Restoration of some of the stained glass windows in the Sainte-Chapelle. Find out more The monument remains open. Born on April 25, , he is only 12 years old when he reaches the throne. His mother, Blanche of Castile, became regent and quickly took charge of his coronation on November 29, in the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Reims.
Of an authoritarian character, she instilled in the little king a religious and very rigorous education, rules of life that they will animate him until his last breath on August 25, , in Carthage near Tunis. If his attitude towards the Jews notably the introduction of the wearing of the rouelle and the validity of the crusades undertaken by the king remain to this day one of the most controversial aspects of his political action, Louis IX was a king who loved justice and diplomacy, and was nicknamed "the prud'homme".
He was also a reformer of royal institutions and a builder. He often intervened as an arbitrator in various international conflicts. In his kingdom, bailiffs and provosts crisscrossed France in order to enforce royal decisions. An ordinance of , known as "the quarantine-king" instituted a forty-day truce to limit private wars.
In his palace, on the island of the city, lacuriaregis or the king's court began to specialize in different areas of action: a council dealt with political affairs, a section rose to the rank of parliament, and another became the ancestor of the court of accounts.
In , back in France after his captivity in Egypt during the 7th crusade, he reformed his life and his kingdom in a concern of penitence. He established the "great ordinance", which ordered, among other things, the royal officers to render justice without distinction of persons, to refuse all gifts for themselves or their families, not to levy any fine without judgment and which established the presumption of innocence. Moral rules were established: blasphemy, prostitution, gambling, games of dice and chance, and interest-bearing loans were forbidden.
