From the end of the twefth to the middle of the thirteenth century it is usual to count three crusades, but with two of them we have no dealing.

At the beginning of the thirteenth century, while the enterprises which were still called crusades were becoming more and more degenerate in character and potency, there was born in France, on the 25th of April, 1215, not merely the prince, but the man who was to be the most worthy representative and the most devoted slave of that religious and moral passion. which had inspired the crusades. Louis IX., though born to the purple, a powerful king, a valiant warrior, a splendid knight, and an object of reverence to all those who at a distance observed his life, and of affection to all those who approached his person, was neither biassed nor intoxicated by any such human glories and delights; he had an ambition to be, and was, to the measure of his age, a true Christian. This is the peculiar and original characteristic of St. Louis, and a fact rare and probably unique in the history of kings.

In the first years of his government, when he had reached his majority, there was nothing to show that the idea of the crusade occupied Louis IX.'s mind; and it was only in 1239, when he was now four and twenty, that it showed itself vividly in him.

Five years afterward, at the close of 1244, Louis fell seriously ill at Pontoise, and, having recovered, took the cross in consequence of a vow he had made to that effect. At last, in January, 1248, he took leave of his mother, Queen Blanche, whom he left a regent during his absence with fullest power. He took his wife, Queen Marguerite, of Provence, with him. In the early part of August he had assembled at Aigues-Mortes a fleet of thirtyeight vessels and a number of transports, which he had hired of the republic of Genoa to convey the troops and personal retinue of the king to the East; he sent away nearly ten thousand bowmen, Genoese, Venetian, Pisan, and even French, whom he had at first engaged, and of whom, after inspection, he desired nothing further. The sixth crusade was the personal achievement of St. Louis, not the offspring of a popular movement, and he carried it out with a picked army.

The Isle of Cyprus was the trysting-place appointed for all the forces of the expedition. Louis arrived there on the 12th of September, 1248, and reckoned upon remaining there only a few days; for it was Egypt that he was in a hurry to reach. The French, however, left the island only in May, 1249, and, in spite of violent gales of wind, which dispersed a large number of vessels, they arrived on the 4th of June before Damietta, which was taken without the least difficulty. The Mussulmans had found time to recover from their first fright and to organize, at all points, a vigorous resistance. On the 8th of February, 1250, a battle took place twenty leagues from Damietta, at Mansourah (the city of victory), on the right bank of the Nile. The king's brother, Robert, count of Artois, marched with the vanguard, and obtained an early success. Elated by this result, he rushed forward into the town, where he found the Mussulmans numerous and perfectly rallied. In a

few moments the count of Artois fell pierced with wounds, and more than three hundred knights of his train, the same number of English, together with their leader, William Longsword, and two hundred and eighty Templars, paid with their lives for the senseless ardor of the French prince. The French rallied and drove off their foes. The battle-field was left that day to the crusaders; but they were not allowed to occupy it as conquerors, for three days afterward, on the 11th of February, 1250, the camp of St. Louis was assailed by clouds of Saracens. An attempt was made by the French king to negotiate with the enemy, but to no purpose, and on the 5th of April, 1250, the crusaders decided to retreat. But during this retreat, says Joinville, "there took place a great mishap. A traitor of a sergeant, whose name was Marcel, began calling to our people, 'Sir knights, surrender, for such is the king's command: cause not the king's death.' All thought that it was the king's command; and they gave up their swords to the Saracens." forthwith declared prisoners, the king and all the rear guard were removed to Mansourah, the king by boat and his two brothers, the counts of Anjou and Poitiers, and all the other crusaders, drawn up in a body and shackeled, followed on foot on the river-bank. The advance guard and all the rest of the army soon met the same fate. A negotiation was opened between Louis and the Sultan Malek-Moaddam, who, having previously freed him from his chains, had him treated with a certain magnificence. The king was awaiting aboard his ship for the payment which his people were to make for the release of his brother, the count of Poitiers; and when he saw approaching a bark on which he recognized his brother, "Light up! light up!" he cried instantly to his sailors; which was the signal agreed upon for setting out. And leaving forthwith the coast of Egypt, the fleet which bore the remains of the Christian army made sail for the shores of Palestine.

Being

The king, having arrived at St. Jean d'Acre on the 14th of May, 1250, accepted, without shrinking, the trial imposed upon him by his unfortunate situation. Twice he believed he was on the point of accomplishing his desire -the recovery of the Holy Sepulcher from the Mussulmans, and the reestablishment of the kingdom of Jerusalem. At the commencement of the year 1253, at Sidon, he heard that his mother, Queen Blanche, had died at Paris on the 27th of November, 1252. This melancholy news induced him to return to Europe; he embarked at St. Jean d'Acre, on the 24th of April, 1254, and arrived, after a stormy passage, on the 8th of July. Passing slowly through France he entered Paris the 7th of September, 1254.

For seven years after his return to France, from 1254 to 1261, Louis seemed to be in a continual ferment of imagination and internal fever, ever flattering himself that some favorable circumstance would call him back to his interrupted work. In 1263, the crusade was openly preached; taxes were levied, even on the clergy, for the purpose of contributing toward it; and princes and barons bound themselves to take part in it. Louis was all approval and encouragement, without declaring his own intention. In 1267 a parliament was convoked at Paris. Next year, on the 9th of February,

a new parliament assembled at Paris; the king took an oath to start in the month of May, 1270.

Saint Louis left Paris on the 16th of March, 1270, a sick man almost already, but with soul content, and probably the only one without misgiving in the midst of all his comrades. It was once more at Aigues-Mortes that he went to embark. All was as yet dark and undecided as to the plan of the expedition. At last, on the 2d of July, 1270, he set sail without any one's knowing and without the king's telling any one whither they were going. It was only in Sardinia, after four days' halt at Cagliari, that Louis announced to the chiefs of the crusade, assembled aboard his ship, the Mountjoy, that he was making for Tunis, and that their Christian work would commence there.

But on the 17th of July, when the fleet arrived before Tunis, the admiral, Florent de Varennes, probably without the king's orders, and with that want of reflection which was conspicuous at each step of the enterprise, immediately took possession of the harbor and of some Tunisian vessels as prize. Thus war was commenced at the very first moment against the Mussulman prince whom there had been a promise of seeing before long a Christian.

On the 3d of August Louis was attacked by the epidemic fever, and obliged to keep his bed in his tent; the illness soon took an unfavorable turn, and no hopes of recovery could be entertained. During the night of the 24th-25th of August he ceased to speak, all the time continuing to show that he was in full possession of his senses, and on Monday, the 25th of August, 1270, at 3 P. M., he departed in peace while uttering these last words: Father, after the example of the Divine Master, into thy hands I commend my spirit!"

IV.

KINGSHIP COMMONERS-THIRD ESTATE.

T the first glance, two facts strike us in the history of the kingship in France. It was in France that it adopted soonest and most persistently maintained its fundamental principle, heredity; only in France was there, at any time during eight centuries, but a single king and a single line of kings. Unity and heredity, those two essential principles of monarchy, have been the invariable characteristics of the kingship in France.

A second fact, less apparent and less remarkable, but, nevertheless, not without importance or without effect upon the history of the kingship in France, is the extreme variety of character, of faculties, of intellectual and moral bent, of policy and personal conduct among the French kings. Absolute monarchical power in France was, almost in every successive reign, singularly modified, being at one time aggravated and at another alleviated, according to the ideas, sentiments, morals, and spontaneous instincts of the monarchs. Nowhere else, throughout the great European monarchies, has the difference between kingly personages exercised so much influence on government and national condition. In that country the free action of individuals has filled a prominent place and taken a prominent part in the course of events. Louis did not direct to a distance from home his ambition and his efforts; it was within his own dominion, to check the violence of the strong against the weak, to put a stop to the quarrels of the strong among themselves, to make an end, in France at least, of unrighteousness and devastation, and to establish there some sort of order and some sort of justice, that he displayed his energy and his perseverance. Sometimes, when the people and their habitual protectors, the bishops, invoked his aid, Louis would carry his arms beyond his own dominions, by sole right of justice and kingship. "It is known," says Suger, "that kings have long hands." Twice, in 1109 and in 1116, he had war in Normandy with Henry I., king of England, and he therein was guilty of certain temerities resulting in a reverse, which he hastened to rapair during a vigorous prosecution of the campaign; but, when once his honor was satisfied, he showed a ready inclination for the peace which the pope, Calixtus II., in council at Rome, succeeded in establishing between the two rivals. The war with the emperor of Germany,

Henry V., in 1124, appeared, at the first blush, a more serious matter. France summoned the flower of her chivalry, and at the news of this mighty host, and of the ardor with which they were animated, the Emperor Henry V. advanced no farther, and, before long, "marching, under some pretext, toward other places, he preferred the shame of retreating like a coward to the risk of exposing his empire and himself to certain destruction. After this victory, which was more than as great as a triumph on the field of battle, the French returned every one to their homes."

A marriage between Eleanor and Louis the Young, already sharing his 'father's throne, was soon concluded: it took place at Bordeaux, at the end of July, 1137, and on the 8th of August following Louis the Young, on his way back to Paris, was crowned at Poitiers as duke of Aquitaine. He there learned that the king his father had lately died, on the 1st of August. In spite of its long duration of forty-three years, the reign of Louis VII., called the Young, was a period barren of events and of persons worthy of keeping a place in history.

So long as Suger lived the kingship preserved at home the wisdom which it had been accustomed to display, and abroad the respect it had acquired under Louis the Fat; but at the death of Suger it went on languishing and declining without encountering any great obstacle.

Philip II., to whom history has preserved the name of Philip Augustus, given him by his contemporaries, had shared the crown, been anointed, and married Isabel a year before the death of Louis VII. put him in possession of the kingdom. He soon let it be seen that he intended to reign by himself, and to reign with vigor. He made the extension and territorial connection of France the one chief aim of his life, and in that work he was successful. Out of the forty-three years of his reign, twenty-six at least were war years devoted to this purpose. Philip Augustus, once in possession of the personal power as well as the title of king, it was, from 1187 to 1216, against three successive kings of England, Henry II., Richard Cœur de Lion, and John Lackland, masters of the most beautiful provinces of France, that Philip directed his persistent efforts. They were in respect of power, of political capacity, and military popularity, his most formidable foes; he managed, however, to hold his own against them; and when, after Richard's death, he had to do with John Lackland, he had over him, even more than over his brother Richard, immense advantages. He made such use of them that after six years' struggling from 1199 to 1205, he deprived John of the greater part of his French possessions-Anjou, Normandy, Touraine, Maine, and Poitou. The king of France thus recovered possession of nearly all the territories which his father, Louis VII., had kept but for a moment. He added in succession other provinces to his dominions; in such wise that the kingdom of France was much increased on all sides.

In 1206 the territorial work of Philip Augustus was well nigh completed; but his wars were not over. John Lackland when worsted kicked against the pricks, and was incessantly hankering, in his antagonism to the king of