Cities That Made History - First Season

When Jerusalem was lost to the crusaders

in 1244, Louis the Ninth became obsessed with the Holy Land.

After his death this French king would be canonized

by the Pope and called Saint Louis.

He was so devoted to Christ that he succeeded

in obtaining the crown of thorns,

an iconic relic of the crucifixion of Jesus.

And his unwavering religious faith

guided his political strategy.

To win back the Holy Land the king

needed a port in the Mediterranean,

and he would also build a fortified city

to protect that port.

Aigues-Mortes in the Camargue.

The Camargue is a vast and beautiful plain

in the kingdom of France.

But the majority of it is a marshland.

It doesn't immediately seem like a place

where a large fort and city could be built.

What a crazy idea to found a medieval city

in the middle of a swamp.

Was King Louis's choice of this site folly

or was it a master stroke of political strategy?

Whatever it was in barely 50 years

the king's architects created a fortified city

out of nothing.

700 years later this imposing accomplishment still exists.

And even though France has many other castles and forts

dating back to the Middle Ages

Aigues-Mortes is still one of the most

outstanding examples of medieval architecture.

Time hasn't changed this fortification

which is made up of 1,600 meters of ramparts with 20 towers.

Most impressive are the Constance Tower,

which was used as a dungeon, and the lighthouse,

a beacon of medieval France, to the east.

To understand what Louis the IX achieved

you have to get a handle on the geography of the area,

not propitious for building anything.

The Rhone river takes its source in the Alps mountains

and it finishes in the Camargue

where its alluvium is deposited into the Mediterranean.

This sediment mixes with local soil and sand

forming tiny islets, or sandbars,

which shift with the river level.

These sandbars isolate a lake of brackish water

which, as the Mediterranean comes and goes,

turns into a succession of aqua mortae, or brine lagoons.

With the Romans the fortunes of the region improved

because the ancient equivalent of gold was discovered:

Salt.

Legend has it that the Peccais swamp,

located right at the bottom of the Aigues-Mortes ramparts

was named after Peccius, the Roman administrator.

He was the only one who knew how to exploit the salt,

which was the only way to conserve food products

at the time, and therefore quite valuable.

By the 8th century Aigues-Mortes was part

of the kingdom of the Franks,

basically at the Mediterranean borders of the domain.

Tradition says that Charlemagne had built

the Matafere Tower very near to where

Louis the Ninth later built the Constance Tower.

But in the early Middle Ages Aigues-Mortes

was merely a fishing and a farming village

so a fortified tower to ensure the defense

of a site like that seemed unnecessary.

Unless there was some other reason

why Charlemagne needed bigger defenses.

In the countryside surrounding Aigues-Mortes,

near Saint-Laurent-d'Aigouze, we get a clue why.

There are the ruins of a Benedictine monastery.

Sometime in the past monks came to live here

and founded the Psalmody Abbey.

It was named after what Bishop Gregory of Tours

called salterium perpetuum.

The monks chanted their prayers one after another,

never stopping, day and night.

But the Saracens invaded the Carmargue region

and their never-ending raids finally

destroyed the Psalmody Abbey.

When the monastery was rebuilt

the Matafere Tower was erected by Charlemagne

to protect the monastery.

In 1240 Louis the Ninth sent out an emissary

to negotiate the purchase of additional lands

surrounding his kingdom.

At this time the rebuilt Psalmody Abbey was thriving.

At the beginning of the 13th century Philippe Auguste,

King Louis's grandfather even granted it new privileges.

The monks at this time had huge tracts

of land thanks to the salt trade.

Psalmody had also become a leading religious site.

The king's messenger is not worried

about how these negotiations would end.

He knows that the monks in Psalmody

are land rich but cash poor.

So they will take the king's offer eventually.

Why would King Louis want to build

not just a city but a port on this marshy land?

Philippe Auguste and Louis the Eighth,

King Louis's grandfather and father,

weren't able to expand the southern borders

to the Mediterranean.

For access to the sea and the consequent commerce

the Franks had to go through Marseille,

which was not part of their kingdom.

At the beginning of the 13th century

France only covered a portion of its current area.

The royal lands included just Normandy, Picardy,

Ile de France, and Orleans.

And the entire south of what would be modern France

was not controlled by the French kingdom at all.

The southeastern part of France

was governed by the Holy Roman Empire.

Even thought the present King Louis

had married the daughter of the Count of Provence

this region remained under the domination

of Frederick the Second of Hohenstaufen.

King Louis just could not get access

to the sea from the southeast.

As for the southwestern part

the geopolitical situation remained complex.

Theoretically the coastal regions

were an integral part of the kingdom of France.

However from the Pyrenees mountains

to the Rome delta allegiances were split

between the King of Aragon and the King of France.

In 1229 the Languedoc area was conquered by Louis the Ninth.

By taking the Languedoc the French royal domain

finally had access to the Mediterranean Sea.

But it would take years for the king

to consolidate his power in this region

since Languedoc was culturally more prone

to remain loyal to Aragon rather than to France.

So the choice to build a city in Aigues-Mortes

was shrewd political strategy.

King Louis knew that in Camargue

he would have a territory that belonged to,

and was loyal only to, France.

But before seeing his dream turn into reality

the king had to do some serious urban planning.

He had plans drawn up designing the city

to connect it to the canals in Aurel and in Montpellier.

These inland waterways were, at the time,

the only possible routes to transport material

needed to build this new city.

And he saw that city and port infrastructures

had to be put in place, housing had to be built,

and freight storage was nonexistent.

Anxious to move forward by 1240 King Louis

took over his acquisition even before he had

the official deeds, which were signed six years later.

He quickly dispatched the royal advisor.

In the Middle Ages the notions

of the west and the east, or orient,

have a different meaning than today's.

The medieval period began in the 5th century

when the Roman Empire fell.

After the fall of Rome France saw turbulent times.

From the beginning of the 7th century

Islamic warriors from the east had invaded

the country several times.

Later the Occident, or west, undertook crusades

to win back the Holy Land.

In 1099 the Kingdom of Jerusalem was founded.

Its territory fluctuated constantly

because of the conflicts between civilizations.

By the beginning of the 13th century

the Christian west of Louis the Ninth

was constantly fighting against the Muslim east.

This is the political and religious situation in 1226

when King Louis the Ninth is crowned at the young age of 12.

His mother, Blanche de Castile, ensures the regency

and transmits her strong faith to the young king.

Under his reign the young king promoted

the development of religious orders

and founded many monasteries.

He endowed the Cistercian abbey built just outside of Paris.

He even took part in the work,

carrying stones to build the church.

In order to follow the divine offices

he built himself a room near the church

but he preferred to pray with the monks.

In the refectory he ate with the abbot

although he often waited on the monks when they were eating.

At Royaumont King Louis was looked on as one

of the members of the monastic community.

He wanted to be an exemplary Christian

and was more devoted to Christ

than most of his contemporaries.

Whenever possible the king practiced virtues

of humility and kindness.

Louis the Ninth is well known for his devotion

to helping the poor and miracles were attributed to him.

Because of this he was canonized

and became Saint Louis just 30 years after his death.

The young monarch thought of his political actions

as expressions of his faith and values.

King Louis seemed perpetually penitent,