All contemporaries agree in describing Philip as a man with a beautiful and noble appearance and graceful manners, but when characterizing his style of government, assessments differ. Some testify that the king was a purposeful man of iron will and rare energy. Others characterize him as a meek and pious person, kind, forgiving and trusting, who often fell under the influence of others. The political line under him was carried out by humble upstart people: Chancellor Pierre Flotte, Keeper of the Royal Seal Guillaume Nogaret and Coadjutor Enguerrand Marigny, to whom all the troubles and abuses that occurred during the reign of Philip are attributed.
Having become king, Philip immediately stopped the Aragonese war and recognized the Aragonese dynasty. In 1295, Philip summoned him to trial as his vassal, and when he refused, he began a war against him. The German king, the counts, and the king were on the side. Philip was supported by the counts and the duke and the king. While he was fighting with the Scots, Philip attacked. Lille, Douai, Bruges and Ghent were captured practically without resistance. However, the strict rules introduced by the French ruler Jacques of Chatillon did not please the Flemings. In 1301 and 1302, uprisings broke out in Bruges. The second of them soon spread to the entire province. In just one day, more than 3 thousand French knights and soldiers were killed in Bruges. An army led by Robert II of Artois was thrown against the rebels, but it was defeated at the Battle of Courtrai. Thousands of spurs taken from the slain knights were piled up in the Maastricht church as trophies. In 1304, the king himself led an army of 60,000. The Flemish army was besieged in Lille, and after several unsuccessful assaults, peace was concluded. was returned to the count, who was in French captivity. For his release, he had to pay a substantial indemnity. As collateral, Philip left himself the lands on the right bank of the Lys, but, having received the money, he violated the agreement and did not return the lands.
At the same time, Philip's relations with Rome began to deteriorate sharply. The Pope, while still a cardinal, was on friendly terms with Philip. However, in 1296 the pope issued a bull prohibiting the laity from demanding and receiving subsidies from the clergy. Philip responded by banning the export of gold and silver from France. The Pope stopped receiving his income from France. The pope's position on the throne was quite precarious, and he backed down, but the relationship between the king and the pope began to deteriorate sharply. Soon the Archbishop of Narbonne wrote to the pope complaining about the arbitrariness of royal dignitaries in his domain. To resolve the issue, he sent the Bishop of Pamiers, Bernard Sesse, an arrogant and hot-tempered man, to Paris. Bernard began to threaten the king with an interdict. The angry Philip took him into custody and demanded that the pope depose the rebellious bishop. The Pope sent a bull in which he demanded the release of Bernard. Philip burned it on the porch of Notre Dame Cathedral. In 1302, he convened the first States General in the history of France. The king read a specially prepared forged bull to the deputies and enlisted their support in protecting the French state and church from violations of their rights.
In April 1303 he excommunicated Philip from the church. In response, the king declared him an antipope, a heretic and a warlock and demanded that an ecumenical council be convened to hear the accusations against him. In the summer, the faithful Guillaume Nogaret was sent to Rome with a large sum of money. Having united with the enemies of the pope, he formed a vast conspiracy. The rioters broke into the palace in Anagni, began to shower the pope with insults, threatened with arrest and demanded his abdication. Unable to withstand these attacks, he lost his mind and died in October of the same year. The new pope excommunicated Nogaret, but did not touch Philip. A year later he also died. The new pope under the name was Archbishop of Bordeaux Bertrand de Gault. He did not go to Rome, but was ordained in Lyon. In 1309 he settled in Aviyon, making this city the papal residence instead of Rome, and until his death he was an obedient executor of the royal will. In particular, in 1307, Clement agreed with the charges against the Templar Order, to which Philip owed a huge sum. 140 knights were arrested and the order's property was confiscated. In March 1314, the head of the order, Jacques de Molay, was burned, but before his death he cursed Philip and his entire family, predicting end soon Capetian dynasty. Philip himself was not yet old and in good health, and also had three adult sons, and therefore did not take the prophecy seriously. However, soon after this he fell ill with a strange debilitating illness that no doctor could recognize, and died on November 29, 1314.
The era of Philip the Fair was a turning point in the history of France. Philip further expanded the royal domain, subjugated the church and feudal lords, and introduced royal courts and Roman law. State life took on a completely different character than under his predecessors. However, the curse of Jacques de Molay hangs over the Capetians...
A. VENEDIKTOV - And indeed, everything is “wrong”, as always, with Natalya Basovskaya, a historian, we find out that everything was not written like that, at least by writers. Good afternoon
N. BASOVSKAYA - Good afternoon!
A. VENEDIKTOV - There are people slandered in fiction, there are people... undeservedly, there are people exalted undeservedly in the same “heroic” books, right? And today we chose a story with Natalya Basovskaya, here, strange story, associated with Philip IV the Fair, the French king, and as part of this theme is his history, his personal, personal history with the Order of the Templars, which he dispersed. There, he did something else with them - burned them, hanged them, dispersed them - it turns out that there were only 150 knights, not so many, by today's standards.
N. BASOVSKAYA – It was a lot back then.
A. VENEDIKTOV - Yes. Philip the Handsome. How do we know about him? We know about him, naturally, from Druon’s books “The Iron King” - that’s what they called him, the Iron King. And the first acquaintance with the Templars was at normal people, among normal people - happened in Walter Scott’s book “Ivanhoe”: the templars are, in fact, the Templars. Burando Bualgiver. Everyone is bad: Philip the Iron is bad, the Templars are bad. What kind of people were they, what kind of conflict was there, where did such an iron king in France come from, and why did he do this to the order?
N. BASOVSKAYA - Historical science can clarify something here, but in the light of our transmission, with an atypical result: so, something like this. At one time, studying very carefully the events of this era - around the Hundred Years' War, before it, during the Hundred Years' War - I read a lot of sources from the 14th, 15th, 12th centuries. Well, in particular, today we are concerned with XIV. And I became convinced that Maurice Druon was amazingly accurate and documentary. We had a very interesting situation in Soviet time- the so-called waste paper campaign was announced...
A. VENEDIKTOV - Yes!..
N. BASOVSKAYA - My modern students do not understand what this is. With what amazement they listen that it was possible to hand over a mountain of waste paper - first of all, they handed over any party seal.
A. VENEDIKTOV - Yes.
N. BASOVSKAYA - Which we were forcibly signed up for, get a coupon and buy a book by Maurice Druon, from the series “ Damn kings" There was a very funny effect: the spontaneously anti-monarchical Soviet people at that time called this series, reading it with enthusiasm, “Cursed Kings,” putting some kind of class content into this completely different story, the story of damnation. And I gradually became convinced of how accurate Druon is. He and I, I will say modestly - I later met him in life, I have great respect for him - read the same sources - chronicles, first of all, in which this story is described in great detail, documents, for example, between the pope and the king correspondence, menacing correspondence, irritated, stories from different chroniclers - they compared them. They say that Druon was probably helped by a certain group of young historians.
A. VENEDIKTOV - Well, good. Who is against it?
N. BASOVSKAYA - But for me - in the Soviet tradition, lonely soviet woman How on railway moving sleepers, so I was alone with these hundreds, or even thousands of documents.
A. VENEDIKTOV - Is it really Philip, he had two nicknames - the French usually called their kings quite accurately. If he’s Lazy, then he’s Lazy, if he’s Bald, he’s definitely Bald. So was he really Handsome and Iron?
N. BASOVSKAYA - It is believed that yes. In fact, beauty, the concept of beauty had its own...
A. VENEDIKTOV - Well, yes...
N. BASOVSKAYA - It necessarily presupposed physical strength, power, according to those standards. He definitely had to be strong. But the Lazy of those times, a little earlier, the early Capetians, is not necessarily lazy, not even always. This is the one who rules weakly, the one who fails. Since the time of the early Merovingians, predecessors of the Capetians. Well, Philip IV, who reigned from 1285 to 1314, is remembered. He was bright. And in the literature it is reflected approximately like this, but science, of course, can explain more about it. From the point of view of science, the main thing about him was not just his violent character, cruelty, and energetic politics. The politician of the New Age appeared in him.
A. VENEDIKTOV - Do you know, Natalya Ivanovna, in personal life- when I was reading, preparing for the program, I also read something there - it turns out that he was an absolutely outstanding king in the sense that he was an exemplary family man.
N. BASOVSKAYA - Loved.
A. VENEDIKTOV - They walked left and right, and he...
N. BASOVSKAYA - He loved his children, loved his wife, and could not imagine the terrible fate that awaited his children, first of all, in connection with this future curse. So that's what showed through. He is the grandson of Louis IX the Saint, a classic medieval king. Well…
A. VENEDIKTOV - “Everything to Jerusalem, to Jerusalem, to Jerusalem.”
N. BASOVSKAYA - Of course! He lived only by the idea of the Crusades; apparently, his grandfather was sincerely religious. And in France there was an idea - the good laws of the times of Louis IX. This is the peak of the Middle Ages, this is the 13th century. But now the grandson is trampling on the classical Middle Ages. He is in an eternal quarrel with the papacy, and in an irreconcilable, unacceptable quarrel...
A. VENEDIKTOV – Political?
N. BASOVSKAYA – ...desperate. This is a fight for money.
A. VENEDIKTOV - For money? Those. not political?
N. BASOVSKAYA - No. It looks political: they talk about whose power is higher. But in fact, what was most important to Pope Boniface VIII was that Philip IV suddenly banned the export of gold and silver from France. And what will flow into the papal treasury?
A. VENEDIKTOV - Well, yes, money was minted from metal.
N. BASOVSKAYA - Well, what about the times of natural precious metal. And so, behind the words, whose power is higher, who is closer to God, who is more on behalf of God, there are real living financial interests. The quarrel deepens. And Philip really behaves like a non-classical medieval king. It is no coincidence that it is he - at the same time there is something classic - that seizes new lands, makes a campaign in Flanders - it seems that now he will really conquer it, but he suffers a terrible defeat in 1302, in the Battle of Courtrai, where the townspeople were defeated on foot knights. This is the age of transition, the dying of chivalry and the classical Middle Ages and the birth of something new. He surrounded himself with so-called legalists.
A. VENEDIKTOV - Let's stop. What is this, who are these people, what is this?
N. BASOVSKAYA – Lawyers.
A. VENEDIKTOV - That is...
N. BASOVSKAYA – Lawyers.
A.VENEDIKTOV – Lawyers. That is…
N. BASOVSKAYA - That time. Lawyers.
A. VENEDIKTOV - But not nobles, not knights?
N. BASOVSKAYA - From different... mostly no. Mostly no.
A. VENEDIKTOV - Commoners? Commoners?
N. BASOVSKAYA - Of course.
A. VENEDIKTOV - Bourgeois? Philistines?
N. BASOVSKAYA - New times are coming. New times are coming.
A.VENEDIKTOV – That is. he lifts... he's like Peter, right? He... so that our listeners understand...
N. BASOVSKAYA - Of course, of course.
A. VENEDIKTOV - He raises...
N. BASOVSKAYA - Not as purposefully as Peter...
A. VENEDIKTOV - Yes.
N. BASOVSKAYA - Without catching up with anyone, but naturally following those state interests which he clearly sees. The royal treasury should be richer, it should be more independent from anyone else. And then, they say, he will restore complete order in France. Moreover, there is a strict order. These legalists compose laws, regulations, orders for him, which collide, in particular, with the interests of the papacy.
A.VENEDIKTOV – That is. After all, these are people of low origin, as a rule? Well, according to the concepts of the Middle Ages. Yes?
N. BASOVSKAYA - Yes, of course.
A. VENEDIKTOV - Surrounded himself with rabble.
N. BASOVSKAYA – With not blue blood. With non-blue blood.
A. VENEDIKTOV - I see.
N. BASOVSKAYA - That is. These are symptoms of an approaching...
A. VENEDIKTOV - I see. Important.
N. BASOVSKAYA – Once upon a time, Huizinga, a wonderful Austrian cultural historian, called this era the autumn of the Middle Ages. Better name I don't know. Autumn can be beautiful in appearance - golden, bright, beautiful, the sky is even blue - but all the same, the main parameters of summer disappear. And here the basic parameters of the Middle Ages disappear. And he commits a terrible act for those times. He goes so far in his conflict with the pope - and he is powerful, Boniface VIII, elderly and convinced of the absolute priority of papal power, and does not want to lose money - that Philip sends a delegation to him led by a certain Nogaret - an arrogant temporary worker, a powerful type.
A. VENEDIKTOV - Menshikov? I'm looking for types.
N. BASOVSKAYA - Well, yes, he’s not from the bottom. And this Nogare, by different stories- there are already legends, myths, sources, chroniclers themselves were not there, but they write - he did something terrible in the papal chambers. In the town of Anagni. Either he entered the papal chambers, opening the door, figuratively speaking, with his foot, or he simply spoke rudely, or - the highest point of this assumption - he slapped the pope in the face.
A. VENEDIKTOV – Can you imagine this at that time?
N. BASOVSKAYA - It’s possible.
A. VENEDIKTOV - It’s possible, right?
N. BASOVSKAYA - The horror is that, understanding how religious people were, I am amazed at a number of facts. Well, for example, when, by order of Henry II Plantagenet in England, the Archbishop of Canterbury was killed in the altar.
A. VENEDIKTOV - Yes.
N. BASOVSKAYA - At the request of the king. Well, how come the fear of God’s judgment didn’t stop them? So it is here. We assume - something like a slap in the face. And as it was written in one very touching pre-revolutionary book, “unable to bear the insults, the proud old man died a few days later.” He really died.
A. VENEDIKTOV - Well, maybe they just stabbed him and that’s it?
N. BASOVSKAYA - No one is hinting at this. To insult. And for him, this insult, the man sitting on the throne of St. Peter, was worse than a knife. Apparently the impact was exactly the same. He was stabbed, just like that, mentally. And the clash with the church simply became irreversible for Philip IV. He had nowhere else to retreat. Over time, he waited out another short-ruling pope, Boniface IX, and then, in essence, put the popes in his service in Avignon - this is the so-called Avignon Captivity of the Popes. Here he won. And feeling that his hands are untied...
A. VENEDIKTOV - Wait, and these arrogant barons, how did they look at all this? Large feudal lords...
N. BASOVSKAYA - Because they understood that this would increase the king’s money, and the king means handouts... Back in Ancient Egypt“The king is food” is written on the wall of the pyramid. And this formula has never been canceled and will not be cancelled. The king is food. Philip will have more money - and it won’t be so bad for them. And their religious feelings somehow become silent. Somehow they become silent. And so, during this already irreversible process of collision with the church, he swung at the famous Order of the Templars. Famous, but in literature he is, of course, presented one-sidedly - here it’s “not so.” The Templars cannot be regarded only as some kind of collection of villains. They... firstly, the Order was created in 1119, after the First Crusade, very soon, and was called the Templars after the word “temple”. Not far from Solomon's Temple was this place, from the legendary site of Solomon's Temple. And at first they really pursued, first of all, spiritual goals - to protect the conquests of the Crusaders in the East, to resist the Crescent, to resist another religion, the infidels, as they called them - this was the main thing. But time passed. They were getting rich. They turned out to be surprisingly efficient. So, the crusading movement was defeated. At the end of the 13th century, well, 1291, the crusaders leave the Holy Land. And the Templars settled in France. Firstly, what is there to protect from there? It's all already lost. It's all lost. Yes, they are participating in the preparation of new Crusades, which are already, in general, hopeless, but at the same time - time has also changed since the 12th century - and they are becoming so businesslike. They became at that moment - in the 13th century - the first moneylenders Western Europe. Probably the most merciless, most cruel bankers who extort money from their debtors, and had the imprudence to have the Iron King himself among their debtors. Philip IV owed them a lot. In essence, of course, it is a mistake. Such a person will not care about strict repayment of the debt; he will look for some other way to get away from this debt. And here you go...
A. VENEDIKTOV – Do you owe money?
N. BASOVSKAYA - A lot of money. I took, took from them, took, took loans, they gave. And here is the simplest thought, which also has never died in any era: how you don’t want to give away! How good it was in his time that Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky in his works, when he raised the topic of debt, “I really don’t want to give it back,” his characters say. “But maybe it will work out somehow.” But when you don’t want to give it to the king, and to a king with a very tough, fierce character and a powerful apparatus that he created around himself...
A. VENEDIKTOV - Did he create the apparatus? He didn’t just collect, there...
N. BASOVSKAYA - These same jurists, a rather strong army - although it suffered defeat in Flanders, he strengthened it again. He is not a weak ruler. And I really don’t want to give it away! This is one of the motives, of course, for the process against the Templars that he started.
A. VENEDIKTOV - I just want to tell our listeners very interesting story: when I was preparing for the broadcast, I discovered a very interesting site. Fans of the Templars, the current Templars in Russia, have created a website where the history of the Order, the history of all the masters, the history of armor... I’ll just tell you the address now, for those who are interested. But these are not professional historians. Those. there is clearly there...
N. BASOVSKAYA - These are enthusiasts.
A. VENEDIKTOV – Enthusiasts, yes. www.templiers.info. Come in and take a look. I learned a lot of interesting things there.
N. BASOVSKAYA - I think so. This is really interesting to many, because the Templars were a bright phenomenon. They wore a white cloak with a red cross, they were good warriors, no one ever reproached them for cowardice, although they suffered a major defeat in the East in a decisive battle. But overall they were warriors. But by the 14th century, the degeneration took the direction of this kind of entrepreneurship. New Age, new era, new times are coming. Money comes first compared to their spiritual slogans and priorities.
A. VENEDIKTOV – It always seemed that the Italians, at this time, seemed to...
N. BASOVSKAYA - In parallel. Undoubtedly. In northern Italy, in Lombardy...
A. VENEDIKTOV - In parallel, right? In Lombardy, yes.
N. BASOVSKAYA – These are also very strong banking houses, and France also deals with them. But back in France...
A.VENEDIKTOV – That is. the Templars were, practically, still competitors of the Lombard houses.
N. BASOVSKAYA - In general, yes. And Philip applied there too. And he, too, either warms up Jewish bankers and financiers in France in order to oppose, for example, the Templars, or suddenly mass expulsions from there in order to confiscate the money. His policy was, of course, cruel, frankly rude, but he explained all this by the interests of a strong France. In general, no one had yet formulated the ideas of absolutism, far from even before the Sun King, but the movements of the Iron King were precisely in this direction. And with the Templar trial that he started, he apparently still made a big human mistake. Well, science knows what a curse is, what mysticism is, how many people do it works of art. No one will ever give a solid scientific answer. Here we are approaching this famous curse. The General of the Order of the Templars under Philip, a certain Jacques de Molay, originally from Burgundy, Grand Master - he was called either general or grand master. Born at one time in Burgundy, he had a strong, significant, independent personality. In 1306, in Cyprus, he was preparing for another war with the infidels, and at that time, the “pocket” Pope of Philip IV the Fair, Clement V, ordered the entire leadership of the Order and Jacques de Molay himself to urgently arrive in France. He obeyed. He apparently did not have good intelligence, he did not have... either these plans had not yet taken shape, or they had not told him about them, he, in good faith, together with the entire leadership of the Order, arrived in France.
A. VENEDIKTOV - To him, to dad?
N. BASOVSKAYA - The Pope is in Avignon...
A. VENEDIKTOV - The Pope was in Avignon.
N. BASOVSKAYA - ...he arrived in Paris.
A.VENEDIKTOV - To Paris, yes.
N. BASOVSKAYA - He was ordered to Paris. At the king's call. One night, everyone, the entire top of the Order, was arrested by order of the king.
A. VENEDIKTOV - Well, such a major special operation!
N. BASOVSKAYA - Terrible.
A. VENEDIKTOV - They were sitting in castles, not only in Paris, they were sitting...
N. BASOVSKAYA - They were taken by surprise. They were not at all ready for this - there was no reconnaissance. And at first it seemed to them that this was just some kind of misunderstanding. And the process began. It was quite long. Well, in any case, it dragged on for several years. Probably one of the most striking falsified trials in history.
A. VENEDIKTOV - What does falsified mean?
N. BASOVSKAYA - Numerous witnesses were collected against them, who began to tell things, well, that they had personally seen. How Satan personally flies to worship services in the Order of the Templars, in their temples. He was described in all the details in which he was represented on the frescoes in the church, starting from early Middle Ages- and with horns, and with hooves, and with the smell of sulfur, and a tail, and in fur - with all these heartbreaking details that in the iconography of the Middle Ages were gradually formed and polished... And Satan was already a man... he saw him, because he really is his I saw it many times, endlessly, during some church events, services. And so, in his consciousness he already really exists, and that’s exactly what he is. And these witnesses tell how they saw him, exactly like this, each one in detail, how he hovered around their temple, attended their services. Why do we still assume, well, gross falsification, because what follows are heartbreaking details that have become the standard of the Inquisition. The process is inquisitorial. They saw, they say, that the Templars personally bow to him and even perform all sorts of indecent actions, which we will not retell, emphasizing their devotion to Satan. They were accused of every perversion imaginable, and this, first of all, speaks volumes about the nature of the process. In addition, they were subjected, and this was not hidden, to the most terrible tortures.
A. VENEDIKTOV - What did you want?
N. BASOVSKAYA - Money.
A. VENEDIKTOV - Oh, “where is the money?”
N. BASOVSKAYA - Where is the money. Firstly, where, and secondly, the legal right to confiscate them. If the Order, as it turned out, serves Satan, then any of their treasures and wealth can be confiscated on a completely legal basis.
A. VENEDIKTOV – We will pause for a few minutes of news. I remind you that we have Natalya Basovskaya in our studio. We are talking about the Templar affair and Philip IV the Fair, the French king, aka the Iron King.
NEWS
A. VENEDIKTOV - By the way, more “heroic” books - by the way, let me remind you that we have Natalya Basovskaya in our studio - “ Everyday life“, there is a wonderful series that I always recommend in every possible way, there is just one good book about the Templars, writes Elena. And Nikolai writes: “You called this period the autumn of the Middle Ages, but you won’t tell me when it ended, in the sense of a century.”
N. BASOVSKAYA - In the middle of the 15th century, according to the majority. Of course, this is not some kind of hard border, but basically the Middle Ages in these classical countries of Western Europe ended in the middle of the 15th century. Many of its attributes remain, but in essence, the New Age continues to advance with the same imperious steps. England will be a little late, the War of the Roses there will last until the 80s of the 15th century, but overall...
A. VENEDIKTOV - Nothing, then everything will be fine.
N. BASOVSKAYA - ...this is the dawn of the New Time. Cruel dawn.
A. VENEDIKTOV - You said, and I’m returning to the pager, we’ll talk now...
N. BASOVSKAYA - To the process.
A. VENEDIKTOV - To the process, yes, and to the pager. Well, the pager is in progress. Alla writes: “Was the accusation of sodomy against the Templars a political accusation in the trial against them or was it justified?”
N. BASOVSKAYA - What do they call it today, “dirty technologies”?
A.VENEDIKTOV – Black PR.
N. BASOVSKAYA – Black PR. Well, no... it wouldn't be a crude modernization to say that, in essence, it's the same thing. Those. before this, no one was interested in their moral character, figuratively speaking, and suddenly, by decree of the king - and here it is no longer important, real, not real - our time has some kind of special, temporary, I hope, interest in this - not in this case. It was a way to denigrate. All methods were good. And since it was somehow a priori believed that they were dealing, as it suddenly turned out, with the servants of the devil, they could be tortured in any way and even well: the most brutal tortures, as it were, at the same time...
A.VENEDIKTOV - Skillfully.
N. BASOVSKAYA - ...maybe, yes, they will drive out the devil. And, according to everyone, the most cruel tortures were applied to them. And only this forced the Grand Master Jacques de Molay to slander and confirm all these wild accusations. All. And come to this terrible moral defeat. In response, he received a sentence of life imprisonment. But as soon as... apparently, his physical and spiritual strength returned to some extent, he renounced his testimony, declared that he despised himself for this, that God would never forgive him - he was afraid of God's punishment in the next world more than execution on the ground.
A. VENEDIKTOV – Philip wasn’t scared, but he was?
N. BASOVSKAYA - Philip was not afraid, that’s all. And who knows how their destinies turned out thereafter.
A. VENEDIKTOV - Well, yes.
N. BASOVSKAYA - He renounced this testimony, and then the sentence was revised. He was sentenced to death, at the stake, naturally, just as he was executed for heresy. And not long ago I found one detail. It turns out that here, too, it was possible to show greater - well, in general, this is known - greater cruelty, less. It is known that when there was less cruelty, the executioner killed his victim in advance and the already dead body burned.
A. VENEDIKTOV - Strangled, yes.
N. BASOVSKAYA - Yes, he strangled me. Often for some money. And here Philip ordered his execution, Jacques de Molay, but to burn him over low heat. Over low heat. This detail, it speaks of a certain level of atrocity that, in the words of my favorite writers, the Strugatsky brothers, exceeds the normal level of medieval atrocity. And he came to look for himself. And since it was on low heat, there was time for the dying Jacques de Molay to do what he did. From the flames of this slowly burning fire, he cursed himself, first of all, and once again repeated before God that he cursed himself for temporary weakness, but repented. And he cursed, straight to Philip’s face he said: “Cursed be you and your family.” But, of course, rumor quotes differently...
A. VENEDIKTOV – Isn’t this a myth?
N. BASOVSKAYA - Maybe. But behind every such myth there is always something. What's behind this? If he did not say these words, then he experienced these feelings, and could not help but experience them. And feelings are also quite material. And the unprecedented happened. The curse, of course, simply miraculously comes true based on the facts. I don’t at all want to instill any mystical sentiments, but this is how it happened. The Capetian family, which was represented by Philip IV the Fair, has been on the French throne since 987. Hugo Capet - the first ruler of the counts of Paris. And for a long time - with some difficulties, with some problems - but continuity was maintained, and they were all in power, the Capetians. Philip could not have any concern about this.
A. VENEDIKTOV - Why?
N. BASOVSKAYA - And he had three sons. Three sons! With a small interval in age. What is there to worry about?
A.VENEDIKTOV – Adults?
N. BASOVSKAYA - Adults, mature people. First of all, Philip dies. There is no such external mystery in his death. And there is an essential mystery. Because this absolutely iron man - it was not for nothing that he received his nickname - began to fall ill. Attributed to a fall from a horse.
A. VENEDIKTOV – And this was in the same year, in my opinion.
N. BASOVSKAYA - In a few months.
A. VENEDIKTOV - In a few months. Here, it's important.
N. BASOVSKAYA - In a few months. Less than a year has passed. He began to get sick, to get sick, to waste away, just like his sons later did. And he died, without any clear, visible reason. He was succeeded by his eldest son Louis X, who went down in history with that naive nickname - You mentioned naive nicknames here already, there were fewer of them than before, but there were - Grumpy. Now, this is not very flattering for the king. Fate gave him two years on the throne.
A. VENEDIKTOV – How old was he?
N. BASOVSKAYA - He was...
A. VENEDIKTOV - Well, was he old?
N. BASOVSKAYA - He died at 29, in my opinion.
A.VENEDIKTOV – Oh, that is. he was of a normal age for the Middle Ages.
N. BASOVSKAYA - Absolutely, he died at 29 years old. They all died at 29 - 30, like that. All his sons. Complete failures. Two years of failure. 1314 – 1316. Here, complete failures. The march to Flanders is a defeat, but what a defeat. Even more shameful. It was called the Mud March. They all drowned there in the mud, in the rains - worse than at Courtrai, where the townspeople at one time slaughtered them, the French knights. Wherever he rushes, nothing works out, he can’t raise any money, the treasury is empty, he doesn’t rule very skillfully. There are strong rumors about his wife that she is cheating on him. He quickly imprisons her in a castle and orders her to be killed. This does not decorate him; there is a very bad mood around him. The daughter of Ioanna remains.
A. VENEDIKTOV - Wait, what about these legalists, who... where are the king’s guards?
N. BASOVSKAYA - Partially exterminated, the brothers continued. Those who were so close to Dad were suspicious whether they would serve me. But the new ones have not yet grown, they are just as powerful. Those. What is it that you yourself are to blame for? It’s very interesting, he’s so helpless, he’s nicknamed Grumpy, he doesn’t have a good character. And so, I rushed around, mainly for money, for funds. But amid these tossing and turning, he performs a very curious act: he actively encourages the abolition of the personal dependence of the peasants. Serfdom. In their domains, and this big lands royal, just resolutely canceled. And he advised his subjects.
A. VENEDIKTOV - Well, maybe not him, maybe some advisers?
N. BASOVSKAYA - Get money.
A. VENEDIKTOV - Oh, money! Get money!
N. BASOVSKAYA - Money. Liberation for money.
A. VENEDIKTOV – Release for money. A! Well, there...
N. BASOVSKAYA - In your throwing, where is the money...
A. VENEDIKTOV - Yes, yes, yes...
N. BASOVSKAYA - After all, the sad humor lies in the fact that, as the rumor of that time firmly believes, to this day, the huge treasures of the Templars, which his father, Philip IV the Fair, counted on, were not discovered. There was something, of course. But there were legends about fabulous, incredible ones. People were looking for them, including the 20th century. In France, a whole group of such people, slightly moved on this topic, purchased castles several times, finding some vintage maps- just like in “Treasure Island” - which, supposedly, is indicated by a cross, where the treasures of the Templars are buried - they managed, as it were, to hide. So, people bought a castle so that later long years to disassemble it, to be completely ruined, to disassemble it, going to this place where the treasures lie, and the treasures were never found. And so the sons were left without a great financial assistance. So, Louis X the Grumpy dies.
A. VENEDIKTOV - He has a daughter. He has a daughter.
N. BASOVSKAYA - He leaves behind a daughter, whose origins are doubtful due to the admitted betrayal of her mother, which allegedly took place. He dies, again in the same way, without clearly defined reasons.
A. VENEDIKTOV - Maybe they poisoned him?
N. BASOVSKAYA - Anything can happen. But the curse begins to come true.
A. VENEDIKTOV - Yes.
N. BASOVSKAYA - Next son. Philip V, nicknamed Long. Well, this is probably also a translation tradition. He can also be called Tall. After all, there are shades.
A. VENEDIKTOV – Long, yes, le long, yes, tall.
N. BASOVSKAYA - Yes, of course. This is the tradition of Russian translation. 1316 – 1322. Fate gave him...
A.VENEDIKTOV – 6 years is a lot.
N. BASOVSKAYA – …6 years. Compared to the reign of their predecessor, their ancestor Louis IX - there for almost 50 years - Philip IV himself...
A. VENEDIKTOV – 30 there, yes.
N. BASOVSKAYA - Well, by the age of 40. This is all a perfect moment. Philip was clearly the most intelligent person among them. He tried to follow his father's policies, but he always wanted to do something constructive. And what happens in the end? In the same 30 years he dies, completely incomprehensibly, there are no clear reasons. They assume... well, they won’t know anything at all about diseases. But what is significant is this: he decided to do one specific thing, in the spirit of the times. Very correct. Firmly establish the kings' monopoly on coin printing and ensure its quality.
A. VENEDIKTOV - Yes.
N. BASOVSKAYA - Again, New Time is knocking on the door! And regulate the system of weights and measures. A thing necessary when originating in a high... high rise commodity-money relations, with the “ghost of capitalism”. Nothing succeeded.
A. VENEDIKTOV – It didn’t work out.
N. BASOVSKAYA - It didn’t work out. Wild disappointment, sadness that everything is wrong. Always in upset feelings, also, as they recall, he looks like his grumpy brother, an untimely death. One left.
A. VENEDIKTOV - Wait, children? Does Philip V have children?
N. BASOVSKAYA - No.
A. VENEDIKTOV - There are no children.
N. BASOVSKAYA – Charles IV the Handsome. It is sometimes called Handsome, but the French have this shade, I think, which is very important - “handsome”.
A.VENEDIKTOV – Ah!
N. BASOVSKAYA - He is not like his father. He is handsome in the medieval sense - a knight, a fighter, a hero. This handsome guy, as they will say now, is handsome. Three wives, changing one after another - not a single son. One concern is to give birth to a son. Apart from that suspicious Joanna, there is no one to hand over the throne to. Oh, I’m sure how many times people of that era recalled the curse of the tortured Templar. Still, even in atrocities one must know some measure. No son. 34 years old - deceased. Well, isn't it a secret? Of course it's a secret. And a talented French writer...
A. VENEDIKTOV - I’ll just remind you - I apologize - I’ll also remind you that from the same fire - well, according to legend - Jacques de Molay cursed his dad.
N. BASOVSKAYA - Yes, yes, yes.
A. VENEDIKTOV - Both Guillaume Nogaret and they died in the same year.
N. BASOVSKAYA - Yes, in the same year.
A. VENEDIKTOV - In the same year.
N. BASOVSKAYA - Yes, absolutely right. I simply settled on two opposite objects.
A. VENEDIKTOV - I understand, I’m just saying that here...
N. BASOVSKAYA - All of them, he named them all.
A. VENEDIKTOV - Yes.
N. BASOVSKAYA - Well, like some curses of the pharaohs - in history these mystical ideas always arise on the basis of certain facts. And so, we will not evaluate mystical ideas, but the facts are before us. The dynasty ended. It seemed impossible. There is no male heir. 1328 And in this situation, here is the source of the dynastic reason for the future war with England, the so-called Hundred Years' War. Who will ascend to the throne? The woman must be refused; Joanna is very suspicious. The grandson of Philip IV the Fair, Edward III of England, declares his rights, clearly real. He is the son of Philip IV's daughter Isabella. Well obviously legal. Future great commander, the most significant English king. But he must be refused, why? New times are almost here again. The French are already French. They are still... we are not quite...
A. VENEDIKTOV - Already French, right? Is it already?
N. BASOVSKAYA - Already the French. Since the 10th century, this has been France, but by this time the coming events of the Hundred Years' War will prove that they feel themselves to be French, and they do not need an Englishman on the throne. Because he is the son of the English King Edward II.
A. VENEDIKTOV - Even if he is a grandson... Even if he is the grandson of their Iron King?
N. BASOVSKAYA - Even the grandson of the great... yes. Well, here, firstly, there is a national feeling that is emerging - the war will strengthen it, and secondly, there is a direct, simple reason for the nobility. Well, as they say today: the boss comes with the team. The king will come with his entourage. He will come from England with an English entourage.
A.VENEDIKTOV – Distribute land.
N. BASOVSKAYA - How many times has this happened? And the distribution of land is obligatory, and the distribution of positions is obligatory... And why do they need this? This makes them very restless. And a meeting of the French nobility is discussing who to give the throne. Edward III of England - well, he is young, he is a boy, it seems that he can be controlled; then it turned out that nothing would have worked out for them, a boy with character - or the cousin of the last French king, Philip of Valois. It will go down in history as a side branch of the Capetian house. They are relatives, he cousin, Philip VI of Valois. They decide in favor of Philip VI of Valois. Funny, of course, incredible. Thus, legalists, seasoned in legal battles, are given a task. It is formulated roughly the same way today: find legal evidence...
A.VENEDIKTOV – Document. Document.
N. BASOVSKAYA - Yes.
A. VENEDIKTOV - Yes, find the document.
N. BASOVSKAYA - Which will prove that it is impossible - not because he is from England - Edward III is not allowed - not because we are afraid of the new environment - but why it is not legal.
A. VENEDIKTOV - At least for some reason.
N. BASOVSKAYA - They dug in good faith. It was a great excavation. Because they got to the bottom of a document from about the year 500 - the turn of the 5th - 6th centuries...
A.VENEDIKTOV – That is. 800 years ago.
N. BASOVSKAYA - Yes, the guys worked conscientiously, the legal experts have experience. This is the "Salic Truth", the first recording of customary German law, which was made on the territory of France after the settlement of the Franks there, during the great migration of peoples. Those. they turned, in fact, in a sense, to primitive times. There was an article “de allodis”, “about allods”, where it was written... an allod is the arable allotment of a simple Frankish farmer. It is not inherited through the female line, only through the male line. The conclusion of the legalists: if we consider France as one big allod, a large arable allotment of the king, then this large, figuratively speaking, arable allotment cannot be inherited through the female line. Quite so...
A. VENEDIKTOV - What a phrase - “it’s not good for lilies to spin”, that’s it.
N. BASOVSKAYA - Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Very good, Druon is good at these names. And this conclusion, this legal conclusion, it is so contradictory...
A. VENEDIKTOV - Well done.
N. BASOVSKAYA - It still expresses naivety, almost to primitive times, and the coming New Age. Still, we won’t just say no, but we will find some incident, a reason that will prove that we are making an informed decision. Thus, the dynasty changed... not changed, but transformed. First side branch. The fate of Valois will also be very bad. And this race will fade away, also if there is...
A. VENEDIKTOV - With three sons, by the way.
N. BASOVSKAYA - Yes, if there are three sons. The Bourbons will come to power, the Bourbons will have their own terrible difficulties on the French throne. Those. in short, the question of personality, the character of the personality of the ruler, his family situation always matters. But in the Middle Ages this had a meaning that was openly politically formulated, expressed, and legally formalized. And the Iron King Philip IV the Handsome, who was convinced that he was busy with only one thing - his beloved, strong France - placed a certain moral mine under the very idea of strong, unshakable royal power. Surely, he didn’t think about it... although, who knows. Now, restoring the thinking of a person of the past is the most attractive, most important task formulated by the great French historian Marc Bloch, a historian of the twentieth century. If we want to understand something about the past, said Mark Blok, to really understand what happened in the past, we need to penetrate the thoughts, the thoughts of the people of the Middle Ages, which he studied. The hardest part is here. All our assumptions are hypothetical, it would be interesting to know what our radio listeners think about this...
A. VENEDIKTOV - Well, our radio listeners... here are the following versions... “What do you think about the version,” asks Dmitry, “that part of this treasured Templar money ended up in Russia? Were there any contacts between knights and ancient Russians? statesmen?»
N. BASOVSKAYA - I’ll say frankly that I don’t know this - this does not mean that it didn’t happen. But…
A. VENEDIKTOV – But somehow I haven’t met the Templars in Russia either.
N. BASOVSKAYA - But I know that yes, especially recently, such near-historical thinkers are carried away by an attempt to prove that Rus', in general, was in contact with the whole world and even, as Fomenko knows, with the Egyptian pharaohs. That's why I'm like this...
A. VENEDIKTOV – Can you imagine if this is true?
N. BASOVSKAYA - I can’t imagine. I absolutely cannot believe this, based on the scientific approach to history. But this passion, which may be based on a somehow dubiously understood patriotic idea, that we are everywhere, we are always, we are from the very depths. No one needs this, no people are humiliated by the course of their history and the pace of their development, and are not exalted. Everyone has their own life, both every person and every nation.
A. VENEDIKTOV - I think that Dmitry wants to look for this money in some place...
N. BASOVSKAYA - I think this is speculation.
A.VENEDIKTOV – Somewhere in the Baltics.
N. BASOVSKAYA - And I’m sure that they continue to look for them. This is such a powerful myth. So many popular books have been written about this, such half-funny, half-sad stories have happened, and films have been made. It's just a very juicy, colorful story. Druon reflected it best of all...
A. VENEDIKTOV - Yes.
N. BASOVSKAYA - But even he did not exhaust this topic.
A. VENEDIKTOV – I didn’t draw the map. Olga asks: “Please ask Basovskaya, did this story really happen with the daughters-in-law of the King of France?”
N. BASOVSKAYA - Of course, Druon wrote it in such a way that there is no doubt that it happened. But I still have doubts. Because the sources I read...
A. VENEDIKTOV – Doubts about what?
N. BASOVSKAYA - The fact that there was treason.
A. VENEDIKTOV - Oh, that there was treason...
N. BASOVSKAYA - The fact that there was treason...
A. VENEDIKTOV – What was the conclusion, was...
N. BASOVSKAYA - That there was real betrayal.
A. VENEDIKTOV - Yes.
N. BASOVSKAYA – I have huge doubts about this. The point is that, well, look for who benefits. And in fact, here, surrounded by kings, too many people were interested, including this same Isabella, to pave the way for her son to the French throne. Of course, there was no evidence of this betrayal. Druon composed some purses that these lovers naively, like children...
A. VENEDIKTOV - They put it on in front of the king and walked around.
N. BASOVSKAYA - ...they hung him on his belt. It's cute, naive, but there's nothing scientific behind it. And the accusation of infidelity is so traditional in the Middle Ages, whether it was real or not, that we simply have to accept it as a cliché.
A. VENEDIKTOV - Well, that is. this is... i.e. in this case it doesn't matter...
N. BASOVSKAYA - It was necessary to remove this... yes. This queen should have been removed.
A. VENEDIKTOV - This queen, find a new one for him, for example, right?
N. BASOVSKAYA - Unlike, say, the Russian tsars - well, the same Peter, who to Evdokiya Lopukhin ... well, simply, “go away, go to the monastery” and that’s it, you don’t even need to formalize anything - they somehow preferred to give it , well, some semblance of validity.
A.VENEDIKTOV – Validity. Thank you very much, I remind you that our guest is Natalya Basovskaya, a historian, one of the leaders... what is your current position at the Russian State University for the Humanities called?
N. BASOVSKAYA - Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs.
A. VENEDIKTOV – Still? Will we grow?
N. BASOVSKAYA - We are growing...
A. VENEDIKTOV - Administratively?
N. BASOVSKAYA – ... the whole university together.
A.VENEDIKTOV – Oh, you are together with the university. I would like to end this program in a way that is pleasant for you and, of course, but especially for me, with a message from our listener Lily, who sent us the following review of your speech by pager, I would say this: “What a high mind and clear spirit. When will we talk about modernity in this way?”
N. BASOVSKAYA – Thank you very much!
A. VENEDIKTOV - And about modern times - well, 700-800 years will pass, as we are talking now...
N. BASOVSKAYA - Serious historians believe that history begins no closer than half a century ago, from the events.
A. VENEDIKTOV - Not closer.
N. BASOVSKAYA - Before that, it was politics and political science. Thank you!
A. VENEDIKTOV - Thank you very much! Natalya Basovskaya, Russian State University for the Humanities.
N. BASOVSKAYA - Goodbye!
A. VENEDIKTOV - Goodbye!
During the reign of Philip IV the Fair, the power of the monarch is so strengthened that Philip is seen as the first ruler of a new type in Europe: the state is more powerful and centralized than ever, the king’s entourage is legalists - well-mannered and educated people, real experts in the field of law.
Philip IV (Philippe IV le Bel) remains somewhat of a mysterious figure for historians. On the one hand, all the policies he pursued make one think that he was a man of iron will and rare energy, accustomed to pursuing his goal with unshakable persistence. Meanwhile, the testimony of people who personally knew the king is in strange contradiction with this opinion. The chronicler William the Scotsman wrote about Philip that the king had a beautiful and noble appearance, graceful manners and behaved very impressively. With all this, he was distinguished by extraordinary meekness and modesty, avoided obscene conversations with disgust, carefully attended divine services, performed fasts with precision and wore a hair shirt. He was kind, forgiving and willing to place complete trust in people who did not deserve it. They, according to William, were the culprits of all those troubles and abuses that marked his reign, the introduction of oppressive taxes, extraordinary levies and the systematic damage to coins. Another chronicler, Giovanni Vilani, wrote that Philip was very handsome, gifted with a serious mind, but he hunted a lot and liked to entrust other people with the affairs of government. Geoffrey also reports that the king easily obeyed bad advice. Thus, we have to admit that a large role in Philip’s politics was played by his associates: Chancellor Pierre Flotte, Guardian of the Seal Guillaume Nogaret and Coadjutor of the Kingdom Enguerrand Marigny. All these were humble people, elevated to the heights of power by the king himself.
Philip IV the Fair" >
Philip IV the Fair was born in Fontainebleau in 1268 to Philip III and Isabella of Aragon. Philip ascended the throne at the age of seventeen and first of all set about resolving the Sicilian and Aragonese issues that he inherited from his father.
He immediately stopped hostilities and did nothing to support the claims of his brother Charles of Valois, who dreamed of becoming the Aragonese (or, at worst, Sicilian) king. Negotiations, however, dragged on for another ten years and ended with Sicily remaining with the Aragonese dynasty. In a relationship with English king Under Edward I, Philip's policies were more energetic. Clashes often occurred between the subjects of the two states. Taking advantage of one of them, Philip in 1295 summoned the English king, as his vassal, to the court of the Parisian parliament. Edward refused to submit, and war was declared on him. Both opponents were looking for allies. Emperor Adolf, the counts of Holland, Geldern, Brabant and Savoy, as well as the King of Castile, became Edward's supporters. Philip's allies were the Count of Burgundy, the Duke of Lorraine, the Count of Luxembourg and the Scots. However, of these, only the Scots and Count of Flanders Guy Dampierre provided real impact to events. Edward himself, busy with a difficult war in Scotland, concluded a truce with Philip in 1297, and in 1303 a peace, according to which Guienne was left to the English king. The entire burden of the war fell on the shoulders of the Flemings. In 1297, the French army invaded Flanders. Philip himself besieged Lille, and Count Robert of Artois won a victory at Fournes (largely thanks to the betrayal of the nobility, among whom there were many adherents of the French party). After this, Lille surrendered. In 1299, Charles of Valois captured Douai, passed through Bruges and entered Ghent in May 1300.
He met no resistance anywhere. Count Guy surrendered along with his two sons and 51 knights. The king deprived him of his possessions as a rebel and annexed Flanders to his kingdom. In 1301, Philip toured his new possessions and was greeted everywhere with expressions of submission. But he immediately tried to extract maximum benefit from his new acquisition and imposed heavy taxes on the country. This caused discontent, and the harsh management of Jacques of Chatillon further increased hatred of the French. When riots began in Bruges in 1301, Jacques sentenced those responsible to huge fines, ordered the city wall to be broken and a citadel built in the city. Then in May 1302 a second, much more powerful uprising broke out. Within one day, the people killed 1,200 French knights and 2,000 soldiers in the city. After this, all of Flanders took up arms. In June, a French army led by Robert Artois approached. But in a stubborn battle at Courtray it was completely defeated. Up to 6,000 French knights fell along with their commander. Thousands of spurs taken from the dead were piled up in the Mastricht church as trophies of victory. Philip could not let such a shame go unrevenged. In 1304, at the head of an army of 60,000, the king approached the borders of Flanders. In August, in a stubborn battle at Mons-en-Null, the Flemings were defeated, but in perfect order retreated to Lille. After several attacks, Philip made peace with the son of Guy Dampierre, Robert of Bethune, who was in his captivity. Philip agreed to return the country to him, while the Flemings retained all their rights and privileges.
However, for the release of their count and other prisoners, the cities had to pay a large indemnity. As a pledge for paying the ransom, the king took for himself lands on the right bank of the Lys with the cities of Lille, Douai, Bethune and Orsha. He was supposed to return them after receiving the money, but he treacherously violated the agreement and left them with France forever.
These events unfolded against the backdrop of contradictions with the pope that worsened every year. At first, there seemed to be no signs of this conflict. None of the European kings was as beloved by Pope Boniface VIII as Philip the Fair. Back in 1290, when the pope was only Cardinal Benedetto Gaetani and came to France as papal legate, he admired the piety of the young king. Having ascended the throne in 1294, Boniface zealously supported the policies of the French king in Spain and Italy. The first signs of mutual distrust appeared in 1296. In August, the pope promulgated a bull in which he forbade the laity to demand and receive subsidies from the clergy. By a strange coincidence, and perhaps in response to the bull, Philip at the same time prohibited the export of gold and silver from France: by this he destroyed one of the main sources of papal income, because the French church could no longer send any money to Rome. Even then a quarrel could have arisen, but Boniface’s position on the papal throne was still fragile, the cardinals begged him to stop the scandals caused by the bull, and he gave in to them.
In 1297, a bull was promulgated, which actually abolished the previous one. Apparently, the pope expected the king to also make concessions. Philip allowed the pope's income, which he received from the French clergy, to be exported to Rome, but continued to oppress the church, and soon new clashes with the pope occurred. The Archbishop of Narbonne complained to Boniface that the royal dignitaries had taken away his fief power over some of the vassals of his see and were generally causing him various insults. The Pope sent Bishop Bernard Sessé of Pamiers as legate to Paris on this matter. At the same time, he was instructed to demand the release of the Count of Flanders from captivity and the fulfillment of the previously given promise to participate in the crusade. Bernard, known for his arrogance and hot temper, was absolutely not the person who could be entrusted with such a delicate task. Having failed to achieve concessions, he began to threaten Philip with an interdict and generally spoke so harshly that he infuriated the usually cool-headed Philip. The king sent two members of his council to Pamiers and the county of Toulouse to collect evidence to accuse Bernard of disobedience. During the investigation, it turned out that the bishop often used inappropriate expressions during his sermons and incited his flock against royal power. Philip ordered the legate to be arrested and taken into custody in Sanli. He also demanded that the pope depose Bernard and allow him to be brought before a secular court. The pope responded to the king with an angry letter, demanded the immediate release of his legate, threatened Philip with excommunication and ordered him to appear at his trial in order to justify himself from accusations of tyranny and misgovernment. Philip ordered this bull to be solemnly burned on the porch of Notre Dame Cathedral.
In April 1302, he convened the first ever Estates General in Paris. They were attended by representatives of the clergy, barons and prosecutors of the main northern and southern cities. To arouse the indignation of the deputies, a forged papal bull was read to them, in which the pope's claims were strengthened and sharpened. After this, Chancellor Flott turned to them with a question: can the king count on the support of the estates if he takes measures to protect the honor and independence of the state, as well as to rid the French church of violations of its rights? The nobles and city deputies responded that they were ready to support the king. The clergy, after a short hesitation, also joined the opinion of the other two classes. After this, for a year the opponents hesitated to take decisive measures, but the hostility between them grew. Finally, in April 1303, Boniface excommunicated the king and freed the seven ecclesiastical provinces in the Rhone basin from vassalage and from the oath of allegiance to the king. This measure, however, had no effect. Philip declared Boniface a false pope (indeed, there were some doubts about the legality of his election), a heretic and even a warlock. He demanded that an ecumenical council be convened to hear these accusations, but at the same time he said that the pope should be at this council as a prisoner and accused. From words he moved on to action. In the summer, Nogare, loyal to him, went to Italy with a large sum of money. Soon he entered into relations with Boniface's enemies and formed an extensive conspiracy against him. The Pope was at that time in Anagni, where on September 8 he wanted to publicly curse Philip.
On the eve of this day, the conspirators burst into the papal palace, surrounded Boniface, showered him with all sorts of insults and demanded his abdication. Nogaret threatened to put him in chains and take him to the council in Lyon as a criminal to sentence him. Dad withstood these attacks with dignity. For three days he was in the hands of his enemies. Finally, the people of Ananya freed him. But from the humiliations he suffered, Boniface fell into such disorder that he went crazy and died on October 11. His humiliation and death were severe consequences for the papacy. The new Pope Benedict XI excommunicated Nogaret, but stopped the persecution of Philip himself. In the summer of 1304 he died. In his place, the Archbishop of Bordeaux, Bertrand du Gotha, was elected, taking the name of Clement V. He did not go to Italy, but was ordained in Lyon. In 1309 he settled in Avignon and turned this city into a papal residence. Until his death, he remained an obedient executor of the will of the French king. In addition to many other concessions to Philip, Clement agreed in 1307 with the accusations against the Templar Order. In October, 140 French knights of this order were arrested and a trial began against them on charges of heresy. In 1312, the pope declared the order destroyed. Philip, who owed the Templars huge sums, took possession of all their wealth. In March 1313, the Grand Master of the Order, Jacques Molay, was burned. Before his death, he cursed the entire Capetian family and predicted its imminent degeneration.
In 1314, Philip conceived a new campaign against Flanders, where anti-French forces were intensifying. On August 1, he convened the States General, which agreed to introduce an emergency war tax, the first act of taxation in history with the sanction of popular representation. Soon after the execution, Philip began to suffer from a debilitating illness that doctors could not recognize.
And the campaign did not take place, because on November 29, 1314, in the 46th year of his life in Fontainebleau, the king died, apparently from a stroke, although rumor attributed his death to the curse of Jacques de Molay or poisoning by the Templars.
Contemporaries did not like Philip the Handsome; people close to him were afraid of the rational cruelty of this unusually handsome and surprisingly impassive man. The violence against the pope caused outrage throughout the Christian world. Large feudal lords were dissatisfied with the infringement of their rights and the strengthening of the central administration, which consisted of rootless people. The tax-paying class was outraged by the increase in taxes, the so-called “damage” of the coin, i.e., a decrease in its gold content while forcing its denomination to remain the same, which led to inflation. Philip's heirs were forced to soften his centralization policy.
The reign of Philip IV the Fair, who ascended to the French throne at the age of seventeen, after the death of his father Philip III, on October 5, 1285, is considered by historians not only as one of the most important periods in the history of France, but also as one of the most controversial.
This reign seems important because the French kingdom reaches the pinnacle of its power: the largest state in terms of population in the Christian Western world (13-15 million or a third of the entire Catholic world), real economic prosperity (it is enough to cite as an example the increase in arable land or the rise of the fair in Champagne). In addition, the power of the monarch is strengthening so much that in Philip they see the first ruler of a new type in Europe: the state is more powerful and centralized than ever, the king’s entourage is legalists - well-mannered and educated people, real experts in the field of law.
However, this rosy picture is not consistent with other facts. Thus, the apparent economic prosperity only masks a sluggish crisis, as evidenced by numerous shocks in the financial market (under Philip, monetary policy was extremely, as they now say, voluntaristic). And at the end of his reign, the fairs in Champagne could not withstand the competition with the sea trade of the Italians, and in addition, literally the next day after the death of the king, a devastating famine of 1315-1317 broke out. Moreover, if you look closely, you can see that the king did not know his kingdom well: he did not even realize how far its borders extended, he was unable to establish direct taxes, and effective and clear management of the state remained elusive. It is unlikely that the king’s popularity was added to by a chain of dubious, semi-political, semi-secular scandals, in particular, the trial of the bishop of the city of Troyes, Guichard, who was accused of murdering the queen through witchcraft, or the trial of the Bishop of Pamiers, Bernard Sesset, a trial that complicated the already difficult relations between the king and dad. What about the Templar trial? What about the imprisonment of the king’s daughters-in-law and the execution of their lovers? In general, the identity of King Philip the Fair remains mysterious. Who was he? The core of French politics or simple tool in the hands of their advisors? The authors of the chronicles - the king's contemporaries - are mainly inclined towards the second option - they, in particular, blame the king for inept monetary and tax policy, explaining this by saying that the king was given worthless advice by incompetent advisers. But, despite such uncertainty in assessments, the king is still seen as a “non-classical” monarch of the Middle Ages. Although chroniclers insist that France treated him with respect, which, however, he supposedly owes to the authority of his grandfather, Philip Augustus, who undertook economic and political reforms aimed at strengthening central power.
The leitmotif of historians contemporary with Philip the Fair is regret about the era of “His Majesty Saint Louis,” which is considered almost as a golden age, while Philip IV is characterized as “the antipode of Saint Louis.” But, despite all this, historians agree on one thing: a new era began with this king. However, it is hardly worth exaggerating the “modernity” of Philip the Fair and France of his time.
And yet, the reign of Philip IV the Fair constituted a turning point in the history of medieval France: he expanded the kingdom by annexing new lands (shortly before his death he annexed Lyon and its surroundings to France), forced the church and feudal rulers to obey the orders of the king and suppressed any independent power. The royal administration under him covered all aspects of society: cities, feudal nobility, clergy - everyone came under its control. His reign seemed to his contemporaries a time of cruel oppression and despotism. But behind all this a new era was already visible. With the help of a large corporation of lawyers, the king took advantage of every opportunity to establish royal courts everywhere and introduce Roman law. By the end of his life all judicial branch in the country passed exclusively to the crown, and public life acquired a completely different character than under his predecessors.
People are legends. Middle Ages
Philip IV (Philippe IV le Bel) remains somewhat of a mysterious figure for historians.
On the one hand, all the policies he pursued make one think that he was a man of iron will and rare energy, accustomed to pursuing his goal with unshakable persistence. Meanwhile, the testimony of people who personally knew the king is in strange contradiction with this opinion. The chronicler William the Scotsman wrote about Philip that the king had a beautiful and noble appearance, graceful manners and behaved very impressively. With all this, he was distinguished by extraordinary meekness and modesty, avoided obscene conversations with disgust, carefully attended divine services, performed fasts with precision and wore a hair shirt. He was kind, forgiving and willing to place complete trust in people who did not deserve it. They, according to William, were the culprits of all those troubles and abuses that marked his reign, the introduction of oppressive taxes, extraordinary levies and the systematic damage to coins. Another chronicler, Giovanni Vilani, wrote that Philip was very handsome, gifted with a serious mind, but he hunted a lot and liked to entrust other people with the affairs of government. Geoffrey also reports that the king easily obeyed bad advice. Thus, we have to admit that a large role in Philip’s politics was played by his associates: Chancellor Pierre Flotte, Keeper of the Seal Guillaume Nogaret and Coadjutor of the Kingdom Enguerrand Marigny. All these were humble people, elevated to the heights of power by the king himself.
Philip IV the Fair was born at Fontainebleau in 1268, the son of Philip III and Isabella of Aragon. Philip ascended the throne at the age of seventeen and first of all set about resolving the Sicilian and Aragonese issues that he inherited from his father.
Coronation of Philip III - father of Philip IV the Fair
He immediately stopped hostilities and did nothing to support the claims of his brother Charles of Valois, who dreamed of becoming the Aragonese (or, at worst, Sicilian) king. Negotiations, however, dragged on for another ten years and ended with Sicily remaining with the Aragonese dynasty. In relations with the English king Edward I, Philip's policy was more energetic. Clashes often occurred between the subjects of the two states. Taking advantage of one of them, Philip in 1295 summoned the English king, as his vassal, to the court of the Parisian parliament. Edward refused to submit, and war was declared on him. Both opponents were looking for allies. Emperor Adolf, the counts of Holland, Geldern, Brabant and Savoy, as well as the King of Castile, became Edward's supporters. Philip's allies were the Count of Burgundy, the Duke of Lorraine, the Count of Luxembourg and the Scots. However, of these, only the Scots and Count of Flanders Guy Dampierre had a real influence on events. Edward himself, busy with a difficult war in Scotland, concluded a truce with Philip in 1297, and in 1303 a peace, according to which Guienne was left to the English king. The entire burden of the war fell on the shoulders of the Flemings. In 1297, the French army invaded Flanders. Philip himself besieged Lille, and Count Robert of Artois won a victory at Fournes (largely thanks to the betrayal of the nobility, among whom there were many adherents of the French party). After this, Lille surrendered. In 1299, Charles of Valois captured Douai, passed through Bruges and entered Ghent in May 1300.
He met no resistance anywhere. Count Guy surrendered along with his two sons and 51 knights. The king deprived him of his possessions as a rebel and annexed Flanders to his kingdom. In 1301, Philip toured his new possessions and was greeted everywhere with expressions of submission. But he immediately tried to extract maximum benefit from his new acquisition and imposed heavy taxes on the country. This caused discontent, and the harsh management of Jacques of Chatillon further increased hatred of the French. When riots began in Bruges in 1301, Jacques sentenced those responsible to huge fines, ordered the city wall to be broken and a citadel built in the city. Then in May 1302 a second, much more powerful uprising broke out. Within one day, the people killed 1,200 French knights and 2,000 soldiers in the city. After this, all of Flanders took up arms. In June, a French army led by Robert Artois approached. But in a stubborn battle at Courtray it was completely defeated. Up to 6,000 French knights fell along with their commander.
Battle of Courtrai
Thousands of spurs taken from the dead were piled up in the Mastricht church as trophies of victory. Philip could not let such a shame go unrevenged. In 1304, at the head of an army of 60,000, the king approached the borders of Flanders. In August, in a stubborn battle at Mons-en-Null, the Flemings were defeated, but retreated to Lille in good order. After several attacks, Philip made peace with the son of Guy Dampierre, Robert of Bethune, who was in his captivity. Philip agreed to return the country to him, while the Flemings retained all their rights and privileges.
Battle of Mons-en-Null
However, for the release of their count and other prisoners, the cities had to pay a large indemnity. As a pledge for paying the ransom, the king took for himself lands on the right bank of the Lys with the cities of Lille, Douai, Bethune and Orsha. He was supposed to return them after receiving the money, but he treacherously violated the agreement and left them with France forever.
These events unfolded against the backdrop of contradictions with the pope that worsened every year. At first, there seemed to be no signs of this conflict. None of the European kings was as beloved by Pope Boniface VIII as Philip the Fair. Back in 1290, when the pope was only Cardinal Benedetto Gaetani and came to France as papal legate, he admired the piety of the young king. Having ascended the throne in 1294, Boniface zealously supported the policies of the French king in Spain and Italy. The first signs of mutual distrust appeared in 1296. In August, the pope promulgated a bull in which he forbade the laity to demand and receive subsidies from the clergy. By a strange coincidence, and perhaps in response to the bull, Philip at the same time prohibited the export of gold and silver from France: by this he destroyed one of the main sources of papal income, because the French church could no longer send any money to Rome. Even then a quarrel could have arisen, but Boniface’s position on the papal throne was still fragile, the cardinals begged him to stop the scandals caused by the bull, and he gave in to them.
Boniface VIII - Pope
In 1297, a bull was promulgated, which actually abolished the previous one. Apparently, the pope expected the king to also make concessions. Philip allowed the pope's income, which he received from the French clergy, to be exported to Rome, but continued to oppress the church, and soon new clashes with the pope occurred. The Archbishop of Narbonne complained to Boniface that the royal dignitaries had taken away his fief power over some of the vassals of his see and were generally causing him various insults. The Pope sent Bishop Bernard Sessé of Pamiers as legate to Paris on this matter. At the same time, he was instructed to demand the release of the Count of Flanders from captivity and the fulfillment of the previously given promise to participate in the crusade. Bernard, known for his arrogance and hot temper, was absolutely not the person who could be entrusted with such a delicate task. Having failed to achieve concessions, he began to threaten Philip with an interdict and generally spoke so harshly that he infuriated the usually cool-headed Philip. The king sent two members of his council to Pamiers and the county of Toulouse to collect evidence to accuse Bernard of disobedience. During the investigation, it turned out that the bishop often used inappropriate expressions during his sermons and incited his flock against royal power. Philip ordered the legate to be arrested and taken into custody in Sanli. He also demanded that the pope depose Bernard and allow him to be brought before a secular court. The pope responded to the king with an angry letter, demanded the immediate release of his legate, threatened Philip with excommunication and ordered him to appear at his trial in order to justify himself from accusations of tyranny and misgovernment. Philip ordered this bull to be solemnly burned on the porch of Notre Dame Cathedral.
In April 1302, he convened the first ever Estates General in Paris. They were attended by representatives of the clergy, barons and prosecutors of the main northern and southern cities. To arouse the indignation of the deputies, a forged papal bull was read to them, in which the pope's claims were strengthened and sharpened. After this, Chancellor Flott turned to them with a question: can the king count on the support of the estates if he takes measures to protect the honor and independence of the state, as well as to rid the French church of violations of its rights? The nobles and city deputies responded that they were ready to support the king. The clergy, after a short hesitation, also joined the opinion of the other two classes. After this, for a year the opponents hesitated to take decisive measures, but the hostility between them grew. Finally, in April 1303, Boniface excommunicated the king and freed the seven ecclesiastical provinces in the Rhone basin from vassalage and from the oath of allegiance to the king. This measure, however, had no effect. Philip declared Boniface a false pope (indeed, there were some doubts about the legality of his election), a heretic and even a warlock. He demanded that an ecumenical council be convened to hear these accusations, but at the same time he said that the pope should be at this council as a prisoner and accused. From words he moved on to action. In the summer, Nogare, loyal to him, went to Italy with a large sum of money. Soon he entered into relations with Boniface's enemies and formed an extensive conspiracy against him. The Pope was at that time in Anagni, where on September 8 he wanted to publicly curse Philip.
On the eve of this day, the conspirators burst into the papal palace, surrounded Boniface, showered him with all sorts of insults and demanded his abdication. Nogaret threatened to put him in chains and take him to the council in Lyon as a criminal to sentence him. Dad withstood these attacks with dignity. For three days he was in the hands of his enemies. Finally, the people of Ananya freed him. But from the humiliations he suffered, Boniface fell into such disorder that he went crazy and died on October 11. His humiliation and death had dire consequences for the papacy. The new Pope Benedict XI excommunicated Nogaret, but stopped the persecution of Philip himself. In the summer of 1304 he died. In his place, the Archbishop of Bordeaux, Bertrand du Gotha, was elected, taking the name Clement V.
Clement V - Pope
He did not go to Italy, but was ordained in Lyon. In 1309 he settled in Avignon and turned this city into a papal residence. Until his death, he remained an obedient executor of the will of the French king. In addition to many other concessions to Philip, Clement agreed in 1307 with the accusations against the Templar Order.
Burning of the Templars
In October, 140 French knights of this order were arrested and a trial began against them on charges of heresy. In 1312, the pope declared the order destroyed. Philip, who owed the Templars huge sums, took possession of all their wealth. In March 1313, the Grand Master of the Order, Jacques Molay, was burned. Before his death, he cursed the entire Capetian family and predicted its imminent degeneration.
Grand Master of the Knights Templar Jacques de Molay
In 1314, Philip conceived a new campaign against Flanders, where anti-French forces were intensifying. On August 1, he convened the States General, which agreed to introduce an emergency war tax, the first act of taxation in history with the sanction of popular representation. Soon after the execution, Philip began to suffer from a debilitating illness that doctors could not recognize.
And the campaign did not take place, because on November 29, 1314, in the 46th year of his life in Fontainebleau, the king died, apparently from a stroke, although rumor attributed his death to the curse of Jacques de Molay or poisoning by the Templars.
Contemporaries did not like Philip the Handsome; people close to him were afraid of the rational cruelty of this unusually handsome and surprisingly impassive man. The violence against the pope caused outrage throughout the Christian world. Large feudal lords were dissatisfied with the infringement of their rights and the strengthening of the central administration, which consisted of rootless people. The tax-paying class was outraged by the increase in taxes, the so-called “damage” of the coin, i.e., a decrease in its gold content while forcing its denomination to remain the same, which led to inflation. Philip's heirs were forced to soften his centralization policy.
The reign of Philip IV the Fair, who ascended to the French throne at the age of seventeen, after the death of his father Philip III, on October 5, 1285, is considered by historians not only as one of the most important periods in the history of France, but also as one of the most controversial.
Reconciliation of Philip IV the Fair with the English King Edward I
This reign seems important because the French kingdom reaches the pinnacle of its power: the largest state in terms of population in the Christian Western world (13-15 million or a third of the entire Catholic world), real economic prosperity (it is enough to cite as an example the increase in arable land or the rise of the fair in Champagne). In addition, the power of the monarch is strengthening so much that in Philip they see the first ruler of a new type in Europe: the state is more powerful and centralized than ever, the king’s entourage is legalists - well-mannered and educated people, real experts in the field of law.
However, this rosy picture is not consistent with other facts. Thus, the apparent economic prosperity only masks a sluggish crisis, as evidenced by numerous shocks in the financial market (under Philip, monetary policy was extremely, as they now say, voluntaristic). And at the end of his reign, the fairs in Champagne could not withstand the competition with the sea trade of the Italians, and in addition, literally the next day after the death of the king, a devastating famine of 1315-1317 broke out. Moreover, if you look closely, you can see that the king did not know his kingdom well: he did not even realize how far its borders extended, he was unable to establish direct taxes, and effective and clear management of the state remained elusive. It is unlikely that the king’s popularity was added to by a chain of dubious, semi-political, semi-secular scandals, in particular, the trial of the bishop of the city of Troyes, Guichard, who was accused of murdering the queen through witchcraft, or the trial of the Bishop of Pamiers, Bernard Sesset, a trial that complicated the already difficult relations between the king and dad. What about the Templar trial? What about the imprisonment of the king’s daughters-in-law and the execution of their lovers? In general, the identity of King Philip the Fair remains mysterious. Who was he? The core of French policy or a simple tool in the hands of its advisers? The authors of the chronicles - the king's contemporaries - are inclined mainly to the second option - they, in particular, reproach the king for inept monetary and tax policies, explaining this by the fact that the king was given worthless advice by incompetent advisers. But, despite such uncertainty in assessments, the king is still seen as a “non-classical” monarch of the Middle Ages. Although chroniclers insist that France treated him with respect, which, however, he supposedly owes to the authority of his grandfather, Philip Augustus, who undertook economic and political reforms aimed at strengthening central power.
The leitmotif of historians contemporary with Philip the Fair is regret about the era of “His Majesty Saint Louis,” which is considered almost as a golden age, while Philip IV is characterized as “the antipode of Saint Louis.” But, despite all this, historians agree on one thing: a new era began with this king. However, it is hardly worth exaggerating the “modernity” of Philip the Fair and France of his time.
Philip IV the Fair - King of France from 1285 to 1314.
And yet, the reign of Philip IV the Fair constituted a turning point in the history of medieval France: he expanded the kingdom by annexing new lands (shortly before his death he annexed Lyon and its surroundings to France), forced the church and feudal rulers to obey the orders of the king and suppressed any independent power. The royal administration under him covered all aspects of society: cities, feudal nobility, clergy - everyone came under its control. His reign seemed to his contemporaries a time of cruel oppression and despotism. But behind all this a new era was already visible. With the help of a large corporation of lawyers, the king took advantage of every opportunity to establish royal courts everywhere and introduce Roman law. By the end of his life, all judicial power in the country passed exclusively to the crown, and public life acquired a completely different character than under his predecessors.
When compiling the article, we used material provided specifically for the project by Vadim Anatolyevich Strunov.
| Count of Champagne |
Fontainebleau, France
Fontainebleau, France
Characteristic
His reign played an important role in the decline of the political power of the feudal lords and the strengthening of monarchism in France. He continued the work of his father and grandfather, but the conditions of his era, character traits and intrigues of court advisers at times led to aggression and cruelty in the king’s policies. Despite this, Philip's reign strengthened French influence in Europe. Many of his actions, from the war with Flanders to the execution of the Templars, were aimed at replenishing the country's budget and strengthening the army.
Litigation with the English king
Edward I's homage to King Philip
Philip's advisors, brought up in the spirit of the traditions of Roman law, always tried to find a “legitimate” basis for the king’s demands and harassment and framed the most important diplomatic disputes in the form of trials. Philip's entire reign was filled with quarrels, “trials,” and diplomatic litigiousness of the most shameless nature.
So, for example, having confirmed the ownership of Guyen for the English king Edward I, Philip, after a number of quibbles, summoned him to court, knowing that Edward, who was at war with the Scots at that time, could not appear. Edward, fearing war with Philip, sent an embassy to him and allowed him to occupy Guienne for forty days. Philip took the dukedom and, according to the conditions, did not want to leave it. Diplomatic negotiations began, which led to the outbreak of hostilities; but in the end Philip gave Guienne so that the English king would still take the oath to him and recognize himself as his vassal. This happened in - gg. Military actions against England ended because the allies of the British, the Flemings, guided by independent interests, began to disturb the north of the kingdom.
War of Flanders
Philip IV managed to win over the Flemish urban population; The Count of Flanders was left almost alone before the invading French army and was captured, and Flanders was annexed to France. In the same year, 1301, unrest began among the conquered Flemings, who were oppressed by the French governor Chatillon and other proteges of Philip. The uprising spread throughout the country, and at the Battle of Courtrai (1302) the French were completely defeated. After this, the war lasted more than two years with varying success; Only in 1305 were the Flemings forced to cede quite a large part of their territory to Philip, recognize the vassalage of the remaining lands, hand over about 3,000 citizens for execution, destroy fortresses, etc. The war with Flanders dragged on mainly because the attention of Philip the Fair was diverted by the struggle with Pope Boniface VIII.
Fight with dad. Avignon Captivity of the Popes
Seal of King Philip IV the Fair (1286)
This compliance did not lead, however, to a lasting peace with Philip, who was tempted by the wealth of the French church. The legalists surrounding the king, especially Guillaume Nogaret and Pierre Dubois, advised the king to remove entire categories of criminal cases from the jurisdiction of church justice. In 1300, relations between Rome and France became very tense. Bishop of Pamiers Bernard Sesse, sent by Boniface to Philip as a special legate, behaved extremely impudently: he was a representative of that party in Languedoc that especially hated the northern French. The king brought a lawsuit against him and demanded that the pope deprive him of the priesthood; the bishop was accused not only of insulting the king, but also of treason and other crimes.
The pope in December 1301 responded to Philip by accusing him of encroaching on spiritual authority and demanded him to appear before his court. At the same time, he sent the bull “Ausculta fili” to the king, in which he emphasized the fullness of papal power and its superiority over all (without exception) secular power. The king (according to legend, having burned this bull) convened the Estates General in April 1302 (the first French history). The nobles and representatives of the cities expressed unconditional support for the royal policy. The clergy turned to the Pope with a request not to go to Rome, where he called them to the council that was being prepared against Philip. Boniface did not agree, but the priests still did not go to Rome, because Philip forbade them.
At the council, which took place in the fall of 1302, in the bull “Unam Sanctam” Boniface again confirmed his opinion about the supremacy of spiritual power over secular power, the “spiritual sword” over the “secular.” In 1303, Boniface freed part of the lands subject to Philip from the vassal oath, and the king, in response, convened a meeting of senior clergy and secular barons, before which Nogaret accused Boniface of all sorts of atrocities.
Soon after this, Nogaret with a small retinue left for Italy to arrest the pope, who had mortal enemies there, which greatly facilitated the task of the French agent. Dad left for Anagni, not knowing that the city's residents were ready to betray him. Nogare and his companions freely entered the city, entered the palace and here behaved quite rudely, almost using violence (there is a version about a slap in the face given to the pope). Two days later, the mood of the residents of Ananya changed and they freed the pope. A few days later, Boniface VIII died, and 10 months later his successor, Boniface IX, also died. This death happened very opportunely for the French king, so popular rumor attributed it to poisoning.
The administration was highly centralized; This was especially noticeable in the provinces where feudal traditions were still strong. The rights of feudal lords were significantly limited (for example, in the minting of coins). The king was not liked for his too greedy economic policy.
Extremely energetic foreign policy Philippa regarding England, Germany, Savoy and all border possessions, often leading to an increase in French possessions, was his only achievement that was appreciated by both his contemporaries and subsequent generations.
Death
Posthumous tombstone of Philip IV the Fair
Philip IV the Fair died on November 29, 1314, at the age of 47, in his place of birth - Fontainebleau, probably the cause of his death was a massive stroke. Many associated his death with the curse of the Grand Master of the Templar Order, Jacques de Molay, who, before his execution on March 18, 1314 in Paris, predicted Philip's death in less than a year. He was buried in the Basilica of the Abbey of Saint-Denis near Paris. He was succeeded by his son Louis X the Grumpy.
Family and Children
He was married from 16 August 1284 to Joan I (11 January 1272 – 4 April 1305), Queen of Navarre, and Countess of Champagne from 1274. This marriage made it possible to annex the royal domain of Champagne, and also led to the first unification of France and Navarre within a personal union (until 1328).
From this union seven children were born:
While still a fairly young widower (37 years old), Philip IV did not remarry, remaining faithful to the memory of his late wife.
see also
Literature
- Dominique Poirel. Philippe le Bel. Perrin, collection: Passé Simple, Paris, 1991. 461 p. ISBN 978-2-262-00749-2
- Sylvie Le Clech. Philippe IV le Bel et les derniers Capétiens. Tallandier, collection: La France au fil de ses rois, 2002 ISBN 978-2-235-02315-3
- Georges Bordonove. Philippe le Bel, roi de fer. Le Grand livre du mois, Paris, 1984 ISBN 978-2-7242-3271-4
- Joseph Strayer. The reign of Philip the Fair. 1980.
- Favier, Jean. Philippe le Bel
- Boutaric. La France sous Philippe le Bel. P. 1861
- Jolly. Philippe le Bel. P., 1869
- B. Zeller. Philippe le Bel et ses trois fils. P., 1885
- Maurice Druon. Iron King. The first book in the “Cursed Kings” series (The Iron King. The Prisoner of Chateau-Gaillard. Translated from French. M., 1981)
Links
| Faciens misericordiam - August 12, 1308 | |
|---|---|
| Commissioners | Gilles Aycelin Guillaume Durand Guillaume de Bonnet Raynaud de La Porte Matthieu de Naples Jean de Mantoue Jean de Montlaur Guillaume Argani |
| Protagonists | Clement V Philip the Handsome |
| Other | Templars Jacques de Molay |
| Portal:Templars | |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||