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The Making of Saint Louis: Kingship, Sanctity, and Crusade in the Later Middle Ages | 
 enlarge | Author: M. Cecilia Gaposchkin
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Category: Book
List Price: $45.00
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Avg. Customer Rating:  1 reviews
Sales Rank: 367139
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 331
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6 x 1.2
ISBN: 0801445507
Dewey Decimal Number: 944.023
EAN: 9780801445507
ASIN: 0801445507
Publication Date: June 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Canonized in 1297 as Saint Louis, King Louis IX of France (r. 1226-1270) was one of the most important kings of medieval history and also one of the foremost saints of the later Middle Ages. As a saint, Louis became the centerpiece of an ideological program that buttressed the ongoing political consolidation of France and underscored Capetian claims of sacred kingship. M. Cecilia Gaposchkin reconstructs and analyzes the process that led to the monarch's canonization and the consolidation and spread of his cult. Differing political and religious ideals produced competing images of the sanctity of Louis in late-thirteenth and early fourteenth-century France. Drawing on hagiography, sermons, and liturgical evidence--the latter a rich but little-explored historical source--Gaposchkin shows how various groups (including Dominicans, Cistercians, and Franciscans) and individuals (such as Philip the Fair and Joinville) used commemoration of the saint-king to sanctify their own politics and notions of identity and religious virtue. Louis' cult was disseminated to a wider, nonelite public through sermons in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries and then revived by the Bourbon kings in the seventeenth century. In deepening our knowledge of this royal saint, this elegantly written book opens the curtain on the religious sensibilities and secular politics of a transitional period in European history.
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Invaluable July 16, 2008
It is never surprising, but still disconcerting, to learn that the character, achievements, and history of a particular individual have been exaggerated or blatantly distorted. When this person commands the attention of a substantial number of people, this situation is known as a cult, and there have been many of these throughout history. Some of these have been benign, others quite deadly in their capacity to incite violence, murder, terrorism, or even suicide. Cults usually arise in a religious context but not always, but when they do they seem to be accepted as legitimate to a certain degree by those that are not part of its members. The figurehead of the cult is treated with an overabundance of admiration by the members of the cult, but even those that are not still view him (or her) with a large degree of respect. It is difficult to pin point the origin of this respect, but it might come from political or social needs that non-members feel the figurehead can help them fulfill. Non-members feel safe in doing this since religious groups or cults have an image of morality or "respectability" attached to them. Thus tolerance towards the cult evolves into a false portrayal of veneration, with the effect sometimes of increasing the popularity of the figurehead dramatically. These exaggerations survive over time, or may even increase, with the result that the real nature of the figurehead is forgotten (it never really being recorded in the first place).
Canonization is a canonical example of this type of historical distortion, as the author of this book shows in great detail for King Louis IX of France, who ruled from 1226 to 1270, and who became Saint Louis in 1297. Readers, such as this reviewer, who are not experts in Catholic dogma, will have to pay close attention to the details and such readers will naturally have to read at a slower pace, but the effort is worth it. The author includes many references at the end of the book for readers who need more in-depth discussion. Like most academic studies in history, this work suffers from the "tyranny of the footnote", but the author keeps them at a manageable level. But there are places in the book that make it different from what is usually produced by an academic, but still without losing the quality of presentation. This is where the author refrains from indulging in the "tact and prudence" that can frequently masquerade as rationality in some texts.
An example is the author's frequent use of the expression "cult of St. Louis", which may seem pejorative but actually describes well the aristocratic, Dominican, Franciscan, and Parisian interest in the canonization of Louis IX. It is these multiple interests, sometimes greatly differing from each other, that serve as the author's essential thesis. In modern terminology one might call these `interest groups' in that they had their own agendas and reasons for supporting the canonization of Louis IX. It is readily apparent in reading the book that these interests were satisfied by his canonization, and some "benefited" from it a long time after it happened.
The book can also serve as a brief account of the historical events of the time, including discussions of the crusades in Egypt that Louis IX participated in, and his eventual death resulting from this participation. One will learn of the role of Philip II, son of Louis IX, in the canonization and the importance of the Franciscans in the same. Interestingly, without exception the different groups who supported the canonization viewed the Egyptian crusades as being a sign of good religiosity.
This is a genuine work of history and not of historical analysis, so it is relatively free of value judgments as to the character and conduct of Louis IX. The author does conclude that the drive for the canonization of Louis IX was kind of a forum for the articulation of cultural and ideological identity. To some extent her conclusions are believable, but such an articulation came from fractured groups each inhabiting their own logospheres and their consequent biases. They supported the canonization of Louis IX for different reasons, some of the ideological remnants of which can be found in this century.
This book is invaluable therefore not for understanding the real Louis IX, but rather for understanding the reality of his cult and the motivations of those who did not hesitate to exaggerate his contributions to further their own ends. Louis IX was a man, not too much different than other men at the time. Saint Louis however is a myth, not a man. This myth has been constructed from stories, liturgies, and icons, and as is the case for all individuals who achieve sainthood, Saint Louis has been the object of an excess of veneration. His cult, and that of the other saints, continues to this day.
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