Editing Louis IX of France (section)

== Personal reign (1235–1266) ==

===Construction of the Sainte-Chapelle===
[[File:Interior_of_Saint-Chapelle_in_Paris.jpg|thumb|Interior of the Saint-Chapelle, Paris]]

The construction of [[Sainte-Chapelle]] was inspired by earlier Carolingian royal chapels, most notably the Palatine Chapel of [[Charlemagne]] at Aix-la-Chapelle (modern-day [[Aachen]]). Before embarking on this ambitious project, Louis had already built a royal chapel at the [[Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye]] in 1238. This earlier, single-level chapel's plan would be adapted for Sainte-Chapelle, though on a much grander scale.<ref name="eb1">Alain Erlande-Brandenburg, the Ste Chapelle (Paris-Buildings) in ''Grove Encyclopedia of Art''</ref>

The primary motivation for building Sainte-Chapelle was to create a suitable sanctuary for Louis IX's collection of precious Christian relics including the [[crown of thorns]]. The foundation of the Chapelle was laid in 1241 and construction proceeded rapidly into the decade. On April 26, 1248 the Saint-Chapelle was consecrated as a private royal chapel for King Louis IX.<ref name="eb1"/>

The completed structure was remarkable in size, measuring 36 meters (118 ft) long, 17 meters (56 ft) wide, and 42.5 meters (139 ft) high-dimensions that rivaled contemporary Gothic cathedrals. The chapel featured two distinct levels of equal size but different purposes, the upper level housed the sacred relics and was reserved exclusively for the royal family and their guests, while the lower level served courtiers, servants, and palace 
 
===Seventh Crusade===
[[File:C croisade7 prisonnier1.jpg|thumb|upright|Louis IX was taken prisoner at the [[Battle of Fariskur (1250)|Battle of Fariskur]], during the Seventh Crusade ([[Gustave Doré]]).]]
{{main|Seventh Crusade}}

Louis and his followers landed in Egypt on 4 or 5 June 1249 and began their campaign with the capture of the port of [[Damietta]].<ref name="Encarta-Crusades">{{cite encyclopedia|title=Crusades: Crusades of the 13th century|encyclopedia=Encarta|publisher=Microsoft Corporation|year=2009|url=http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761561210_2/Crusades.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091028224256/http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761561210_2/Crusades.html#s6|archive-date=28 October 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref>{{sfn|Tyerman|2006|p=787}} This attack caused some disruption in the Muslim [[Ayyubid]] empire, especially as the current sultan, [[Al-Malik as-Salih Najm al-Din Ayyub]], was on his deathbed. However, the march of Europeans from Damietta toward [[Cairo]] through the [[Nile River Delta]] went slowly. The seasonal rising of the Nile and the summer heat made it impossible for them to advance.<ref name=crawley/> During this time, the Ayyubid sultan died, and the sultan's wife [[Shajar al-Durr]] set in motion a shift in power that would make her Queen and eventually result in the rule of the Egyptian army of the [[Mamluks]].

On 8 February 1250, Louis lost his army at the [[Battle of Fariskur (1250)|Battle of Fariskur]] and was captured by the Egyptians. His release was eventually negotiated in return for a ransom of 400,000 [[bezants]] or about 200,000 [[livres tournois]], a little less than the French crown's annual income,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gaposchkin |first1=M. Cecilia |last2=Sean L. |first2=Field |title=The Sanctity of Louis IX: Early Lives of Saint Louis by Geoffrey of Beaulieu and William of Chartres |date=2013 |publisher=Cornell University Press |isbn=9780801469138 |page=17 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=59A6AgAAQBAJ&pg=PP17 |access-date=3 March 2025}}</ref> and the surrender of the city of Damietta.{{sfn|Tyerman|2006|p=796}}

===Four years in the Kingdom of Jerusalem===
Upon his liberation from captivity in Egypt, Louis IX devoted four years to fortifying the [[Kingdom of Jerusalem]], focusing his efforts in [[Acre, Israel|Acre]], [[Caesarea Maritima|Caesarea]], and [[Jaffa]]. He used his resources to aid the Crusaders in reconstructing their defenses<ref name="brehier">{{cite web|title=Bréhier, Louis. "Crusades." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 4. New York: Robert Appleton Company|orig-year=1908|year=2013|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04543c.htm|access-date=29 September 2014}}</ref> and actively engaged in diplomatic endeavors with the [[Ayyubid dynasty]]. In the spring of 1254, Louis and his remaining forces made their return to France.<ref name="Encarta-Crusades" />

Louis maintained regular correspondence and envoy exchanges with the [[Mongol]] rulers of his era. During his first crusade in 1248, he received envoys from [[Eljigidei]], the Mongol military leader stationed in [[Armenia]] and [[Persia]].{{sfn|Jackson|1980|p=481-513}} Eljigidei proposed that Louis should launch an offensive in Egypt while he targeted [[Baghdad]] to prevent the unification of the Muslim forces in Egypt and Syria. In response, Louis sent [[André de Longjumeau]], a [[Dominican Order|Dominican]] priest, as a delegate to the [[Khagan]] [[Güyük Khan]] ({{Reign|1246|1248}}) in [[Mongolia]]. However, Güyük's death preceded the arrival of the emissary, and his widow and acting regent, [[Oghul Qaimish]], rejected the diplomatic proposition.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Grousset|first1=René|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CHzGvqRbV_IC&q=berke+khan+demanded+louis+IX&pg=PA273|title=The Empire of the Steppes: A History of Central Asia|publisher=[[Rutgers University Press]]|year=1970|isbn=978-0813513041|location=Durham, New Carolina|access-date=29 September 2014}}</ref>

Louis sent another representative, the [[Franciscan]] missionary and explorer [[William of Rubruck]], to the Mongol court. Rubruck visited the Khagan [[Möngke]] ({{Reign|1251|1259}}) in Mongolia and spent several years there. In 1259, [[Berke]], the leader of the [[Golden Horde]], demanded Louis's submission.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Sinor|first=Denis|date=1999|title=The Mongols in the West|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41933117|journal=Journal of Asian History|volume=33|issue=1|pages=1–44|issn=0021-910X|jstor=41933117}}</ref> In contrast, Mongol emperors Möngke and [[Khubilai]]'s brother, the [[Ilkhan]] [[Hulegu]], sent a letter to the French king, soliciting his military aid; this letter, however, never reached France.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Aigle|first=Denise|date=2005|title=The Letters of Eljigidei, H¨uleg¨u and Abaqa: Mongol overtures or Christian Ventriloquism?|url=http://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/docs/00/38/19/67/PDF/InnerAsia.pdf|journal=Inner Asia|volume=7|issue=2|pages=143–162|doi=10.1163/146481705793646883|s2cid=161266055|access-date=26 February 2017}}</ref>

===Return to France===
[[File:Louis_IX_sailing_for_France,_from_Chroniques_de_France_ou_de_St_Denis,_14th_century_(22093703934).jpg|thumb|Louis IX sailing for France, from Chroniques de France, 14th century]]

Louis IX returned to France in 1254 after spending four years in the Holy Land following his release from captivity during the failed [[Seventh Crusade]]. He set out from Acre on April 24, 1254, and arrived back in France in July of that year. The kingdom had been ruled by a regency in his absence, headed by the king's mother [[Blanche of Castile]] until her death in November 1252.

Jean de Joinville's narrative of the king's return home from crusade in July 1254 is marked by two fateful meetings. Upon disembarking at [[Hyères]], forty miles east along the coast from [[Marseille]], Louis and his entourage were met almost immediately by the abbot of Cluny, who presented him and the queen with two palfreys that Joinville estimated to be worth, by the standards of the first decade of the 1300s, five hundred [[livre tournois]]. The next day, the abbot returned to tell the king of his troubles, to which the king patiently and attentively listened. After the abbot's departure, Joinville posed to Louis whether the gift of the palfreys had made the king more favorable to the abbot's petition, and, when Louis replied in the affirmative, advised him that those men entrusted with administering the king's justice should be forbidden from accepting gifts, lest they "listen more willingly and with greater attention to those who gave them."<ref>Jean de Joinville, ''Life of Saint Louis''. 324–327, cap. 652–656.</ref>

While still at Hyères, the king heard of a renowned Franciscan named Hugues de Digne active in the area and, ever the enthusiast for sermons, requested that the friar attend the court so that Louis might hear him preach.<ref>Jean de Joinville, ''Life of Saint Louis''. 324–327</ref>

===Diplomatic relations and treaties===
[[File:Châteaux_du_Pays_cathare_-_Château_de_Peyrepertuse_-_20.jpg|thumb|The now-ruined Peyrepertuse Castle, one of the strategic strongholds ceded by James I of Aragon in accordance with Treaty of Corbeil (1258)]]

After returning to France in 1254, Louis IX prioritized diplomatic settlements to resolve many longstanding territorial disputes and stabilize his kingdom's borders. In 1258, he concluded the [[Treaty of Corbeil (1258)|Treaty of Corbeil]] with [[James I of Aragon]]. According to the terms of this treaty, Louis IX renounced ancient French claims of feudal overlordship over Catalonia (the Hispanic March), while James had to renounce all claims to several territories in southern France, including [[Languedoc]], Provence, Toulouse, Quercy, and others, except for Montpellier and Carlat. Isabella, daughter of James I, was also betrothed to Philip, son of Louis IX securing peace with Aragon.

In 1259, Louis concluded the Treaty of Paris with [[Henry III of England]]. Henry III formally renounced all claims to Normandy, Anjou, Maine, Touraine, and Poitou-territories lost by his predecessors
In return, Louis IX recognized Henry III as Duke of Aquitaine and his vassal for [[Guyenne]] and Gascony, with Henry retaining control over these regions but under French suzerainty.<ref>https://www.britannica.com/biography/Louis-IX/Achievement-of-peace-and-administrative-reforms#ref10881</ref> The treaty of Paris had already positioned Louis as a respected mediator in European affairs and in January 1264, Henry III formally requested Louis IX to arbitrate the dispute between the crown and the barons.Louis convened the Mise of Amiens, a judgment that annulled the Provisions of Oxford and sided decisively with Henry, rejecting the baronial reforms.<ref>https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofEngland/King-Henry-III/</ref> This ruling emboldened Henry's position but also deepened the conflict, as the barons, led by [[Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester]], refused to accept the decision, leading to renewed warfare after 1264.

Louis IX's diplomatic reach extended across Western Europe and even into the Near East and Central Asia, earning him a reputation as one of the foremost arbitrators of his age. The king maintained diplomatic relations with the Mongols even after returning to France and in 1260, as the Mongols under [[Hulagu Khan]] sacked Baghdad and advanced into Syria, Louis maintained correspondence with [[Ilkhanate]] leaders, hoping to coordinate attacks against their mutual [[Mamluk]] adversaries.<ref name="life1"/>

King Louis IX also maintained diplomatic relations with Emperor [[Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor|Frederick II]] and frequently corresponded with him, but their relationship was far from cordial. The contemporary Arab historian [[Ibn Wasil]] mentions a letter that the emperor sent to Louis, after the latter's release from captivity, in order "to remind him of his (own) sound advice and the consequences of his obstinacy and recalcitrance, and to upbraid him for it". There is no other record of this letter, but Frederick did write to King [[Ferdinand III of Castile]] blaming the pope for a disaster that could have been avoided; in this letter, the emperor links "papal cunning" to "the fate of our beloved friend, the illustrious King of France".<ref>Translation from ''Seventh Crusade'', 47; [[Ibn Wasil]], Mufarrij al-kurūb, 173-5</ref> Frederick II also allegedly sent secret letters and envoys to Sultan [[As-Salih Ayyub]] of Egypt, warning him of Louis IX's impending crusade and offering to delay or disrupt the French king's campaign.<ref>[[Ibn al-Dawadari]], ''Kanz al-durar wa-jāmiʿ al-ghurar''</ref> 

King Louis IX enjoyed unparalleled prestige throughout [[Christendom]] and was respected even by his opponents as he was considered to be the 'Most Christian King' (rex ''Christianissimus''). This title adopted by the French kings was later confirmed by the pope, while further papal concessions cemented France as the "eldest daughter of the church".<ref>J. Weitzel, 'Zur Zuständigkeit des Reichskammergerichts als Appellations gericht', ZSRG GA,90 (1973), 213–45; K. Perels, 'Die Justizverweigerung I'm alten Reiche seit 1495', ZSRG GA, 25 (1904), 1–51</ref> The king's influence was rooted not in military dominance but in widespread respect for his fairness, personal integrity, and reputation as a Christian ruler. European monarchs and nobles frequently sought his judgment in disputes, viewing him as an impartial and principled mediator.