Louis IX dies on crusade outside Tunis

August 25, 1270

Landing at the site of ancient Carthage on an ill-advised crusade, the French king caught dysentery with his son. Lying on a bed of ashes, he reportedly murmured the word Jerusalem and expired. He would be canonized in 1297 as Saint Louis, patron of France. His death marked the effective end of the crusading movement as a serious military enterprise, though the dream lingered for decades.