Boy Crusaders: A Story of the Days of Louis IX. Page 5

  CHAPTER IV.

  ST. LOUIS.

  AMONG the names of the European princes associated with the history ofthe Holy War, that of St. Louis is one of the most renowned. Althoughflourishing in a century which produced personages like Frederick,Emperor of Germany, and our first great Edward, who far excelled him ingenius and prowess--as wise rulers in peace and mighty chiefs inwar--his saintliness, his patience in affliction, his respect forjustice and the rights of his neighbours, entitle him to a high placeamong the men of the age which could boast of so many royal heroes. Inorder to comprehend the crusade, of which he was leader, it is necessaryto refer briefly to the character and career of the good and pious king,who, in the midst of disaster and danger, exhibited the courage of ahero and the resignation of a martyr.

  It was on the day of the Festival of St. Mark, in the year 1215, thatBlanche of Castille, wife of the eighth Louis of France, gave birth, atPoissy, to an heir to the crown, which Hugh Capet had, three centuriesearlier, taken from the feeble heir of Charlemagne. On the death of hisfather, Louis, then in his twelfth year, became King of France, at atime when it required a man with a strong hand to maintain theprivileges of the crown against the great nobles of the kingdom.Fortunately for the young monarch Providence had blessed him with amother, who, whatever her faults and failings--and chroniclers have notspared her reputation--brought to the terrible task of governing in afeudal age a high spirit and a strong will, and applied herselfearnestly to the duty of bringing up her son in the way in which heshould walk, and educating him in such a manner as to prepare him forexecuting the high functions which he was destined to fulfil. While,with the aid of her chivalrous admirer, the Count of Champagne, and thecounsel of a cardinal-legate--with whom, by-the-bye, she was accused ofbeing somewhat too familiar--Blanche of Castille maintained the rightsof the French monarchy against the great vassals of France, she rearedher son with the utmost care. She entrusted his education to excellentmasters, appointed persons eminent for piety to attend to his religiousinstruction, and evinced profound anxiety that he should lead a virtuousand holy life.

  'Rather,' she once said, 'would I see my son in his grave, than learnthat he had committed a mortal sin.'

  As time passed on, Blanche of Castille had the gratification of findingthat her toil and her anxiety were not in vain. Lotus, indeed, was amodel whom other princes, in their teens, would have done well to copy.His piety, and his eagerness to do what was right and to avoid what waswrong, raised the wonder of his contemporaries. He passed much of histime in devotional exercises, and, when not occupied with religiousduties, ever conducted himself as if with a consciousness that the eyeof his Maker was upon him, and that he would one day have to give astrict account of all his actions. Every morning he went to hear prayerschanted, and mass and the service of the day sung; every afternoon hereclined on his couch, and listened while one of his chaplains repeatedprayers for the dead; and every evening he heard complines.

  Nevertheless, Louis did not, like such royal personages as our HenryVI., allow his religious exercises so wholly to monopolise his time orattention as to neglect the duties which devolved upon him as king. Thereverse was the case. After arriving at manhood he convinced the worldthat he was well qualified to lead men in war, and to govern them inpeace.

  It happened that, in the year 1242, Henry King of England, who wasseveral years older than Louis, became ambitious of regaining thecontinental territory wrested from his father, John, by Philip Augustus;and the Count de la Marche, growing malecontent with the government ofFrance, formed a confederacy against the throne, and invited Henry toconduct an army to the Continent. Everything seemed so promising, andthe confederacy so formidable, that Henry, unable to resist thetemptation of recovering Normandy and Anjou, crossed the sea, landed atBordeaux, and prepared for hostilities. At first, the confederates wereconfident of succeeding in their objects; but, ere long, they discoveredthat they had mistaken their position, and the character of the princewhom they were defying.

  In fact, Louis soon proved that he was no 'carpet knight.' Assembling anarmy, he buckled on his mail, mounted his charger; and placing himselfat the head of his forces, marched to encounter his enemies. Reachingthe banks of the Charente, he offered the confederates battle, near thebridge of Taillebourg; but his challenge was not accepted. By this timethe confederates had lost faith in their enterprise; and while De laMarche was meditating a reconciliation with Louis, Henry, accusing thecount of having deceived, and being about to betray, him, retreatedprecipitately, and never drew rein till he reached the village ofSaintonge.

  But Louis was unwilling to allow his royal foe to escape so easily. Nor,indeed, could Henry without reluctance fly from the peril he hadprovoked. At all events, on reaching Saintonge, the English turned tobay, and a battle began. But the odds were overwhelming; and, though theAnglo-Norman barons fought with characteristic courage, they werespeedily worsted, and under the necessity of making for Bordeaux.

  From the day on which this battle was fought, it was no longer doubtfulthat Louis was quite able to hold his own; and neither foreign kings norcontinental counts cared to disturb his government or defy his power. Infact, the fame of the King of France became great throughoutChristendom, and inspired the hopes of the Christians of the East.

  Nor was it merely as a warrior that Louis signalised himself among hiscontemporaries. At the time when he was attending, with exemplaryregularity, to his religious devotions, and keeping watch over thesecurity of his dominions, he was devoting himself assiduously to hisduties as sovereign and to the administration of justice.

  One day, when Louis was at the castle of Hieros, in Provence, aCordelier friar approached.

  'Sire,' said the friar, 'I have read of unbelieving princes in the Bibleand other good books; yet I have never read of a kingdom of believers orunbelievers being ruined, but from want of justice being dulyadministered. Now,' continued the friar, 'I perceive the king is goingto France; let him administer justice with care, that our Lord maysuffer him to enjoy his kingdom, and that it may remain in peace andtranquillity all the days of his life, and that God may not deprive himof it with shame and dishonour.'

  Louis listened attentively to the Cordelier, and the friar's words sankdeep into his mind. From that date he gave much attention to theadministration of justice, and took especial care to prevent the poorbeing wronged by their more powerful neighbours. On summer days, afterhearing mass, he was in the habit of repairing to the gardens of hispalace, seating himself on a carpet, and listening to such as wished toappeal to him; at other times he went to the wood of Vincennes, andthere, sitting under an oak, listened to their statements withattention and patience. No ceremony was allowed to keep the poor manfrom the king's justice-seat.

  'Whoever has a complaint to make,' Louis was wont to say, 'let him nowmake it;' and when there were several who wished to be heard, he wouldadd, 'My friends, be silent for awhile, and your causes shall bedespatched one after another.'

  When Louis was in his nineteenth year, Blanche of Castille recognisedthe expediency of uniting him to a princess worthy of sharing the Frenchthrone, and bethought her of the family of Raymond Berenger, Count ofProvence, one of the most accomplished men in Europe, and whosecountess, Beatrice of Savoy, was even more accomplished than herhusband; Raymond and Beatrice had four daughters, all remarkable fortheir wit and beauty, and all destined to be queens. Of these fourdaughters, the eldest, Margaret of Provence, who was then thirteen, wasselected as the bride of Louis; and, about two years before her youngersister, Eleanor, was conducted to England to be espoused by King Henry,Margaret arrived in Paris, and began to figure as Queen of France.

  The two princesses of Provence who had the fortune to form such highalliances found themselves in very different positions. Eleanor did justas she pleased, ruled her husband, and acted as if everything in Englandhad been created for her gratification. Margaret's situation, thoughmore safe, was much less pleasant. In her husband's palace she could notboast of being in t
he enjoyment even of personal liberty. In fact,Queen Blanche was too fond of power to allow that which she had acquiredto be needlessly imperilled; and, apprehensive that the young queenshould gain too much influence with the king, she deliberately kept theroyal pair separate. Nothing, indeed, could exceed the domestic tyrannyunder which they suffered. When Louis and Margaret made royalprogresses, Blanche of Castille took care that her son anddaughter-in-law were lodged in separate houses. Even in cases ofsickness the queen-mother did not relent. On one occasion, when Margaretwas ill and in the utmost danger, Louis stole to her chamber. While hewas there, Blanche entered, and he endeavoured to conceal himself.Blanche, however, detected him, shook her head, and forcibly pushed himout of the door.

  'Be off, sir,' said she, sternly; 'you have no right here.'

  'Madam, madam,' exclaimed Margaret, in despair, 'will you not allow meto see my husband, either when I am living, or when I am dying?' and thepoor queen fainted away.

  It was while the young saint-king and his fair Provencal spouse wereenduring this treatment at the hands of the old queen-mother that eventsoccurred which fired Louis with the idea of undertaking a crusade, andgave Margaret an excellent excuse for escaping from the society of thedespotic dowager who had embittered her life, and almost broken herheart.

  One day, when Louis was recovering from the effects of a fever, whichhad so thoroughly prostrated him, that at times his attendants believedhe was dead, he ordered a Cross to be stitched to his garments.

  'How is this,' asked Blanche of Castille, when she came to visit her sonon his sick bed.

  'Madam,' whispered the attendants, 'the king has, out of gratitude forhis recovery, taken the Cross, and vowed to combat the infidel.'

  'Alas! alas!' exclaimed Blanche, terrified, 'I am struck as fearfully asif I had seen him dead.'