Louis of France (1244–1260)

Ludwig (franz: Louis de France, * 21, or February 24, 1244; † January 11, 1260 in Paris), was a prince of the dynasty of the Capetians, heir apparent and temporary regent of France.

Ludwig was the eldest son of the French king Louis IX. ( Saint Louis) and his wife Margaret of Provence, and thus the designated heir to the French throne.

1248 broke his parents for a crusade to Egypt (sixth crusade ) and transferred the regency of Blanche of Castile. But when his grandmother died in November 1252 and his father still stayed in the Holy Land, the eight- year-old Prince Ludwig was his name after Regent of France. In fact, he did not govern personal, which took over a royal Council, under the guidance of his uncle Alfonso of Poitiers and Charles of Anjou, but the issued certificates were drawn and sealed in his name, addressed to the crown correspondence that time was addressed to his person. The basis of his reign was the not yet fixed in writing in France principle of Erstgeborenenrechts, after which Louis fell to as primogentius in the absence of his parents and without any contrary provisions of the king as first the regency. His reign ended with the return of his father in July 1254 in Paris.

In the following years, Ludwig was trained for his future kingship, among other things dedicated to him the lawyer Pierre de Fontaines the right textbook Conseil à un ami. On August 20, 1255 he was engaged by contract with the Infanta Berenguela († 1300), his cousin and daughter of King Alfonso X of Castile. It was at this time as heir to the throne of Castile, but this changed with the short subsequent birth of the Infante Ferdinand de la Cerda.

Together with his younger brother Philipp Ludwig was on May 28, 1258, a witness to the sealing and swearing in of the Treaty of Paris, which was to end the generations of hostilities between the French and English royal family. The following year, Louis also testified the homage of the English King Henry III. to his father in Paris, with which the contract was valid. Immediately after Christmas 1259 Ludwig became ill and died shortly after the New Year 1260 at the age of sixteen. The church scholar Vincent of Beauvais wrote for Louis IX. a consolatio which is considered a masterpiece of its genre in the traditional Christian Consolation. In the line of succession now moved to Philip, who in 1270 when Philip III. also came to the throne.

Prince Louis was buried in the Abbey of Royaumont, not in the royal grave laying of Saint -Denis, where. Upon a determination of Louis IX only crowned heads should be buried. 1817 yet the transference of his remains to Saint - Denis.