page_title: Louis IX of France
section_title: Seventh Crusade
hierarchical_section_title: Louis IX of France / Crusading / Seventh Crusade
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Gravure de Gustave Doré, représentant le départ d'Aigues-Mortes de Louis IX pour la croisade
context_page_description: Louis IX, commonly known as Saint Louis or Louis the Saint, is the only King of France to be canonized in the Catholic Church. Louis was crowned in Reims at the age of 12, following the death of his father Louis VIII; his mother, Blanche of Castile, ruled the kingdom as regent until he reached maturity. During Louis' childhood, Blanche dealt with the opposition of rebellious vassals and obtained a definitive victory in the Albigensian Crusade, which had started 20 years earlier.
  As an adult, Louis IX faced recurring conflicts with some of his realm's most powerful nobles, such as Hugh X of Lusignan and Peter of Dreux. Simultaneously, Henry III of England attempted to restore the Angevin continental possessions, but was promptly routed at the Battle of Taillebourg. Louis annexed several provinces, notably parts of Aquitaine, Maine and Provence.
  Louis IX is one of the most notable European monarchs of the Middle Ages. His reign is remembered as a medieval golden age in which the Kingdom of France reached an economic as well as political peak.
context_section_description: In 1248 Louis decided that his obligations as a son of the Church outweighed those of his throne, and he left his kingdom to participate in a Crusade, what for him was a disastrous six-year adventure. Since the base of Muslim power had shifted to Egypt, Louis did not march on the Holy Land. Any war against Islam was considered to fit the definition of a Crusade.
  Louis and his followers landed in Egypt on 4 or 5 June 1249 and began his campaign with the rapid capture of the port of Damietta. This attack caused some disruption in the Muslim Ayyubid empire, especially as the current sultan, Al-Malik as-Salih Najm al-Din Ayyub, was on his deathbed. However, the march of Europeans from Damietta toward Cairo through the Nile River Delta went slowly. The seasonal rising of the Nile and the summer heat made it impossible for them to advance and follow up on their success. During this time, the Ayyubid sultan died, and the sultan's wife Shajar al-Durr set in motion a sudden power shift that would make her Queen and eventually place the Egyptian army of the Mamluks in power. 
  On 8 February 1250 Louis lost his army at the Battle of Al Mansurah and was captured by the Egyptians. His release was eventually negotiated in return for a ransom of 400,000 livres tournois (at the time France's annual revenue was only about 1,250,000 livres tournois) and the surrender of the city of Damietta.
caption: Engraving representing the departure from Aigues-Mortes of King Louis IX for the Seventh Crusade (by Gustave Doré)
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