The Great Events by Famous Historians [Volumes 1-14]

Early in the month of March, Louis repaired to the Church of St. Denis, where he received the symbols of the pilgrimage and placed his kingdom under the protection of the apostles of France. Upon the day following this solemn ceremony, a mass for the crusade was celebrated in the Church of Notre Dame at Paris. The monarch appeared there, accompanied by his children and the principal nobles of his court; he walked from the palace barefooted, carrying his scrip and staff. The same day he went to sleep at Vincennes, and beheld, for the last time, the spot on which he had enjoyed so much happiness in administering justice to his people. And it was here too that he took leave of Queen Marguerite, whom he had never before quitted—a separation rendered so much the more painful by the sorrowful reflection it recalled of past events and by melancholy presentiments for the future.

Both the people and the court were affected by the deepest regret; and that which added to the public anxiety was the circumstance that everyone was ignorant of the point to which the expedition was to be directed: the coast of Africa was only vaguely conjectured. The King of Sicily had taken the cross without having the least inclination to embark for Asia; and when the question was discussed in council he gave it as his opinion that Tunis should be the object of the first attack. The kingdom of Tunis covered the seas with pirates, who infested all the routes to Palestine; it was, besides, the ally of Egypt, and might, if subdued, be made the readiest road to that country. These were the ostensible reasons put forth; the true ones were that it was of importance to the King of Sicily that the coasts of Africa should be brought under European subjection, and that he did not wish to go too far from Italy. The true reason with St. Louis, and that which, no doubt, determined him, was that he believed it possible to convert the King of Tunis, and thus bring a vast kingdom under the Christian banners. The Mussulman Prince, whose ambassadors had been several times in France, had himself given birth to this idea, by saying that he asked nothing better than to embrace the religion of Jesus Christ; thus, that which he had said to turn aside an invasion was precisely the cause of the war being directed against his territories. Louis IX often repeated that he would consent to pass the whole of his life in a dungeon, without seeing the sun, if, by such sacrifice, the conversion of the King of Tunis and his nation could be brought about; an expression of ardent proselytism that has been blamed with much bitterness, but which only showed an extreme desire to see Africa delivered from barbarism and marching with Europe in the progress of intelligence and civilization, which are the great blessings of Christianity.

As Louis traversed his kingdom on his way to Aigues-Mortes, where the army of the crusaders was to embark, he was everywhere hailed by the benedictions of his people, and gratified by hearing their ardent prayers for the success of his arms. The clergy and the faithful, assembled in the churches, prayed for the King and his children and all that should follow him. They prayed also for foreign princes and nobles who had taken the cross and promised to go into the East, as if they would, by that means, press them to hasten their departure.

Very few, however, responded to this religious appeal. The King of Castile, who had taken the cross, had pretensions to the imperial crown, nor could he forget the death of his brother Frederick, immolated by Charles of Anjou. It was not only that the affairs of the empire detained the German princes and nobles; the death of young Conradin had so shocked and disgusted men's minds in Germany that no one from that country would have consented to fight under the same banners as the King of Sicily. So black a crime, committed amid the preparations for a holy war, appeared to presage great calamities. In the height of their grief or indignation, people might fear that heaven would be angry with the Christians, and that its curse would fall upon the arms of the crusaders.

When Louis arrived at Aigues-Mortes, he found neither the Genoese fleet nor the principal nobles who were to embark with him; the ambassadors of Palæologus were the only persons who did not cause themselves to be waited for; for a great dread of the crusade was entertained at Constantinople, and this fear was more active than the enthusiasm of the crusaders. Louis might have asked the Greek Emperor why, after having promised to send soldiers, he had only sent ambassadors; but Louis, who attached great importance to the conversion of the Greeks, contented himself with removing the apprehensions of the envoys, and, as Clement IV died at that period, he sent them to the conclave of the cardinals, to terminate the reunion of the two churches.