The History of the Church through 100 Masterpieces

From Louis IX to Saint Louis

The History of the Church 112 From Louis IX to Saint Louis The consecration of the kings of France in Rheims was a profoundly religious ceremony that conferred miraculous powers upon the monarch . Most notable among these was his ability to cure scrofula, a tuberculous inflammation of the lymph nodes, which in France, for this reason, was called “the king’s disease” [le mal du Roi]. Saint Louis IX is variously portrayed as a kingly thaumaturge, as rendering justice to his subjects, or as washing the feet of the poor—all themes that stress the religious significance of a ruler who also knew how to consolidate the power of his kingdom, notably by eradicating the Albigensian heresy from southern France. We owe to Saint Louis the erection of the Sainte-Chapelle, built in 1248 to house the crown of thorns of Christ, which had been bought (at a very high price) from the emperor of Byzantium. The king himself would cost even more. Leaving shortly afterwards for a crusade, he was taken prisoner by the sultan of Egypt, who did not free him until 1250, upon securing a massive ransom. It should be noted that the Knights Templar only very begrudgingly amassed the funds needed for the deliverance of the king, creating a contentious situation between the knightly order and the French monarchy that would have its consequences. Fifteen years after his return, Saint Louis embarked on another crusade, landing in Tunis in 1270, only to die there from the plague. He was canonized 30 years later, thus officiall standing as the model Christian prince, as well as an inexhaustible source of inspiration for politico-religious art. Louis Licherie de Beurie (1629–1687) Saint Louis Nursing His Soldiers Afflicte by the Plague Musée des BeauxArts , Rouen ...