Philip IV "the Fair" of France (8 June 1268-29 November 1314) was the King of France from 5 October 1285 to 29 November 1314, succeeding Philip III of France and preceding Louis X of France.
Biography[]
Philippe in 1307
Philip was born in April 1268 to Philip III of France and Isabella of Aragon, and he was from the Catholic French House of Capet. Philip became the king of France on the death of his father in 1285, and he was also the ruler of Navarre. Philip entrusted affairs of state to skilled councillors instead of untrustworthy barons, and under his rule the Capetians ruled states such as Naples and Hungary to the east. However, he became rivals with King Edward I of England, who was nominally his vassal as the Duke of Aquitaine, and on 11 October 1302 he was defeated by Flemish rebels at the Battle of Courtrai, where his brother Robert II of Artois was killed. Philip entered into conflict with Pope Boniface VIII when he tried to take control of the church in France. In 1306 Philip expelled the Jews from France and in 1307 annihilated the Templar Order, as he was in debt with both groups and saw them as a state within the state. Jacques de Molay damned the king as he was burnt at the stake following the fall of his Parisian headquarters to Flemish mercenaries, with Pope Clement V and the king both watching the execution. Philip died in 1314, and his sons would become Louis X of France, Philip V of France, and Charles IV of France.