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Louis IX didn't act like a king. He wore hair shirts and visited hospitals, sometimes emptying the bedpans. He washed the feet of lepers. And he developed a reputation as the most Christian of rulers.

Teenage Christian king
Born in 1214, the fourth of eleven children to King Louis VIII and Queen Blanche, Louis became heir to the throne after his three older siblings died. Blanche raised her son strictly: "I love you, my dear son, as much as a mother can love her child," she said to him, "but I would rather see you dead at my feet than that you should ever commit a mortal sin."

At age 12, Louis found himself king, with a devout but smothering mother at his side. At 20 he married Margaret of Provence ("a girl of pretty face, but prettier faith"), to whom he quickly became devoted. She bore him 11 children.

In 1242 Henry III of England invaded. Louis fought off the English, but contracted an infection that almost killed him. He vowed if he recovered he would do what men of his family had done for 150 years: he would lead a crusade.

Failed crusade
With 36 ships loaded with 15,000 men, their horses, and supplies, Louis headed for Egypt, the center of Muslim power and the doorway to Jerusalem. After capturing Damietta, he led his army inland toward Cairo. But an epidemic forced Louis, suffering severe dysentery, to retreat.

Louis and part of the army were captured before making it back to the ships. Their ransom was so high, it reportedly took two days to count the gold. When one of Louis's officials bragged about cheating the Muslims, the king angrily ordered the ransom paid in full.

The defeat plunged him into despair and deeper piety. He blamed himself for the loss, believing God was punishing him for his sins. He dressed plainly, ate simply, and helped the poor. Instead of going home, Louis took his army to Palestine, where they built walls and towers around several coastal cities. He stayed four years, returning to France only upon hearing of the death of his mother, who had been ruling in his absence.

Bed of ashes
Back home, Louis redoubled his efforts to create a holy nation. He replaced trial by combat with the examination of witnesses under oath. He outlawed usury (high interest rates on loans), ordered blasphemers to be branded on the lips, and forbade feudal lords to make private war on one another.

What made Louis truly different was his humility and perseverance. Every year, he went, barefoot and bareheaded, to the abbey of Saint Denis. Louis not only served the poor at his table, but he and his sons washed the feet of the beggars. He was especially generous to the widows of crusaders.

Louis had a special passion for sermons, first coming into vogue at the time, and he encouraged the preaching friars, repeating his favorite homilies to those at his table. Queen Marguerite's confessor re-cords that she would often get up at night and cover the king with a cloak while he was at his long prayers, because he did not notice the cold.

Twenty-two years after his first crusade, Louis tried to redeem himself with another. He landed in Tunis, in northern Africa, in the heat of the summer of 1270. Dysentery or typhoid quickly swept through the unsanitary camp. Louis fell ill and died while lying penitently on a bed of ashes, whispering the name of the city he never won: "Jerusalem, Je-rusalem." He was the only king of France given sainthood, and a major city along the Mississippi River honors his memory.

Reprinted by permission from 131 Christians You Should Know, produced by CHRISTIAN HISTORY magazine. To subscribe, call 1-800-873-6986.

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