Page:Historyoffranc00yong.djvu/68

44 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [chap. pope which Lewis' soul shrank from. Charles won the kingdom of Sicily, but aftenvards lost the island at the famous 'espers. But he and his descendants, the An- gevin dynasty, went on reigning in Naples, so that another land beside Provence had French rulers, and was brought under French influences. 17. The Last Crusade, 1270. — The heart of Lewis was meantime set on the Holy Land. He had never laid aside the Cross, and the ten years' truce having long expired, he held himself bound to go to the rescue of Acre and Tripoli, the only cities now left to the cru- saders. In spite of the miseries of the late " Holy War," personal love for him led many to take the Cross. Among them his three sons, his two brothers, his nephews, Robert, Count of Artois, and Edward of England, and Theobald IL, king of Navarre, who had married his daughter Tsabcl. He sailed from Aii^ucs Mortcs in the sum- mer of 1270, and having been led by some strange report to believe that his landmg on the coast of Tunis would be followed by the conversion of the Moorish king, he chose as the place of meeting with Charles of Sicily and Edward of England a sandy beach near the ruins of ancient Car- thage. The Moors, of course, only viewed the Christians as enemies, and hovered round the camp on their light horse, spearing all who ventured out of it. Within it, the sicknesses brought from the swamps of Aigues Mortes were fostered by the burning sun and brackish water, so that the camp became little better than a pest-house. Death followed upon death. John, called Tristan, Lewis' son born at Uamictta, was one of the first to sink, and multitudes of all ranks followed ; the king sickened, but dragged him- se'f from one tent to another, succouring the sufferers as long as he could move. When his strength failed, he gave beautiful counsels to his eldest son and daughter, and then gave himself up to prayer, bidding his servants lay him on a bed of ashes, where, breathing out the words "Jerusalem! Jerusalem !" he died on the 25th of August 1270, just as Charles and Edward were landing in the bay. No king had done so much to raise the power of his crown and its reputation in other lands, and that wholly by righteous means. Thus in the long run his goodness did harm by building up a fabric of power which later kings so dreadfully abused. 18. Philip in., 1270. — Poor young Philip III. brought back to St. Denys five coffins, those of his father, brother.