General Notes

REFN: 12020AN
Philip VI of Valois (French: Philippe VI de Valois; 1293 – August 22, 135
0) was the King of France from 1328 to his death, and Count of Anjou, Main
e, and Valois 1325–1328. He was the son of Charles of Valois and founded t
he Valois Dynasty.
In 1328, King Charles IV died without a direct male descendant, howeve
r, at the time of his death his wife was pregnant. Philip was one of the t
wo chief claimants to the throne along with the demands of Dowager Queen I
sabella of England, the late King Charles' sister, who claimed the Fren
ch throne for her young son King Edward III of England. Philip rose to t
he regency with support of French magnates, following the pattern s
et up by Philip V's succession over his niece Joan II of Navarre, and Char
les IV's succession over all his nieces, including daughters of Phil
ip V. A century later this pattern became the Salic law, which forbade fem
ales and those descended in the female line from succeeding to the thron
e. After Charles' queen, Jeanne d'Evreux, gave birth to a girl, Philip w
as crowned as King on May 27, 1328 at the Cathedral in Reims.
Philip VI, though a descendant of Garcia VI of Navarre, was not an heir n
or a descendant of Joan I of Navarre, whose inheritance (the kingdom of Na
varre, as well as the counties of Champagne, Troyes, Meaux and Brie) had b
een in personal union with the crown of France almost fifty years and h
ad long been administered by the same royal machinery (established by Phil
ip IV, the father of French bureaucracy), which administrative resource w
as inherited by Philip VI. These counties were closely entrenched in the e
conomic and administrative entity of the Royal Domain of France, being loc
ated adjacent to Ile-de-France. Philip, however, was not entitled to th
at inheritance; the rightful heiress was Louis X's surviving daughter, t
he future Joan II of Navarre, the genealogically senior granddaughter of J
oan I of Navarre. Philip ceded Navarre to Joan II, but regarding the count
ies in Champagne, they struck a deal: Joan II received vast lands in Norma
ndy (adjacent to her husbands fief in Evreux) in compensation, and Phil
ip got to keep Champagne as part of the Royal Domain.
In July, 1313, Philippe had married Jeanne, (Joan the Lame), daughter of R
obert II, Duke of Burgundy and princess Agnes of France, the youngest daug
hter of Louis IX. In an ironic twist to his "male" ascendancy to the thron
e, the intelligent, strong-willed Joan, an able regent of France during t
he King's long military campaigns, was said to be the brains behind the th
rone and the real ruler of France.
Their children were:
John II (April 26, 1319   April 8, 1364)
Marie (1326 1333)
Louis (January 17, 1328   January 17, 1328)
Louis (June 8, 1330   June 23, 1330)
Jean (1333–1333)
Philip of Valois (1336 1375), Duke of Orleans
Jeanne (1337 1337)
After Joan died in 1348, Philip married Blanche d'Evreux, princess of Nava
rre, daughter of the queen regnant Joan II of Navarre, on January 11, 135
0. They had one daughter: Jeanne (1351–1371).
Philip VI died at Nogent-le-Roi, Eure-et-Loir on August 22, 1350 and is in
terred with his second wife, Blanche de Navarre (1330–1398) in Saint Den
is Basilica. He was succeeded by his first son by Jeanne of Burgundy, w
ho became John II.
Philip's reign was punctuated with crises. It began with military succe
ss in Flanders at the Battle of Cassel (August 1328), where Philip's forc
es reseated Louis I of Flanders, who had been unseated by a popular revolu
tion. The able Jeanne gave the first of many demonstrations of her compete
nce as regent in his absence.
Philip initially enjoyed relatively amicable relations with Edward III, a
nd they planned a crusade together in 1332, which was never executed. Howe
ver, the status of the Duchy of Aquitaine remained a sore point, and tensi
on increased. Philip provided refuge for David II of Scotland in 1334 a
nd declared himself