Louis IX.

Louis IX., or St LOUIS, king of France, born at Poissy, April 25, 1215, succeeded his father, Louis VIII., in 1226. His mother, Blanche of Castile, a woman of great talent and sincere piety, was regent during his minority, and bestowed on him a strictly religious education, which materially influenced his character and policy. When Louis attained his majority he became involved in a war with Henry III. of England, and by his victories compelled the English king to acknowledge French suzerainty in Guienne. During a dangerous illness he made a vow that, if he recovered, he would go in person as a crusader, and accordingly, having appointed his mother regent, he sailed in August 1248, with 40,000 men to Cyprus, whence, in the following spring, he proceeded to Egypt, thinking by the conquest of that country to open the way to Palestine. He took Damietta, but was afterwards defeated and taken prisoner by the Mohammedans. A ransom of 100,000 marks of silver procured his release on May 7, 1250, with the remnant (6000 men) of his army. He proceeded by sea to Acre, and remained in Palestine till the death of his mother (November 1252) compelled his return to France. Having a large number of blood-relations among the dukes and counts of France, he used these to strengthen the 'legitimist' loyalty to his house, determined by the Pragmatic Sanction the relation of the French Church to the pope, founded the theological college in Paris famous under the name of 'La Sorbonne,' gave France a new judicial organisation by setting up in the provinces royal courts of justice or parliaments, which superseded the jurisdiction of the 'lord of the manor,' and gradually gave rise to the noblesse de robe, from amongst which the kings recruited their civil servants. A code of laws was brought into use, known as the Établissements de St Louis. Louis embarked on a new crusade, July 1, 1270, and proceeded to Tunis; but a pestilence breaking out in the French camp carried off the greater part of the army and the king himself. He died August 25, 1270; and his son, Philip III., was glad to make peace and return to France. Pope Boniface VIII. canonised him in 1297. See the Vie de St Louis by Joinville (q.v.), Louis's friend, and Wallon's Life of him (2d ed. Paris, 1878).