What did Philip 4 the handsome do. Report: Philip IV King of France

Philip IV the Fair was born at Fontainebleau in 1268, the second son of Philip III the Bold and Isabella of Aragon. He became king in 1285, at the age of seventeen.

His father, Philip III, could not be called a successful monarch. During his reign, the willful barons pursued their own policies, the treasury was empty, and the papal legates dictated their will.

And when the Pope ordered Philip III to lead a campaign into Aragon to punish the Aragonese king for taking Sicily from Charles of Anjou, Philip was forced to obey, and the French army set off on the campaign. In this campaign, the French suffered a heavy defeat, and the king himself died on the way back.

His seventeen-year-old son, also Philip, fought alongside his father. From this situation he learned one, but very important lesson - a persistent reluctance to be an instrument of others, even papal interests.

In 1285, the coronation of Philip IV the Fair took place. He was truly handsome, with regular facial features, large fixed eyes, wavy dark hair, and graceful manners. And melancholy lay an eternal imprint on this beautiful face. It seemed to contemporaries a mysterious and motionless sculpture, bewitchingly inaccessible in its majestic detachment.

“Quiet, God forbid, the king looks at us. His gaze makes your blood run cold, and it seems like your heart is about to stop. “God gave me strength,” the courtiers whispered, looking at how this extraordinary king walked through the throne room.

First of all, young Philip had to deal with the Aragonese problem inherited from his father. And he solved it! Philip the Fair completely stopped hostilities, despite the urgent objections of the Pope. The still completely inexperienced king refused the services of his father’s high-ranking advisers. The young monarch established the Royal Council, membership in which was ensured by special merits and abilities, and by no means by noble origin. Europe was in shock! For feudal society this was a real revolution.

It was not noble people, but educated people who gained access to power. They were called legalists because they knew the laws well. From among them, the king created his own team, with the help of which he was able to solve the most complex problems. Of this team, a special role at the court of Philip the Fair was played by: Guardian of the Seal Guillaume Nogaret, Chancellor Pierre Flotte and Coadjutor Enguerrand Marigny. They determined the course of all state policy.

Having thus solved the Aragonese problem, Philip focused his attention on relations with England. The king wanted to get Flanders. He summoned the English king Edward I to the trial of the Parisian parliament, and when he refused to appear, he used his refusal as a pretext for war. Both sides acquired allies and began military operations. Upon learning of this, Pope Boniface VIII called on both monarchs to reconcile. But they ignored this call.

On Edward's side were Emperor Adolf, the counts of Flanders, Brabant, Gueldern and Savoy, as well as the King of Castile. The Count of Burgundy, the Duke of Lorraine, the Count of Luxembourg and the Scots expressed a desire to become Philip's allies.

True, of all the listed allies, only the Scots and Count of Flanders Guy Dampierre were able to have a real influence on events. Edward himself, whose attention was focused on the war in Scotland, concluded a peace with Philip in 1303, according to which Guienne was left to the English king.

In 1297, the French army invaded Flanders. Lille, Douai, Bruges and Ghent were captured practically without resistance.

The ruler of these lands, Count Guy Dampierre, surrendered along with his two sons and 51 knights. The king deprived him of his possessions as a rebel and annexed rich Flanders to his kingdom.

In 1301, Philip toured his new territories and was greeted everywhere with expressions of submission. But he imposed exorbitant taxes on the country. The rigid rules introduced by the French protege Jacques of Chatillon also did not please the Flemings.

When riots began in Bruges in 1301, Jacques ordered huge fines to be collected from those responsible, ordered the city wall to be broken and a citadel built in the city.

A second uprising in 1302 soon spread to the entire province. Over the course of one day, more than 3 thousand French knights and soldiers were killed in Bruges. An army led by Robert Artois was sent to suppress the uprising, but it was defeated in a stubborn battle at Courtray. Thousands of spurs taken from the slain knights were piled up in the Maastricht church as trophies of victory.

Philip couldn't leave it like that. In 1304, at the head of an army of 60,000, the king himself approached the borders of Flanders. In August, the Flemings were defeated at the Battle of Mons-en-Null, but retreated to Lille in good order. After several unsuccessful assaults on this city, peace was concluded with the son of Guy Dampierre, Robert of Bethune, who was in French captivity. Philip agreed to return the country to him and preserve the Flemings' rights and privileges. For his release, Robert of Bethune had to pay a substantial indemnity. As collateral, the king took for himself lands on the right bank of the Lys with the cities of Lille, Douai, Bethune and Orsha. But having received the money, Philip violated the agreement and did not return the land. leaving them forever behind France.

All these events took place against the backdrop of contradictions with the pope that worsened every year. In the first years of his pontificate, Boniface was quite friendly towards the French king. However, in the fall of 1296, Boniface issued a bull categorically prohibiting the clergy from paying taxes to the laity, and the laity from demanding such payments from the clergy without the special permission of Rome. At the Paris court, the doctrine began to dominate that the clergy was obliged to help the needs of their country with money. Philip the Handsome, who constantly needed money, saw this bull as damage to his interests.

In response to the bull, the king prohibited the export of gold and silver from the country, which were a prominent source of income for Rome. Then the Pope gave in: a new bull nullified the previous one. As a sign of special favor, the Pope canonized the king's late grandfather, Saint Louis.

In response, Philip allowed the pope's income in the form of gold and silver, which he received from the French clergy, to be exported to Rome, but continued to oppress the church,

The legalists surrounding Philip the Fair advised him to remove entire categories of criminal cases from the jurisdiction of church justice. In 1300, relations between Rome and France deteriorated sharply. Bishop Bernard Sesseti of Pamiers, whom Pope Boniface sent to Philip as a special legate, behaved very impudently. The king initiated a lawsuit against him and demanded that the Pope deprive him of the priesthood, accusing the bishop not only of insulting the king, but also of treason and other crimes.

To this in December 1301, the Pope responded by accusing Philip himself of encroaching on spiritual authority and demanded him to appear before his court. He sent a bull to the king, in which he emphasized the fullness of papal power and its superiority over all (without exception) secular power.

According to legend, the king burned this bull. In April 1302, he convened the Estates General (the first in French history). Philip the Fair received the unconditional support of the nobles and representatives of the cities. The clergy decided to ask the Pope to allow them not to travel to Rome, where a council was being prepared against Philip. Boniface did not allow them to disobey such a thing, but the clergy still did not go to Rome, because Philip categorically forbade them to do so.

The mutual attacks between the king and the Pope continued.

Eventually, in 1303, Nogaret and a small retinue went to Italy to arrest the Pope. Boniface went to Anagni, where he wanted to publicly curse Philip. The Pope had many enemies there. Nogare and his companions freely entered the city and were able to enter the palace. They treated the Pope extremely rudely; there is even a version that Nogaret slapped the Pope.

Two days later the inhabitants of Anagna freed the Pope. A few days later, from the humiliation suffered, Boniface VII fell into such a disorder that he went crazy and then died. And 10 months later, his successor, Boniface IX, also died. Rumor attributed this death, so beneficial to the French king, to poisoning

In his place, the Archbishop of Bordeaux, Bertrand du Gotha, was elected, taking the name of Clement V. He did not go to Italy, but was ordained in Lyon. In 1309, he moved his residence to Avignon, which was not in power, but under the direct influence of the French government. Until his death, he remained an obedient executor of the will of the French king.

The period of the so-called “Avignon captivity of the popes” began, when the Roman high priests turned into French court bishops.

In addition to many other concessions to Philip, Clement agreed in 1307 with the accusations against the Templar Order.

This knightly order played a huge role during the Crusades and gained great popularity in Europe. The Order accumulated enormous wealth, and when the era of the Crusades ended, it began to actively interfere in the state affairs of Europe.

Philip the Fair did not want to have the powerful Order of the Templars at his side, which at any moment could encroach on the power of the king. In addition, the king owed the order a huge amount, which he did not want to repay.

In 1307, the king ordered the secret arrest of all Templars in the kingdom. 140 French knights of this order were arrested, and a trial began against them on charges of heresy.

The investigation lasted 7 years. Under torture, the Templars confirmed accusations of heresy, witchcraft, and serving the devil. But during the public trial they recanted their testimony.

On March 18, 1314, the Grand Master of the Order, Jacques de Molay, was burnt to death. Before his death, he cursed King Philip and his entire family and predicted the imminent degeneration of the Capetians. The Grand Master declared that Pope Clement, King Philip and Chancellor Nogaret would be summoned to the judgment of God within a year

Philip the Fair was in good health, had three adult sons, and therefore did not take the prophecy seriously. But Jacques de Molay's predictions came true exactly. On April 20, Pope Clement died in agony. In November, Philip the Handsome died. A year later, Enguerrand de Marigny, who prepared the trial against the Templars, was hanged. Guillaume de Nogaret, who led the investigation, died in agony. The sons of Philip the Fair, who ruled in turn after his death, were unable to pass on the throne to their children. They all died prematurely, leaving no male heirs.

When Louis XVI was beheaded in 1793, a man jumped onto the scaffold, dipped his hand in the blood of the dead king and said loudly: “Jacques de Molay, you are avenged!” Louis XVI was the thirteenth descendant of King Philip the Fair.

He was married to Joan, Queen of Navarre, and Countess of Champagne (1270-1305). Even the marriage of Philip the Fair was subordinated to the great goal of expanding France. Thanks to this marriage, the king added Champagne to his possessions, and also led to the first unification of France and Navarre. Philip's family life was happy.

Four children from this marriage who lived quite long lives:

* Louis X, king of France (from 1314) and Navarre (from 1307)

* Philip V, King of France and Navarre (from 1316)

* Isabella, wife of King Edward II of England and mother of Edward III. From Isabella comes the Plantagenet claims to the French crown, which served as a pretext for the start of the Hundred Years' War.

* Charles IV, king of France and Navarre (from 1322)

After Jeanne's death, Philip did not remarry, despite the most lucrative offers. Rumor claimed that he loved the queen so much that after her death he did not know any women at all.

In this, as in many other things, this king remained a mystery to historians. All the policies he pursued make one think that he was a man of iron will and rare energy, accustomed to pursuing his goals with unshakable perseverance. But people who personally knew the king characterize him as a man who was distinguished by extraordinary meekness and modesty, avoided obscene conversations with disgust, carefully attended services, performed fasts with precision and wore a hair shirt. He was kind, forgiving and willing to place complete trust in people who did not deserve it. According to contemporaries, the king easily obeyed bad advice.

Shortly before Philip's death, in 1314, a scandal broke out in which the wives of his sons were involved, two of whom were convicted of adultery, and the third of aiding them. The former were sentenced to life imprisonment, the latter to repentance in a monastery. The sentencing of the adulterous princesses and the execution of their lovers were carried out publicly.

Contemporaries and descendants wondered: why did the king not try to hide the shame of his family? There is no answer to this day, because the thoughts and feelings of Philip the Handsome, this extremely reserved and always imperturbable person, were not known even to his closest associates.

The French kingdom under Philip IV the Fair reaches the height of its power. It was the largest state in terms of population in the Christian Western world (13-15 million people or a third of the entire Catholic world). France was experiencing real economic prosperity at that time, the area of arable land increased, trade flourished, which, in particular, resulted in the flourishing of the fair in Champagne.

The era of Philip the Fair was a turning point in the history of France. He expanded the royal domain, introduced royal courts and Roman law, and subjugated the church and feudal lords. State life took on a completely different character than under his predecessors.

The king did a lot to form an absolute monarchy in France and at the same time created the first organ of democratic power - the Estates General.

Philip IV the Fair died on November 29, 1314, at the age of 47, in his birthplace - Fontainebleau. His son Louis X the Grumpy became his successor.

Life story
Philip IV (Philippe IV le Bel) remains somewhat of a mysterious figure for historians. On the one hand, all the policies he pursued make one think that he was a man of iron will and rare energy, accustomed to pursuing his goal with unshakable persistence. Meanwhile, the testimony of people who personally knew the king is in strange contradiction with this opinion. The chronicler William the Scotsman wrote about Philip that the king had a beautiful and noble appearance, graceful manners and behaved very impressively. With all this, he was distinguished by extraordinary meekness and modesty, avoided obscene conversations with disgust, carefully attended divine services, performed fasts with precision and wore a hair shirt. He was kind, forgiving and willing to place complete trust in people who did not deserve it. They, according to William, were the culprits of all those troubles and abuses that marked his reign, the introduction of oppressive taxes, extraordinary levies and the systematic damage to coins. Another chronicler, Giovanni Vilani, wrote that Philip was very handsome, gifted with a serious mind, but he hunted a lot and liked to entrust other people with the affairs of government. Geoffrey also reports that the king easily obeyed bad advice. Thus, we have to admit that a large role in Philip’s politics was played by his associates: Chancellor Pierre Flotte, Guardian of the Seal Guillaume Nogaret and Coadjutor of the Kingdom Enguerrand Marigny. All these were humble people, elevated to the heights of power by the king himself.
Philip IV the Fair was born at Fontainebleau in 1268, the son of Philip III and Isabella of Aragon. Philip ascended the throne at the age of seventeen and first of all set about resolving the Sicilian and Aragonese issues that he inherited from his father.
He immediately stopped hostilities and did nothing to support the claims of his brother Charles of Valois, who dreamed of becoming the Aragonese (or, at worst, Sicilian) king. Negotiations, however, dragged on for another ten years and ended with Sicily remaining with the Aragonese dynasty. In relations with the English king Edward I, Philip's policy was more energetic. Clashes often occurred between the subjects of the two states. Taking advantage of one of them, Philip in 1295 summoned the English king, as his vassal, to the court of the Parisian parliament. Edward refused to submit, and war was declared on him. Both opponents were looking for allies. Emperor Adolf, the counts of Holland, Geldern, Brabant and Savoy, as well as the King of Castile, became Edward's supporters. Philip's allies were the Count of Burgundy, the Duke of Lorraine, the Count of Luxembourg and the Scots. However, of these, only the Scots and Count of Flanders Guy Dampierre had a real influence on events. Edward himself, busy with a difficult war in Scotland, concluded a truce with Philip in 1297, and in 1303 a peace, according to which Guienne was left to the English king. The entire burden of the war fell on the shoulders of the Flemings. In 1297, the French army invaded Flanders. Philip himself besieged Lille, and Count Robert of Artois won a victory at Fournes (largely thanks to the betrayal of the nobility, among whom there were many adherents of the French party). After this, Lille surrendered. In 1299, Charles of Valois captured Douai, passed through Bruges and entered Ghent in May 1300.
He met no resistance anywhere. Count Guy surrendered along with his two sons and 51 knights. The king deprived him of his possessions as a rebel and annexed Flanders to his kingdom. In 1301, Philip toured his new possessions and was greeted everywhere with expressions of submission. But he immediately tried to extract maximum benefit from his new acquisition and imposed heavy taxes on the country. This caused discontent, and the harsh management of Jacques of Chatillon further increased hatred of the French. When riots began in Bruges in 1301, Jacques sentenced those responsible to huge fines, ordered the city wall to be broken and a citadel built in the city. Then in May 1302 a second, much more powerful uprising broke out. Within one day, the people killed 1,200 French knights and 2,000 soldiers in the city. After this, all of Flanders took up arms. In June, a French army led by Robert Artois approached. But in a stubborn battle at Courtray it was completely defeated. Up to 6,000 French knights fell along with their commander. Thousands of spurs taken from the dead were piled up in the Mastricht church as trophies of victory. Philip could not let such a shame go unrevenged. In 1304, at the head of an army of 60,000, the king approached the borders of Flanders. In August, in a stubborn battle at Mons-en-Null, the Flemings were defeated, but retreated to Lille in good order. After several attacks, Philip made peace with the son of Guy Dampierre, Robert of Bethune, who was in his captivity. Philip agreed to return the country to him, while the Flemings retained all their rights and privileges.
However, for the release of their count and other prisoners, the cities had to pay a large indemnity. As a pledge for paying the ransom, the king took for himself lands on the right bank of the Lys with the cities of Lille, Douai, Bethune and Orsha. He was supposed to return them after receiving the money, but he treacherously violated the agreement and left them with France forever.
These events unfolded against the backdrop of contradictions with the pope that worsened every year. At first, there seemed to be no signs of this conflict. None of the European kings was as beloved by Pope Boniface VIII as Philip the Fair. Back in 1290, when the pope was only Cardinal Benedetto Gaetani and came to France as papal legate, he admired the piety of the young king. Having ascended the throne in 1294, Boniface zealously supported the policies of the French king in Spain and Italy. The first signs of mutual distrust appeared in 1296. In August, the pope promulgated a bull in which he forbade the laity to demand and receive subsidies from the clergy. By a strange coincidence, and perhaps in response to the bull, Philip at the same time prohibited the export of gold and silver from France: by this he destroyed one of the main sources of papal income, because the French church could no longer send any money to Rome. Even then a quarrel could have arisen, but Boniface’s position on the papal throne was still fragile, the cardinals begged him to stop the scandals caused by the bull, and he gave in to them.
In 1297, a bull was promulgated, which actually abolished the previous one. Apparently, the pope expected the king to also make concessions. Philip allowed the pope's income, which he received from the French clergy, to be exported to Rome, but continued to oppress the church, and soon new clashes with the pope occurred. The Archbishop of Narbonne complained to Boniface that the royal dignitaries had taken away his fief power over some of the vassals of his see and were generally causing him various insults. The Pope sent Bishop Bernard Sessé of Pamiers as legate to Paris on this matter. At the same time, he was instructed to demand the release of the Count of Flanders from captivity and the fulfillment of the previously given promise to participate in the crusade. Bernard, known for his arrogance and hot temper, was absolutely not the person who could be entrusted with such a delicate task. Having failed to achieve concessions, he began to threaten Philip with an interdict and generally spoke so harshly that he infuriated the usually cool-headed Philip. The king sent two members of his council to Pamiers and the county of Toulouse to collect evidence to accuse Bernard of disobedience. During the investigation, it turned out that the bishop often used inappropriate expressions during his sermons and incited his flock against royal power. Philip ordered the legate to be arrested and taken into custody in Sanli. He also demanded that the pope depose Bernard and allow him to be brought before a secular court. The pope responded to the king with an angry letter, demanded the immediate release of his legate, threatened Philip with excommunication and ordered him to appear at his trial in order to justify himself from accusations of tyranny and misgovernment. Philip ordered this bull to be solemnly burned on the porch of Notre Dame Cathedral.
In April 1302, he convened the first ever Estates General in Paris. They were attended by representatives of the clergy, barons and prosecutors of the main northern and southern cities. To arouse the indignation of the deputies, a forged papal bull was read to them, in which the pope’s claims were strengthened and sharpened. After this, Chancellor Flott turned to them with a question: can the king count on the support of the estates if he takes measures to protect the honor and independence of the state, as well as to rid the French church of violations of its rights? The nobles and city deputies replied that they were ready to support the king. The clergy, after a short hesitation, also joined the opinion of the other two classes. After this, for a year the opponents hesitated to take decisive measures, but the hostility between them grew. Finally, in April 1303, Boniface excommunicated the king and freed the seven ecclesiastical provinces in the Rhone basin from vassalage and from the oath of allegiance to the king. This measure, however, had no effect. Philip declared Boniface a false pope (indeed, there were some doubts about the legality of his election), a heretic and even a warlock. He demanded that an ecumenical council be convened to hear these accusations, but at the same time he said that the pope should be at this council as a prisoner and accused. From words he moved on to action. In the summer, Nogare, loyal to him, went to Italy with a large sum of money. Soon he entered into relations with Boniface's enemies and formed an extensive conspiracy against him. The Pope was at that time in Anagni, where on September 8 he wanted to publicly curse Philip.
On the eve of this day, the conspirators burst into the papal palace, surrounded Boniface, showered him with all sorts of insults and demanded his abdication. Nogaret threatened to put him in chains and take him to the council in Lyon as a criminal to sentence him. Dad withstood these attacks with dignity. For three days he was in the hands of his enemies. Finally, the people of Ananya freed him. But from the humiliations he suffered, Boniface fell into such disorder that he went crazy and died on October 11. His humiliation and death had dire consequences for the papacy. The new Pope Benedict XI excommunicated Nogaret, but stopped the persecution of Philip himself. In the summer of 1304 he died. In his place, the Archbishop of Bordeaux, Bertrand du Gotha, was elected, taking the name of Clement V. He did not go to Italy, but was ordained in Lyon. In 1309 he settled in Avignon and turned this city into a papal residence. Until his death, he remained an obedient executor of the will of the French king. In addition to many other concessions to Philip, Clement agreed in 1307 with the accusations against the Templar Order. In October, 140 French knights of this order were arrested and a trial began against them on charges of heresy. In 1312, the pope declared the order destroyed. Philip, who owed the Templars huge sums, took possession of all their wealth. In March 1313, the Grand Master of the Order, Jacques Molay, was burned. Before his death, he cursed the entire Capetian family and predicted its imminent degeneration.
In 1314, Philip conceived a new campaign against Flanders, where anti-French forces were intensifying. On August 1, he convened the States General, which agreed to introduce an emergency war tax, the first act of taxation in history with the sanction of popular representation. Soon after the execution, Philip began to suffer from a debilitating illness that doctors could not recognize.
And the campaign did not take place, because on November 29, 1314, in the 46th year of his life in Fontainebleau, the king died, apparently from a stroke, although rumor attributed his death to the curse of Jacques de Molay or poisoning by the Templars.
Contemporaries did not like Philip the Handsome; people close to him were afraid of the rational cruelty of this unusually handsome and surprisingly impassive man. The violence against the pope caused outrage throughout the Christian world. Large feudal lords were dissatisfied with the infringement of their rights and the strengthening of the central administration, which consisted of rootless people. The tax-paying class was outraged by the increase in taxes, the so-called “damage” of the coin, i.e., a decrease in its gold content while forcing its denomination to remain the same, which led to inflation. Philip's heirs were forced to soften his centralization policy.
The reign of Philip IV the Fair, who ascended to the French throne at the age of seventeen, after the death of his father Philip III, on October 5, 1285, is considered by historians not only as one of the most important periods in the history of France, but also as one of the most controversial.
This reign seems important because the French kingdom reaches the pinnacle of its power: the largest state in terms of population in the Christian Western world (13-15 million or a third of the entire Catholic world), real economic prosperity (it is enough to cite as an example the increase in arable land or the rise of the fair in Champagne). In addition, the power of the monarch is strengthening so much that in Philip they see the first ruler of a new type in Europe: the state is more powerful and centralized than ever, the king’s entourage is legalists - well-mannered and educated people, real experts in the field of law.
However, this rosy picture is not consistent with other facts. Thus, the apparent economic prosperity only masks a sluggish crisis, as evidenced by numerous shocks in the financial market (under Philip, monetary policy was extremely, as they now say, voluntaristic). And at the end of his reign, the fairs in Champagne could not withstand the competition with the sea trade of the Italians, and in addition, literally the next day after the death of the king, a devastating famine of 1315-1317 broke out. Moreover, if you look closely, you can see that the king did not know his kingdom well: he did not even realize how far its borders extended, he was unable to establish direct taxes, and effective and clear management of the state remained elusive. It is unlikely that the king’s popularity was added to by a chain of dubious, semi-political, semi-secular scandals, in particular, the trial of the bishop of the city of Troyes, Guichard, who was accused of murdering the queen through witchcraft, or the trial of the Bishop of Pamiers, Bernard Sesset, a trial that complicated the already difficult relations between the king and dad. What about the Templar trial? What about the imprisonment of the king’s daughters-in-law and the execution of their lovers? In general, the identity of King Philip the Fair remains mysterious. Who was he? The core of French policy or a simple tool in the hands of its advisers? The authors of the chronicles - the king's contemporaries - are inclined mainly to the second option - they, in particular, reproach the king for inept monetary and tax policies, explaining this by the fact that the king was given worthless advice by incompetent advisers. But, despite such uncertainty in assessments, the king is still seen as a “non-classical” monarch of the Middle Ages. Although chroniclers insist that France treated him with respect, which, however, he supposedly owes to the authority of his grandfather, Philip Augustus, who undertook economic and political reforms aimed at strengthening central power.
The leitmotif of historians contemporary with Philip the Fair is regret about the era of “His Majesty Saint Louis,” which is considered almost as a golden age, while Philip IV is characterized as “the antipode of Saint Louis.” But, despite all this, historians agree on one thing: a new era began with this king. However, it is hardly worth exaggerating the “modernity” of Philip the Fair and France of his time.
And yet, the reign of Philip IV the Fair constituted a turning point in the history of medieval France: he expanded the kingdom by annexing new lands (shortly before his death he annexed Lyon and its surroundings to France), forced the church and feudal rulers to obey the orders of the king and suppressed all independent power. The royal administration under him covered all aspects of society: cities, feudal nobility, clergy - everyone came under its control. His reign seemed to his contemporaries a time of cruel oppression and despotism. But behind all this a new era was already visible. With the help of a large corporation of lawyers, the king took advantage of every opportunity to establish royal courts everywhere and introduce Roman law. By the end of his life, all judicial power in the country passed exclusively to the crown, and public life acquired a completely different character than under his predecessors.

Used sources.

1. Ryzhov K. All the monarchs of the world. Western Europe. - Moscow: Veche, 1999.

2. World history of wars. Book one. R. Ernest and Trevor N. Dupuis. - Moscow: Polygon 1997.

When compiling the article, we used material provided specifically for the project by Vadim Anatolyevich Strunov.

Philip IV (Philippe IV le Bel) remains somewhat of a mysterious figure for historians. On the one hand, all the policies he pursued make one think that he was a man of iron will and rare energy, accustomed to pursuing his goal with unshakable persistence. Meanwhile, the testimony of people who personally knew the king is in strange contradiction with this opinion. The chronicler William the Scotsman wrote about Philip that the king had a beautiful and noble appearance, graceful manners and behaved very impressively. With all this, he was distinguished by extraordinary meekness and modesty, avoided obscene conversations with disgust, carefully attended divine services, performed fasts with precision and wore a hair shirt. He was kind, forgiving and willing to place complete trust in people who did not deserve it. They, according to William, were the culprits of all those troubles and abuses that marked his reign, the introduction of oppressive taxes, extraordinary levies and the systematic damage to coins. Another chronicler, Giovanni Vilani, wrote that Philip was very handsome, gifted with a serious mind, but he hunted a lot and liked to entrust other people with the affairs of government. Geoffrey also reports that the king easily obeyed bad advice. Thus, we have to admit that a large role in Philip’s politics was played by his associates: Chancellor Pierre Flotte, Guardian of the Seal Guillaume Nogaret and Coadjutor of the Kingdom Enguerrand Marigny. All these were humble people, elevated to the heights of power by the king himself.

Philip IV the Fair was born in Fontainebleau in 1268 to Philip III and Isabella of Aragon. Philip ascended the throne at the age of seventeen and first of all set about resolving the Sicilian and Aragonese issues that he inherited from his father.

He immediately stopped hostilities and did nothing to support the claims of his brother Charles of Valois, who dreamed of becoming the Aragonese (or, at worst, Sicilian) king. Negotiations, however, dragged on for another ten years and ended with Sicily remaining with the Aragonese dynasty. In relations with the English king Edward I, Philip's policy was more energetic. Clashes often occurred between the subjects of the two states. Taking advantage of one of them, Philip in 1295 summoned the English king, as his vassal, to the court of the Parisian parliament. Edward refused to submit, and war was declared on him. Both opponents were looking for allies. Emperor Adolf, the counts of Holland, Geldern, Brabant and Savoy, as well as the King of Castile, became Edward's supporters. Philip's allies were the Count of Burgundy, the Duke of Lorraine, the Count of Luxembourg and the Scots. However, of these, only the Scots and Count of Flanders Guy Dampierre had a real influence on events. Edward himself, busy with a difficult war in Scotland, concluded a truce with Philip in 1297, and in 1303 a peace, according to which Guienne was left to the English king. The entire burden of the war fell on the shoulders of the Flemings. In 1297, the French army invaded Flanders. Philip himself besieged Lille, and Count Robert of Artois won a victory at Fournes (largely thanks to the betrayal of the nobility, among whom there were many adherents of the French party). After this, Lille surrendered. In 1299, Charles of Valois captured Douai, passed through Bruges and entered Ghent in May 1300.

He met no resistance anywhere. Count Guy surrendered along with his two sons and 51 knights. The king deprived him of his possessions as a rebel and annexed Flanders to his kingdom. In 1301, Philip toured his new possessions and was greeted everywhere with expressions of submission. But he immediately tried to extract maximum benefit from his new acquisition and imposed heavy taxes on the country. This caused discontent, and the harsh management of Jacques of Chatillon further increased hatred of the French. When riots began in Bruges in 1301, Jacques sentenced those responsible to huge fines, ordered the city wall to be broken and a citadel built in the city. Then in May 1302 a second, much more powerful uprising broke out. Within one day, the people killed 1,200 French knights and 2,000 soldiers in the city. After this, all of Flanders took up arms. In June, a French army led by Robert Artois approached. But in a stubborn battle at Courtray it was completely defeated. Up to 6,000 French knights fell along with their commander. Thousands of spurs taken from the dead were piled up in the Mastricht church as trophies of victory. Philip could not let such a shame go unrevenged. In 1304, at the head of an army of 60,000, the king approached the borders of Flanders. In August, in a stubborn battle at Mons-en-Null, the Flemings were defeated, but retreated to Lille in good order. After several attacks, Philip made peace with the son of Guy Dampierre, Robert of Bethune, who was in his captivity. Philip agreed to return the country to him, while the Flemings retained all their rights and privileges.

However, for the release of their count and other prisoners, the cities had to pay a large indemnity. As a pledge for paying the ransom, the king took for himself lands on the right bank of the Lys with the cities of Lille, Douai, Bethune and Orsha. He was supposed to return them after receiving the money, but he treacherously violated the agreement and left them with France forever.

These events unfolded against the backdrop of contradictions with the pope that worsened every year. At first, there seemed to be no signs of this conflict. None of the European kings was as beloved by Pope Boniface VIII as Philip the Fair. Back in 1290, when the pope was only Cardinal Benedetto Gaetani and came to France as papal legate, he admired the piety of the young king. Having ascended the throne in 1294, Boniface zealously supported the policies of the French king in Spain and Italy. The first signs of mutual distrust appeared in 1296. In August, the pope promulgated a bull in which he forbade the laity to demand and receive subsidies from the clergy. By a strange coincidence, and perhaps in response to the bull, Philip at the same time prohibited the export of gold and silver from France: by this he destroyed one of the main sources of papal income, because the French church could no longer send any money to Rome. Even then a quarrel could have arisen, but Boniface’s position on the papal throne was still fragile, the cardinals begged him to stop the scandals caused by the bull, and he gave in to them.

In 1297, a bull was promulgated, which actually abolished the previous one. Apparently, the pope expected the king to also make concessions. Philip allowed the pope's income, which he received from the French clergy, to be exported to Rome, but continued to oppress the church, and soon new clashes with the pope occurred. The Archbishop of Narbonne complained to Boniface that the royal dignitaries had taken away his fief power over some of the vassals of his see and were generally causing him various insults. The Pope sent Bishop Bernard Sessé of Pamiers as legate to Paris on this matter. At the same time, he was instructed to demand the release of the Count of Flanders from captivity and the fulfillment of the previously given promise to participate in the crusade. Bernard, known for his arrogance and hot temper, was absolutely not the person who could be entrusted with such a delicate task. Having failed to achieve concessions, he began to threaten Philip with an interdict and generally spoke so harshly that he infuriated the usually cool-headed Philip. The king sent two members of his council to Pamiers and the county of Toulouse to collect evidence to accuse Bernard of disobedience. During the investigation, it turned out that the bishop often used inappropriate expressions during his sermons and incited his flock against royal power. Philip ordered the legate to be arrested and taken into custody in Sanli. He also demanded that the pope depose Bernard and allow him to be brought before a secular court. The pope responded to the king with an angry letter, demanded the immediate release of his legate, threatened Philip with excommunication and ordered him to appear at his trial in order to justify himself from accusations of tyranny and misgovernment. Philip ordered this bull to be solemnly burned on the porch of Notre Dame Cathedral.

In April 1302, he convened the first ever Estates General in Paris. They were attended by representatives of the clergy, barons and prosecutors of the main northern and southern cities. To arouse the indignation of the deputies, a forged papal bull was read to them, in which the pope’s claims were strengthened and sharpened. After this, Chancellor Flott turned to them with a question: can the king count on the support of the estates if he takes measures to protect the honor and independence of the state, as well as to rid the French church of violations of its rights? The nobles and city deputies replied that they were ready to support the king. The clergy, after a short hesitation, also joined the opinion of the other two classes. After this, for a year the opponents hesitated to take decisive measures, but the hostility between them grew. Finally, in April 1303, Boniface excommunicated the king and freed the seven ecclesiastical provinces in the Rhone basin from vassalage and from the oath of allegiance to the king. This measure, however, had no effect. Philip declared Boniface a false pope (indeed, there were some doubts about the legality of his election), a heretic and even a warlock. He demanded that an ecumenical council be convened to hear these accusations, but at the same time he said that the pope should be at this council as a prisoner and accused. From words he moved on to action. In the summer, Nogare, loyal to him, went to Italy with a large sum of money. Soon he entered into relations with Boniface's enemies and formed an extensive conspiracy against him. The Pope was at that time in Anagni, where on September 8 he wanted to publicly curse Philip.

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On the eve of this day, the conspirators burst into the papal palace, surrounded Boniface, showered him with all sorts of insults and demanded his abdication. Nogaret threatened to put him in chains and take him to the council in Lyon as a criminal to sentence him. Dad withstood these attacks with dignity. For three days he was in the hands of his enemies. Finally, the people of Ananya freed him. But from the humiliations he suffered, Boniface fell into such disorder that he went crazy and died on October 11. His humiliation and death had dire consequences for the papacy. The new Pope Benedict XI excommunicated Nogaret, but stopped the persecution of Philip himself. In the summer of 1304 he died. In his place, the Archbishop of Bordeaux, Bertrand du Gotha, was elected, taking the name of Clement V. He did not go to Italy, but was ordained in Lyon. In 1309 he settled in Avignon and turned this city into a papal residence. Until his death, he remained an obedient executor of the will of the French king. In addition to many other concessions to Philip, Clement agreed in 1307 with the accusations against the Templar Order. In October, 140 French knights of this order were arrested and a trial began against them on charges of heresy. In 1312, the pope declared the order destroyed. Philip, who owed the Templars huge sums, took possession of all their wealth. In March 1313, the Grand Master of the Order, Jacques Molay, was burned. Before his death, he cursed the entire Capetian family and predicted its imminent degeneration.

In 1314, Philip conceived a new campaign against Flanders, where anti-French forces were intensifying. On August 1, he convened the States General, which agreed to introduce an emergency war tax, the first act of taxation in history with the sanction of popular representation. Soon after the execution, Philip began to suffer from a debilitating illness that doctors could not recognize.

And the campaign did not take place, because on November 29, 1314, in the 46th year of his life in Fontainebleau, the king died, apparently from a stroke, although rumor attributed his death to the curse of Jacques de Molay or poisoning by the Templars.

Contemporaries did not like Philip the Handsome; people close to him were afraid of the rational cruelty of this unusually handsome and surprisingly impassive man. The violence against the pope caused outrage throughout the Christian world. Large feudal lords were dissatisfied with the infringement of their rights and the strengthening of the central administration, which consisted of rootless people. The tax-paying class was outraged by the increase in taxes, the so-called “damage” of the coin, i.e., a decrease in its gold content while forcing its denomination to remain the same, which led to inflation. Philip's heirs were forced to soften his centralization policy.

The reign of Philip IV the Fair, who ascended to the French throne at the age of seventeen, after the death of his father Philip III, on October 5, 1285, is considered by historians not only as one of the most important periods in the history of France, but also as one of the most controversial.

This reign seems important because the French kingdom reaches the pinnacle of its power: the largest state in terms of population in the Christian Western world (13-15 million or a third of the entire Catholic world), real economic prosperity (it is enough to cite as an example the increase in arable land or the rise of the fair in Champagne). In addition, the power of the monarch is strengthening so much that in Philip they see the first ruler of a new type in Europe: the state is more powerful and centralized than ever, the king’s entourage is legalists - well-mannered and educated people, real experts in the field of law.

However, this rosy picture is not consistent with other facts. Thus, the apparent economic prosperity only masks a sluggish crisis, as evidenced by numerous shocks in the financial market (under Philip, monetary policy was extremely, as they now say, voluntaristic). And at the end of his reign, the fairs in Champagne could not withstand the competition with the sea trade of the Italians, and in addition, literally the next day after the death of the king, a devastating famine of 1315-1317 broke out. Moreover, if you look closely, you can see that the king did not know his kingdom well: he did not even realize how far its borders extended, he was unable to establish direct taxes, and effective and clear management of the state remained elusive. It is unlikely that the king’s popularity was added to by a chain of dubious, semi-political, semi-secular scandals, in particular, the trial of the bishop of the city of Troyes, Guichard, who was accused of murdering the queen through witchcraft, or the trial of the Bishop of Pamiers, Bernard Sesset, a trial that complicated the already difficult relations between the king and dad. What about the Templar trial? What about the imprisonment of the king’s daughters-in-law and the execution of their lovers? In general, the identity of King Philip the Fair remains mysterious. Who was he? The core of French policy or a simple tool in the hands of its advisers? The authors of the chronicles - the king's contemporaries - are inclined mainly to the second option - they, in particular, reproach the king for inept monetary and tax policies, explaining this by the fact that the king was given worthless advice by incompetent advisers. But, despite such uncertainty in assessments, the king is still seen as a “non-classical” monarch of the Middle Ages. Although chroniclers insist that France treated him with respect, which, however, he supposedly owes to the authority of his grandfather, Philip Augustus, who undertook economic and political reforms aimed at strengthening central power.

The leitmotif of historians contemporary with Philip the Fair is regret about the era of “His Majesty Saint Louis,” which is considered almost as a golden age, while Philip IV is characterized as “the antipode of Saint Louis.” But, despite all this, historians agree on one thing: a new era began with this king. However, it is hardly worth exaggerating the “modernity” of Philip the Fair and France of his time.

And yet, the reign of Philip IV the Fair constituted a turning point in the history of medieval France: he expanded the kingdom by annexing new lands (shortly before his death he annexed Lyon and its surroundings to France), forced the church and feudal rulers to obey the orders of the king and suppressed all independent power. The royal administration under him covered all aspects of society: cities, feudal nobility, clergy - everyone came under its control. His reign seemed to his contemporaries a time of cruel oppression and despotism. But behind all this a new era was already visible. With the help of a large corporation of lawyers, the king took advantage of every opportunity to establish royal courts everywhere and introduce Roman law. By the end of his life, all judicial power in the country passed exclusively to the crown, and public life acquired a completely different character than under his predecessors.

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ranto 13.06.2006 06:53:22

There are FEW articles of this quality on the Internet - thank you!

An extraordinary personality, despite everything.
Zhanna 17.07.2008 01:23:03

I first learned about the personality of Philip the Handsome from the series of books by Maurice Druon “Cursed Kings,” which I read when I was 15 years old. A contradictory, extraordinary personality and somehow immensely attractive. Now I’m re-reading books and wanted to find information on the Internet.

PHILIP IV THE BEAUTIFUL(Philippe IV le Bel) (1268, Fontainebleau - November 29, 1314, ibid.), king of France from 1285.

The goal of the reign of Philip the Fair was to create a powerful state and strong royal power; One of the ways to achieve this goal was to round off the borders of France. In 1295, Philip began a war with England for Guienne, of which the English kings were dukes; having found fault with formal violations of the suzerain rights of the French crown, he captured Guienne, but in 1299 he had to leave it and concentrate on the war with Flanders. In 1297-1301 Philip captured all of Flanders, supported by the Flemish townspeople who were in conflict with their count, but French rule soon became hated by the Flemings, and in 1302, as a result of a general uprising, the so-called "Matins of Bruges", the French were expelled from the country. Philip moved his army to Flanders, but on July 2, 1302, at the Battle of Courtrai, for the first time in history, the foot militia of the Flemish cities completely defeated the French knightly cavalry. On August 18, 1304, the French army took revenge at the town of Mont-en-Peleve, and the next year Flanders submitted to Philip the Fair.

In 1297, a conflict broke out between France and the papacy, caused by the fact that Pope Boniface VIII, a supporter of the worldwide domination of the Church, issued a bull prohibiting secular authorities from demanding taxes from clergy, and thereby paying them, which he was always in need of money and intolerant of interference in the royal prerogatives. Philip could not allow power. When in 1300 the king arrested the papal legate who had made insulting remarks against Philip, the pope declared that the clergy was not subject to the jurisdiction of the royal court. The king, in the fight against a supranational force - the church - decided to rely on the emerging nation and in April 1302 convened the first General States in the history of France, which supported their monarch. Boniface VIII in response issued a bull proclaiming submission to the papal throne not only in matters of faith, but also in politics as a prerequisite for the salvation of the soul and excommunicated the king from the church. Philip sent a military detachment to Italy to arrest the pope, who could not stand the humiliation, went crazy and soon died. Philip achieved the subordination of the papal throne to his power and the transfer of the seat of the curia from Rome to the formally independent, but surrounded on all sides by the possessions of France, Avignon (1308).

In 1307, Philip attacked the Templars, a wealthy spiritual knightly order independent of the crown. They were arrested throughout France and tried on clearly falsified charges of heresy, unnatural vices and alliance with Muslims. The States General convened in 1308 approved the actions of the king, and the pope in 1311, under pressure from France, banned the order, most of whose wealth went to the treasury. In March 1314, the highest dignitaries of the order were burned, including Grand Master Jacques de Molay, who before his death cursed the king and promised him a quick death.

In the same 1314, Philip conceived a new campaign against Flanders, where anti-French forces were intensifying. On August 1, he convened the States General, which agreed to the introduction of an emergency war tax - the first act of taxation in history with the sanction of popular representation. But the campaign did not take place, because in November the king died, apparently from a stroke, although rumor attributed his death to the curse of Jacques de Molay or poisoning by the Templars.

D. E. Kharitonovich

Philip IV (1268-1314) - King of France since 1285. Continuing the work of his ancestors, especially his grandfather, King Louis IX Saint, but in new conditions and by other means, he sought to strengthen royal power by weakening the political power of large feudal lords and eliminating the power of the popes over France. These new conditions were the growth of cities, the strengthening of the third estate, i.e. formally the entire unprivileged population of the country, but in fact the urban elite; development of French national identity. Philip IV made the new means of achieving the goals of centralization of the monarchy the administrative apparatus subordinate only to him, from humble people who owe everything to him, and the legal strengthening of royal power on the basis of Roman law, as opposed to church and common law, which in one way or another limited the omnipotence of the crown by biblical commandments or tradition. It was under Philip that the highest authorities - the Paris Parliament, the Supreme Court and the Court of Accounts (Treasury) - from more or less regular meetings of the highest nobility gradually turned into permanent institutions, in which they served mainly legalists - experts in Roman law, coming from among petty knights or rich city dwellers.

Guarding the interests of his country, the king tried to expand it. So, in 1295-1299. he fought with King Edward I of England for the Duchy of Aquitaine (Guyenne) in southwestern France, which the English kings owned as vassals of the French kings. Finding fault with formal violations of undefined feudal rights, Philip summoned Edward I to court, knowing that he, busy with the war with Scotland, would not be able to appear, and this was considered a serious violation of the laws. Edward, fearing a clash with France, offered Philip IV the Duchy of Aquitaine as collateral for 40 days as a guarantee of appearance. However, having occupied Guienne, Philip refused to return it. In 1299, he still had to do this, because the county of Flanders, also a vassal of the French crown, but allied with England, was threatening from the north of France.

The war between France and Flanders began back in 1297, when Philip defeated the Count of Flanders at the Battle of Furne. In 1299, the French king occupied almost all of Flanders, relying on the townspeople who were dissatisfied with their count, and in 1301 he captured him. But soon the Flemings, disappointed with French rule, rebelled against Philip. May 18, 1302 went down in history under the name “Matins of Bruges” - on this day there was an uprising of the inhabitants of the city of Bruges, accompanied by the extermination of the French garrison and the French who were in Bruges. In response to this, Philip moved his army to Flanders. On July 11, 1302, at the Battle of Courtrai, for the first time in history, the foot militia of the Flemish cities completely defeated the mounted knightly army. The spurs taken from the killed knights were dumped in the city square of Courtrai; This battle was called the "Battle of the Golden Spurs". On August 18, 1304, in the battle of Mont-en-Pevel, the French army took revenge for the defeat at Courtrai. The following year, the Flemings officially submitted to the French king.

During the war with England and Flanders, the conflict between France and the papacy intensified. The contradictions between them emerged under Saint Louis, who resolutely rejected any interference of Rome in the affairs of the French state and the French church. However, Louis's deep piety prevented these contradictions from turning into an acute conflict. Relations between Philip and Pope Boniface VIII were initially friendly. But in 1296, the Pope issued a bull categorically prohibiting the clergy from paying taxes to secular authorities, and from demanding them without the special permission of the Roman Curia. This decree was only one of a number of similar ones adopted by Popes throughout the 11th-13th centuries. and aimed at liberating the church from state power and giving it a special supranational and supranational status. Philip, firstly, who needed money to wage war with England and Flanders and, secondly, who believed that all classes, including the clergy, should help their country, banned the export of gold and silver from the country in 1297, thereby depriving the Pope of all church fees and taxes coming from France. Boniface backed down, canceled the bull, and even, as a sign of special affection for France, canonized Saint Louis. However, the peace did not last long. The king demanded that all subjects of the kingdom be subject to a single royal court, while the Pope insisted on the special jurisdiction of the church.

Philip, in the fight against such a powerful force as the papacy, decided to rely on the nation and convened in April 1302 the first Estates General in French history - a legislative meeting of representatives of the three classes of the country: the clergy, the nobility and the third estate. At this meeting, the first lay chancellor and custodian of the seal in French history, Pierre de Flotte, announced a harshly worded response to the Pope. The nobles and townspeople expressed their full support for the king. The clergy behaved more cautiously: they only sent Boniface a request to allow the French clergy not to participate in the Council convened by the Pope to condemn Philip. Boniface did not agree, but the French clergy was still not represented at the Council that opened in the fall of 1302. There the Pope announced the bull “The One Holy One” (papal bulls were named after the first words), in which he declared that complete submission to the Pope in all matters, both spiritual and secular, was a condition for the salvation of the soul. In 1303, Boniface VIII excommunicated Philip and released his subjects from the oath. In response, the king convened a meeting of the highest nobility and clergy, at which the new chancellor and keeper of the seal of the French kingdom, Guillaume Nogaret de Saint-Felix, accused Boniface of heresy and all kinds of atrocities. Philip, with the consent of the said assembly, sent a small military detachment to Italy led by Nogare and the enemy of the Pope, Ciara Colonna. The Pope, having learned about this, fled from Rome to the city of Alanya (now Anagni). On September 7, 1303, Nogaret and Colonna entered Alagna under the French royal banner and, with the support of the city residents, arrested the Pope. Boniface showed considerable courage, refusing to renounce his rank, despite all the threats. Some chroniclers claimed that Chiara Colonna struck the Pope in the face with an iron glove. A few days later, the mood of the townspeople changed, they expelled Nogare's detachment and freed the Pope. However, Boniface went crazy from the shocks he suffered and died, according to some versions, of hunger, because he refused to eat for fear of poisoning. 10 months later, his successor Benedict XI also died. Rumor blamed Philip for this death, who allegedly ordered the poisoning of the new Pope.

In 1305, after several months of struggle, the Frenchman Bertrand de Gault was elevated to the papal throne, taking the name Clement V. This Pope was obedient to Philip in everything. He fully justified his position in the conflict with Boniface, lifted the king’s excommunication, but refused to fulfill Philip’s demand to condemn the deceased for heresy and unnatural vices and posthumously execute him - dig up the corpse and burn it. At the request of Philip, in 1308, Clement V transferred the papal throne from Rome to Avignon, which was then located in territory not directly subject to the French king, but which was in his sphere of influence. Thus began the “Avignon Captivity of the Popes,” when Roman pontiffs turned into French court bishops. The power of the French crown over the Catholic Church became almost absolute, which was manifested, in particular, in the trial of the Knights Templar. They were accused of heresy, unnatural vices, money-grubbing and an alliance with Muslims, and evidence was obtained through cruel torture, and evidence obtained by the same investigator from different people who did not know each other sometimes coincided verbatim.

In 1308, Philip again convened the Estates General, which approved the king's actions against the Templars. A wave of trials swept across France; Pope Clement V timidly tried to protest, but in the end he confirmed all the charges against the Templars, recognized their executions as legal and in 1311 abolished the order.

Having dealt with the Templars, Philip again turned his gaze towards Flanders, where anti-French forces again intensified. The king decided on a new campaign and, due to a lack of funds, convened the Estates General for the third time on August 1, 1314, this time to approve an emergency tax that would provide funds for waging war with Flanders. It was from this time that the Estates General began to influence the financial affairs of the country. However, the campaign did not take place - on November 20, 1314, Philip died, most likely from a stroke. But, since Pope Clement V and Chancellor Nogare, who condemned the Templars to martyrdom, died shortly before the king, rumor explained Philip’s death by their curse or poisoning committed by the Templars, avenging their brothers.

King Philip the Fair was not liked by his contemporaries, and the violence against the Pope caused outrage throughout the Christian world. People close to the king were afraid of the cold, rational cruelty of this unusually beautiful and surprisingly impassive man. Large feudal lords could not forgive the king for strengthening the central administration, limiting their rights, including the right to mint their own coins, and the king’s preference for rootless officials. The tax-paying class was outraged by the king's financial policies. In an effort to fill the treasury, Philip sold and rented out various positions, made forced loans from cities, reduced the amount of gold in the coin while maintaining its face value, which led to inflation and increased cost of living; and the minting of coins became the exclusive privilege of the sovereign. The population responded to the king's policies with uprisings.

The family life of Philip the Handsome was happy. In 1284, he married Joan of Navarre (1270-1305), who brought her husband the kingdom of Navarre and the county of Champagne as a dowry. They had four children: Louis, King of Navarre (1289-1316), also known as Louis X the Grumpy, King of France from 1314; Philip, Count of Poitiers (1291-1322), also known as Philip V the Long, King of France from 1316; Isabella (1292-1358), married in 1308 to Edward II (1281-1327), king of England from 1307; Charles, Count de la Marche (1294-1328), also known as Charles IV, King of France since 1322. After the death of Jeanne, Philip did not remarry, despite the most lucrative offers. Rumor claimed that he loved the queen so much that after her death he did not know any women at all.

The married life of the children Philip and Jeanne was not so happy. Isabella, who hated her husband, who paid much less attention to his wife than to his favorites, took part in the rebellion that broke out in 1327 and cost Edward II his crown and life. Shortly before Philip's death, in 1314, a scandal broke out in which the wives of his sons were involved. Two of them were convicted of adultery, and the third was convicted of aiding them. The former were sentenced to life imprisonment, the latter to repentance in a monastery. The sentencing of the adulterous princesses and the execution of their lovers were carried out publicly. Contemporaries and descendants wondered: why did the king not try to hide the shame of his family? There is no answer to this day, because the thoughts and feelings of Philip the Handsome, this extremely reserved and always imperturbable person, were not known even to his closest associates. Perhaps, being a devoted husband, he hated adultery; perhaps, possessing an extremely developed sense of royal dignity, he believed that princesses had no right to human weaknesses; Perhaps, considering the royal power responsible for the inviolability of legality in the country, he strictly demanded compliance with the laws (and adultery was considered a crime in the Middle Ages) from everyone without exception, regardless of position. In any case, it is very likely that this event hastened Philip's death.

Philip IV, King of France, received the nickname Handsome due to his aristocratic appearance: portrait painters and sculptors emphasized a proud profile with an aquiline nose, wavy tar hair and deep eyes. However, behind the attractive features hid a strict, cruel character. These qualities made France the strongest state.

Childhood and youth

On April 8 (June) 1268, in the medieval fortress of Fontainebleau, Prince Philip III the Bold of the Capetian dynasty and his first wife Isabella of Aragon had a son. He became the second of four children born to this union.

Even as a child, Philip witnessed terrible events. In 1270, when the boy was two years old, his grandfather Louis IX the Saint died during a crusade. The throne was inherited by Philip III, and his eldest son Louis became the first contender for the throne. Five months later, Isabella of Aragon, the uncrowned queen of France, fell from her horse and died along with her fifth unborn heir. Some time later, Philip's younger brother, Robert, died. He was only three years old.

Under such tragic circumstances, Philip III becomes king. The ceremony took place on August 15, 1271, and six days later he married the daughter of the Duke of Brabant, Maria.

In May 1276, the first heir to the French throne, Philip IV's elder brother Louis, died. Suspicion for his death fell on the king's wife Maria. Despite the endless string of deaths, Philip IV and his only surviving brother Charles lived comfortably, but were raised almost independently.

On August 16, 1284, Philip married a princess from the House of Champagne, Jeanne of Navarre. The marriage turned out to be profitable: it allowed Champagne to be added to the personal lands of Philip IV, and subsequently united France and Navarre.

The year 1285 was tragic for the king of France. The army was defeated by the king of Aragon, Pedro III, and contracted dysentery. Philip III also died from the same disease. The right to inherit the throne passed to 17-year-old Philip IV and his wife Jeanne. The coronation took place at the Abbey of Saint-Denis.

Domestic policy

The first thing that Philip the Fair did when he ascended the throne of the King of France was to remove all of his father’s advisers from affairs and appoint confidants of humble birth to their positions. These actions outraged feudal society, and a rebellion began in the country.

To prevent bloody battles, Philip redrew the state system. He limited the influence of civil society and the church on royal power and established the Treasury (the Court of Accounts), the Parisian Parliament and the Supreme Court - the highest authorities in France.

The changes also affected the tax system. Taxes on land, property, trade and vassal payments were increased, and excise taxes were introduced on the sale of salt, wine and wheat. One of the most stable sources of income for France was extortion from the Jews, and in 1306 Philip the Fair decided to take a serious step: he confiscated all the property of this nation, and then expelled them from the country. With the departure of the Jews, the state treasury began to rapidly empty, and they were allowed to return back. Similar expulsions were repeated more than once during the time of Philip and his heirs.

The King of France tried to impose a state tax on the church. On this basis, Philip clashed with Pope Boniface VIII. In 1296, the pope issued a bull prohibiting kings from imposing taxes on the church and members of the clergy from paying them without papal permission. In response to this measure, Philip banned the export of gold and silver from France. This hit Boniface VIII in the pocket, and he anathematized the king. He, in turn, did not pay any attention to the pope’s curses - the centralization of France had reached such an extent that the ruler could not take into account the opinion of the church.

The conflict repeated in 1301. Then Boniface said that only the state in which church authority reigns is considered sovereign. Philip conspires against the pope. He is taken prisoner and then released, but irreparable damage is done to the mental health of the ruler of the church: he goes crazy and dies. Instead of Boniface, the papacy is assumed by Clement V, a protege of France.

In 1307, Philip the Fair began to fight the Templars, who plotted against the monarchs of France, Spain and Italy. An investigation, secretly organized together with Rome, confirmed that there were bribed members of the Order in all government bodies. They evaded taxes, artificially raised prices, and engaged in speculation. As a result, all exposed members were arrested, and in 1311 Clement V decided to destroy the Order. On March 18, 1314, the great master of the society, Jean de Male, was executed.

Foreign policy

Like his predecessors, Philip sought to make the territory of France larger and the treasury richer. However, there were not many battles in the king's biography. The first armed conflict was the war with England for the province of Guienne in 1294.

Philip got the guinea by deception. He took advantage of the conflict between English and French merchants to summon Edward I, King of England. Edward offered to leave Guienne as collateral while the investigation was conducted. Philip, having settled in the provinces, declared war on England.

In 1304, peace was concluded between the states, under the terms of which Guienne returned to England. Part of the reason for peace was the wedding of Philip's daughter Isabella to Prince Edward II of England.

In 1302, Philip carried out an armed raid on Flanders. Surprisingly, 2,500 soldiers and 4,000 infantry were defeated by the Flanders. Two years later, France won a partial victory and took the cities of Douai, Lille and Bethune.

Personal life

Philip ruled Navarre and France with his wife Joan I from 1285 to 1314. The happy marriage produced seven children, four sons and three daughters:

Margaret (1288). They intended to marry her to Fernando IV, King of Castile and Leon, but at the age of 12 the girl died;
Louis X the Grumpy (1289). He replaced his father on the throne in 1314, and in June 1316, after a tiring game of tennis, he got drunk on cold wine and died of pneumonia and pleurisy;
Blanca (1290-1294);

Philip V the Long (1291). Ruled France and Navarre from 1316. Eight years later he died from numerous illnesses;
Isabella (1292). She married the English King Edward II. The only surviving daughter, Isabella, became one of those who started the Hundred Years' War between England and France;
Charles IV the Handsome (1294-1328). Ruled from 1322. The only one of the sons of Philip IV who left offspring;
Robert (1297-1308).

After the death of his wife in 1305, Philip IV did not remarry. They say that he had no favorites, he remained faithful to his beloved.

Death

On his deathbed, the Grand Master of the Templar Order, Jean de Malet, addressed Clement V and Philip the Fair with a curse:

“Not even a year will pass before I call you to the judgment of God!”

The threat was fulfilled: two weeks after the execution, Clement died, and in November of the same year, Philip the Handsome.

The cause of the king's death was a cerebral stroke. The tragedy happened during a hunt. He is buried in the Basilica of Saint Denis in Paris.

Memory

In The Divine Comedy he often mentions Philip, calling him “the plague of France.”
The portrait of Philip IV the Handsome became central in the novel “The Iron King” by the writer (the “Cursed Kings” cycle). The book tells of the curse that fell on Philip and his descendants up to the thirteenth generation. The idea is developing that this curse caused the death of the Capetian dynasty. Two series of the same name were filmed based on the book - in 1972 and 2005. The roles of Philippe were played by Georges Marchal and Tchéky Karyo. If you take the photo of the second actor and compare it with the images of the King of France, you might think that they are twins.

Documentary film about Philip the Handsome from the series “Seven Days of History”

A six-minute documentary was made about Philip's life. It was shown in 2011 in the TV show “Seven Days of History.”
In the computer game Assassin's Creed Unity there is also an episode with the execution of Jean de Male. They call Philip the “corrupt king of France.”
Based on the same events, the series “Fall of the Order” was released in 2017.