The Vie de saint Louis was written in response to a pious command from Joan I of Navarre, who, dying in childbirth in 1305, did not live to see its completion. As a result, it received little attention at the time, despite being a personal work driven by Joinville’s love for his king. Here, Jacques Monfrin offers the first ever critical edition of Joinville’s work, long absent on account of a deficient manuscript tradition and the first publishers’ ignorance of two of the manuscripts available today. This bilingual edition is accompanied by an introduction, a bibliography, notes, variations, and an index commenting on the names of people and places.
