Louis IX (French: Louis IX, April 25, 1214 - August 25, 1270 [4]) was the eleventh king of the Capet Dynasty of France (November 8, 1226 - August 25, 1270 [4]). The tenth king of the Capet Dynasty, Louis VIII, was the son of Blanca of Castile.
Louis IX ascended the throne in 1226. In the early period of his reign in France, he devoted himself to suppressing the rebellion of the nobility, defeated the joint invasion of the rebels and King Henry III of England, successfully strengthened the monarchy, and merged all the territories of the king of England in France except Aquitaine. [12] Since then, France has begun to strengthen its influence in the Mediterranean coast and North Africa. [13] In 1249, Louis IX launched a crusade and led his troops to land in Egypt. However, he was defeated miserably when he entered Alexandria, and he was captured by the Egyptian Muslim army. After paying the ransom, he was released and went to AQA to take over the kingdom of Jerusalem. He returned to France in 1254. In 1270, he launched the Crusade again and led the army to land in Tunisia, North Africa. In August of the same year, he died of pestis at the age of 55 [19].
During the reign of Louis IX, he carried out judicial, monetary and military reforms [12], strengthened and consolidated centralized power, developed culture and art, and made the Capet Dynasty reach its peak. Because of his impartial law enforcement and religious belief, he launched two Crusades in succession, so he was canonized as a saint shortly after his death. Later generations called it "Saint Louis" (French: Saint Louis) [4], and his reign was called "the golden age of Saint Louis" [14]. He was regarded as a model among the monarchs of medieval France and even Europe [25-26], nicknamed "perfect monster"

Juvenile succession
Louis was born on April 25, 1214. He was the son of Louis VIII, the tenth king of the Capet Dynasty of France, and Blanche of Castile. [4]
On November 8, 1226, Louis VIII died. On the same day, Louis, who was only 11 years old, was crowned in Reims and inherited the French throne, known as Louis IX. At the beginning of his accession to the throne, his mother, empress Branca, was the Regent. After Louis came to power, she continued to assist in politics. When Louis first led the Crusades in the East, she was Regent. Blanca is shrewd and capable, which plays an important role and influence on Louis' conduct and administration, and on the consolidation and enhancement of French monarchy. [8]
To smooth out civil strife
In France, the unification movement centered on the monarchy and carried out by continuously expanding the Royal territory is a long-term and complex struggle process. Feudal princes regarded it as their traditional right to cede land and claim power. The British king is nominally a vassal of the French king, and has a large feudal territory in France. Philip II, the grandfather of Louis IX, has incorporated some of the British King's territories in Western and central France into the French royal territory, but there are still vast territories of the British king in southwest France. When Louis IX succeeded, it was only three years since Philip II died. The ambitious French princes and the king of England saw a 12-year-old young master on the stage supported by a foreign 38 year old widowed queen. They thought it was a rare opportunity to seize power and expand territory. [8]
In the 13th century paintings, Louis IX holds the "hand of justice"
In the paintings of the 13th century, Louis IX held the "hand of justice" [4]
When Louis IX was crowned in 1226, many great nobles did not participate. Soon, an anti Royal aristocratic alliance was established, and the open civil war began. In 1228, King Henry III of England participated in the rebellion and landed in Brittany. However, the noble alliance itself was lax, and the big nobles had their own plans and different steps. Henry III could only operate in France with a weak armed force because of his conflict with the British nobles. Louis IX himself led the troops to the war. He ordered the rebuilding of the castle of angers and the advance of Henry III's base in Nantes. Henry did not get any results and immediately led the troops to withdraw. [8]
In France, the monarchy has a certain prestige, the middle and small nobles tend to it, and the Catholic Church generally supports it; Urban citizens are an important support force for the monarchy. In 1227, Blanca and Louis IX were on their way back to Paris from Orleans. The princes who started the incident led their troops to gather in corbel, south of Paris, in an attempt to stop them. The citizens of Paris and other cities heard the news and organized teams to go out of the city for protection. On the road leading to Paris, people gathered in groups to pray for the king and prepare to fight for his loyalty. The feudal lords who took part in the rebellion were awed by the masses and had to draw back their troops. In 1229, 34 cities between the Seine and Flanders swore allegiance to the king. [8]
On May 27, 1234, 19-year-old Louis IX married 13-year-old Margaret, the eldest daughter of Raymond Berenger IV, count of Provence. [8] On the 28th, Margaret was crowned Queen of France. [17]
The advantage of kingship was basically established in the years after the turmoil began. From 1240 to 1243, there were disturbances only in southern France. Most of the Countess of Toulouse in southern France was included in the Royal territory in 1229. However, in the name of continuing to suppress the heresy of the albicans, the Catholic Church and the royal officials persecuted the residents for no reason, forcibly occupied the land, invaded the local nobles, and provoked resistance and struggle. It was not until early 1243 that southern France settled under the control of the monarchy. However, a large area of land in the southwest of France, such as Keane and Gascoigne, is still British territory. This was decided in the peace treaty signed by the victorious Louis IX and the defeated Henry III. Louis explained this peace treaty: the kings of Britain and France are in laws (Eleanor, the sister of Louis' wife Margaret, is the queen of Henry III [17]), and their children are "first cousins". Therefore, "it is appropriate to maintain peace between us".

When the rebellion of the great nobles was stopped, France was basically at peace, which enabled Louis to participate in the foreign war of aggression. In order to consolidate the French position in the Mediterranean, he supported his brother Charles of Anjou to occupy southern Italy and Sicily, becoming Charles I of the Anjou Dynasty in Naples. [8]
Because of the frequent trade between the southern cities of France and North Africa, he attempted to strengthen France's influence in North Africa through the crusade. In 1244, "holy land" Jerusalem and Damascus, an important city in Syria, were successively occupied by Islamists. If Western countries do not send troops immediately, the Christian Kingdom in the East will collapse quickly. At this time, Pope Innocent IV, who moved to Lyon, with the support of Louis, held the first Grand Duke of Lyon from June 28 to July 17. In addition to the Pope's decision to punish Frederick II of the Holy Roman Empire, which contradicted him, Louis announced that he would launch a new round of Crusades, that is, the seventh crusade. The Crusade was directed at Egypt. [8]
Louis IX in the eastern expedition
Louis IX in the eastern expedition (2)
Louis spent four years preparing to take part in the eastern expedition. After he handed over the Regency to his mother, he led the French cavalry and set out from aigues mortes with his wife and children on August 25, 1248. His fleet has about 100 warships and 35000 soldiers. He intended to land in Egypt, capture the main towns of Egypt, and exchange these towns for Syrian cities. His expedition spent the winter in Cyprus and landed near Damietta at the mouth of the Nile River in Egypt in June 1249. On June 6, they attacked the city of Damietta and then marched towards Cairo. However, he was delayed for several months due to the flood of the Nile River and the traffic jam downstream. [8]
On February 8, 1250, Louis began to capture the fort of Al mansurah. At this time, the French expeditionary force was exhausted. The king's brother Robert died in the war. The bodies of thousands of dead people were floating on the Nile River. Those who did not die were attacked by the plague. Louis had to order a retreat to Damietta. Then he himself contracted the disease. The Egyptian army, which was waiting for work, took advantage of the victory and captured Louis and the French remnant army on April 7. [8]
After long-term negotiations, Louis IX was released after paying a large amount of ransom and returning Damietta. He was reunited with the queen in ACA. After being released, Louis still stayed in the stronghold held by Christians in Syria, ready to wait for an opportunity to counter attack, but it was ineffective. [8]
Carry out reform
The news of the defeat of the Crusade and the capture of Louis spread to France, causing a stir among the peasants. In 1251, the peasants in the North organized a poor crusade. They called themselves "shepherds" and opposed the feudal lord who oppressed them in the name of "saving the king". This team started from northern France, entered Paris, and then went south from Paris to Orleans and tours. Poor farmers joined along the way. Wherever they went, they destroyed some monasteries and churches and killed some priests and monks. The "shepherd crusade" has become a large-scale peasant uprising. The French court, the feudal lords and the Catholic Church jointly suppressed, and some of the "shepherds" fled, and some were killed and captured. In 1252, empress Regent Blanca died of illness. Thus, in 1254, Louis returned to Paris from the East. [8]
During the reign of Louis, the focus of France's reform in the judicial field was to transfer the judicial power to the royal court, which stipulated that important cases such as treason, correction of imperial edicts, and forging of counterfeit coins must be tried by the royal court. Louis prohibited backward customs such as judicial duel and blood revenge, and implemented the "King's 40 days" system outside the Royal territory: local princes cannot retaliate within 40 days after being infringed, and must appeal to the royal court for a ruling by the king. At the same time as the judicial reform, there was also the currency reform. The king stipulated that only the Royal coins could be circulated in the Royal territory. These reform measures brought the power of local nobles back to the central government, improved the king's prestige and strengthened the monarchy. [8]
Louis IX, acting as the mediator between the king and the nobles of England (middle)
Louis IX, acting as the mediator between the king and the nobles of England (middle) [6]
Louis IX enjoyed great prestige in the Western Christian world. He began to negotiate with King Henry III of England, who was trapped in internal turmoil and was elevated by the "crazy parliament". In October 1259, the two sides signed the Treaty of Paris. Henry III agreed to give up the territorial claims of Normandy, Poitiers and Anjou, and only retained part of Gascony and Aquitaine. However, he paid homage to the French king for these territories and recognized his status as a vassal of the French king. [4] [33]
Louis IX was very concerned about literature and art. With his encouragement, Vincent of Beauvais wrote the first encyclopedia, speculum majus. During his reign, foreign students and scholars gathered at the University of Paris. [4]

Died of illness in North Africa
Main entry: the eighth Crusade
In the second half of Louis IX's reign, he always thought of the holy land. At the same time, the political and military situation in the eastern Mediterranean changed, forcing Louis to make the decision to send troops. Around the summer of 1266, Louis IX had begun to plan a new crusade. In October of the same year, he secretly informed Pope Clement IV of this decision. On March 25, 1267, Louis announced this decision at a meeting of senior clergy and great nobles. At another meeting held on 9 February 1268, he further announced that the eastern expedition would start in May 1270. Some people believe that Charles I of Naples attempted to conquer the revived Byzantine Empire and wanted to control the two sides of the Sicilian Strait and the passage from the eastern Mediterranean to the western Mediterranean. Therefore, he strongly encouraged Louis to make Tunisia in North Africa the attack point of the crusade. However, some historians also pointed out that "the convenient use of Sicily played a role,... This crusade was not only to save and force Muslims to change their religion, but also to conquer the land". At that time, people shifted their preferred religious goals from the Far East to Tunisia. Like his contemporaries, Louis thought that Tunisia was much closer than Egypt and could be used as a land base for attacking Sudan in the future. [18] Therefore, he chose Tunisia as the point of attack. [4]
In early July 1270, the French expeditionary force crossed the Mediterranean and landed in Tunisia. In the early stage of the war, the French army was unstoppable, winning one after another and occupying Carthage. However, the plague came again, and malignant fever and malaria were prevalent among the Crusaders. The attack of dysentery and scurvy left Louis with only one tooth. His body was so weak that it was difficult to mount a horse. On July 17, Louis led the army to Tunis. Since August 13, Louis had a relapse of malaria and was unable to recover from the disease. Finally, he died on the same day on the 25th of the same month on a bed for the ashes in the camp. He was 55 years old (under 56 years old). [4] [8] on his deathbed, Louis said, "Oh, Jerusalem! Jerusalem! God, you are so kind! May you bless the people living here. May they not fall into the hands of the enemy and be forced to give up their faith in you." He paused for a moment and then said, "my God, I trust my soul to you." [19]
After Louis died, his body was divided into pieces, and then boiled in wine and water until the bones and flesh were separated for transportation. His remains were brought back to France by Prince Philip, who passed through Apennine Peninsula and Lyon, France. Everywhere he went, people gathered and knelt down to his remains. In May 1271, the coffin of Louis IX arrived in Paris, and a grand funeral was held in Notre Dame de Paris. Finally, he was buried in the Church of Saint Denis, the resting place of the kings of the Capet Dynasty. [4] Another prince, Charles de Anjou, was in charge of Louis' meat, heart and other internal organs. He sent them to the monasteries of monrell in Sicily. [19]
After the death of Louis IX, people thought that Louis IX was a saint and prayed to his tomb without waiting for the judgment of the Holy See. On August 11, 1297, Pope Boniface VIII officially ordered Louis IX to be canonized. Louis was the only French king who was canonized by the Holy See. [