University of Virginia Library

4. PART IV
FROM THE KING'S RETURN TO FRANCE TO HIS DEATH AND CANONIZATION

IV.1. CHAPTER I

HOW THE KING SETTLED DISPUTES AND MADE PEACE THROUGHOUT FRANCE; AND HOW HE DEALT WITH THE KING OF ENGLAND.

AFTER the King returned from over-seas, he behaved himself so devoutly, that thenceforth he never wore neither beaver, nor squirrel's fur, nor scarlet, nor gilded stirrups and spurs; his garments were of hair-cloth, or of dark-blue woollen. The trimmings of his coverlets and robes were of hares' feet or lamb's wool.

When the rich men's minstrels came to his house after dinner, and brought their viols, he would wait to hear grace until the minstrel had ended his lay; then he would rise, and before him stood the priests who said his grace. When we were in private, he would sit at the foot of his bed; and when the preachers or friars who were there put

him in mind of some good book, to which he liked to listen, he would say to them, "You shall not read to me; for after meals there is no book so good as a 'quolibet,' and that means ' let each say what he pleases."

When any rich men dined with him they found him very good company.

I will tell you about his wisdom. On various occasions he showed himself to be the wisest man in his Council; as for instance when, apart from his Council and on the spur of the moment, he replied to a petition from all the prelates of the kingdom of France. It was as follows:

Bishop Guy of Auxerre addressed him for them all: " Sir " said he " these archbishops and bishops here present, have charged me to tell you that Christendom is falling to pieces and melting away in your hands, and will fall away still further, unless you study to remedy It; inasmuch as no one, nowadays, has any dread of excommunication. Wherefor we desire you, Sir, to order your serjeants and bailiffs to use compulsion on such as have been excommunicated a year and a day, that they may give satisfaction to the Church." And

the King, without taking counsel at all, made answer, that he would willingly order his bailiffs and serjeants to use compulsion on those that were excommunicated as they demanded; but that he must be allowed to have cognisance whether the sentence were legal or no.

They consulted together and replied to the King; that they would not give him cognisance of what pertained to religion; and the King in his turn replied; that he would never give them cognisance of what pertained to him; nor would he ever order his serjeants to force those who were excommunicated to procure absolution whether right or wrong. "For if I did so, I should be flying in the face of God and of justice; and I will give you this as an instance: The bishops of Brittany kept the Count of Brittany no less than seven years under sentence of excommunication, and in the end the Court of Rome absolved him. Now, if I had put compulsion on him after the first year, I should have done so wrongly."

It happened after our return from over-seas, that the monks of St. Urban elected two abbots. Bishop Peter of Châlons God rest his soul! turned them

both out, and consecrated as abbot my Lord John of Mymery, and gave him the crozier. I would not acknowledge him, because he had wronged Abbot Geoffrey, who had appealed against him and gone to Rome. I kept the abbey in my own hands until the said Geoffrey carried off the crozier, and the bishop's man lost it. While the dispute was going on, the bishop had excommunicated me. In consequence of this, there was a great fuss made, in a parliament held at Paris, about me and Bishop Peter, and Countess Margaret of Flanders, and the Archbishop of Rheims to whom she gave the lie.

At the next parliament, all the prelates begged the King that he would come and speak with them alone. On his return from talking with the bishops, he came to us who were awaiting him in the Chamber of Pleas, and told us laughing how the bishops had baited him. It began with the Archbishop of Rheims saying to the King, "Sir, what are you going to do about the wardship of St. Rémy of Rheims, of which you are robbing me? I would not have such a sin as yours on my conscience for the kingdom of France." " By the holy relics of this place," said the King, "you would, though, for

Compiegne, such is your greed. So some one is perjured!,"

"The Bishop of Chartres," said the King, "desired me to restore him on credit what I held of his; and I told him that I should not do so until my castle were paid for. And I told him that he was my sworn liegeman, and that he was behaving neither well nor loyally towards me, in trying to rob me of my heritage."

"The Bishop of Châlons said to me," said the King, " 'What are you going to do about the Lord of Joinville, who is robbing that poor monk of the abbey of St. Urban's?' Sir Bishop," quoth the King, " you have settled amongst your own selves that no excommunicated person shall be heard in a lay court. Now I have seen in letters sealed with thirty-two seals, that you are excommunicated; so I shall not hear you until you be absolved."

I tell you these things to show you how by his own unaided wits he despatched whatever business he had to do.

Abbot Geoffrey of St. Urban's, though I had done his business for him, rendered me evil for good after

wards, and appealed against me. He gave our holy King to understand that he was in his ward.

I begged the King to have the truth declared, whether the wardship were his or mine. " Sir," said the Abbot, "you shall never do that, please God rather admit us to a formal suit between us and the Lord of Joinville; seeing that we, to whom the property belongs, would rather have our abbey in your ward than in his."

Then said the King to me: " Is it true what they say, that the wardship of the abbey is mine " Certainly not, Sir," said I, " on the contrary, it is mine. "

Then the King said to them, " The property is very possibly yours; but with the wardship of your abbey you have nothing to do; so, by your leave, it must needs belong, according to what you say and to what the Seneschal says, either to me or to him. Neither will anything you say ever dissuade me from having the truth declared. For if I were to involve him in a formal suit, I should be acting disloyally towards him, who is my liegeman, by putting his rights to a trial when he offers to have them plainly declared."

He caused the truth to be declared, and when it was declared, he delivered me the wardship of the abbey, and gave me his letters.

It came about, through the exertions of the holy King, that the King of England, with his wife and children, came to France to treat of the peace between him and them. His Council was strongly opposed to the said peace, and addressed him thus: " Sir, we are greatly astonished at your purpose, that you intend to give the King of England so large a portion of your territory, which you and your forbears have conquered from him and by their own fault. It appears to us, that if you believe yourself to have no right to it, you are making but poor restitution to the King of England, unless you give him back the whole of what you and your forbears have conquered; whereas if you think that you have a right to it, it seems to us, that whatever you give him is so much lost."

To this the holy King replied as follows. " Sirs, I am quite sure that the King of England's forbears rightly and justly lost the conquered lands that I hold, and what I give him, I give him not because I am in any wise beholden to him nor to his heirs,

but to put bonds of love betwixt my children and his who are first cousins. And methinks that what I give him is well spent; for whereas he was not my liege-man, now he comes into homage to me."

Indeed, he was the man of all the world who worked hardest for peace among his subjects, particularly among the rich men on his borders, and the princes of the realm; as for instance, between the Count of Châlons (the Lord of Joinville's uncle) and his son the Count of Burgundy, between whom there was great strife, when we returned from overseas. And to make peace between father and son he sent some of his Council into Burgundy at his own expense, and through his exertions peace was made between them.

Again, there was great strife between King Tibald II of Champagne, and Count John of Châlons, and his son the Count of Burgundy, over the abbey of Luxeuil; to pacify which my Lord the King sent thither Lord Gervaise Desoraines, who at that time was Chief Cook of France, and by his exertions he made peace. After the King had pacified this war, a fresh war

sprang up, between Count Tibald of Bar, and Count Henry of Luxemburg, who had his sister to wife; and it fell out that they fought with each other below Pigney, and Count Tibald of Bar took Count Henry of Luxemburg prisoner, and also captured the castle of Liney, which belonged to the Count of Luxemburg by right of his wife. To end this war the King despatched my Lord Peter the Chamberlain, the man of all the world whom he most trusted all at the King's expense; and finally the King succeeded in pacifying them.

As for these foreigners whose quarrels the King had settled, some of his Council told him that he would have done better to have let them go on fighting, for, that if he let them thoroughly ruin themselves, they would not be so ready to turn against himself as if they were wealthy. To this the King replied, that they argued ill: For if the neighbouring princes became aware that I encouraged their quarrelling, they might lay their heads together and say, "The King out of his malice encourages our fighting"; and so it would come to pass that out of the hatred they would conceive against me, they would turn on me; and

then I should be much worse off; besides incurring the hatred of God, who says, " Blessed are the peacemakers."

The result was, that the Burgundians and the Lorrainers whom he had pacified, loved and obeyed him so well that I have seen them come to the King's court to plead in their private quarrels before him, at Rheims, at Paris, and at Orleans.

IV.2. CHAPTER II

HOW THE KING BEHAVED HIMSELF TOWARDS THE POOR AND TOWARDS MEN OF RELIGION.

THE King loved God and His sweet Mother so well that if anybody within his reach used any foul language or lewd oath about God or His Mother, the King caused them to be very severely punished. For this I saw him cause a goldsmith at Cesarea to be put on a ladder in his shirt and breeches, with the entrails of a pig hung round his neck, right up to his ears. I heard say, after I returned from over-seas that he had a burgher of Paris seared through the nose and lips for the same offence, but I did not see it. And the holy King said, " I would gladly be branded with a hot iron, on condition that all lewd oaths were done away with out of my kingdom."

I was about twenty-two years in his company; and never heard him swear by God, nor by His Mother nor by His Saints; but whenever he wanted 357

to affirm anything, he used to say, " Truly it was thus," or " Truly it shall be thus."

Never did I hear him name the devil, unless it were in some book where the name came in, or in the life of the Saints of whom the book was speaking. And a great disgrace it is to the realm of France, and to the King who allows it, that a man can hardly open his lips without saying " Deuce take it!" and a great abuse it is of language to devote to the devil a man or woman who was given to God at baptism. In the household of Joinville, whoever uses such an expression, pays for it with a buffet or a slap, and such bad language has been almost entirely put down.

Before he went to bed, he used to send for his children, and would tell them stories of the deeds of good kings and emperors; and he used to tell them that they must take example by people such as these. He would tell them too, about the deeds of wicked rich men, who by their lechery and their rapine and their avarice, had lost their kingdoms. "And these things," he used to say, " I tell you as a warning to avoid them, lest you incur the anger of God."

He had them taught the Hours of Our Lady, and caused the Hours for the Day to be repeated to them, in order to give them the habit of hearing their Hours when they should come into their estates.

The King was so liberal an almsgiver, that wherever he went throughout his kingdom, he made gifts to poor churches, to lazar-houses, to alms houses, to asylums, and to poor gentlemen and gentlewomen.

From his childhood up, he was compassionate towards the poor and the suffering; and it was the custom that, wherever he went, six score poor should always be replenished in his house with bread and wine, and meat or fish every day. In Lent and Advent, the number was increased, and many a time the King would wait on them, and place their meat before them, and would carve their meat before them, and with his own hand would give them money when they went away.

Likewise on the high vigils of solemn feasts, he would serve the poor with all these things, before he either ate or drank.

Besides all this, he had every day old broken-down men to dine and sup with him, and had them

served with the same food that he himself was eating. And when they had feasted, they took away with them a certain sum of silver.

Over and above all these things, the King used every day to give large and liberal alms to poor men of religion, to poor asylums, to the sick poor, and all sorts of poor colleges, to poor gentlemen and married women and spinsters, to fallen women, to poor widows, and to women in child-bed, and to such poor as by reason of old age or sickness were unable to labour or pursue their trade in number past all telling. So that we may say that he was herein more fortunate than Titus, Emperor of Rome, of whom old writers tell us, that he was passing sorrowful and downcast, because of one day in which he had conferred no benefit.

He asked me whether I washed the feet of the poor on Shrove Thursday; and I replied No, that I thought it unseemly. And he told me that I ought not to contemn it, for God had done it. "For you would find it very hard to do what the King of England does, who washes the feet of lepers and kisses them."

When any of the benefices of Holy Church

escheated to the King, before bestowing it, he would first take counsel with good persons of religion and others; and after consultation he would bestow the benefices in good faith, honourably and according to God. Nor would he give any benefice to any cleric, unless he resigned all the other Church benefices that he might hold.

In all the towns of his realm where he had never been before, he would seek out the Preachers and Grey Friars, if there were any, and desire their prayers.

From the very first, when he came into his kingdom and to years of discretion, he began building monasteries and various religious houses, amongst which the Abbey of Royaumont bears the palm for eminence and renown.

He founded the Abbey of St. Anthony near Paris; and the Abbey of St. Matthew of Rouen, into which he put women of the order of Preaching Friars; and that of Longchamp for women of the Minorite order; and endowed them highly. He allowed his mother to found the Abbey of Liz by Melun-sur-Seine, and that of Pontoise, which is called Maubuisson.

He founded several almshouses: the Almshouse

of Paris, that of Pontoise, and that of Compiegne and of Vernon, and endowed them highly; besides the Grey Friars Nunnery of St. Cloud, which his sister, my Lady Isabel, founded by his leave.

Also he founded the Blind Asylum near Paris to receive the blind of the city of Paris, and had a chapel built for them to hear divine service. And the good King built the Charterhouse outside Paris, and assigned sufficient revenues to the monks who dwelt there for the service of Our Lord. Shortly afterwards he had another house built outside Paris, which was called the House of the Daughters of God, and caused a great number of women to be boarded there, who by reason of poverty had fallen into the sin of wantonness, and granted them four hundred pounds' worth of revenue to support them. Also in many places of his kingdom he founded houses of female Begouins, and gave them revenues to live upon, and gave orders to admit such as gave promise of a chaste life.

Some of his kindred used to grumble at his liberal almsgiving, and because he spent so much on this kind of thing; but he used to say: " I would much rather be extravagant in alms, for the love of

God, than in the pomp and vainglories of this world."

Yet, though the King spent so much in charity, his daily household expenses were none the less very great. He lived in a free and open-handed style at the parliaments and assemblies of barons and knights; and the hospitality at his Court was so courteous, generous, and plentiful that nothing like it had been known for a long time past at the courts of his predecessors.

The King loved all people who devoted themselves to the service of God and wore the religious habit, and all such as came to him were secure of a livelihood. He made provision for the Brethren of Carmel, and bought them a site on the banks of the Seine in the direction of Charenton; and he built a house for them, and bought them vestments and chalices and all the things needful for performing divine service.

Next, he provided for the Austin Friars, and bought them a grange belonging to a burgher of Paris, with all its appurtenances, outside the gate of Montmartre, and had it turned into a monastery for them.

He provided for the Brethren of the Bag, and granted them a site on the Seine, over against St. Germain des Prés, where they took up their quarters; but they did not stay long there, for they were soon suppressed.

When the Brethren of the Bag were provided for, another sort of Brotherhood sprang up, called the " Order of White Mantles," and demanded that the King should help them to settle in Paris; and to harbour them he bought them a house and several old sites round about, close to the old Temple Gate at Paris, not far from the Weavers' quarter. These White Monks were put down by the Council of Lyons, that Gregory X held.

Again there came a new sort of Friars, who entitled themselves " Brethren of the Holy Cross," and wore the cross on their breasts; and they begged the King to help them. The King did so readily, and lodged them in a street called Temple Crossing, which nowadays is called the street of the Holy Cross.

Thus did the good King fence about the city of Paris with men of religion.

IV.3. CHAPTER III

"HOW THE KING ADMONISHED HIS BAILIFFS, HIS PROVOSTS, AND HIS MAYORS; AND HOW HE MADE NEW ORDINANCES, AND HOW STEPHEN BOILEAU BECAME HIS PROVOST OF PARIS."

AFTER King Louis returned to France from overseas, he bore himself meekly towards Our Lord, and uprightly towards his subjects. And he perceived and bethought him that it would be a fine work to reform the realm of France.

First of all, he made a general ordinance for his subjects throughout all the realm of France in the following manner.

"We, Louis, by the grace of God King of France, do ordain that all our Bailiffs, Sheriffs, Provosts, Mayors and t all others, be they who they may, and be the matter what it may, do take IS oath that so long as they shall hold office or bailly, they will do justice to

every man without exception of persons, to poor and rich alike, to stranger and friend alike, and will maintain such usages and customs as are good and tried. And if any matter occur in which the bailiffs or sheriffs or others such as serjeants or foresters act contrary to their oaths and be attainted of so doing, it is our will that they be punished in their goods and in their persons, according as the offence demands, and the bailiffs shall be punished by us, and the rest by the bailiffs.

Henceforth the provosts, bailiffs, serjeants and the rest shall swear to well and truly maintain our revenues and rights, and that they will not suffer our rights to be withheld nor done away with, nor diminished.

Henceforth they shall swear that they will not take nor receive, neither in person nor through others, gold,

nor silver, nor perquisites, nor anything else, unless it be fruit or bread or wine or other gift not exceeding the value of ten shillings (a week). Moreover they shall swear not to accept any gift whatever for their wives or children or brothers or sisters or any other person in any wise connected with them; neither permit them to accept such gifts, and directly they shall find that such gifts have been received they shall cause them to be returned as soon as possible. Henceforth they shall swear not to keep any gift whatever from any man of their bailly.

Henceforth they shall swear not to give nor send any gift to any man who may be on our council, nor to their wives nor children nor to any soul belonging to them; nor to those who shall audit their accounts on our behalf; nor to any inquisitors whom

we may send into their baillies or provosties to make inquiry into their acts. And moreover they shall swear that they will take no commission from any sale of our revenues or coinage or anything else pertaining to us.

Moreover, they shall swear that if they know any official, serjeant or provost, under them to be dishonest, addicted to rapine, usury or other vices, whereby he ought to forfeit our service, that they will not support him by reason of gift or promise or friendship, or any other thing, but will punish and judge him in good faith. Henceforth our provosts, sheriffs, mayors, foresters, and other serjeants of foot or horse, shall swear not to give any gifts to their superiors, nor to their wives and children.

And because it is our will that these oaths be firmly established, we

will that they be sworn in full assize, in the face of all men, both clerics and laymen, knights and serjeants, notwithstanding that they may have already taken the oath to ourselves; so that they may shun the sin of perjury, not only for fear of God and us, but from worldly shame.

We will and ordain that all our provosts and bailiffs abstain from any oath savouring of blasphemy towards God, Our Lady, and all the Saints; and keep themselves from games of dice, and from the tavern. [1]

It is our will that the manufacture of dice be forbidden throughout our kingdom, and that all lewd women be put out of their houses; and whosoever shall lease a house to a lewd woman, he shall make over the rent of the house for one year to the provost or bailiff.

Further, we utterly forbid our bailiffs to buy, or cause to be bought, by themselves or others, any land or property in their own bailly or any other, so long as they are in our employ. And we forbid them to marry any son or daughter of theirs, or any person connected with them, to anybody in their bailly, without our special leave: Also, they shall not place them in any religious house of theirs, nor procure them any benefice of Holy Church nor any property whatever. Also they shall not take any office nor appointment in any religious house, nor about themselves, to the detriment of the religious.

We do not intend the aforesaid prohibition to marry or acquire property to apply to provosts or mayors nor others holding minor posts.

We command our bailiffs, provosts, and others not to keep over many

serjeants and beadles, to be a burthen on the people. The beadles shall be called in full assize, otherwise they shall not be accounted beadles. When our serjeants shall be sent into any distant place, or foreign country, it is our will that they be not credited without a letter from their superior.

We order every bailiff and provost holding office under us not to burden honest folk with his justice beyond what is lawful; and that no one under our jurisdiction be put in prison for any debt that he may owe saving only what he may owe to ourselves.

We ordain that none of our bailiffs levy a fine for any debt that our subjects owe us, nor for any crime; save it be tried and assessed in full court. And if it chance that the accused be not willing to await the judgment of the court which is open to him, but rather offers a certain sum of money

as a fine, as has been commonly accepted, we will that the court accept the sum, if it is reasonable and adequate; and if not, then that the fine be judged according as is said above, notwithstanding the accused submits himself to the pleasure of the court.

We forbid the bailiff, mayor or provost, to constrain our subjects by fear or threats or intrigue, to pay a fine secretly or openly.

Moreover we ordain that those who hold the provosties, shrievalties, and other baillies cannot sell them to anyone else without our leave, and if several persons combine to buy the aforesaid offices, it is our will that one of the buyers shall perform the duties for all the rest, and exercise the liberties pertaining to remounts, tallages and public charges, as the custom is. And we forbid them, after they have

bought the said offices from us, to resell them to brothers, nephews, or cousins: nor shall they through their own office require any debt that may be owed them, except debts due to their office.

But their personal debts they shall require through the authority of the bailiff, just as though they were not in our employ.

We forbid that bailiffs and provosts should harass our subjects in any cases which they have brought before them by changing from place to place: but let them hear such matters as are before them in the place where they have been wont to give a hearing; so that people may not abstain from seeking justice because of trouble or expense.

Henceforth we command that no man be disseized of any seisin that he holds, without cognisance of cause,

or special order from ourselves; and that our people be not oppressed with new exactions of tallages and fresh customs; nor shall a muster be ordered in order to get the people's money, nor shall they be called out for military service without sufficient cause. And those who wish to serve in person shall not be forced to buy themselves off for money.

Further we forbid bailiffs and provosts to prohibit the export of corn, wine, and other merchandise out of our realm without due cause. And when it must needs be prohibited we will that it be done by common consent in a council of good and true men without suspicion of fraud or deceit.

Item: It is our will that all ex-bailiffs, sheriffs, provosts, and mayors shall, after they have quitted office, continue for the space of forty days in the district where they held office,

in their own persons or by deputy, that any whom they have wronged may lodge a complaint against them. By this edict he greatly amended the realm.

The provosty of Paris used at that time to be sold to the burghers of Paris, or to some of them; and whenever any of them had bought it, then they used to uphold their children and nephews in their lawlessness; for the young men relied on their kinsmen and friends who held the provosty. For this cause the common people were over much trodden down, and could get no justice on the rich men, because of the great gifts and donations that these made to the provosts. At that time, whoever spoke truth before the provost, or attempted to keep his oath, and not perjure himself, about a debt or any other matter about which he was called in question, the provost would levy a fine on him, and he would be punished. By reason of the great deeds of injustice and violence which were done in the provosty, the common people durst not live on the King's land, but rather went and dwelt under other provosts and other lords. And the King's

land was so empty, that when he held his Court of Pleas, not more than ten or twelve persons used to come to it. There were moreover so many malefactors and robbers in Paris and round about, that the whole country was overrun with them. The King, who was very zealous for the protection of the common people, found out the whole truth; so he would no longer allow the provosty of Paris to be sold, but gave secure and high wages to those who for the future should hold it. And he put down all the evil customs whereby the people might be oppressed; and made inquiry throughout the whole kingdom and country where a man might be found who would administer sound and strict justice, and spare the rich no more than the poor. And then Stephen Boileau was pointed out to him; and he upheld and kept the provosty so well that no malefactor, nor robber, nor murderer, durst abide in Paris but he was presently hanged or ruined: neither kith nor kin, gold nor silver could protect him. The King's territory began to improve; people came thither for the sake of the good justice that was done there. It so multiplied and improved that the sales, seisins, purchases, and other things were worth double what the King got from them formerly.

" In all these things that we have ordered for the advancement of our subjects and our kingdom we have reserved to ourselves the power of expounding, amending, adding, and restricting, according as we shall be advised."

By this act he greatly benefited the kingdom of France, as many wise and aged men testify.

IV.4. CHAPTER IV

HOW THE KING TOOK THE CROSS FOR HIS LAST PILGRIMAGE — HIS DEATH, BURIAL, AND CANONIZATION; AND OF THE VISION THAT APPEARED TO THE LORD OF JOINVILLE.

AFTER the events above narrated, it came to pass one Lent, that the King summoned all his barons to Paris. I excused myself, on account of a quartan fever, from which I was suffering at the time, and begged him to allow me to stay away. But he sent me word that he was absolutely determined I should come, for he had good doctors there who well understood the cure of quartan fever. So to Paris I went. When I arrived, on the evening of the Vigil of Our Lady in March, I found neither the King, nor anyone who could tell me why the King had sent for me. Now it so happened by God's will that I fell asleep at Matins; and in my sleep methought I saw the King on his knees before an altar, and methought several prelates in their vestments were clothing him

with a crimson chasuble of Rheims serge. After this vision, I called my priest, Lord William, who was a very clever man, and told him the vision; and this is what he said to me: " Sir, you will see that the King will take the Cross to-morrow." I asked him, why he thought so? and he told me that he thought so because of the dream that I had dreamed, for the chasuble of crimson serge betokened the Cross which was crimsoned with the blood that God had shed from his side and hands and feet; " As for the chasuble being of serge of Rheims, that signifies that the Crusade will be one of small note as you will see if God grants you life."

When I had heard mass at the Magdalen at Paris I went into the King's chapel, and found the King, who had gone up into the gallery of relics and was having the true Cross brought down. Whilst the King was on his way down, two knights of his Council began talking together; and one of them said, " Never trust me again, if the King does not take the Cross while he is here." And the other replied " If the King takes the Cross, it will be one of the saddest days in France that ever were. For if we do not take the Cross, we shall lose the

King, and if we do take the Cross we shall lose God, for it will not be for His sake that we take it." Now it came to pass, that the King took the Cross on the morrow and his three sons besides; and afterwards it came to pass that the Crusade was of little note, just as my priest had foretold. I was much urged by the King of France and by the King of Navarre to take the Cross. To this I replied, that all the while that I had been serving God and the King over-seas, and also after my return, the serjeants of the King of France and the King of Navarre had destroyed and impoverished my people; so that I and they should be the worse for it for all time to come. And I told them this: that if I wished to work God's will, I should stay where I was to help and protect my people; for that if I risked my life on the chances of this pilgrimage, seeing as I did quite plainly that it would be to the harm and injury of my people, I should anger God, who gave His life to save His people.

To my mind they committed a deadly sin who encouraged his going; for France had reached a condition when all the kingdom was at peace within itself and with its neighbours; and never again has

it been so since he left it; but the state of the kingdom has steadily gone from bad to worse. A very great sin it was in those who encouraged him to go, seeing how weak he was in health at the time; for he could endure neither to drive nor ride. His weakness was so great that he let me carry him in my arms from the Count of Auxerre's house, where I took leave of him, as far as the Greyfriars. And yet, weak as he was, if he had stayed in France, he might still have lived a good while and done a great deal of good.

I shall not say anything about his journey to Tunis, nor give any account of it, because I was not there thank God! And I do not wish to say or put anything in my book of which I am not quite sure. So we will speak only of our holy King, and say, that after he landed at Tunis, before the castle of Carthage, he fell sick of a catarrh of the stomach, by reason of which he took to his bed, and felt that the time was come for him to pass from this world to the next. Thereupon he called for my Lord Philip his son, and bade him to observe, as though it were his testament, all the instructions that he left him; which instructions are

written below in the common tongue; [1] and the King wrote them so they say with his own blessed hand.

When the good King had given his instructions to my Lord Philip, his infirmity began to increase greatly upon him, and he asked for the sacraments of Holy Church. And he received them with a sound mind and right understanding, as was plain; for, whilst they were anointing him and repeating the seven psalms, he repeated the verses in response. And I heard my lord the Count of Alençon, his son, relate, that when death drew near, he cried on the saints to aid and succour him; and likewise on my Lord St. James, repeating his prayer the while, which begins: "Esto Domine," which means " May the Lord sanctify and watch over our people." Next he called upon my Lord St. Denis to help him, saying his prayer, which means "Lord God, grant that we may so despise the ruggedness of this world that we may fear no adversity." And then I heard my Lord of Alençon say that his father called upon St. Genevieve.

After that, the holy King made them lay him on bed strewn with ashes, and laid his hands upon

his breast, and looking up to heaven, yielded up his spirit to our Creator, in the very same hour when the Son of God died upon the Cross.

A precious matter and worthy of tears is the death of this holy Prince, who so righteously and faithfully watched over his kingdom; who did so many fair works of charity, and founded so many fine institutions. And just as a writer when he has ended his book illuminates it with gold and azure, so did this King illuminate his kingdom with the fair abbeys that he built, and with the almshouses, and convents of Preachers, Greyfriars and other orders aforetold.

On the morrow of the feast of St. Bartholomew the Apostle, passed away from this world Louis, a good King, in the year of the Incarnation of Our Lord, the year of grace, MCCLXX; and his bones were preserved in a casket and buried at St. Denis in France, where he had chosen his burying-place. In this same place was he buried; and there God has wrought many a fair miracle for his sake and by his merits.

Afterwards, at the instance of the King of France [Philip III], and by the Pope's orders, the

Archbishop of Rouen came, and Brother John of Samoys, who afterwards became bishop. They came to St. Denis in France, and stayed there a long while, inquiring into his life and works and miracles; and I got word to go to them, and they kept me for two days. And after they had made inquiry of me and others, what they had learnt was taken to the Court of Rome, and the Pope and Cardinals diligently perused it. And in accordance with what they had read, they did him justice, and placed him among the number of Martyr Confessors; which was, and always should be, a great joy to the kingdom of France, and a great honour to all of his descendants who will copy him in well doing; and a great honour to all of his race who by good works seek to follow in his footsteps; but a great dishonour to those of his race who seek to work evil, for men will point at them, and will say, that the holy King from whom they sprang would never have done such wickedness.

After this good news had arrived from Rome, the King [Philip IV] appointed a day, the morrow of St. Bartholomew, on which day the holy body was lifted. When it was lifted, the Archbishop of

Rheims, that then was God rest his soul! and Lord Henry of Villars, my nephew, who at that time was Archbishop of Lyons, bore it in front, with many others, archbishops and bishops, whose names I cannot tell; and it was carried to the stage that had been erected.

There, Brother John of Samoys preached the sermon; and among the other great deeds of our holy King, he recorded one to which I had borne witness on my oath, and which I had seen; saying as follows: "In order that you may see that he was the most faith-abiding man that ever lived in his day, I must tell you that he was so faithful, that even when dealing with the Saracens he wanted to keep his promise, though he had only given them his bare word; and though, had it been kept, he would have lost ten thousand pounds and more." And he related all that had happened as it is written further back. And at the end, he said, " Do not imagine that I am deceiving you, for I see a man here who told me this and bore witness to it under oath."

When the sermon was over, the King and his brothers, assisted by their kindred, carried the holy body back into the church; for it behoved them to

do him honour; for great honour has been done to them, if, as I said before, they do not thwart it. Let us beseech him that he will pray God to grant us all we need both for soul and body. Amen.

* * * * * * * *

There is still something that I want to tell you about our holy King, which is to his honour. It is this. In a dream methought I saw him in front of my chapel at Joinville; and methought he was wondrous joyous and light-hearted. And I myself was very happy at seeing him in my castle; and I said to him: " Sir, when you leave this place, I will lodge you in a house of mine, which stands in one of my towns called Chevillon." And he answered me laughing, and said, " By my faith, Sir de Joinville, I am in no such hurry to leave this place."

When I awoke, I thought it over, and it seemed to me that it was God's pleasure and his that I should give him a dwelling in my chapel; and so I have done. For I have built an altar in honour of God and of himself; and there is a revenue appointed in perpetuity for the service of it.

I have reminded my Lord King Louis of these things, who inherits his name; and methinks he would please God and our holy King Louis, if he were to procure some relics of the true holy body, and send them to the said chapel of St. Lawrence at Joinville; so that those who come to his altar may be moved to greater devotion.

I give all men to know that I have herein set down a great part of the deeds of this our holy King, by me seen and heard, and a great part of his deeds that I have come across in a narrative, which I have caused to be written in this book. This I mention, in order that those who shall hear this book may believe firmly in what the book says, which I have truly seen and heard.

This was written in the year of grace MCCCIX, in the month of October.

NOTE TO CHAPTER IV

Guillaume de Nangis supplies a full account of the King's second and last crusade, of which the following is an extract:

The King set out in March, 1270, leaving Simon de Nesle and the Abbot of St. Denis as regents, and was

joined at Aigues Mortes by a crowd so vast that it was impossible to lodge them all in the vicinity.

In the beginning of July the King set sail, having on board with him his three sons, Philip (afterwards King Philip the Bold), Peter, Count of Alençon, and John, Count of Nevers (the same who was born at Damietta and surnamed "Tristan").

On the voyage they met with severe storms, and the fresh water went bad, causing the death of many men and horses. Instead of four days, they took eight days to reach Cagliari in Sardinia.

Arrived at Cagliari, they were very inhospitably received by the inhabitants, who were afraid of them, and removed their goods at the Crusaders' approach. It was with difficulty that Louis procured accommodation ashore for his sick, or bread, water, and vegetables; and at prices more than fifty per cent above the usual value.

When the rest of the fleet arrived, a council was held to decide where first to go.

King Louis had for some time past been corresponding with the King of Tunis, and was assured that the King of Tunis was only waiting for a good opportunity to become a Christian. This inclined him personally to go first to Tunis. His councillors also urged that, in case the King of Tunis proved obstinately heathen, the town was full of riches and easy to take; and that it was in the habit of furnishing supplies to the Sultan of Egypt in his wars with the Christians.

Hence it was decided to go to Tunis first, on the way to the Holy Land; and the fleet left Cagliari on July 18th, and came off Tunis on the 20th. The admiral of the fleet

being sent to reconnoitre for a landing, captured some merchant ships, and landed. Having thus exceeded his instructions, he sent a request to the King for a force to support him. He was fetched back, but the next morning a large army of Saracens on foot and horseback surrounded the harbour; whereupon the King landed in full force, and the Saracens retreated. The Christians camped at a distance of about three arbalest-shots, on a sort of island, where, however, there was no fresh water. Two or three days later, they marched on, and pitched their tents under the walls of Carthage in a well-watered valley.

The sailors volunteered with the help of the cross-bowmen to take the fortress of Carthage. They carried it by assault, assisted by five hundred cross-bowmen and four battalions of foreign knights, but found few supplies inside except barley. The fortress was garrisoned, and the women, the sick, and the wounded were placed in it.

Beyond skirmishing and entrenching the camp nothing was done, as King Louis was awaiting the arrival of his brother Charles of Anjou (now King of Sicily). Whilst they were waiting encamped, John Tristan fell sick, and died on board one of the ships on August 3rd. A few days later the Legate also died and many other persons, some of fever, some of dysentery. Philip, the King's eldest son, fell sick with fever; and the King was taken with dysentery (the complaint to which he nearly succumbed in his first Crusade) and died on August 25th.

Charles of Sicily arrived before the body of his brother was cold, and pitched his tents within a mile or two of the French camp.

The King of Tunis then led up his army against the

Christians, and there was a pitched battle, which the Crusaders won; but soon afterwards, plague broke out in the camp; and King Philip himself left the camp for fear of it and took refuge in caves.

Hereupon the King of Tunis made overtures of peace, and a ten years' truce was made, after much discussion.

This treaty concluded, the Crusaders determined to return home, for they were hopeless of accomplishing anything in the Holy Land, with their principal leaders dead, and their troops sick and demoralized. On the way home they met with a terrible storm, in which eighteen large ships were wrecked and four thousand persons perished.

Edward of England (afterwards Edward I) arrived at Tunis after the French had concluded peace, and sailed thence to Acre, followed by many French knights. With his return, the last Crusade ended.

See G. de Nangis, "Vie de St. L.," end, and "Vie de Phil. III," beginning.