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Illustrated World History Europe |
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 The Charity of a Boy King From a painting by the French artist Victor Lesur. Toward the end of the so-called "holy war" in southern France brings us to the reign of another noted French king, Louis IX. He was the grand-son of Philip II Augustus (1180-1223), a very misguided ruler and persecutor with no compunctions to kill fellow human beings because of what they believe but reserving that right for himself like all despots do. Louis IX, came to the throne as a boy and therefore, his mother, queen Blanche of Castille, took care of business for a while. Several of the great French lords tried to seize this opportunity to reassert the supremacy of which Philip II had deprived them; but Blanche proved to be a match for them all and kept them in despotic subjection, like the Lord's kept their subjects that way. She also raised the boy to be faithful to the church - at least to some of its human aspects which not very often stand out for all to imitate. When Louis became king at 12, she liberated all the poorer class of prisoners from the Paris jails and sent them to kneel at the child's feet and thank him for his mercy. After that she made it the boys daily duty to distribute alms among the poor, teaching him to discriminate between those who really needed aid and those who sought to trick him. Wisdom and charity were thus made to go hand in hand. |
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Menu Forward Back |  Lousi IX at Taillebourg Louis IX proves his military prowess by crushing the English invaders. From a painting by Ferdinand Delacroix (1798-1863). The training he received developed Louis into the noblest king France had for his era. All his life he continued his deeds of charity. Yet he was a warrior too. When his mother's arts failed at last and a number of his barons joined the English king in war against him, Louis suddenly took command of his army himself. He outmaneuvered his foes; and having them at a disadvantage, attacked them at Taillebourg and completely defeated them. On this battle Louis, mounted on a great white horse, led his men in a desperate charge against the dreaded English bowmen and swept them from the field. So decisive was his victory that no enemy ever dared face him again upon French soil. The English king Edward IV (1461-1483) hastened to make peace; and the French lords, deserted even by their own followers, had perforce to bow in submission. Louis forgave everybody, and by this combination of generosity with strength and wisdom he soon held all France in the hollow of his hand, a united land, a devoted land, and the most powerful land in Europe. |
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 King Louis IX captured by the Saracens He leads out in a hopeless crusade and suffers as a consequence. From a series of art work by Dore. Because of his faith in a misguided church, he agreed to lead a crusade to free Jerusalem. But by this time the crusading fever had died out in Europe. The difficulties of distance, climate and hardships in these semi-tropical lands was well understood. Even though his barons, the mother and pope advised against it, he wanted to keep his vow. As Jerusalem was now held by the Egyptian Muslims, he determined to make his attack upon them in their homeland. In 1248 he landed with many thousand Frenchmen on Egyptian soil. But the frenzied charges of the French knights failed entirely before the cunning of the Muslims and his army was destroyed and he was made prisoner. He endured all their insults and injuries but was then released after a huge ransom was paid which his mother scraped together out of all the land of France. |
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 A Sort of Triumph for Louis in Jerusalem The Mohammendans want Louis to be their king. Painted by Alecander Cabanel (1824-1889). When Louis was ransomed from Egypt, he did not turn his face toward home. His vow to fight for Jerusalem still held him. So he sailed with a mere handful of comrades to the Holy Land. Here he remained for years warring against the Mohammedans there, hoping against hope that this example would arouse Europe to its former fervor and other crusaders would join him. Louis remained there until his mother's death in 1256. In 1270 he undertook another crusade in the face of universal protest. He died on the journey on a fever. |
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 Marching into the heart of Mohammedanism |
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