aloud, or when discussing what had been read." ADominican who knew Louis well declared that he had never heard him speakill of anyone. When urged to put to death the rebel son of Hugh de laMarche, he would not do so, saying, "A son cannot refuse to obey hisfather's orders."  In 1230 the King forbade all forms of usury, inaccordance with the teachings of the Christian religion. Where theprofits of the Jewish and Lombard money-lenders had been exorbitant, andthe original borrowers could not be found, Louis exacted from the usurersa contribution towards the crusade which Pope Gregory was then trying tolaunch. He issued an edict that any man guilty of blasphemy should bebranded. Even the clergy objected to the harshness of this penalty, andlater, on the advice of Pope Clement IV, it was reduced to a fine, orflogging, or imprisonment, depending on circumstances. Louis protectedvassals and tenants from cruel lords. When a Flemish count hanged threechildren for hunting rabbits in his woods, he had the man imprisoned, andtried, not by his peers, as was the custom, but by ordinary civil judges,who condemned him to death. Louis spared the count's life, but fined himheavily and ordered the money spent on religious and charitable works. Heforbade private wars between his feudal vassals. In his dealings withother great princes, he was careful not to be drawn into their quarrels.If, when putting down a rebellion, he heard of damage inflicted oninnocent people, by his or the enemy's forces, he invariably had thematter examined and full restitution paid. Barons, prelates, and foreignprinces often chose him to arbitrate their disputes. A rising of thenobles in the southwest occurred in 1242, but the King's armies quicklyput it down, although Henry III of England had come to their aid.  Afterrecovering from a violent fever in 1244, Louis announced hislong-cherished intention of undertaking a crusade to the East. Althoughhis advisers urged him to abandon the idea, he was not to be moved fromhis decision. Elaborate preparations for the journey and settling certaindisturbances in the kingdom caused him to postpone his departure forthree and a half years. All benefices in Christendom were ordered taxed atwentieth of their income for three years for the relief of the HolyLand. Blanche was to be regent during the King's absence. On June 12,1248, Louis left Paris, accompanied by his wife and three brothers. Theirimmediate objective was Egypt, whose Sultan, Melek Selah, had beenoverrunning Palestine. Damietta, at the mouth of one of the branches ofthe Nile, was easily taken. Louis and the Queen, accompanied by hisbrothers, the nobles, and prelates, made a solemn entry into the city,singing . The King issued orders that all acts of violencecommitted by his soldiers should be punished and restitution made to thepersons injured. He forbade the killing of any infidel taken prisoner,and gave directions that all who might desire to embrace the Christianfaith should be given instruction, and, if they wished it, baptized. Yetas long as the army was quartered around Damietta, many of his soldiersfell into debauchery an
       d lawlessness. The rising of the Nile and thesummer heat made it impossible for them to advance and follow up theirsuccess. After six months they moved forward to attack the Saracens onthe opposite side of the river, in Mansourah. The ranks of the crusaderswere thinned more by disease than by combat. In April, 1250, Louishimself, weakened by dysentery, was taken prisoner, and his army wasrouted.  During his captivity. the King recited the Divine Office everyday with two chaplains and had the prayers of the Mass read to him. Hemet insults with an air of majesty which awed his guards. In the courseof negotiations for his liberation, the Sultan was murdered by his emirs.The King and his fellow prisoners were released, though the sick andwounded crusaders left in Damietta were slain. With the remnant of hisarmy Louis then sailed to the Syrian coast and remained in that regionuntil 1254, fortifying the cities of Acre, Jaffa, Caesarea, and Tyre,which as yet remained in Christian hands. He visited the Holy Places thatwere in the possession of Christians, encouraging their garrisons, anddoing what he could to strengthen their defenses. Not until news wasbrought him of the death of his mother did he feel that he must return toFrance. He had now been away almost six years, and even after his return,he continued to wear the cross on his shoulder to show his intention ofgoing back to succor the Eastern Christians. Their position worsened, andwithin a few years Nazareth, Caesarea, Jaffa, and Antioch had beencaptured.  The foundations for the famous college of theology which waslater known as the Sorbonne were laid in Paris about the year 1257 Itshead, Master Robert de Sorbon, a learned canon and doctor, was the King'sfriend and sometimes his confessor. Louis helped to endow the college andobtained for it the approval of Pope Clement IV. It was perhaps the mostfamous theological school of Europe. The King himself founded in Paristhe hospital of Quinze-vingt, so named because it had beds for threehundred patients. He also received indigent persons daily and saw thatthey were fed; in Lent and Advent he cared for all who came, oftenwaiting on them in person. He had, as we have said, a passion forjustice, and changed the "King's court" of his ancestors into a popularcourt, where, seated in his palace or under a spreading oak in the forestof Vincennes, he listened to any of his subjects who came with grievancesand gave what seemed to them wise and impartial judgments. The feudalmethod of settling disputes by combat he tried to replace by peacefularbitration or the judicial process of trial, with the presentation oftestimony. In later times, whenever the French complained of oppression,their cry was for justice to be meted out impartially, as it had been inthe reign of St. Louis.  In I258 Louis concluded the Peace of Paris withhis old enemy Henry III of England. Though Louis had been victorious inmost of the battles, he now voluntarily surrendered to England theprovinces of Limousin, Quercy, and Perigord, while Henry renounced allclaim to recover Normandy, Anjou, Maine, Touraine, and Poitou. The Frenchnobility were outraged by their King's concessions, but Louis explainedthat he hoped thus to cement a lasting friendship between the twonations. Unfortunately, peace did not ensue; the Hundred Years' War wasstill to come. A similar compromise was made with the King of-Aragon, bywhich France secured Provence and most of Languedoc, and gave up claimsto Roussillon and Barcelona.  One day, after standing godfather to aJewish convert who had been baptized at St. Denis, Louis remarked to anambassador from the emir of Tunis that to see the emir baptized he wouldhimself joyfully spend the rest of his life in Saracen chains. The Kingwas determined to go on another crusade, and in 1267 he announced hisintention. His people objected, fearing they would lose their excellentand revered ruler, who, though only fifty-two years old, was worn withtoil, illness, and austerities. The Pope supported the crusade, andgranted Louis one-tenth of all Church re
       venues to help meet the expense.A toll-tax was also levied on the French people. Louis appointed theabbot of St. Denis and Simon de Clermont as regents. His three eldestsons, Philip, John, and Peter, accompanied him. The worthy Joinvilledisapproved the enterprise and stayed at home. Louis sailed with hisforces from Aigues-Mortes, at the mouth of the Rhone, on July 1, 1270,heading for Tunis, where, he had been told, the emir was ready to beconverted and join the expedition to win back the Holy Places. Thecrusade was a dismal failure. On landing at Carthage, Louis learned tohis dismay that the information about the emir was false. He decided towait there for reinforcements from the King of Sicily. Dysentery andother diseases broke out among the crusaders, and Louis' second son, whohad been born at Damietta during the earlier crusade, died. That same daythe King and his eldest son, Philip, sickened, and it was soon apparentthat Louis would not recover. He was speechless all the next morning, butat three in the afternoon he said, "Into Thy hands I commend my spirit,"and quickly breathed his last. His bones and heart were taken back toFrance and kept enshrined in the abbey-church of St. Denis, until theywere scattered at the time of the Revolution. Louis was strong,idealistic, austere, just; his charities and foundations were notable,and he went on two crusades. Little wonder that a quarter of a centuryafter his death the process of canonization was started and quicklycompleted the man who was "every inch a king" became a saint of theChurch in 1297, twenty-seven years after his death.