Philip IV of France
Philip IV, called Philip the Fair, was King of France from 1285 to 1314. By virtue of his marriage with Joan I of Navarre, he was also King of Navarre and Count of Champagne as Philip I from 1284 to 1305. Although Philip was known to be handsome, hence the epithet le Bel, his rigid, autocratic, imposing, and inflexible personality gained him other nicknames, such as the Iron King. His fierce opponent Bernard Saisset, bishop of Pamiers, said of him: "He is neither man nor beast. He is a statue."
Philip, seeking to reduce the wealth and power of the nobility and clergy, relied instead on educated and skilful civil servants, such as Guillaume de Nogaret and Enguerrand de Marigny, to govern the kingdom. The king, who sought an uncontested monarchy, compelled his vassals by wars and restricted their feudal privileges, paving the way for the transformation of France from a feudal country to a centralised early modern state. Internationally, Philip's ambitions made him highly influential in European affairs, and for much of his reign, he sought to place his relatives on foreign thrones. Princes from his house ruled in Hungary and in the Kingdom of Naples, and he tried and failed to make another relative the Holy Roman Emperor.
The most notable conflicts of Philip's reign include a dispute with the English over King EdwardI's duchy in southwestern France and a war with the County of Flanders, who had rebelled against French royal authority and humiliated Philip at the Battle of the Golden Spurs in 1302. The war with the Flemish resulted in Philip's ultimate victory, after which he received a significant portion of Flemish cities, which were added to the crown lands along with a vast sum of money. Domestically, his reign was marked by struggles with the Jews and the Knights Templar. In heavy debt to both groups, Philip saw them as a "state within the state" and a recurring threat to royal power. In 1306 Philip expelled the Jews from France, followed by the total destruction of the Knights Templar in 1307. To further strengthen the monarchy, Philip tried to tax and impose state control over the Catholic Church in France, leading to a violent dispute with Pope Boniface VIII. The ensuing conflict saw the pope's residence at Anagni attacked in September 1303 by French forces with the support of the Colonna family. Pope Boniface was captured and held hostage for several days. This eventually led to the Avignon Papacy of 1309 to 1376.
His final year saw a scandal amongst the royal family, known as the Tour de Nesle affair, in which King Philip's three daughters-in-law were accused of adultery. His three sons were successively kings of France: Louis X, Philip V, and Charles IV. Their rapid successive deaths without surviving sons of their own would compromise the future of the French royal house, which had until then seemed secure, precipitating a succession crisis that eventually led to the Hundred Years' War.
Youth
A member of the House of Capet, Philip was born in 1268 in the medieval fortress of Fontainebleau to the future Philip III, the Bold, and his first wife, Isabella of Aragon. His father was the heir apparent of France, being the eldest surviving son of King Louis IX.In August 1270, when Philip was two years old, his grandfather died while on Crusade, his father became king, and his elder brother Louis became heir apparent. Only five months later, in January 1271, Philip's mother died after falling from a horse; she was pregnant with her fifth child at the time and had not yet been crowned queen beside her husband. A few months later, one of Philip's younger brothers, Robert, also died. Philip's father was finally crowned king at Rheims on 15 August 1271. Six days later, he married again; Philip's stepmother was Marie, daughter of the duke of Brabant.
In May 1276, Philip's elder brother Louis died, and the eight-year-old Philip became heir apparent. It was suspected that Louis had been poisoned and that his stepmother, Marie of Brabant, had instigated the murder. One reason for these rumours was the fact that the queen had given birth to her own first son the month Louis died. However, both Philip and his surviving full brother Charles lived well into adulthood and raised large families of their own.
The scholastic part of Philip's education was entrusted to Guillaume d'Ercuis, his father's almoner.
After the unsuccessful Aragonese Crusade against Peter III of Aragon, which ended in October 1285, Philip may have negotiated an agreement with Peter for the safe withdrawal of the Crusader army. This pact is attested to by Catalan chroniclers. Joseph Strayer points out that such a deal was probably unnecessary, as Peter had little to gain from provoking a battle with the withdrawing French or angering the young Philip, who had friendly relations with Aragon through his mother.
Philip married Queen Joan I of Navarre on 16 August 1284. The two were affectionate and devoted to each other and Philip refused to remarry after Joan's death in 1305, despite the great political and financial rewards of doing so. The primary administrative benefit of the marriage was Joan's inheritance of Champagne and Brie, which were adjacent to the royal demesne in Ile-de-France, and thus effectively were united to the king's own lands, expanding his realm. The annexation of wealthy Champagne increased the royal revenues considerably, removed the autonomy of a large semi-independent fief and expanded royal territory eastward. Philip also gained Lyon for France in 1312.
Navarre remained in personal union with France, beginning in 1284 under Philip and Joan, for 44 years. The Kingdom of Navarre in the Pyrenees was poor but had a degree of strategic importance. When in 1328 the Capetian line went extinct, the new Valois king, Philip VI, attempted to permanently annex the lands to France, compensating the lawful claimant, Joan II of Navarre, senior heir of Philip IV, with lands elsewhere in France. However, pressure from Joan II's family led to Phillip VI surrendering the land to Joan in 1329, and the rulers of Navarre and France were again different individuals.
Reign
After marrying Joan I of Navarre, and becoming Philip I of Navarre, Philip ascended the French throne at the age of 17. He was crowned as King on 6 January 1286 in Reims. As king, Philip was determined to strengthen the monarchy at any cost. He relied, more than any of his predecessors, on a professional bureaucracy of legalists. To the public he kept aloof, and left specific policies, especially unpopular ones, to his ministers; as such he was compared to a "useless owl" by Bishop Saisset. Others like William of Nogaret idealized him, praising him for his piety and support of the Church. His reign marks the transition to a more centralized administration, characterized by the emergence or consolidation of the King's Council, the Parlement and the Court of Auditors, a move, under a certain historical reading, towards modernity.Foreign policy and wars
War against England
As the duke of Aquitaine, English King Edward I was a vassal to Philip and had to pay him homage. Following the Fall of Acre in 1291, however, the former allies started to show dissent.In 1293, following feuding between English and French sailors that led to several seized ships and the sacking of La Rochelle, Philip summoned Edward to the French court. The English king sought to negotiate the matter via ambassadors sent to Paris, but they were turned away with a blunt refusal. Philip addressed Edward as a duke, a vassal, and nothing more, despite the international implications of the relationship between England and France.
Edward next attempted to use family connections to achieve what open politics had not. He sent his brother Edmund Crouchback, who was Philip's cousin as well as his step-father-in-law, in attempts to negotiate with the French royal family and avert war. Additionally, Edward had by that time become betrothed by proxy to Philip's sister Margaret, and, in the event of the negotiations being successful, Edmund was to escort Margaret back to England for her wedding to Edward.
An agreement was indeed reached; it stated that Edward would temporarily relinquish Gascony to Philip as a sign of submission in his capacity as the duke of Aquitaine. In return, Philip would forgive Edward and restore Gascony after a grace period. Philip would also revoke the previous summons to Edward to appear in the parliament of Paris, and meet the English king at Amiens. It was further agreed that Edward was to marry Philip IV's sister Margaret. On 3 February 1294, orders were given by Edward I to allow the French to take possession of the Gascon strongholds.
Philip IV, however, again summoned Edward I on 21 April, to appear personally before the French court. Edward rejected the summons, and on 19 May he was forfeited of Aquitaine, Gascony and other French possessions for failure to appear in person. A French army was then sent to occupy the confiscated territories. In response Edward I renounced his homage to Philip IV and began preparations for war.
The ensuing 1294–1303 Gascon War was the inevitable result of the competitive expansionist monarchies, but the direct campaigns between the two countries in Aquitaine and Flanders were inconclusive. Instead, the larger consequences were from the taxation undertaken to pay for them and in the alliances used. France initiated the Auld Alliance between itself and Scotland, underwriting much of the prolonged First Scottish War of Independence. Meanwhile, England assisted Flanders in its own war against France; the decimation of a generation of French nobility at the Battle of the Golden Spurs forced Philip to abandon his occupation of Aquitaine.
Pursuant to the terms of the interim 1299 Treaty of Montreuil, the marriage of Philip's young daughter Isabella to Edward's son EdwardII was celebrated at Boulogne on 25 January 1308. Meant to further seal a lasting peace, it eventually produced an English claimant to the French throne itself, leading to the Hundred Years' War.