Making of Saint Louis: Kingship, Sanctity, and Crusade in the Later Middle Ages (review)

This is a beautifully written, well researched, comprehensive, and insightful work on the cult of St. Louis, King Louis IX (1226–70) of France. When this pious ruler died in the Holy Land while on his second crusade, his Capetian descendants immediately began to campaign for his canonization, citing not just his holy works but also his royal sanctity as evidence. It was a long wish of the house of Capet to have a saint in the family—for it legitimated their claims of sacral kingship—and Louis was a perfect and deserving choice. They were not alone in their support for this holy ancestor; religious and monastic groups also rallied to the cause, both because Louis had been a good friend to them and because his image well suited their ideological and religious agendas. Through ceremony, text, and image these constituencies actively promoted the cult of Louis, their ideological differences resulting in diverse views of the saintly king. Gaposchkin focuses on the formative years of Louis's cult, from his death to the early decades of the fourteenth century when his image as saint was codified, and considers in turn the various groups responsible for crafting this holy identity. She employs a range of documents, masterfully analyzed: canonization documents, sermons, liturgical texts (Offices, prayers, hymns), medieval biographies, and manuscript illustrations. Many of these resources are not new to modern scholarship, but until now have not been dealt with together, nor, as in some cases, treated extensively. The book is divided into two parts. The first three chapters are structured chronologically and discuss the various hagiographical, dynastic, and political factors that led to Louis's canonization in 1297. Chapter 1 explores Louis's life and death within prevailing notions of sanctity and explores how his family members and supporters both understood Louis's life within hagiographical norms and utilized the rhetoric of holiness to get him canonized. Chapter 2 treats the canonization process itself but broadens the discussion to consider the roles of the French crown and papacy, two key players, in the event. Chapter 3 investigates early efforts to establish Louis's cult by his family, particularly his grandson, King Philip the Fair, who actively promoted his saintly grandfather through religious, civic, and philanthropic means, acts that both expressed devotion and constructed the object of that devotion. The Dominican, Franciscan, and Cistercian orders also played a vital role in Louis's cult by composing offices for his feast day, which Gaposchkin explores at length in chapters 4 and 5 after a primer on the structure of the liturgical office, an extremely useful addition for readers unfamiliar with this genre. One of the most celebrated biographies of Louis was written by his longtime friend and fellow crusader, Jean de Joinville; this unique account of the saintly king, noted particularly for his emphasis on crusading, is finely analyzed in chapter 7. Action and words alone did not define Louis's cult; images were instrumental as well in fashioning the saint's representation. In chapter 8 Gaposchkin explores the gorgeous iconographic programs in private prayer books commissioned and owned by Louis's descendants with references to other art forms. Her failure to mention other pictorial cycles, such as the many church programs dedicated to Louis, is the only weakness, and a very slight one, of this otherwise exhaustive book. Scholars and students working in the fields of medieval history, art history, hagiography, and religion will find Gaposchkin's book an invaluable resource for its content, illustrations, and bibliography.