LOUIS IX, called SAINT Lou's, king of France: b. Poissy, France, 25 April 1214; d. near Tunis, Africa, 25 Aug. 1270. He was the son of Louis VIII and Blanche of Castile, and came to the throne on the death of his father. Being only in his 12th year he was placed under the guardianship of his mother, who was made regent of the kingdom, and he was declared of age in 1236. In 1243 Louis defeated the English in several engagements, and a truce for five ears was concluded. Having made a vow, in the event of recovering from a dangerous dis ease, to march against the infidels in the Holy Land, he in 1248 embarked at Aigues-Mortes with an army of 50,000 men. This expedition proved disastrous, and Louis with his army was captured by the Saracens. Damietta, which had been taken by the French, was demanded as the price of the monarch's freedom, and a vast ran som was also claimed for his followers. In 1254 he returned home, and in the interval Queen Blanche, who had ruled the kingdom well in his absence, had died. Louis now turned his attention to the administration of the law.
The subjects were now suffered to appeal from the decision of their lords to four royal tribu nals, and men of learning were introduced into the Parliament. Louis also diminished the taxes and he founded the Sorbonne. The code of laws known as the 'Etablissements de Saint Louis' is the work of some unknown compiler. In 1270 he undertook a crusade against Tunis, in the midst of which enterprise he died. He was succeeded by his .son Philip III. He was canonized by Boniface VIII in 1297. The Sieur de Joinville wrote his life, of which an English translation by Hutton appeared in 1868. Consult Berger, 'Saint Louis et Innocent IV' (Paris 1893), and 'Histoire de Blanche de Castile' (ib. 1895) ; Faure, 'Histoire de Saint Louis' (2 vols., Paris 1866) ; Lavisse, 'Histoire de France> (Vol. III, Paris 1901) ; Lecoy de la Marche, 'La France sous Saint Louis' (ib. 1893) ; Perry, F., 'Saint Louis the Most Chris tian King> (New York 1901) ; Sepet, (Paris 1903).