married Jeanne, daughter of Count Otto of Burgundy and Countess Mahaut of Artois.
Because of a marriage contract concluded with Philip IV in 1295, Jeanne brought to
France the county of Burgundy, held of the empire. From 1307, Philip was count of
Burgundy and in 1311 was made count of Poitiers, but he had little power until Philip IV
died. Louis X increased Philip’s apanage and in August 1315 revoked Philip IV’s
deathbed restriction of Poitiers to male heirs. At Louis’s death, Philip was in Lyon
pressing for the election of a pope. As “first brother of the king” he received pledges of
fidelity before returning to Paris for a second funeral service for Louis, which enabled
him, as possible successor, to be present at a ceremony of interment. A solemn agreement
regarding the succession, concluded on July 16, 1316, made Philip regent. It was vitiated
by the birth and death of Louis’s posthumous son in November 1316, and Philip was
crowned on January 9, 1317.
Philip was a popular king. His wife had been cleared of adultery charges, and the
couple had four daughters, and a son who died in February 1317. Philip showered his
wife with property, including in September 1318 full rights to the county of Burgundy.
During his reign, Philip instituted reform of central and local administration, reclaimed
alienated crown lands, pacified the leagues that had disrupted Louis X’s reign, received
the homage of his brother-in-law Edward II of England, and achieved peace with
Flanders. In 1321, he made an unprecedented, far-seeing, though finally abortive effort to
secure the realm’s financial support for reforming the coinage and weights and measures
and for recovering crown lands.
Philip died on January 2/3, 1322, after a wasting illness. In the absence of a male heir,
the crown passed to his brother, Charles of La Marche.
Elizabeth A.R.Brown
Lehugeur, Paul. Histoire de Philippe le Long, roi de France (1316–1322). Paris: Hachette, 1897.
——. Philippe le Long, roi de France, 1316–1322: le mécanisme du gouvernement. Paris: Sirey,
1931.
Brown, Elizabeth A.R. The Monarchy of Capetian France and Royal Ceremonial London:
Variorum, 1991.
——. Politics and Institutions in Capetian France. London: Variorum, 1991.
PHILIP VI
(1293–1350). First Valois king of France, 1328–50. The son of Charles of Valois (brother
of King Philip IV the Fair) and Marguerite, daughter of Charles II of Naples, Philip did
not become an important figure until he inherited the counties of Valois, Anjou, and
Maine from his father in 1325. By that time, the reigning monarch was Philip’s first
cousin Charles IV, who had no son or surviving brother. When Charles died at the end of
January 1328, he left a pregnant queen, and the French magnates named Philip of Valois
regent, with the understanding that he would become king if the queen gave birth to a
daughter.
When a daughter was indeed born on April 1, Philip VI became king. He was crowned
at Reims late in May, and then, at the behest of an important supporter, Louis I of
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