Over the years, I've received my list of the day's saints
with interest and it's been very enlightening. Occasionally, I've thought about
adding a comment, but resisted. In the case of Louis IX, I feel I
must.
Louis IX is a good example of how one person's saint, is
another's anti-saint. Thus, I have no quarrels with his portrayal as a
good, Christian king of extraordinary piety. However, I strongly object to the
sentence: Was intolerant in many respects also in-tune with his age
(Jews, heretics, with particular ire against blasphemers). In particular,
I'm not sure what the phrase 'in many respects' means.
Louis IX, as extensively discussed by Robert Chazan and
William Chester Jordan, pursued a virulent policy of anti-Judaism, which broke
the back of the venerable Jewish Community of France, both religiously and
economically. He, through his mother, sponsored the first public Inquisitorial
Trial of the Talmud in 1240, which resulted in the burning of 24 cartloads of
irreplaceable Talmudic manuscripts, two years later. (This action was, as Jeremy
Cohen noted, a blatant violation of the Augustinian doctrine of Jewish
toleration.) The ongoing ban against Talmud study, effectively destroyed a
most vibrant center of Jewish culture and scholarship. (Consider where Nicholas
de Lyra would have been had there been no Rashi.)
In addition, strove mightily to economically break the
Jewish community of his realm by his attack on usury (at a time when credit was
greatly needed by his own subjects). He drove them into penury, and set in
motion the policies that led to the total expulsion of the Jews from France in
1306, by his grandson, Phillip IV 'the Fair.' In Jewish History, Louis IX is an
out and out villain (though on a lesser scale than, say Vincent Ferrer). With
all due respect to his admirers, as someone who has studied this period since he
was an undergrad, I think a more balanced description would have been in
order.
Dr. Jeffrey R. Woolf
Senior Lecturer
Talmud
Department
Bar-Ilan University
Ramat Gan 52-900 Israel
O.
972-3-531-8593
F. 972-3-535-1233
C. 972-52-274-7375
----- Original Message -----
From:
[log in to unmask]" href="mailto:[log in to unmask]" target="_blank">cecilia gaposchkin
Sent: Tuesday, August 26, 2008 6:19
Subject: [M-R] Today's Saint - Louis IX
of France
medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion
and culture
Dear all,
This is not spam (more apologies). I am writing because
today is August 25, the feast day of Saint Louis IX of France. I wait
all year for August 25, since I can give a private non-devotional nod to Saint
Louis, the source and focus of much of my academic research.
I cannot let today go by, to this list, who reads about the daily saints
(happily,
grâce à, John Dillon) without a nod to "mine".
Herewith, my very short, potted, saint's entry (not meant to interfere,
challenge, supersede, obviate, or otherwise stop the normal rolling out of the
saints...)
Louis IX, born not-the-eldest son in 1214 (but became heir
to the throne with the death of a brother), to Blanche of Castille and Louis
VIII - who would have/could have been a great king, himself the son of Philip
Augustus, who was a great king. Louis
came to the throne in 1226 (He was 12). He bought the crown of
thorns. He built the Ste.-Chapelle (about which I routinely lecture as the
most beautiful building in the world, a **fact**
ironically/mockingly/sarcastically parroted back to me in exams). He went on
crusade in 1250 (ended badly) and again in 1270 (ended badly again). He
instituted great reforms of government. Cared sincerely about effecting
true justice. Thought deeply about what actually *being* a Christian
king meant in terms of his own personal governance, and he truly wanted to
effect God's justice in his own kingdom. Seemed in-tune with many of the
spiritual imperatives of the day. Was intolerant in many respects also
in-tune with his age (Jews, heretics, with particular ire against
blasphemers). Certainly charismatic in his own day and effected a
following certain of his sanctity. Died in 1270, "a martyr", while
(actively) beseiging a Muslim city in North Africa. Bones returned
to France. Miracles occured. Was canonized 27 years later, August 25,
1297. Enormously important to various constuencies early on. Still
actively venerated. Enormously imporant to French national identity and
national historical memory. Central to our own memorialization of the
Middle Ages.
m.c.g.
M.C.Gaposchkin,
Ph.D.
History, Dartmouth College
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