page_title: Aigues-Mortes
section_title: Middle Ages
hierarchical_section_title: Aigues-Mortes / History / Middle Ages
caption_attribution_description: العربية: الحمله الصليبيه السابعه 1249. مصرى: الحملة الصليبية السابعة. الحمله الصليبيه السابعه 1249. نجم بيبرس بزغ سنة 1250 وقت الحمله الصليبيه السابعه على مصر. Čeština: Ludvíkovo loďstvo na cestě do Egypta na dobové iluminaci. Křížová výprava krále Ludvíka&#160;IX. Loďstvo sedmé křížové výpravy (střCesta do Svaté země na dobové iluminaci. Deutsch: Die Kreuzfahrer unter Ludwig IX. English: Louis IX on a ship departing from Aigues-Mortes, for the Seventh Crusade. Esperanto: Ludoviko la 9-a dum krucmilito. Français&#160;: Arrivée de Saint Louis à Nicosie. (BnF, Français 5716, fol. 40). Louis IX en route vers l'Égypte. Saint Louis et la septième croisade. Septième croisade à laquelle participent le roi de France Louis IX et ses frères, Alphonse de Poitiers et le nouveau comte de Provence, Charles d’Anjou. Louis IX sur une nef, au départ d'Aigues-Mortes, lors de la septième croisade. Saint-Louis sur une nef lors de la septième croisade. Les Français sont nombreux à partir en croisade et n'utilisent plus que la voie maritime au XIIIe&#160;siècle. עברית: מסע הצלב השביעי. Íslenska: Loðvík í Sjöundu krossferðinni. Қазақша: Людовик ІХ кресшілердің басшылығында. Latina: Ludovicus Cruce signatus Aegyptum properat. Nederlands: Lodewijk de Heilige en zijn leger per schip onderweg, afgebeeld op een 14e-eeuws manuscript. Polski: Ludwik IX w czasie krucjaty. Ludwik święty w na wyprawie krzyżowej. Português: Sétima Cruzada - Luís IX invade o Egito e toma Damietta. Русский: Людовик IX во главе крестоносцев. Slovenčina: Ľudovítovo loďstvo na ceste do Egypta. Cesta do Svätej zeme na dobovej iluminácii.
context_page_description: Aigues-Mortes is a French commune in the Gard department in the Occitanie region of southern France. The medieval city walls surrounding the city are well preserved. Situated on the junction of the Canal du Rhône à Sète and the Chenal Maritime to Grau du Roy, the town is a favoured stop for canal craft and Dutch barges.
context_section_description: In 791, Charlemagne erected the Matafère Tower amid the swamps for the safety of fishermen and salt workers. Some argue that the signaling and transmission of news was not foreign to the building of this tower which was designed to give warning in case of arrival of a fleet, as for the Magne Tower at Nîmes.
  The purpose of this tower was part of the war plan and spiritual plan which Charlemagne granted at the Benedictine abbey, dedicated to Opus Dei (work of God) and whose incessant chanting, day and night, was to designate the convent as Psalmody or Psalmodi. This monastery still existed in 812, as confirmed by an act of endowment made by the Badila from Nîmes at the abbey.
  At that time, the people lived in reed huts and made their living from fishing, hunting, and salt production from several small salt marshes along the sea shore. The region was then under the rule of the monks from the Abbey of Psalmody.
  In 1240, Louis IX, who wanted to get rid of the dependency on the Italian maritime republics for transporting troops to the Crusades, focused on the strategic position of his kingdom. At that time, Marseille belonged to his brother Charles of Anjou, King of Naples, Agde, Count of Toulouse, and Montpellier, and King of Aragon. Louis IX wanted direct access to the Mediterranean Sea. He obtained the town and the surrounding lands by exchange of properties with the monks of the abbey. Residents were exempt from the salt tax which was previously levied so that they could now take the salt unconstrained.
  He built a road between the marshes and built the Carbonnière Tower to serve as a watchtower and protect access to the city. Saint-Louis then built the Constance Tower on the site of the old Matafère Tower, to house the garrison. In 1272, his son and successor, Philip III the Bold, ordered the continuation of the construction of walls to completely encircle the small town. The work would not be completed for another 30 years.
  This was the city from which Louis IX twice departed for the Crusades: the Seventh Crusade in 1248 and again for the Eighth Crusade in 1270 for Tunis where he died of dysentery.
  The year 1270 has been established, mistakenly for many historians, as the last step of a process initiated at the end of the 11th century. The judgment is hasty because the transfer of crusaders or mercenaries from the harbour of Aigues-Mortes continued after this year. The order given in 1275 to Sir Guillaume de Roussillon by Philip III the Bold and Pope Gregory X after the Council of Lyons in 1274 to reinforce Saint-Jean d'Acre in the East shows that maritime activity continued for a ninth crusade which never took place.
  There is a popular belief that the sea reached Aigues-Mortes in 1270. In fact, as confirmed by studies of the engineer Charles Leon Dombre, the whole of Aigues-Mortes, including the port itself, was in the Marette pond, the Canal-Viel and Grau Louis, the Canal Viel being the access channel to the sea. The Grau-Louis was approximately at the modern location of La Grande-Motte.
  At the beginning of the 14th century, Philip the Fair used the fortified site to incarcerate the Templars. Between 8 and 11 November 1307, forty-five of them were put to the question, found guilty, and held prisoner in the Tower of Constance.
caption: Louis IX on a ship departing from Aigues-Mortes, for the Seventh Crusade
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