FRA 
de Clermont count of Nefle, juftly efteemed for the 
united qualities of his head and heart. 
Aigues-mortes, a fea-port of Languedoc, was a fecond 
time famed for the embarkation of Louis; and the fleet 
of France, inftead of fliuping its courfe for Paleftine or 
Egypt, fleered its courfe for the coaft of Africa. An ob- 
fcure king of Tunis had profelfed his inclination to abjure 
the tenets of Mahomet for thofe of Chrift ; and the vain 
report of an immenfe treafure reconciled the interefled 
pilgrims to purfue the vifionary enterprife. But policy 
had already united the crafty barbarian to the precepts of 
the Koran; and inflead of a zealous profelyte, Louis had 
to encounter an aCtive and formidable enemy. The walls 
of Carthage were indeed (formed by the impetuous valour 
of the French ; but their ftrength was exhaufted before 
the gates of Tunis; and the warriors of the weft panted 
under the torrid zone ; and expired on the burning fluids 
of Africa. The magnanimous Louis IX. breathed his 
left on the inhofpitable Afiican fliore, A.D. 1270, in the 
forty-fourth year of his reign, and the fifty-flxth of his 
age. In the character of this amiable prince were united 
the virtues of the faint, and the fortitude of the hero ; 
and his piety and equity in peace, were not more confpi- 
cuous than his courage and intrepidity in war. The fa¬ 
ther of his people, his heart conftantly fympathized with 
their miferies, and his hand was ever open to relieve their 
diftrefs. His prudent policy preferved them from the ca¬ 
lamities of foreign invafion ; yet his underftanding was 
clouded by enthufiafm ; whence the (laughter of his (ob¬ 
jects, his wafte of ftrength and treafure, and eventually his 
death, were the fatal confequences of a blind fuperftition. 
The death of Louis did not prevent his fon Philip III. 
furnamed the Hardy, from continuing the war in Africa. 
The Saracens were defeated in two engagements, and the 
king of Tunis reduced to peace, when the infectious 
coaft affrighted from it the few whom this cruel warfare, 
or tlie plague, had fpared. But the feeds of the difeafe 
lurked in the blood of the martial pilgrims, and on their 
arrival in Sicily, burft forth with baneful influence. 
Philip, to alleviate the anxiety of his mind, from the 
court of Sicily viflted that of Rome ; and purfuing his 
journey through the principal cities of Italy, repoled a 
(hort time at Lyons, and entered his capital amidft the 
acclamations of his people. Yet France had reafon to 
lament the deftruCfive confequences of the enterprifes 
from which he returned ; befides the multitude that pe¬ 
ri (lied without a name, and perhaps without a figh, on 
the coaft of Africa, Philip found himfelf not only bereft 
of hi.s father, but of his brother John, his queen Ifabella, 
his brdther-in-lavv and After the king and queen of Na¬ 
varre, and his uncle and aunt the count and countefs of 
PoiCtiers, who fell victims to the fame contagious difor- 
der. The firft moments of his return were dedicated to 
the pious care of his father’s funeral, the next to the 
ceremony of his own coronation; after which, in 1271, 
he chofe for his confort Mary, daughter of the duke of 
Brabant, efteemed one of the moft beautiful princefl'es of 
the age. 
Although Philip was deflrous of cultivating the arts of 
peace, yet he was not intimidated by the dread of war. 
To maintain the former, he yielded the country of Age- 
no is to Edward I. king of Flngland ; and he engaged in 
the latter to fupport the claim of his nephews, the in¬ 
fants de le Cerda, to the throne of Caftile. Aiphonflo, 
who ruled that kingdom, had transferred the lucceflion 
from the offspring of his eldeft fon, the deceafed hufband 
of Blanch the After of Philip, to his fecond and furviving 
(on Sancho. Philip himfelf had endeavoured to eftablilh 
a right to the crown of Caftile ; but his own claim was 
given up to his After’s fon ; and the party of the youthful 
prince, in 1274,-was feconded by the arms of France. 
From the profecution of a war, languid and uninterefting, 
the attentiwo of Philip was foon recalled to his own do- 
meftic calamities. 
At the age of twelve years, Louis, the eldeft fon of 
VoL. VII. No. 459. 
N C E. 6?J 
the king, fuddenly expired ; and the fufpicion of poifon 
was attached to the uncommon manner of his death. 
This melancholy event was followed by the Sicilian roaf- 
facre. Charles of A,njou had eftabliftied his authority 
over Naples and Sicily ; but in 12S0, his throne was 
fttaken by bis own ambition and cruelty. The former 
awakened the fears of Michael Palteologus, emperor of 
the Greeks ; the latter excited the indignation and revolt 
of his Italian fubje&s. Naples, indeed, was awed by the 
prefence of the fovereign ; but Sicily was roufed by the 
eloquence of John of Procida, an exile of noble birth, 
daring courage, and confummate art. The councils ot 
the confpirators were nurfed bv the gold of Palseologus , 
and the fame moment informed Charles, that in a bloody 
maffaere, which obtained the name of tire Sicilian 
V.espers, eight thoufand of the French had perilhed, 
and that Peter king of Arragon had (ailed to Palermo, 
and was proclaimed king of the ifland. Charles was 
aftonilhcd and confounded at the unexpected news ; yet 
his meafures were taken with vigour and promptitude. 
A powerful armament was alflembled at Marfeilles; the 
(iege of Medina was preffed with incelfant ardour; the 
inhabitants deplored their ralhnefs, and offered, on an af- 
lurance of pardon, to open their gates to their offended 
fovereign. With the return of profperity, Charles re- 
fumed his former inflexibility ; but while he failed to 
Marfeilles, to co-operate with the king of France in the 
deftruCtion of his enemies, his hopes of vengeance were 
blafted by one irreparable aCtion. His fon Charles, fur- # 
named the Lame, was left in Sicily with orders patiently 
to await the arrival of his father : but the youth, pro¬ 
voked by the infults of the fleer of Arragon, hazarded 
an engagement, vvliich delivered him a prifoner into the 
hands of the enemy. Charles in vain endeavoured to 
difguife, by an appearance of fortitude, the efteCts of this 
fatal blow ; his feelings as a king and a father were too 
deeply wounded ; from defpair and forrow he funk into 
the grave ; and the ifland of Sicily, after a war of twenty 
years, was finally fevered from the throne of Naples, 
and transferred, as an independent kingdom, to a younger 
branch of the houfe of Arragon. 
Pope Martin IV. zealous in the caufe of Charles, had 
excommunicated Pedro king of Arragon, and, in 1283, 
beftovved his feeptre on Charles of Valois, a younger fon 
of the French king. Philip, to maintain the authority 
of his uncle, and to eftablilh the pretenfions of his fon, 
penetrated into Catalonia, and laid ftege to Gironne. In 
endeavouring to intercept a convoy of the befiegers, 
Pedro was mortally wounded; and Gironne, hopelefs of 
fuccour, furrendered. Yet the profperity of Philip was 
foon overcaft; his fleet was in turn defeated by that of 
Arragon, and the fame element overwhelmed the hopes 
of the uncle and the nephew’. Shame and difappoint- 
ment preyed upon the mind of Philip ; the progrefs of 
difeafe was forwarded by the cares of royalty ; the fplen- 
did and fpecions projects which had deluded him va- 
niflied from his fight ; and he beheld in the vifionary en¬ 
terprife liis trealures wafted, his fubjects flaughtered, and 
his dominions exhaufted. Ha raffed by the purfuit of his 
enemies, and unable to bear the motion of a horfe, he ar¬ 
rived in a litter at Perpignan,' where lie expired, A.D 
1285, in the forty-firft year of his age, and the fixteenth 
of his reign, regretted by an army which he had unfuc- 
cefsfully commanded, and lamented by a people whom 
he had reluCtantly impoveriflted. 
Philip IV. furnamed the Fair, when his. father died, 
was about feventeen years of age. He was crowned at 
Rheims, with his confort Jane, w ho in her own right was 
alio queen of Navarre; and w ho, with her hand, be- 
ftow'ed on her hufband the important counties of Cham¬ 
pagne and Brie. She was the only daughter and he’trefs 
of Henry 1. furnamed the Fat, king of Navarre and count 
of Champagne, by the daughter of Robert count of At-, 
tois, brother to Louis IX. This princefs was born in 
1271 ; fne was poffeiled of an uncommon (hare of under. 
S I ftandingj’’ 
