brighter than at any time since the late 12th century. Most of the Frankish gains in southern Palestine were lost, with Ascalon falling in 1247. The disaster in the East threw the survival of the Kingdom of Jerusalem into doubt. Pleas for help were dispatched to the West. Louis IX of France had taken the cross after his near-fatal illness, and it remained unclear whether he received the cross for its mystical healing properties, a belief widely held by contemporaries, or as a token of gratitude after hovering between life and death. The driving motive behind the French king’s commitment lay in his own personality, piety and ambition. Despite apparently strong initial opposition from his mother and other members of his entourage, Louis stuck to his decision, repeating his vow when he recovered and persuading his brothers and those in his court to follow suit. Recruiting Louis had taken the cross from William of Auvergne, bishop of Paris, without prior papal authorization. Beside his ecclesiastical role, William was an expert on Arabic affairs and may have doubted the wisdom of the king's decision. Regardless of the maternal, episcopal and political opposition, Louis pressed ahead with the idea that his Crusade was a personal and spiritual rite of passage. Within two months, the papal bull was issued, with preaching of the Crusade authorized. Odo of Châteauroux, cardinal-bishop of Frascati, began preaching in France, legitimizing regional preachers and collecting funds. Odo had been deeply involved in the crusading movement for decades, having personally preached the cross against the Albigensian heretics in 1226, against the Mongols around 1240, and, later, against the Muslims in the Holy Land through Louis' second Crusade. As cardinal he masterminded the propaganda campaign for Louis’ first Crusade and accompanied the king to the East as papal legate. While the plight of the Holy Land and French national pride was stressed in their pleas, preachers had also to spell out how the faithful could contribute, in person, with money or through prayer. The preaching campaign of 1245–1248 did not go smoothly. Odo had to balance the call to the Holy Land with the war against Frederick II. The French government deliberately associated Louis' Crusade with the suppression of the rebellion at the Siege of Montségur in 1244, the final carryover from the Albigensian Crusade. The rebels were induced to take the cross as a symbol of loyalty to the