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JOHN LORD DE JOINVILLE Memoirs of Louis IX, King of France

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JOHN LORD DE JOINVILLE
Memoirs of Louis IX, King of France
page 182



oar Lady in March, that I fell asleep during matin service. In my sleep, I thought I saw the king on his knees before an altar, and that he was surrounded by many prelates who clothed him with a red chasuble, that was of serge of Rheima When I awakened, I told one of my chaplains, who was a learned man, my dream, who informed me that the king was the next day to put on the cross. I asked him how he knew this : he replied, by what I had told him of my vision ; and that the red chasuble I had seen him clothed with signified the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was dyed with the precious blood he bad shed for us ; and, as the chasuble was of serge of Rheims, the croisade would be of a short duration; and the truth of what he said I should be witness to on the morrow. Now, on the next day, the king and his three sons did put on the cross ; and the croisade was a trifling business, as the chaplain bad foretold to «ne the preceding day. This made me consider it as a prophecy. When this was done, the king of France and the king of Navarre pressed me strongly to put on the cross, and undertake a pilgrimage with them ; but I replied that when I was before beyond sea, on the service of God, the officers of the king of France had so grievously oppressed my people that they were in a state of poverty, insomuch that we should have great difficulty to recover ourselves ; and that I saw dearly, were I to undertake another croisade, it would be the total ruin of my people. I have heard many say since, that those who had advised him to this croisade had been guilty of a great crime, and had sinned deadly. As long as he remained in his kingdom of France, every thing went on well, and all lived peaceably and in security, but the moment he left it things began to decline. They were criminal in another respect, for the good king was so weakened in his body that he could not support the weight of his armour, nor remain long on horseback. I remember that I was once forced to carry him in my arms from tbe house of the count d'Auxerre as far as the convent of the Cordeliers, when we landed on our return from Palestine. Of his expedition to Tunis I will say nothing, for I was not of it, and am resolved not to insert any thing in this book but what I am perfectly certain is true. But I will say, that during the time the good king Saint Louis was at Tunis, and


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