El Greco, Saint Louis King of France
"In December 1244, Louis IX, king of France, fell desperately ill with malaria. While he was dying, he vowed to go on Crusade he was recovering. His life was spared, as soon as his health allowed him, he began his preparations. The King was thirty years was a tall, slender blonde with white skin, constantly overwhelmed with erysipelas and anemia, but his character never failed to force . Few people have been consciously and sincerely virtuous. As king, he felt responsible to God for the welfare of his people, no bishop, not even Pope, was allowed to come between him and his duty. Its mission was to ensure a just government. Though he had nothing respectât an innovator and scrupulously the feudal rights of his vassals, he expected them to play their role and they were missing, amputated their prerogatives. This severe devotion earned him the admiration of his enemies themselves, and it was heightened by his personal piety, humility, austerity spectacular. His standards were high honor: he never broke a vow. He showed himself to ruthless criminals, and it was hard, even cruel, in dealing with heretics and infidel. His intimate conversation felt his charming and tender humor, but there was haughty with his ministers and his vassals against his own children, he showed himself a master despotic. His queen, Margaret of Provence, had been a proud and happy child, but he had tamed and forced to behave more appropriate to the wife of a saint. In this era where virtue was so often admired, so seldom practiced, King Louis was well above its peers. "
Steven Runciman, History of the Crusades
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