Louis IX of France (25 April 1214-25 August 1270) was King of France from 8 November 1226 to 25 August 1270, succeeding Louis VIII of France and preceding Philip III of France. Louis is most famous as the leader of the Seventh Crusade of 1248-1250 and the Eighth Crusade of 1270, two failed crusades to North Africa; he lost the decisive Battle of Damietta in the first of the two, and he died of disease at Tunis during the second of his crusades. Louis was posthumously canonized, and he is properly known as "Saint Louis", giving his name to the Missouri city of St. Louis in the United States.
Biography[]
A 15th century portrait of Saint Louis
Grandson of Philip II Augustus, the pious King Louis IX was an avid crusader, if an unsuccessful one. He embarked on the first and most important of his two crusades in 1248, sailing from Aigues-Mortes in southern France, initially to Cyprus. There he decided to attack Egypt, the heartland of the Muslim Ayyubid dynasty. He raised taxes in Europe in order to carry out his campaign, then he wrote to the Sultan, "Even if you were to take the strongest oath to me and if you go to priests and monks and if you carry candles before my eyes as a sign of submitting to the cross, all these would not convince me and would not stop me from reaching and killing you at your dearest place on Earth." Meanwhile, Frederick had sent a warning to the Egyptian Ayyubids that an assault was about to be led by Louis.
In June 1249 Louis led a bold opposed landing on a beach at the mouth of the Nile and, defeating the Muslims on the sands, marched onward to occupy the port of Damietta.
This was a triumph, but Louis foolishly rejected an Ayyubid offer to trade Jerusalem for Damietta. Instead, after a prolonged delay waiting for reinforcements, he marched south toward Cairo. At Mansurah the crusaders encountered Egypt's slave soldiers, the Mamelukes. Louis' brother, Robert of Artois, led a surprise attack on the Mameluke camp. At first, the raid swept away all before it, but Mameluke commander Rukn ad-Din Baibars lured the impetuous knights into a trap. The Christians were massacred, including Louis' brother. The king showed his mettle by rapidly organizing a defensive position with his remaining forces and then beating off fierce Mameluke counterattacks. But Louis' situation at Mansurah became untenable as the Egyptians cut his supply line down the Nile. When he attempted a withdrawa to Damietta, his army, weakened by disease, was surrounded and captured.
The king and his nobles were released in return for a huge ransom and the return of Damietta. Louis remained in the Hoy Land for another four years before finally returning to France. Louis did no further crusading until 1270, when he again set sail from Aigues-Mortes, this time bound for Tunis in North Africa. Landing in the sumemr heat, his army was soon decimated by disease. Louis was one of the first to die. His last words were reportedly "Jerusalem, Jerusalem!"