Philip the Good 573Philip IV the Fair(1268–1314) king of France
Born between April and June in 1268, Philip was the
grandson of LOUISIX and the second son of King Philip
III the Bold (1245–85) and Isabella of ARAGON(d. 1271).
In 1285 he succeeded his father, who had died on a failed
Crusade against Aragon in support of his brother CHARLES
I OFANJOU. Philip IV soon restored peaceful relations
with the Aragonese. Promoting the reputation of his
ancestor Louis IX, he obtained his canonization in 1297.
Conventionally pious and voicing moral imperatives, he
maintained a realistic political program to enforce, con-
solidate, and expand royal authority and sovereignty. He
sought to reduce the power of the great FIEFSor counties
of his realm such as FLANDERS, waging a long war but
suffering a serious defeat at the Battle of COURTRAIin
1302.
MAJOR CONFLICTS WITH THE PAPACYHe then confronted the pretensions of papal theocratic
power over his kingdom by prosecuting clerics for
crimes, refusing to permit papal taxation, and imposing
emergency royal taxation on the church. These acts led to
a confrontation with Pope BONIFACE VIII who was
assaulted by one of his ministers in 1303, Philip was the
antagonist against whom the papal bull Unam Sanctam
was issued. He dismantled the rich crusader order of the
TEMPLARS. Papal prestige suffered a precipitous decline
because of its failures in this confrontation. He relied on
advisers trained in the newly evolving system of Roman
LAWthat promoted secular central authority and indepen-
dence from ecclesiastical control. The French Estates
General, representing all ranks of society, convened for
the first time in 1302 to discuss these controversies with
the papacy.
FINANCIAL DIFFICULTIES UNRESOLVEDDiffering from the policies followed by Louis IX and
Philip III, Philip IV the Fair concentrated his political
efforts on internally strengthening royal control of his
own kingdom. He let his brother, Charles of Valois
(1270–1325), pursue ambitions outside the kingdom.
Philip often discussed crusading but never actually cru-
saded. He had major problems in financing his wars
against EDWARDI and Flanders. He expanded taxation as
much as he was able, debased the COINAGE, and defaulted
on and attacked the resources of his Italian bankers. In
1306 he expelled the JEWSfrom his kingdom and confis-
cated their property. But none of these measures solved
his fiscal difficulties, and the manipulation of the coinage
caused considerable harm to the economy. Philip tried to
use the marriage connections of his children for allies
with limited success. There was a strong reaction against
his ambitions and unscrupulous policies on his death.
His successor, Louis X the Quarrelsome (r. 1314–16), had
to make numerous concessions in royal prerogatives. At
age 46, Philip died on November 29, 1314.
See also AVIGNON AND THE AVIGNONESE PAPACY;
CLEMENTV, POPE;PARIS AND THEUNIVERSITY OFPARIS.
Further reading:Franklin J. Pegues, The Lawyers of
the Last Capetians(Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University
Press, 1962); Joseph R Strayer, The Reign of Philip the Fair
(Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1980); Eliza-
beth A. R. Brown, Customary Aids and Royal Finance in
Capetian France: The Marriage Aid of Philip the Fair
(Cambridge, Mass.: Mediaeval Academy of America,
1992); Charles T. Wood, ed., Philip the Fair and Boniface
VIII: State vs. Papacy(New York: Holt, Rinehart, 1967).Philip the Good(1396–1467)duke of Burgundy
Born on July 31, 1396, Philip was the son and successor
of John the Fearless (r. 1404–19), the duke of BURGUNDY
and count of FLANDERS. When his father was assassinated
in 1419, he became duke of many of the wealthiest
regions of FRANCEand the Low Countries. He blamed the
assassination of his father on King CHARLES VII of
FRANCE. He reigned for 47 years and conferred prosperity,
prestige, and territorial expansion on his lands because
he was an astute diplomat and judicious warrior. Philip
tried to pursue an independent role among ENGLAND,
France, and the empire. In the Treaty of Troyes in 1420,
he allied with HENRYV of England, in an arrangement
that enabled him to augment his control of his French
holdings and solidify his possessions in the Low Coun-
tries. He expanded his domain by a second agreement in
1422 and a third treaty in 1430. His conquests of HOL-
LAND between 1425 and 1433 and of Luxembourg in
1443 and peaceful acquisitions of Namur in 1420 and
BRABANTin 1430 greatly increased his territories. Philip,
however, failed in 1447 to acquire the Crown of a
restored kingdom of Lotharingia around the Rhine from
the emperor Frederick III (r. 1452–93).
Within France, Philip offered little support to the
government of Henry VI (r. 1422–61, 1470–71) of
England. He later even aligned himself with his old
enemy, Charles VII, in 1435 in the Treaty of Arras. Wary
of a revived French monarchy, Philip sat out the last
campaigns of the HUNDREDYEARS’WARbut gave shelter
to the fugitive dauphin, the future LOUISXI, in 1456.
Despite this, his duchy was threatened again with war
by the French Crown at the end of his reign.HISTORICAL HINDSIGHT
Philip made much of ideas of CHIVALRYto strengthen the
cohesiveness of his duchy, founding the Order of the
Golden Fleece to link the nobility of his territories and
to define a relationship with princes outside it. His
court was famous for its spectacle, ritual, and festivals,
all confirming his wealth and prestige. On the personal
level, he played the role of handsome, courageous,
pious, self-indulgent, and extravagant model chivalric
KNIGHTand king.