Blessed Gilles von Saumur

Gilles of Saumur (died 23 April 1266) was an Angevin cleric and preacher who was the first (and only) archbishop of Damietta during the Seventh Crusade, and the archbishop of Tyre from 1253 to 1266. As archbishop of Tyre he was an important administrator and mediator in the Kingdom of Jerusalem. At the end of his life he returned to Europe where he was responsible for preaching and organizing a new crusade. Very little is known about Gilles's origins. Bernard Hamilton called him a Breton, but he was most likely from Anjou, as he was buried in Saumur. He may have been born as early as the last quarter of the 12th century, or perhaps as late as 1210. Just before his death in 1266, he donated a house to the Abbey of Saint-Florent in Saumur, where he was perhaps educated as a child. A certain Gilles is attested as a deacon in the diocese of Angers between 1215 and 1231, who may have been Gilles of Saumur. All that can be said with certainty is that his early life is almost completely obscure. In 1241, Alphonse of Poitiers, the brother of king Louis IX of France, was knighted in Saumur; supposedly, Gilles was present and gave a sermon, and Louis noticed his talent as a preacher. While Gilles was certainly a member of Louis's retinue several years later, there is no reliable evidence that they met in Saumur in 1241. Gilles participated in the Seventh Crusade. The first definite record of Gilles is from 1249 when Louis captured the port of Damietta in Egypt. The city's mosque was turned into a cathedral and Gilles was appointed as archbishop. He was consecrated by the papal legate Eudes de Chateauroux.