The Lives of the Saints through 100 Masterpieces

Louis

The Lives of the Saints 146 Louis August 25 The piety and zeal of Louis IX of France was a costly thing for the royal budget: £135,000 to purchase Christ’s crown of thorns from the emperor of Byzantium in 1239; £40,000 for the construction of the Sainte-Chapelle to house the crown; £400,000 as ransom when he was taken prisoner during the 1248 crusade. However, no one would have dreamed of reproaching Saint Louis for such expenditures. Thewisdom of this king, his strength of character , and his true gentleness made of his long reign, from 1226 to 1270, one of the most prosperous periods in the history of France. Son of the pious Blanche of Castile and faithful husband of Marguerite of Provence who bore him 11 children, the king always sought peace, and the requisite power to guarantee it. Through his victories in Taillebourg and Saintes, he brought an end to turbulence in the Languedoc—an area still smarting from the Albigensian crusade—and he even achieved a durable peace with the king of England. This monarch, who in imitation of Jesus Christ did not hesitate to humble himself washing the feet of the indigent, also wanted to be a just king. From under an oak tree in his domain in the Vincennes, near Paris, he personally meted out justice to his subjects. His reputation was such that all the greats of Europe sought his counsel; he became a Society of Nations in himself, arbitrating countless disputes: between Flanders and Hainaut, Brittany and Navarra, the county of Bar and the Lorraine, Chalon and Burgundy, Savoy and the Dauphiné, the pope and the Germanic emperor, and many others. During another crusade, he fell victim to the plague at the walls of Tunis. His death was a true national tragedy. For his subjects, he was already a saint; he was officiall proclaimed one 27 years after his death. El Greco (alias, Domenikos Theotokopoulos) (1541–1614) Saint Louis Musée du Louvre, Paris ...