Philip IV the (not so) Fair of France

 

As we saw HERE, the power of the vassals in the medieval Kingdom of France began being limited during the reign of Louis VI the Fat.

This process went on for quite a while, until, during the reign of Philip IV the Fair, the power of the vassals was limited as never before whereas that of the medieval French monarchy reached its peak, surpassing even the papacy. Philip's favourite motto was, 'Only God is above the King.'

Regarding Philip's nickname, mind you, fair in this case means beautiful, not just. For, although I don't know whether that guy was beautiful (I'm not attracted to the male gender anyway), one could say he was anything but just.

But let's take things from the top. Philip became a king in 1285. One year earlier, he had married Joan of Navarre, when he was 16 and she was 11. And even though, nowadays, that would be borderline gross and require an FBI alert, by medieval standards, they made a pretty lovely couple whose life could be a fairytale.

Unfortunately, it wasn't. You see, poor Joan died in 1305, with Philip refusing to marry again (for all his flaws, he was a devoted husband!) By that time, Philip had been engaging into various wars.

The causes of the Anglo-French war of 1294-1303 were naval rivalry between France and England, Philip's annoying habit of calling King Edward I of England Duke of Aquitaine (because the latter also possessed that French duchy) and treating him as a vassal in general although they were essentially peers and, most importantly, Philip's refusal to return to England Gascony (which the French King was supposed to keep only temporarily, as part of a deal regarding the wedding between Edward and Philip's sister, Margaret).

Although, in the beginning, that conflict seemed to be going in Philip's favor, there was no clear winner. The war ended with the Treaty of Paris in 1303, where Philip married his 8 year old daughter, Isabella, to Edward I's son, the 19 year old Edward (more FBI alerts!)

Philip also engaged into warfare with Flanders in order to suppress a rebellion there. And although he was defeated at the Battle of the Golden Spurs (1302), he eventually won that war (1305) and annexed the cities of Lille, Douai and Bethune.

However, all that warfare depleted the royal treasury. In his attempt to get some quick cash, Philip took out loans from various guys: Jews living in France, Lombard merchants and, mainly, the Knights Templar; the last was a military order founded soon after the First Crusade (we talked a lot about that Crusade HERE) with the intention of protecting Christians going on pilgrimages to the Holy Land, though, eventually, they evolved into the first banking corporation in history!

Moreover, the war expenses forced Philip to debase the currency, which led the nation into poverty and misery. The citizens were frustrated.

To make matters worse, sooner or later, Philip had to somehow pay his debts. And what do you do when you are in debt to almost everybody and their momma and have no idea how the hell you can pay? 

Well, if you are an ordinary person, you either change your name into Mickey Mouse or something, find a fake ID card and go somewhere very far away to start a new, not so enviable life or take responsibility as a man and spend an even less enviable life in jail, where you will be anything but a man once you drop the soap.

If, on the other hand, you happen to be a king, you can always declare your lenders heretics, disband them, erase your own debt and, as a pleasant bonus, confiscate their property. Which is what Philip did to the Knights Templar. Also, he expelled the Jews from the country and arrested the Lombard merchants, whom he forced to 'buy' French nationality. Easy peasy!

Many Templars were burnt at stake after being tortured into confessing that they were heretics. Well, not everything can be funny. 😔

Philip's relations with the Pope weren't exactly loving either. The hostility culminated in 1301, when Philip had Bishop Bernard Saisset of Pamiers arrested on charges of treason.

Pope Boniface VIII was like, 'Not cool, dude. Remember that time (1297) I acknowledged the royal right to levy taxes on clergy, even without the consent of My Holiness? Well, you can kiss that goodbye! And now tell the French bishops to move their asses and come over to Rome so that we can further discuss.'

Philip summoned what was essentially the first Estates General (something similar to the English Parliament, which we extensively talked about HERE) in history, where he condemned the Pope.

Eventually, Boniface was arrested in Anagni by men of Guillame de Nogaret, one of Philip's councillors. He escaped but died soon after.

Clement V, who was elected pope in 1305 due to Philip's intervention, was essentially a pawn of the French king. The official seat of the papacy was moved from Rome to Avignon. And so, what is known as the Babylonian captivity of the papacy (1309-1376) began.

Philip died of a stroke in 1314. The failure of his naughty daughters in law (they all were accused of adultery) to give birth to boys led to a succession crisis, the Hundred Years' War. But that's another story!

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