Louis IX of France

Louis IX of France, as painted by El Greco in the 16th Century.

King Louis IX of France or Saint Louis (April 25, 1214/1215 - August 25, 1270) was King of France from 1226 to 1270. A member of the Capetian dynasty, he was born at Poissy, France, the son of King Louis VIII and Blanche of Castile.

His father died when Louis was eleven years old and he was crowned in 1226 in the cathedral at Reims. His mother acted as Regent until 1234 and continued as an important counselor to the king until her death in 1252.

Louis married on May 27, 1234, Marguerite de Provence (1221 - December 21, 1295), the sister of Eleanor, the wife of Henry III.

Their children were:

1. Blanche - (1240 - April 29, 1243)
2. Isabelle - (March 2, 1241 - January 28, 1271)
3. Louis - (February 25, 1244 - January 1260)
4. Philippe III - (May 1, 1245 - October 5, 1285)
5. Jean - (born and died in 1248)
6. Jean Tristan - (1250 - August 3, 1270)
7. Pierre - (1251 - 1284)
8. Blanche - (1253 - 1323)
9. Marguerite - (1254 - 1271)
10. Robert - (1256 - February 7, 1317)
11. Agnès - (c. 1260 - December 19, 1327)

Louis' patronage of the arts drove much innovation in Gothic art and architecture, and the style of his court radiated throughout Europe by both the purchase of art objects from Parisian masters for export and by the marriage of the king's many daughters to foreign husbands and their subsequent introduction of Parisian models elsewhere. Louis' personal chapel, the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris, was copied more than once by his descendants elsewhere. Louis most likely ordered the production of the Morgan Bible, a masterpiece of medieval painting.

Louis was the elder brother of Charles I of Sicily (1227-1285), whom he created count of Anjou, thus founding the second Angevin dynasty.

Louis brought an end to the Albigensian Crusade in 1229 after signing an agreement with Count Raymond VII of Toulouse that cleared his father of wrong-doing. Raymond VI had been suspected of murdering a preacher on a mission to convert the Cathars.

Louis's piety and kindness towards the poor were much celebrated. He went on crusade twice, in 1248 (Seventh Crusade) and then in 1270 (Eighth Crusade). He died near Tunis during the latter expedition on August 25, 1270 during an outbreak of plague. His finger is interred at Saint Denis Basilica, but most of his body is buried in Tunisia.

Pope Boniface VIII proclaimed the canonization of Louis in 1297; he is the only French monarch ever to be made a saint.

Louis IX was succeeded by his son, Philippe III.

The city of Saint Louis, Missouri, Lac Saint-Louis in Quebec, and the Mission San Luis Rey de Francia in California are among the many places named for him.

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