Alphons de Poitiers

Alphonse was the 3rd of four adult-aged sons of the French king Louis VIII and his wife, Blanca of Castile . His elder brothers were the future king of France, Louis IX and Robert I d'Artois , the youngest - Charles I of Anjou , later the king of Sicily , Naples and Jerusalem .

According to the Treaty of Paris of 1229, which completed the Albigensian crusade , Alfons was engaged to the heir to the Count of Toulouse , Jeanne . In 1241 their wedding took place.

That same year, June 24 , Alphonse was knighted in Saumur and, according to his father's will, was granted the county of Poitou, Sentonge and part of Auvergne . This act was contested by the English king Henry III , as part of these territories previously belonged to England. The combined forces of Henry III, Count Hugo X Lusignan and Alfons father-in-law, Count Raymond VII of Toulouse , came out against Alphonse and his brother, King Louis IX. However, the French royal troops defeated this coalition at the Battle of Tallenbur in June 1242. King Henry fled to Gascony , and Lusignan and Count Raymond submitted to Louis IX.

Alphons de Poitiers was a member of the Seventh Crusade , organized by his brother Louis. However, he did not speak with the main forces of the French in August 1249 , but in the autumn of 1249, together with his father-in-law, Count Raimund, sailed from Marseille . On the way Raimund died. which made Alphonse a count of Toulouse and a margrave of Provence . Arriving in Damietta in October 1249, Alfons, along with the whole army, moved to Cairo , but the crusaders were detained in front of Al-Mansoura . In the bloody clashes with the Mamelukes , Alphonse's brother, Robert, died here. In the decisive battle before the city on February 11, 1250, Alfons de Poitou led the crusaders' right wing. Despite the victory in this hard battle, in April 1250 the Crusaders were forced to lift the siege from Mansoura and retreat to the coast. On the way back to Damietta, Alphonse and his brother King Louis were captured by the Arabs.

Freed from captivity, Alphonse, along with his younger brother Carl of Anjou, left for France, where they helped the mother to rule the country, while Louis IX remained in the Holy Land. In 1252 Blanca of Castile dies, and Alphons and Carl become regents. The great merit of Alphonse de Poitou was his contribution to the conclusion of the Treaty of Paris of 1259 , according to which Henry III English waived his rights to Normandy , Maine , Anjou and Poitou . In turn, France gave England Sentonzh .

Despite the fact that Alphonse spent most of his time in Paris , his interests and activities were mainly aimed at arranging possessions in southern France and their development after the Albiguian wars. Alphonse tried to organize a control system in the south, following the North French model, dividing southern France into seneschalism and trying to unify urban law. Despite his despotic character and the constant lack of funds, Alphonse defended his citizens from oppression of feudal lords. At the same time, he supported the activities of the Inquisition and in 1249 organized the first persecution of Jews in Poitou in the history of the county. The events held by Alphonse de Poitiers in Languedoc and Provence prepared the joining of these territories to the royal domain.

In 1270, Alphons de Poitiers, together with his wife, took part in the Eighth Crusade in Tunisia , organized by Louis IX, during which the king dies in Carthage . Alphonse dies on the way back, in Italy . A few days later, his wife, Jeanne, dies.

Alphonse de Poitiers was buried in the abbey of Saint-Denis . Since he had no children, Alphonse's property was transferred to the crown (with the exception of the small Provencal county of Venezsen, Comte-Venezsen , inherited by the Pope .