Seventh Crusade
In May 1247, Charles and Beatrice were recorded as being in Melun, where Charles was knighted by his brother Louis. Beatrice accompanied Charles on the seventh crusade in 1248. Led by Louis IX, the crusaders made an extended procession through France. Before they left, Charles and Beatrice met with her mother in Beaucaire to try to come to some terms of agreement concerning Provence. Whilst the more important matters were left until Charles and Beatrice returned, it was decided that Beatrice of Savoy would give up the rights to 'the castle at Aix in exchange for a percentage of the county's revenue.'
In Nicosia Beatrice gave birth to her first child, 'a very elegant and wellformed son', as her brother-in-law Robert of Artois wrote home to his mother the Queen. Beatrice stayed with her sister Margaret in Damietta, when they lost contact with the King and his army, here Beatrice gave birth to her second child; her sister Margaret too gave birth while in Damietta. Later in 1250, they were reunited with the rest of the crusade at Acre, where the King's ransom was paid. Charles and Beatrice, along with several other nobles, left soon after and journeyed to the court of Emperor Frederick II, to ask him to send the King of France more men for his crusade. However, Frederick, who had been excommunicated, needed his army to fight the Pope, and refused. Charles and Beatrice were then forced to go to Lyon to meet with the Pope.
By the time they returned to Provence in 1251, open rebellion had broken out, spurred on by Beatrice's mother, who felt Charles had failed to respect her claims in Provence. However, by July 1252 Charles had managed to defeat the revolt and was in the process of exercising his power as Count of Provence, when in November of the same year, Blanche of Castile died, and Charles and Beatrice had to go to Paris, where Charles co-ruled France with his brother, Alphonse. The Pope offered Charles the Kingdom of Sicily in 1252, but Charles had to turn the offer down, as he was preoccupied with other affairs and he also did not have sufficient funds.
The crusade returned in 1254. Charles and Beatrice spent Christmas in Paris that year, where all of Beatrice's sisters and their mother were present; it was noted that the other four women treated the younger Beatrice coldly, due to Raymond Berenguer's will.
Read more about this topic: Beatrice Of Provence
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