History of the Crusades

the Crusades Episode 91, King Louis's Crusade Roman numeral won.

Hello again.

Last week we saw the fortunes of the Kingdom of Acre take a turn for the worse in the form of a

massive military defeat at the hands of the Egyptians and Quarismiansians at the Battle of La Forby.

With its army virtually annihilated, the fate of the kingdom lies in the ability of the

Latin Christians of Europe to mount another crusade.

As we saw at the end of last week's episode, the only European king to answer the crusading

call was King Louis the 9th of France.

So who was King Louis? Let's take a closer look at him. In 1244 King Louis was around 30 years old tall, slim and of pale

complexion with blonde hair. He had been king since he was 12 years old, thrust into

the limelight after the untimely death of his older brother, King Louis VIII. His formidable mother, Blanche of Castile, ruled

as regent while he was young. Blanche was an extremely competent ruler and regent who seemed to take to governance and administration like a duct to water.

Trouble was, when King to give up the reins of power.

Unusually, she was not at all keen to give up the reins of power.

Unusually, she managed to keep ruling way after King Louis came of age.

She didn't cede formal control of the kingdom back to Louis until he was 21.

Even after King Louis was ruling in his he was

21. Even after King Louis was ruling in his own right,

Blanche was always hovering in the background,

giving unwanted advice, looking over his shoulder,

and second-guessing his decisions.

...