Philip II of France

Philip II Augustus (French: Philippe II Auguste) (August 21,1165 – July 14, 1223), was King of France from 1180 to 1223.

A member of the Capetian dynasty, Philip Augustus was born on August 21, 1165 at Gonesse, Val-d'Oise, France, the son of Louis VII of France and his third wife, Adèle of Champagne. He was originally nicknamed Dieudonné: God-given.

Philip II was a younger half-brother of Marie, countess palatine of Champagne, Alix, countess of Blois, Marguerite, queen of Hungary and Alys, Countess of the Vexin. He was an older full brother of Agnes of France, Empress of Constantinople.

In declining health, his father had him crowned at Reims in 1179. He was married on April 28, 1180 to Isabelle of Hainaut, who brought the County of Artois as her dowry. His father and co-ruler died on September 18, 1180. Philip's eldest son Louis (later King Louis VIII), was born on September 5, 1187 and became Count of Artois in 1190, when Isabelle, his mother, died.

As King, Philip II would become one of the most successful in consolidating northern France into one royal domain, but he never had more than limited influence in southern France. He seized the territories of Maine, Touraine, Anjou, Brittany and all of Normandy from King John of England (1199–1216). His decisive victory at the Battle of Bouvines over King John and a coalition of forces that included Otto IV of Germany ended the immediate threat of challenges to this expansion (1214) and left Philip II Augustus as the most powerful monarch in all of Europe.

He reorganized the government, bringing financial stability to the country and thus making possible a sharp increase in prosperity. His reign was popular with ordinary people because he checked the power of the nobles and passed some of it on to the growing middle class that his reign had created.

Early years

In 1179, Louis VII, in the tradition of his forefathers going back to Hugh Capet, had his son Philip crowned king to assure his smooth succession. On 1 November, Guillaume aux Blanches Mains, Archbishop of Rheims, crowned and anointed the fourteen year-old prince in the cathedral there. His father died on 18 September of the next year.

While the royal power had been increased under Philip I and Louis VI, under Louis VII it had diminished slightly. In April 1182, Philip expelled Jews from France and confiscated their goods. The reasons given were, of course, a mere pretense to allow the crown to aggrandise itself at the expense of an unpopular sect of the population.

Since 1181, conflict had been ongoing with the count of Flanders, Philippe of Alsace. Philip managed to counter the ambitions of the count by breaking his alliances with Henry I, Duke of Brabant, and Philipp von Heinsberg, Archbishop of Cologne. In July 1185, the Treaty of Boves confirmed to the king the possession of the Vermandois, Artois, and Amiénois.

Philip also began to war with the Henry II of England, who was also count of Anjou and duke of Aquitaine in France; two years of combat (1186-1188) followed, but the situation remained unchanged. Philip initially allied and worked with the young sons of Henry, Richard and John, who were in rebellion against their father. The death of Henry and the fall of Jerusalem in 1187 diverted attention from the Franco-English war.

Third Crusade

Philip went on the Third Crusade with Richard I of England (1189–99) and the Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick I Barbarossa (1189–1192). His army left Vézelay on July 1, 1190. At first the French and English crusaders traveled together, but the armies split at Lyons, as King Richard I decided to go by sea, and Philip took the overland route through the Alps to Genoa. The French and English armies were reunited in Messina, where they wintered together. On March 30, 1191 the French set sail for the Holy Land, where they launched several assaults on Acre before King Richard I arrived (see Siege of Acre). By the time Acre surrendered on July 12, Philip was severely ill with dysentery and had little more interest in further crusading. He decided to return to France, a decision that displeased King Richard I, who said, "It is a shame and a disgrace on my lord if he goes away without having finished the business that brought him hither. But still, if he finds himself in bad health, or is afraid lest he should die here, his will be done." So on July 31, 1191 the French army remained in Outremer under the command of Hugues III, duke of Burgundy. Philip and his cousin Peter de Courtenay, count of Nevers, made their way to Genoa and from there returned to France.

Marital problems

After Isabelle's early death in childbirth, in 1190, Philip decided to marry again. On August 15, 1193 he married Ingeborg (1175–1236), daughter of King Valdemar I of Denmark (1157–82). She was renamed Isambour, and Stephan of Dornik described her as "very kind, young of age but old of wisdom." For some unknown reason, Philip was repelled by her, and he refused to allow her to be crowned Queen. Ingeborg protested at this treatment; his response was to confine her to a convent. He then asked Pope Celestine III for an annulment on the grounds of non-consummation. Philip had not reckoned with Ingeborg, however; she insisted that the marriage had been consummated, and that she was his wife and the rightful Queen of France. The Franco-Danish churchman William of Paris intervened on the side of Ingeborg, drawing up a genealogy of the Danish kings to disprove the alleged impediment of consanguinity.

In the meantime Philip had sought a new bride. Initially agreement had been reached for him to marry Marguerite, daughter of William I, Count of Geneva, but the young bride's journey to Paris was interrupted by Thomas I of Savoy, who kidnapped Philip's intended new queen and married her instead, claiming that Philip was already bound in marriage. Philip finally achieved a third marriage, on May 7, 1196, to Agnes of Merania from Dalmatia (c. 1180 – July 29, 1201). Their children were:

Marie (1198 – October 15, 1224)
Philippe Hurepel (1200–1234), Count of Clermont and eventually, by marriage, Count of Boulogne

Pope Innocent III (1198–1216) declared Philip Augustus's marriage to Agnes of Merania null and void, since he was still married to Ingeborg. He ordered the King to part from Agnès; when he did not, the Pope placed France under an interdict in 1199. This continued until September 7, 1200. Due to pressure from the Pope and from Ingeborg's brother, King Valdemar II of Denmark (1202–41), Philip finally took Ingeborg back as his Queen in 1213.

Last years

Understandably, he turned a deaf ear when the Pope asked him to do something about the heretics in the Languedoc. When Innocent III called for a crusade against the Albigensians or Cathars, in 1208, Philip did nothing to support it, but neither did he hinder it. The war against the Cathars did not end until 1244, when finally their last strongholds were captured. The fruits of it, namely the submission of the south of France to the crown, were to be reaped by Philip's son, Louis VIII, and grandson, Louis IX.

Philip II Augustus would play a significant role in one of the greatest centuries of innovation in construction and in education. With Paris as his capital, he had the main thoroughfares paved, built a central market, Les Halles, continued the construction begun in 1163 of the Gothic Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral, constructed the Louvre as a fortress and gave a charter to the University of Paris in 1200. Under his guidance, Paris became the first city of teachers the medieval world had known. In 1224, the French poet Henry d'Andeli wrote of the great wine tasting competition that Philip II Augustus commissioned The Battle of the Wines.

Philip II Augustus died July 14, 1223 at Mantes and was interred in Saint Denis Basilica. He was succeeded by his son by Isabelle of Hainaut, Louis VIII (1223–26).

Portrayal in fiction

Philip is a character in James Goldman's historical play The Lion in Winter. In the play he is portrayed as charming and somewhat manipulative. The play also maintains the historical theory Philip and Richard the Lionhearted had previously had a homosexual relationship. In the 1968 film of The Lion in Winter, which downplayed the homosexual aspect present in the stage play, Philip was played by Timothy Dalton. Jonathan Rhys Meyers played Philip in a 2003 television version.

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