Louis IX of France facts for kids
|Saint Louis IX|
Contemporary depiction from about 1230
|King of France (more...)|
|Reign||8 November 1226 – 25 August 1270|
|Coronation||29 November 1226 in Reims Cathedral|
|Born||25 April 1214
|Died||25 August 1270 (aged 56)
French Tunis, North Africa
|Burial||Basilica of St Denis|
Margaret of Provence (m. 1234)
|Father||Louis VIII, King of France|
|Mother||Blanche of Castile|
Saint Louis IX (25 April, 1214–25 August, 1270), also called Saint Louis, was King of France from 1226 to his death. He established the Parlement of Paris. after his death he was canonised (declared a saint) in 1297 by Pope Boniface VIII.
Jean de Joinville was a close friend of Louis and wrote a famous biography of the king, from which we have most of our information about him.
Two other important biographies were written by the king's confessor, Geoffrey of Beaulieu, and his chaplain, William of Chartres. While several other people wrote biographies about the king, only Jean de Joinville, Geoffrey of Beaulieu, and William of Chartres had reliable information.
Louis was born at Poissy, near Paris. He was the son of Louis VIII of France and Blanche of Castile. Louis was eleven years old when his father died on November 8, 1226. He was crowned king the same year in the cathedral at Reims. Because Louis was so young, his mother ruled France as regent while he was a child.
His younger brother Charles I of Sicily (1227–1285) was made Count of Anjou.
At the age of 15 in 1229, Louis brought an end to the Albigensian Crusade after signing an agreement with Count Raymond VII of Toulouse.
Louis's kindness towards the poor was much celebrated. He went on crusade twice, in his mid-30s in 1248 and then again in his mid-50s in 1270. In 1250, during his first crusade, Louis and his army was captured by Muslims in Egypt. Later on that year, they were released. To be released, he had to give back the land that he had taken over. Both crusades were complete disasters; after initial success in his first attempt, Louis's army of 15,000 men was met by overwhelming resistance from the Egyptian army and people where he was captured. After his release from Egypt, Louis spent four years in the crusader Kingdoms of Acre, Caesarea, and Jaffe.
In 1252, Louis attempted an alliance with the Egyptians, for the return of Jerusalem if the French assisted with the subduing of Damascus. In 1253, Louis tried to seek allies from the Ismailian Assassins and the Mongols.
Louis was Catholic, and he built the Sainte Chapelle ("Holy Chapel") on the Île de la Cité in the centre of Paris. It is thought that the French monarchy was trying to establish the kingdom of France as the "new Jerusalem."
Louis IX tried to make France, which was seen as being a very religious place, a protector of the Church. It worked, and between the 12th and 13th centuries, France and the pope were very close.
- Blanche (1240 – April 29, 1243)
- Isabelle (March 2, 1241 – January 28, 1271), married Theobald V of Champagne
- Louis (February 25, 1244 – January 1260)
- Philippe III (May 1, 1245 – October 5, 1285)
- Jean (born and died in 1248)
- Jean Tristan (1250 – August 3, 1270), married Yolande of Burgundy
- Pierre (1251–1284), Count of Perche and Alençon; Count of Blois and Chartres in right of his wife, Joanne of Châtillon
- Blanche (1253–1323), married Ferdinand de la Cerda, Infante of Castille
- Marguerite (1254–1271), married John I, Duke of Brabant
- Robert, Count of Clermont (1256 – February 7, 1317). He was the ancestor of King Henry IV of France.
- Agnes of France (ca 1260 – December 19, 1327), married Robert II, Duke of Burgundy
Places named after Saint Louis
The cities of San Luis Potosí in Mexico, Saint Louis, Missouri, Saint-Louis du Sénégal in Senegal, Saint-Louis in Alsace, Lake Saint-Louis in Quebec, and the Mission San Luis Rey de Francia in California.
Images for kids
Louis IX of France Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.