LOUIS 370 LOUZB
to eomquer the Kingdom of Sicily, St. Louis allowed LOQls ZI, King of France, eldest son of CharleB the bravest knights of France to join the expedition VII and Marie of Anjou, b. at Bouigee 3 July, 1423; which destroyed the power of the Hohenstaufens in d. at Plessis-les-Tours, 30 August, 1483. Maving Sicily. The king hoped, doubtless, that the possession married Margaret of Scotland in June, 1436, he to^ of Sicily by Charles of Anjou would be advantageous part in two mtrigues against his father, Charles VII, to the crusade. the first in 1440, when he organised the revolt of the St. Louis led an exemplary life, bearing constantly Praguerie, the second in 1446, when he withdrew into in mind his mother's words: " I had rather see you Dauphiny and later to the Court of the Duke of Bur- dead at my feet than guilty of a mortal sin." His gundy. Succeeding to the throne, 21 July^ ^^h ^ biographers have told us of the long hours he spent in had t^ make lar^e concessions, by liie Treaties of Uon- prayer, fasting, and penance, without the knowledge flans and Saint-Maur (1465), to the feudal lords, who of his subjects. The French king was a great lover had organized against him the League of the Public of justice. French judgments under mg his reign that the
was organized into a regular court of justice, having Bold, Duke of Burgundy, as the heaid of -the feudal
competent experts, and judicial commissions acting organization; he had to treat with him or subdue
at regular periods. These commissions were called him. The Conference of P^ronne (1468) ended with
parlements and the history of the "Dit d' Amiens" an act of treachery on the part ot Charles, who re-
E roves that entire Christendom willingly looked upon tained Louis a prisoner, forced him to sign a disad-
im as an international justiciary. It is an error, vantageous treaty, and took the king with him on an
however, to represent him as a great legislator; the expedition against the revolted burgbnv of Li^.
document known as Etablissements de St. Louis" But on the return of Louis to France preparations
was not a code dravvn up by order of the king, but were begun for a decisive struggle between the king,
merely a collection of customs, written out before who, in 1474, had formed an aluance with the Swiss
1273 by a jurist, who set forth in this book the cus- cantons, and the duke, who was an ally <A the King
toms of Orleans, Anjou, and Maine, to which he added of England. Charles the Bold having fallen at Nancy,
a few ordinances of St. Louis. St. Louis was a patron 5 January, 1477, Louis took possession of the Duchy
of architecture. The SainteChappelle, an architectural of Burgundy, of Artois, and of Hainaut. Maripiret.
gem, was constructed in his reign, and it was under daughter of Charles the Bold, married Maximihan of
his patronage that Ilo))ert of Sornonne founded the Austria, in August, 1477; the result of this marria^
"College de la Sorbonne", which l)ecame the seat of would have been to place Burgundy and Artois m
the theological faculty of Paris. He was renowned the hands of Philip the Handsome, grandson of
for his charity. The peace and blessings of the realm Charles, and it was to provide against such an un-
come to us through the poor he would say. Beggars desirable eventuality that Louis affianced his son
were fed from his table, he ate their leavings, washed Charles (afterwards Charles VIII) to the daughter of
their feet, ministered to the wants of the lepers, and Margaret and Maximilian. (The marriage of Charies
daily fed over one hundred poor. He founcied many VIII to Anne of Brittany, in 1491, after Louis's
hospitals and houses: the liouse of the Filles-Dieu for death, frustrated this precaution.) Louis passed
reformed prostitutes; the Quinze-Vingt for 300 blind his last years in his castle of Plessis-les-Tours, sur-
men(12.S4), hospitals at Pontoise, Vernon, Compi^gne. rounded by persons of low estate, very suspicious.
The " Enseignements " (written instructions) which very irascible. His character was contemptible,
he left to his son Philip and to his daughter IsabeL though he was a clever politician; he was fond of
the discourses preserved by the witnesses at judicial pilgrimages and pious practices, but he had a narrow
investi<i;ations preparatory to his canonization, and idea of God; his religion was based on morbid fear,
Joinville's anecdotes show St. Louis to have been a his Christianity never displayed itself in kind deeds.
man of sound common sense, possessing inde- His perfidy and cruelty were notorious; he kept
fatigable energy, graciously kind and of plaj'ful Cardinal Balue (q. v.) a prisoner for eleven years m
humour, and constantly guarding against the temp- an iron cage.
tation to be imperious. The caricature made of him The relations of Louis XI with the Holv See are
by the envoy of the Count of Gueldre: "worthless worthy of special study, for they definite^ shaped
devotee, h>7)ocritical king" was very far from the the reli^ous policy of the French monarchy. From
truth. On the contrary, St. Louis, through his per- the begmning of nis reign there were two questions
sonal qualities as well as his snintliness, increased for that necessitated continued communication oetween
many centuries the prestige of the French monarchy Louis and the pope: the question of the PTagmatic
(see France). St. Louis's canonization was pro- Sanction and the Italian question. Pius II, at the
claimed at Orvieto in 1297, by Boniface VIII. Of Council of Mantua, in 1459, had protested onoe more
the inquiries in view of canonization, carried on from against the Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges. and the
1273 till 1297, we have only fragmentary reports Bull ^'Execrabilis" (18 June, 1460), by which Pius
published by Delaborde (M^'moires de la soci6t6 de II condemned appeals to future councils, was directed
I'histoire de Paris et de I'lle de France ", XXIII, against it. Again, Louis was always anxious to form
1896) and a series of extracts compiled by Guillaume ^^ olTensive and defensive alliance with Uie irnijiHyr
de St. Pathus, (Jueen Marguerite's confessor, under the Italian States, to reduce the revolted Genoese, and
title of "Vie Monseigneur Saint Loys" (Paris, 1899). bring the north of the peninsula under his sway by
means of the possessions of the house of Orleans in
Svjie ae oi. ixmw iraris, im/-ou; i? acre, Htstoire de St. Louis i • i r i. • tI T'
xna, 1865); Wallon. St Louis et »on irmpa (Paria, 1875)- ^ kmd of hegemony m Italy
COT DE LA Mahche. La France Boun Si. Louis (Paria, 1894); He began his reign by suppressinff the Praffmatie
Kxna (New York, 1901); Berger. St. Tx>uia H Innocent l\\ hunself in opposition to the policy of his father— ftn
HwUiniTUarnjypoH*delaFrnnceetduSaintSiae(VtinnASm)\ attitude which he waS aiudoUS tO emphasise— «nd
VKYim, The Jnvaaum of Egypt bifLouia IX of France, and a Hia- of the same time he took nwnv fmm thA AnloMmAl
fpry of the Contemporary Sultana of Egypt (London. 1898); **. \"*^ same lime ne TOOK awav irom Ue eplSCOpal
UONGNON. Documenta pariaiena aur riconographie de St Louia anstocracy, the feudalism of the ChUTOh, a Weapon
(Fans, 1882): Chkyauucr, Biobibi. 2873-83. which they very much desured to keep. And thus the
Georges OoYAr. same measure which won him the favour of Rome
