and most of the crusading activity of the 13th century was led or influenced by Louis IX.
In 1303, Philip IV did make an open break with the papacy, when he captured Boniface
VIII, but by then the Capetians had the support of the French bishops. Succeeding popes
at Avignon were firmly under the influence of the French kings, even though their see
was officially in the empire, not the French kingdom.
Despite their good relations with the church, the Capetians were not great
ecclesiastical patrons. Dukes and counts were much more generous to the French
monaster ies. Long after kings and popes had agreed on the minimal role the kings were
to play in the selection of new bishops, the crown still attemped to influence episcopal
elections and to seize episcopal property during a vacancy. The 12th-and 13th-century
monarchs issued diplomas of confirmation and immunity for an increasing number of
churches, but this practice was tied more closely to the spread of their political power
than to religious sentiment. The ecclesiastical hierarchy was, however, practical enough
to recognize that the French kings were the best friends it was likely to have.
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