The story of this place
In the 13th century King Louis IX—Saint Louis—wanted a Mediterranean port under direct royal control, so he founded Aigues-Mortes from nothing on the marshy Camargue coast, laying it out on a strict grid and ringing it with formidable ramparts. From this artificial harbour he twice embarked on crusade—for the Seventh Crusade in 1248 and the Eighth in 1270, on which he died of dysentery outside Tunis. The Tour de Constance served as a prison, later holding Huguenot women for decades after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes; one, Marie Durand, scratched 'RÉSISTER' into the stone during 38 years of captivity. Today the sea has retreated, but the walls survive almost intact.