THE FINAL STRUGGLE 183
be wise not to use such words. " So long as you exercise
justice, you will reign ", said the Master $ " otherwise, you
will no longer have a throne."
One European king, however, burned with a holy zeal to
fight the infidel. In 1244, Louis IX of France was stricken
with, illness, and "so grievously", reports his chronicler,
Joinville, " that it is said one of the ladies who nursed him
thought that he was dead and wanted to cover his face with
a cloth 5 but another lady, who was on the opposite side of the
bed, would not permit his face to be covered, saying that he
still lived. During this argument, our Lord worked within
the king and gave him back his speech, which he had lost.
The king asked for a crucifix and it was brought to him.
When the queen, his mother, learned that his speech was
restored, she was filled with great joy, but when she heard
from him that he had taken the cross, she lamented so much
that it was as if he had indeed died". St. Louis's three
brothers—Robert, Count of Artois, Alphonse, Count of
Poitiers, and Charles, Count of Anjou—and many of the
French nobles followed the king's example and vowed them-
selves to the Crusade.
The Seventh Crusade set out from France in the autumn
of 1248. Louis was accompanied by his queen, Marguerite,
and had an army of between forty and fifty thousand men.
It had been decided that the attack should be made on
Egypt, and the Crusade first sailed to Cyprus, where the
winter was passed. Baldwin II, Emperor of Constantinople,
tried to induce Louis to lend his aid against the Byzantines,
but the king insisted that his duty was to recover the Holy
Land by crushing Egypt. After some negotiations with the
Mongols, who suggested an alliance against the Turks, Louis
left for Damietta in May, 1249, with 1,800 ships.
The military Orders enthusiastically supported the
Crusade. The dream of subjugating Egypt had never been
forgotten, and the Temple, the Hospital, and the Teutonic