85: King Philippe II's Reign

   Philippe II is most known for his military triumphs. His victory at the Battle of Bouvines is a legendary moment in European history. However, it was Philippe II’s political and administrative acumen that made the victory lasting. Many figures can win wars; few of those can win the peace. Philippe II is a remarkable figure in that he succeeded at virtually everything he set his mind to. As king, he created a more rational bureaucratic system, strengthened his own position all while engendering goodwill amongst his vassals and subjects. Philippe II combined wisdom, justice and Christian piety in a such a way that he inspired love and respect within his kingdom.

Philippe II was a man and had faults but none of his failures were bad enough to destroy his overall projects. Philippe II took every setback as a lesson; in fact, he was humble enough to even review his ‘wins’ in politics and recognize room for improvement. Unlike so many leaders who refuse to admit their mistakes even when they bring catastrophe to their country, Philippe II Auguste consistently criticized himself and became better for it. While his military victories made him king over France, his wise administration ensured that his successors would inherit a strong, stable state.

            Philippe II Auguste faced many problems as a young ruler. Like Italy, France was more of a geographic expression than a country. The south was virtually autonomous, while the Angevin territories openly defied the king’s power. Within the Île-de-France, Philippe II’s own authority was challenged by lowly ruffians. Professional soldiers who lost their patrons either became sellswords or brigands. These unscrupulous men would rape, pillage, desecrate holy sites, hold people for ransom and set fire to churches as they engaged in wanton looting.

            Unchecked brigandry across France became such a problem that in 1183 disgruntled locals formed a union called the capuchons, or white hoods. In Auvergne they killed 3,000 brigands. In Rouergue they killed the brigand leader and 500 of his followers. As helpful as this was, the aristocracy viewed the capuchons as a threat to their monopoly on power. The following year the nobles accused them of heresy and crushed them. 

            Philippe II was a king who thought in terms of greatness. He built monuments, castles and government to last. First, the king would exert power over new territory through a variety of methods. Sometimes he conquered territories outright. Other times he approved charters to communes or made grants to churches in neighboring lands. When his rivals used force to bring the communes and churches to heel, Philippe II raised a force and brought the territories under his protection.

            Once a new territory was brought into the royal domain, Philippe II treated his new vassals kindly. Usually, subjects of newly-incorporated territories would pay less in taxes than anywhere else in the realm. Only after Philippe II was secure in his holdings would he raise taxes, though he was cautious never to squeeze his people too much and risk rebellion.

            Philippe II allowed newly-acquired territories to keep their local political organs, customs and laws, so long as they did not contradict royal edicts. This light-handed rule meant that very few had reason to oppose the King of France; more often, French towns and lords willingly submitted themselves to Philippe II as soon as they believed he had the power to protect them from other lords.

            Still, Philippe II imposed a central order over all his lands. This came in the form of the prévôt, a royal official who traveled throughout the realm as the king’s surrogate, administering justice and collecting taxes and tolls. In 1184, Philippe II incorporated baillis into his government. Baillis was a Norman creation, which in English became known as the ‘bailiff.’ Baillis traveled across a region and oversaw the prévôts. This system of accountability gave Philippe II more direct power over the kingdom and meant regular influxes of cash into his coffers. Increased efficiency meant that Philippe II reduced expenses even as more territories brought in more wealth.

            An important policy that ensured order across the realm was the removal of the great magnates from positions of power. Philippe II knew that sidelining notables put him at risk of their wrath, but he feared that giving potential rivals even more power was even riskier. As such, Philippe II created something of a meritocracy, uplifting the lower nobility to positions of authority. These figures were often more energetic and competent than the great lords and were personally loyal to the king as their position depended on his patronage.

            Another way that Philippe II maintained order in his realm was through adjudicating conflicts between aristocrats. Non-violence was a double-edged sword for the monarch; using his royal authority he forced nobles under his power to agree to uphold Christian peace. If a lord broke the peace, Philippe II would use this as an excuse to enact harsh fines, if not seize the lord’s land entirely. If you cannot tell, Philippe II gave himself every moral and legal excuse he could think of to interfere in the political goings-on of his realm. These excuses were always based on popular precepts, such as upholding peace, protecting churches, protecting communes, and maintaining justice, and so they had broad appeal. His actions seem Machiavellian as he justified his every political move, except that by all accounts Philippe II was a pious man who genuinely believed he was doing good for his people.

            One incredibly significant change that Philippe II instituted was making Paris a more permanent seat of government. Paris had long been the most populous and important city in the Kingdom of France, but medieval rulers usually did not have fixed capitals. The government was wherever the king was, as his primary officials and record-keepers accompanied him across the realm. This had been the tradition for centuries; even though Charlemagne had established a new headquarters at Aachen this was hardly a capital as he was constantly on the move. Under Philippe II Auguste, Paris became the fixed capital of the kingdom, with the country’s first Hôtel de Ville or mayoral office, a royal treasury and archives. By the end of his reign Paris grew into the largest city north of the Alps.

            Philippe II was one of the most important figures in Paris’ history, as he sought to put his own stamp on the city and turn it into a great metropolis. The king patronized many crucial building projects, the most important of which was arguably the Louvre Castle. As a boy, Philippe II had accompanied his father to Normandy and watched Louis VII’s vassals stare in awe at his enemy’s newly-built castle. From an early age, Philippe II understood the power of monuments as a means of overawing people. The Louvre would be his great castle, one that would reshape medieval warfare.

            Built of Parisian limestone, this shining colossus defended the northwestern edge of the city from Norman attack. The Louvre inaugurated a new era of castle-building in Western Europe. Before this period the Norman castle was the predominant style. These square-shaped keeps were easy to make and sturdy. As the Normans conquered abroad they spread this style, and not just in France. Norman keeps appear in Sicily and in England. The Tower of London is just one example of a Norman-style castle.

            The Louvre was a far more complex structure. It had thick outer walls with rounded towers. Likewise, the keep had many rounded towers guarding its corners and entryways. This was a major innovation that made the Louvre vastly superior to Norman castles. As Europeans acquired knowledge of trebuchets in the 12th century, Norman castles became obsolete as the powerful siege engines could blast through straight walls. In contrast, when a stone projectile hits a curved wall the impact is more distributed, making it more resilient to attack. As the king’s standard, the Louvre became the blueprint for castle-building across Europe.

            Philippe II sponsored another major building at the heart of Paris that transformed medieval European architecture: the cathedral of Notre-Dame. Notre-Dame de Paris began construction under the king’s father. Louis VII laid the first stone for this new project though he never had the opportunity to attend a service inside, as only the choir and two ambulatories were finished by the time he died. Two years later, Philippe II consecrated the high altar. Over the course of his reign, the church acquired its western façade and nave, meaning it could hold services. Construction continued in stages over the next hundred years, though by the time Philippe II passed away, Notre-Dame de Paris was already recognized as one of the great wonders of Christendom. Notre-Dame de Paris would spark a revolution in medieval architecture as church-builders broke with the Romanesque style and instead made new works. Derisively dubbed, ‘Gothic’ by the Italians after the Germanic peoples who sacked Rome, these cathedrals expanded upward, using new techniques to create high windows that could let in light. Combined with stained-glass and clouds of incense, Gothic cathedrals created an ethereal experience that at least one theologian claimed was the presence of God made manifest.

            Philippe II’s Parisian projects did more than reinvent Western castles and cathedrals; they also caused a flourishing of higher education. Paris had been a center for academics for centuries but the city took off with the development of a formal organization. The first college, the Dix-Huit, formed in 1180 and rapidly grew. In a relatively short period up to 10% of Paris’ total population were scholars and students, many of whom came from across Western Europe to study.

            As the scholarly population boomed tensions arose between them and the citizens. Many students were groomed for positions in the church and government and were considerably wealthier than the average city-dweller. Many students came from abroad, and Parisians opposed them due to their own xenophobia.

            In the year 1200 everything blew up. A German student who had been elected as bishop of Liège sent a servant to buy wine from a local tavern. The French patrons assaulted the poor German, prompting some of his fellows to visit the tavern and start a fight. This quickly escalated into a riot as the city’s prévôt led a crowd to attack the German student quarter. In the process, the enraged Parisians killed a number of students, among them the bishop-elect.

In the aftermath of the riot, the college appealed to Philippe II for protection. The king sided with the school and issued a charter which consolidated the city’s colleges into the University of Paris. Its students would have the same legal rights as clerics and the prévôt responsible for attacking them was arrested, though he died shortly thereafter when he tried to escape his confinement and fell from a wall.

The University of Paris was not the first European university; Bologna and Oxford both precede it, though they were much smaller at the time. What made the University of Paris so important is that the city it was located in was one of the great capitals of Europe, bringing with it far more wealth, people and prestige. For centuries Paris was the intellectual heart of the Western world. Popes, bishops and intellectual giants learned their craft in the city. The University of Paris served as a model and a standard for higher education, influencing emergent universities like Oxford, Cambridge and practically every medieval educational institution from then on. The university’s colleges for arts, theology, medicine and law became the bases for other colleges, as did their structure around the bachelor-master-doctor system.

While the University of Paris was by far the most important place of higher learning in France under Philippe II’s reign, it was not the only one. In 1210 the University of Montpellier received its statute, specializing in medicine.

            Another major initiative that Philippe II undertook was the creation of Les Halles. The creation of this crucial part of the city had a dubious origin. When Philippe II ordered the expulsion of the Jews from France he seized prime real estate in central Paris. There he constructed a vast market made of large halls where food, textiles and other goods were sold. Les Halles served as a center of commerce in the city up until 1971.

            The king then moved to remaking the Cemetery of the Innocents. This immense resting place for the dead had developed a dubious reputation: it was regularly used as a dumping ground for rubbish, had pigs roaming over it and was frequented by prostitutes and their patrons. Philippe II had the cemetery cleaned up and better ordered, turning it into the largest cemetery in Paris until 1786 when the vast collection of bodies proved unsustainable and the bones of the dead were moved to the catacombs.

            Perhaps taking a page from Augustus’ playbook, Philippe II had Paris’ roads paved, replacing the muddy dirt roads with stone. The king then ordered the construction of an elaborate and much-needed sewer system. At the time, Paris stank; what sewers were in existence were often open, meaning they were little more than trenches to dump rotted food, human waste and animal corpses in. The new sewers better handled waste, contained disease and at least kept people from gagging every time they walked outside.

            The last major change Philippe II brought to Paris was the construction of a vast wall that enclosed the city. All these changes turned a major city into the great city north of the Alps. Before, Paris was still small enough to fit within the 25 acres enclosed by the imperial Roman walls. Philippe II’s new walls expanded the city from 25 acres to 625. Philippe had turned Paris into the great city of France. The city’s vast population greatly aided the monarch in dominating the country, politically, militarily, economically and culturally. From Paris, Philippe II attempted to issue a standard currency; though this never became universal across the kingdom, its widespread use demonstrated that Paris was rapidly spreading its influence across France.

            Part of Philippe II’s major transformation of the kingdom was through the professionalization of the justice system. The rise of the University of Paris meant that trained lawyers could memorize, interpret and contest law across the kingdom. By bringing the kingdom under his power, Philippe II moved towards standardization of judicial systems. Laws themselves varied wildly by region and even locality, but the expanded presence of royal officials meant that justice was becoming more uniform as lawyers used theories from the University of Paris and acted in accordance with the king’s wishes.

            Philippe II himself was greatly interested in administering law. As king, he was a regular arbiter of justice and gladly took to the role. Aside from the more mundane cases, there was one instance that truly stands out. A woman complained to the king that one of his officials had abused his power to seize the land of a fallen knight. When the soldier died, the land should have gone to his widow, though the official forced the poor woman to sell it to him. Historian Jim Bradbury recounts that, “The official tried to make the transfer look legal by dragging the knight’s neighbours to the cemetery and disinterring the corpse. He stood the dead man on his feet to ‘swear’ before witnesses that he would sell, proclaiming, ‘who does not speak, consents.’” When the corpse did not respond, the official put the money in his hand and had him reburied. For his wickedness, Philippe II had him banished, or hanged or buried alive, depending on which source you believe.

            Philippe II Auguste appears to have a definitive sense of right and wrong, which naturally led him to value justice. Furthermore, as a judge, Philippe II actively arbitrated disputes, bringing order to his realm. Finally, the king had a definite financial stake in the system; more than 7% of royal revenue came from the judicial system. As Philippe II’s royal officials took over from local powers they pocketed the money from fees and fines levelled against the guilty.

            Another interesting change in the justice system was the decline in trial by combat and trial by ordeal. The trials were questioned by some theologians who pointed to Matthew 4:7 which forbade testing God. Others used logic to discount trials, pointing out that if God did decide trial by combat, then why did lords choose the best duelists as their champions? Wouldn’t an old woman win if that was what God wanted? Furthermore, there were instances where these trials produced false results. In one case a priest underwent an ordeal and failed, at which point the community found him guilty of murder and hanged him. Shortly afterward, the man they thought was murdered wandered back into town.

            The last officially sanctioned trial by combat occurred in 1386 and the practice would not be officially abolished until 1547. However, these trials did increasingly fall out of favor as scholars took a more rational view of theology and justice.

            A major part of Philippe II’s kingly duties was his relation with the church and religion in general. Philippe II was a deeply pious man, who regularly prayed, attended religious services, took an interest in theological affairs and attempted to bring about moral reform in his court. Throughout his life, Philippe II claimed interactions with the divine. The chronicles recount that at the age of 11, the Lord appeared to the young prince, causing him to fall to the ground and weep. One account records that in 1188, while campaigning against Richard I the French army marched through dry lands parched by the summer heat when a sudden downpour filled the riverbeds. Fourteen years later, Philippe II led a procession carrying the relics of Saint-Denis, appealing to God to halt the terrible storms that submerged entire villages in floods. In this case, God did not answer the king’s prayers, though Philippe II remained a dutiful son of the church until his death. When he did pass on, there was a movement to make him a saint, something which did not happen, though his grandson Louis IX did achieve sainthood.

To the joy of the church and the annoyance of the warrior aristocracy, the king did not sponsor tournaments. While the church viewed these as immoral, the nobility loved the martial games as a source of fun and a test of manhood. While Philippe II did not ban tournaments he did not personally attend them and he likewise forbade his son from doing the same.

            Philippe II likewise did not patronize poets or actors, both of which the church viewed with suspicion. The king also forbade swearing in his court. Those who did had to pay 20 sous or be dunked in the river, something which did happen at least once. Philippe II was not the most fun person at a party but at least he wasn’t as bad as Louis I the Pious.

            Philippe II has had something of a divided reputation over his treatment of the poor. Some historians criticize him for his stinginess. In one famous account, the king was walking through Paris when a beggar asked him for money in the name of his royal forebears. Philippe II then tossed the man a single small coin. The angered beggar then asked the king if his progenitors going back to Adam were only worth a single coin, to which Philippe II responded, “If I gave you a coin for every ancestor from that line, I would not have much left.”

            Philippe II was conservative with his funds, though this has often been overstated. He regularly donated to charitable causes, particularly those that affected the poorest of his subjects. He was a major patron of lepers, orphans, the destitute, smaller religious orders, such as the growing Cistercian movement, and those associated with pilgrimage and crusading, primarily the Hospitallers and the Templars. If Philippe II Auguste’s giving seems paltry, perhaps it has more to do with the fact that he championed the lowliest, rather than giving his money to large churches and powerful religious leaders, who in turn might sing his praises.

            Philippe II’s charitable endeavors offer a unique view into his psyche. One of the overriding themes of the great man’s life has been a focus on the monumental. Philippe II Auguste’s ambitions were enormous: he aimed to crush the Angevin Empire and make the Kingdom of France his own. He built up Paris to be one of the great cities of Europe. He sponsored the construction of the Louvre Castle and Notre Dame de Paris, both of which recast medieval architecture. He was someone who almost always focused on the big picture. Yet, when he engaged in the royal custom of charitable donations he primarily benefitted the most wretched of his subjects. This shows a complexity of character as he personally strove for greatness while adhering to a Christian piety that required him to uplift the most needy, even if that meant withholding funds for wealthy churches and losing out on their bishop’s accolades.

            Philippe II had a largely positive relationship with the church. He aggressively defended church rights, if only as an excuse to assert his power over the various parts of his kingdom. Still, Philippe II expected churches to repay him; those that did not lost royal protection. In one instance, in 1201 the see of Reims did not send the troops feudal law dictated they raise. Soon thereafter a nearby count started pillaging the countryside and the clergy of the city appealed to their king. Philippe II responded, “you have aided me only with your prayers; now you are under attack, I shall aid you in the same way.” Essentially, Philippe II saw Reims under attack and replied, “#ThoughtsAndPrayers.” Thereafter, Reims sent the king whatever he demanded of them.

            For the most part, Philippe II administered his church with an even hand. He rarely intervened in elections, though clergy regularly picked candidates favorable to him. In this way, Philippe II gained more with honey than vinegar; by giving churches relative freedom their ministers felt obligated to side with him.

            The Capetian kings had always had a strong relationship with the church, going back to Pepin the Short. The Galician Church, as the French church was called, regularly sided with the monarch even against the pope. When Philippe II came into conflict with Innocent III over his marital issues most French priests remained loyal to him. However, when the bishops of Paris and Senlis complied with the pope’s interdiction Philippe II ravaged the cities.

            In 1198 Innocent III ascended to the papacy. He was an energetic pope, often called the most powerful pope in history, and one who regularly intervened in European political affairs. At times, Innocent III frustrated Philippe II’s aims. In 1213 the pope demanded Philippe II give up his planned invasion of England, to which the French king angrily acquiesced. Still, Philippe II had enough spiritual and political power to stand up against papal authority. Philippe II’s pious reputation, the glory he won in the Third Crusade, and his crackdowns against heresy all buffeted his reputation as a godly ruler. Combined with the support of the Galician Church, Philippe II could act without much fear of retribution.

            Philippe II was one of the most successful kings in the history of France, but he was not without his flaws. Perhaps the most notable was his treatment of Jews. Early in his reign, Philippe II spoke to the hermit Bernard, who lived in the woods of Vincennes, just outside Paris. Upon his encouragement, the king had 99 Jews rounded up and burned alive because they were holding a debt against a Christian which he considered unfair. Philippe II further justified this by claiming that Jews had been responsible for killing Christ.

            In 1180 Philippe II raised taxes on Jews as a dual means of forcing them to convert and to raise funds. When this proved insufficient, Philippe II took an extreme measure: in 1182 he ejected all Jews from the royal domain, seizing their wealth in the process. He also took their homes, some of which he demolished to make room for Les Halles. Later in his reign, Philippe II allowed Jews to return as he needed financiers who were not bound by Catholic doctrines against usury.

            Philippe II’s treatment of Jews was a far cry from the way his father had dealt with them. Louis VII had practiced tolerance and even protected Jews from abuse. Philippe II, however, was motivated by a mixture of pragmatism and religious devotion. As a deeply devout man he was prejudiced against Jews as the only visible religious minority in an otherwise Catholic kingdom. However, his actions were overwhelmingly in service of realpolitik: he expelled Jews when he needed immediate cash and let them return when he realized it would economically benefit his kingdom. Even his religious outlook was tempered by practical concerns.

            Like many French kings, Philippe II had an unusual love life. His first marriage was to Isabelle of Hainault, daughter of the Count of Flanders in 1180, when he was 15 and she 10. Not long after the marriage the king warred against his father-in-law, opening a rift between the two. This caused Philippe II to announce he would divorce his queen. In response, the fourteen year-old Isabelle walked barefoot through the streets of Senlis in nothing but a simple shift, carrying only a candle, weeping at her mistreatment. Shamed, Philippe II held back on his plans to replace her, though he remained furious at her actions.

            When the war ended, Philippe II and Isabelle reconciled and the king and queen later came to genuinely love each other. In 1187, Isabelle bore Louis VIII, the king’s heir and successor. Three years later, Isabelle gave birth to twin boys, though tragically she and her children died shortly thereafter. When the king heard of her death, he signed a truce with Richard I and returned to mourn her.

            Philippe II would not remain a bachelor for long; he wanted more sons to potentially succeed him and develop a marriage alliance to strengthen his hand. He decided to marry Ingeborg, daughter of Waldemar I, King of Denmark. Philippe II reasoned that Danish ships would prove useful against the English and the Kingdom of Denmark was a powerful ally against the Holy Roman Empire.

            Philippe II was almost 28 when he met his 18 year-old bride for the first time at the marriage ceremony at Amiens on 14 August 1193. No one knows what happened next. The chronicles record that Philippe II was deathly pale throughout the ceremony and shaking. Afterwards, he kept Ingeborg as a pampered hostage, refusing to recognize her as his queen.

What happened between the two? While there is no concrete information at least one source says that Ingeborg was a sorceress in league with the devil. Unlikely. Perhaps the two were not sexually compatible and the accusations of her witchcraft were an excuse for Philippe II’s distaste for her. However, Ingeborg claimed that they consummated the marriage, which made life difficult for Philippe II.

Philippe II did everything he could, short of violence, to rid himself of the Danish princess. He ordered the Galician Church to invalidate the marriage, which they did. However, Pope Innocent III claimed that the dissolution was unlawful and ordered Philippe II to reinstate Ingeborg. When Philippe II refused, the pope placed an interdict on France. For twenty years Ingeborg was moved from castles to hunting lodges and convents as Philippe II tried to get rid of her. He even demanded she became a nun, to which she refused.

In June 1196 Philippe II married his third wife, Agnès de Méranie, daughter of an important supporter of the Hohenstaufens. Of all his wives, Philippe II loved her the most and she gave him two children, Marie and Philippe, the latter of which who would become Count of Boulogne. Still, the papacy never recognized the marriage, complicating the matter. This issue was only resolved in 1201 when Agnès died.

After burying his beloved, Philippe II finally relented and allowed Ingeborg a measure of freedom, though they would never be reconciled. In exchange for recognizing Ingeborg as his lawful wife, the pope legitimized Philippe II’s two children by his last wife. In 1213 Philippe II even invited Ingeborg back to court, as he wanted to form an anti-English alliance with Denmark. Ingeborg outlived Philippe II by fourteen years, which she spent in a convent at Corbeil.

            As king, Philippe II had many accomplishments, his greatest being that he made the position of King of France worthy of the austere title. Philippe II’s ambitions were near-boundless. He even attempted to associate himself with the Roman Empire by using an eagle on his seal, using the title ‘Augustus’ and marrying his sister to two Byzantine Emperors; in sequence, that is; not at the same time. By this point the Greeks were Christians so stuff like that was out.

            Philippe II’s accomplishments were incredible. He subdued the northern half of his kingdom, his tacit involvement in the Albigensian Crusade weakened the South, allowing for northern dominance in future. He expanded the power and efficiency of government. He improved the military and became the first French king to build a significant navy. He was not a perfect king; he made mistakes. At times he angered important subjects. He was cruel to Jews. He could be spendthrift with his money. His reign is notable due to its lack of artistic patronage both from the king’s penny-pinching and from his moral reservations. He also had an embroiled love life which brought his kingdom under interdiction and himself excommunication. Yet, none of his faults ever proved fatal and his accomplishments outweighed his deficits.

            Philippe II was not just great in his time. His achievements outlasted him and laid a foundation for France.

Sources:

Jim Bradbury, The Capetians: Kings of France 987-1328, 2007.

Jim Bradbury, Philip Augustus: King of France 1180-1223, 1998.

John W. Baldwin, The Government of Philip Augustus: Foundations of French Royal Power in the Middle Ages, 1986.