Saint Louis: the king, the Crown of Thorns and the crusades
13 min read
From his birth at Poissy (25 April 1214) to his canonisation by Boniface VIII (11 August 1297); reign from 8 November 1226 to 25 August 1270
A child crowned at Reims at twelve, a Castilian mother who holds the kingdom, a crown of thorns bought back from the Venetians and carried barefoot through Paris, a chapel of glass built for it, two crusades of which the second kills him before Tunis: Louis IX is the only king of France to have been canonised. He was also the king who had the Talmud burnt and the rouelle sewn on. Twenty-four places follow his life, from Poissy and Royaumont to the royal fortresses of the Corbières and the port of Aigues-Mortes.
Louis of Poissy
He is born on 25 April 1214 in the castle of Poissy, on the Seine, and baptised at once in the collegiate church of Notre-Dame, a stone's throw away; all his life he will gladly sign himself “Louis of Poissy”, as if his true birth had been that one. The son of Prince Louis and Blanche of Castile, he is nine when his grandfather Philip Augustus dies; his father, Louis VIII, reigns only three years and dies on the way back from an expedition in Languedoc, on 8 November 1226. The heir is twelve. Nothing lays down who should govern in place of a child: Blanche takes charge of the king and the kingdom, by virtue of a wish that Louis VIII is said to have expressed as he was dying, and she moves quickly. Louis is knighted at Soissons on the way and crowned at Reims on 29 November 1226, by the Bishop of Soissons, the archbishop's see being vacant.
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Read in the applicationThe places of this story
- Collégiale Notre-Dame de PoissyChurch · Poissy · Yvelines
- Abbaye de MaubuissonCistercian abbey · Saint-Ouen-l'Aumône · Val-d'Oise
- Abbaye royale de RoyaumontCistercian abbey · Asnières-sur-Oise · Val-d'Oise
- Basilique cathédrale de Saint-DenisCathedral · Saint-Denis · Seine-Saint-Denis
- Sainte-ChapelleChapel · Paris (1er arrondissement) · Paris
- Cathédrale Notre-Dame de ParisCathedral · Paris · Paris
- Château de Vincennes et sa Sainte-ChapelleLegendary castle · Vincennes · Val-de-Marne
- Abbaye Notre-Dame de LongpontCistercian abbey · Longpont · Aisne
- Cathédrale Notre-Dame de ReimsCathedral · Reims · Marne
- Corbeny et les reliques de saint MarcoulChurch · Corbeny · Aisne
- Abbaye du LysCistercian abbey · Dammarie-lès-Lys · Seine-et-Marne
- Château de FontainebleauLegendary castle · Fontainebleau · Seine-et-Marne
- Notre-Dame de Villeneuve-l'Archevêque, où le roi reçut la Couronne d'épinesChurch · Villeneuve-l'Archevêque · Yonne
- Cathédrale Saint-Étienne de SensCathedral · Sens · Yonne
- Basilique Sainte-Marie-Madeleine de VézelayChurch · Vézelay · Yonne
- Abbaye de ClunyMonastery / hospice · Cluny · Saône-et-Loire
- Cité de CarcassonneLegendary castle · Carcassonne · Aude
- Bastide Saint-Louis de CarcassonneBastide (planned town) · Carcassonne · Aude
- Château de PuilaurensLegendary castle · Lapradelle-Puilaurens · Aude
- Château de PeyrepertuseLegendary castle · Duilhac-sous-Peyrepertuse · Aude
- Château de QuéribusLegendary castle · Cucugnan · Aude
- Château d'AguilarLegendary castle · Tuchan · Aude
- Château de TermesLegendary castle · Termes · Aude
- Aigues-Mortes, la tour de ConstanceLegendary castle · Aigues-Mortes · Gard
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