Saint Louis: Louis IX, Most Christian King of France

by Margaret Wade Labarge

This is a biography of Louis IX (1214-1270), King of France. He took ruling seriously, as well he might since his mother was Blanche of Castile. Blanche ruled France for years during Louis' minority, he was twelve when his father died, and Blanche was the granddaughter of the formidable Eleanor of Aquitaine and her equally formidable husband, Henry II Plantagenet. Blanche largely trained and educated her son. The result was, uncommon then or now, both a good man and a good king. Louis took his religion as seriously as he did ruling. He went on Crusade twice, both unsuccessful, and died during the second one. The quality of his rule and his crusading zeal sufficiently impressed his contemporaries that he was canonized in 1297, only twenty-seven years after his death. He is the only French monarch to achieve sainthood. The book covers Louis' life and gives a fair picture of thirteenth century France during the interval between the wars with the Angevins under Henry, Richard, and John and the destruction of the Templars by Louis' grandson, Phillip IV. This last event lead eventually to the Hundred Years' War.

Genres: History, Biography

303 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1968

About the author

Margaret Wade Labarge, CM (July 18, 1916 – August 31, 2009) was a Canadian historian and author specializing in the role of women in the Middle Ages. She was adjunct professor of history at Carleton University.

Labarge attended Harvard and Oxford Universities, and taught at the University of Ottawa before her move to Carleton. In 1982, she was made a Member of the Order of Canada. In 1988, she was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. She authored nine books about history.

Reviews

[Terence · Rating 3 out of 5]

Though 40 years old, Margaret Labarge's book lays out the basic course and essential importance of Saint Louis' reign (1226-1270) in clear, straightforward prose. France was blessed (or cursed depending upon where your sympathies lie) by a century's worth of reasonably capable kings and ministers who created the nation of "France," starting with Louis' grandfather Philip Augustus (1180-1223). (Of course, it helped that the Angevin realm imploded upon Henry II's death.)

It's also a very sympathetic portrait of the king. While Louis definitely had a sense of noblesse oblige and worked diligently to ensure equity and justice within his realm (within the constraints of Medieval sensibilities - he was not a proto-democrat or man of the people), Labarge glosses over the less savory aspects of his religious conviction like his anti-Semitism or the suppression of heresy. And, for that matter, the appalling waste and uselessness of his two crusades.

If I were to classify this book I would say that it's a good narrative of the king's reign for an undergraduate who's doing serious studies in Medieval history. It's not detailed enough for a post-grad yet it's far too specialized for the simply curious. There's a reasonably helpful family tree and parallel chronologies so readers can orient themselves but I believe "dramatis personae" would have be helpful in books like this. Just a list of the "characters" and brief biographies as the names fly fast and furious; it's easy to be overwhelmed. In my case, post-grad days in UCLA's Medieval history department served me well but anyone without some familiarity with the period will be lost.

Just an observation, but it's remarkable how much we can know about Medieval people (and not just the nobility). It's no where near the information that modern historians have access to but we can be glad that our ancestors (at least the Europeans amongst us) were so anal about keeping records. In that vein, I want to mention the site Medieval Soldier - http://www.icmacentre.ac.uk/soldier/d... . I heard about this site on an NPR program (I think it was "The World"). It's digitized the records of the English army from the period around Henry V's reign (c. 1400). To randomly wander the site is a pleasure and an education.

[Andrew Dockrill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Saint Louis by Margaret Labarge was a standard chronological biography which deals from his birth to his death during his second crusade. While the reading was very enjoyable and easily digestible I would not say that the book blew me away, though I do not blame that on Margaret, as much as it was my expectations going in to the book about Louis.

Louis himself lived a pious life to the absolute extreme. In terms of European monarchs, the french were seen as the most devout christians and leading the way for christendom in both their conduct and their spirituality. This practice had begun by Louis VII if not even earlier and Louis IX took this responsibility very seriously, although it could be argued that had it not been for his mother Blanche of Castile who largely raised him on her own and was herself an extremely devout woman, he may not have turned out that way. Louis's father Louis VIII was arguably not as devout as his son as he was far more of a brash and rough individual.

Louis's turning point when he became more devout was after he had fallen ill before his first crusade and feared that his death was not far away, he promised he would take the cross and become a good christian, which he did in fact do. While his crusade was largely unsuccessful taking Damietta for a short period but thereafter losing it and losing his brother in a conflict along with many of his men, he returned home, never forgetting what had happened. From that time on he would devote his life to not only being a great king and putting his people as his top priority - in one case going out into the woods in vinciennes and sitting against an oak tree while he encouraged people to come up to him and tell him their concerns and grievances.

He would also try and take on the pain of christ and discomforts, and not dressing in fine garments which were meant for men of his rank, which bothered his wife Maurgaret endlessly. He would wear hair shirts to further his discomfort and would do mass to an extreme amount. He had become so devout he had reached a point towards the end of his reign when he considered abdicating and joining the Franciscans or Dominicans but his wife dissuaded him from doing so.

Another thing which I did take from the book was the lot of the jews which is typically the group of people who often do not fare well in medieval history and once again Louis IX did not have any time for them as they were not devout Christians. His perspective was that he simply could not understand how they could not believe in god, and would on countless occasions try and convert them when he could but would eventually expel them - if I remember correctly.

All in all the book was quite good, if someone was interested in Louis I would definitely recommend this book as a good introduction to him, as it served that purpose well for me. I would have given the book five stars but it was not a book that I loved to the degree that I felt compelled to give it that score without any hesitation.