I came under heavy pressure from the king of France and the King of Navarre to take the cross myself. I replied to them that while I had been overseas in the service of God and the king, and in the aftermath of my return, the officials of the kings of France and Navarre had opressed and impovershed my people to such an extent that there would never be a time when they and I would be in a worse position. I told them that if I wanted to act in accordance with God's will I would stay here in order to help and protect my people. For if I were to expose my life to the dangers of the pilgrimage of the cross when I could quite clearly see that this would be to the harm and detriment of my people, I would incur the anger of God, who offered up his life in order to save his people.

—John of Joinville, The Life of Saint Louis