Louis (Capet) de France (1214 - 1270)

Born 24 Apr 1214 in Poissy, France

Ancestors

Husband of Marguerite (Provence) de Provence — married 27 May 1234 in Sens, Yonne, France

Descendants

Died 25 Aug 1270 at age 56 in Tunis, Tunisia

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Biography

Louis IX (Capet) de France is a member of the House of Capet.

Louis IX reined 44 yrs, led the 7th crusade in 1248 (captured in Egypt in 1250) and the 8th crusade 1270. Died of plague in Tunis. Canonized 1297 as St. Louis.

Louis successfully stood up to a dangerous coalition led by Hugh de Lusignan and Raymond VII of Toulouse with the backing of Henry III of England. During the Seventh Crusade (1248-1254), St. Louis captured Damietta, but he was defeated at al-Mansurah in February 1250. Despite the Pope's advice, the reticence of his lords, and his own poor health, Louis set off from Aigues-Mortes for the Eighth Crusade. He died from plague during the Seige of Tunis.

A diplomat with an innate sense of justice and equity, he created the French Parliament and kept an eye on his bailiffs, seneschals, and provosts. He founded a number of hospitals, including the Quinze Vingts for three hundred knights whose eyes had been put out by the Saracen.

Louis commissioned the building of the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris, and was canonized in 1297.

Death

25 AUG 1270 Near Tunis, Tunisia

buried: Basilica of St Denis (Basilique Saint-Denis) in Saint-Denis, now Paris suburb.

relics in the Basilica of Saint Denis, Paris, France but were destroyed in 1793 during the French Revolution

Veneration

Canonized by Pope Boniface VIII in 1297

Feast Day: August 25 (formerly August 24)

Representation: king holding a cross or a crown of thorns

Sources

• Royal Ancestry by Douglas Richardson Vol. III page 28
• "Saint Louis IX" CatholicSaints.Info. 3 August 2017. Web accessed 15 September 2017
• Wikipedia: Louis IX of France
• The Peerage
• Encyclopædia Britannica Online, s. v. "Louis IX", accessed November 01, 2013
• Royal Database. Camelot International
• His FMG entry.
• Saint Louis, King of France. by Sire de Joinville (1224?-1317?). Translated by James Hutton (1818-1893). (Sampson Low, Marston, London, 1892) from "Recueil des Historiens des Gaules et de la France", Vol. 20.
• Histoire généalogique et chronologique de la maison royale de France, des pairs, grands officiers de la Couronne, de la Maison du Roy et des anciens barons du royaume, Tome Premier, par le Père Anselme de Sainte-Marie, continuée par Honoré du Fourny, ed. la compagnie des libraires (Paris) 1726-1733. Pages 83-87.