King Philip (The Fair) Capet of France IV

• General Notes
  • Philippe IV, the Fair (French Philippe le Bel) (1268 - November 29, 1314) was King of France from 1285 to 1314. A member of the Capetian Dynasty, he was born at the Royal Palace of Fontainebleau, Seine-et-Marne the son of King Philippe III and Isabelle d'Aragon. He was called Philippe the Fair because of his handsome appearance. As king, he was determined to strengthen the monarchy at any cost.
    
    - Philippe IV -
    Philippe married Jeanne of Navarre (1271-1305) on August 16, 1284.
    
    King Philippe IV arrested Jews so he could seize their goods to accommodate his spendthrift lifestyle. When he also levied taxes on the French clergy of one half their annual income, he caused an uproar within the Roman Catholic Church and the papacy. Still, Philippe emerged victorious with a French archbishop made Pope Clement V and the official papal palace was built in Avignon in southern France.
    
    On October 13, 1307, what may have been all the Knights Templar in France were simultaneously arrested by agents of Philippe the Fair, to be later tortured into admitting heresy in the Order. A modern historical view is that Philippe, who seized the treasury and broke up the monastic banking system, simply sought to control it for himself.
    
    Philippe IV's rule signaled the decline of the papacy's power from its near complete authority. He died in a hunting accident and is buried in Saint Denis Basilica.
    
    The children of Philippe IV and Jeanne of Navarre were:
    Louis X - (October 4, 1289 - June 5, 1316)
    Isabelle - (1292 - August 23, 1358)
    Philippe V - (1293 - January 3, 1322)
    Charles IV - (1294 - February 1, 1328)
    
    All three of their sons would become king of France and their daughter, Queen of England.
    
    He was succeeded by his son, Louis X.
    
    
    Philip IV (of France), called The Fair (1268-1314), king of France (1285-1314), known for his conflict with the papacy. The son and successor of King Philip III, he was born in Fontainebleau. Through marriage he became the ruler of Navarre and Champagne. Between 1294 and 1296 he seized Guienne, in southwestern France, a possession of Edward I, king of England. In 1297 war ensued with England and with Flanders, England's ally. Under the terms of a truce made in 1299, Philip withdrew from Guienne and Edward withdrew from Flanders, leaving it to the French. A revolt broke out at Brugge (Bruges), however, and at the Battle of Courtrai in 1302, the French army was disastrously defeated by Flemish burghers.
    
    The great event of Philip's reign was his struggle with Pope Boniface VIII, which grew out of Philip's attempt to levy taxes against the clergy. By the bull Clericis Laicos (1296) Boniface forbade the clergy to pay taxes to a secular power, and Philip replied by forbidding the export of coins, thereby depriving the pope of French revenues. A temporary reconciliation was ended by a fresh outbreak of the quarrel when Philip arrested the papal legate in 1301 and summoned the first French Estates-General. This assembly, which was composed of clergy, nobles, and burghers, gave support to Philip. Boniface retaliated with the celebrated bull Unam Sanctam (1302), a declaration of papal supremacy. Philip's partisans then imprisoned Boniface. The pope escaped but died soon afterward.
    
    In 1305 Philip obtained the election of one of his own adherents as pope, Clement V, and compelled him to reside in France. Thus began the so-called Babylonian Captivity of the papacy (1309-77), during which the popes lived at Avignon and were subjected to French control.
    
    In 1307 Philip arrested Grand Master Jacques de Molay of the Knights Templar, and in 1312 he forced the pope to suppress the religious and military order. Their wealth was confiscated by the king, and many members were burned at the stake. Also, as a result of his financial needs, Philip greatly increased taxes, debased the coinage several times, and arrested the Jews and the Lombards (Italian bankers), appropriating the assets of the former and demanding large subsidies from the latter. He died October 29, 1314, at Fontainebleau.
    
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Click here for details of The Fair's family with Jeanne of Narvarre

¹ http://wc.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=PED&db=jdp-fam&id=I4242&style=TABLE
² http://wc.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=jdp-fam&id=I9498

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