ABSTRACT
Matthew Paris's Chronica Majora is one of the most valuable narrative accounts of the thirteenth century both in terms of the quantity and the quality of information it holds. Taken at face value, the little episode of Louis IX signing his knights with the cross is but one of the many anecdotes with which Matthew Paris spiced up his account of the Chronica Majora. Despite, or probably because of, the quirky nature of the story told, it has not attracted much comment from historians. Matthew simply took this idea to its extreme: King Louis was a preacher who could do away with words altogether and managed "to preach" successfully by his acts alone. The above-mentioned passages about Henry and the crusade of 1250 and 1252 belong to the continuation of the Chronica Majora and were clearly written after the part which includes the ''pious deception'' of Louis IX.
