Today is the 710th anniversary of the death at Fontainebleau of King Philip IV of France in 1314. This was but the last in a series of dramatic events which marked out that year, and all of which involved the French King, his family, and his rule.
The effigy of King Philip IV from his tomb in the abbey basilica of St Denis
Image: Wikipedia
In the early part of the year the suppression of the Order of the Templars, instigated by King Philip, had culminated in the burning at the stake in Paris of the last Grand Master. Shortly afterwards Pope Clement V, the first of the line of what became the Avignon Papacy, and who had been pressured by King Philip over the Templars to dissolve the Order, died. The ensuing vacancy lasted two and a quarter years. Next the French royal house had been shaken to their dynastic foundations by the affair of the Tour de Nesle, and the disgrace of the King’s daughters-in-law. In June his son-in-law King Edward II suffered the catastrophic defeat of Bannockburn. In November King Philip, aged 46, appears to have suffered a stroke whilst hunting and died shortly afterwards on this day.
If you want to read a vivid and entertaining account of these events then you should turn to the novels of Maurice Druon or to watch the ORTF adaptatuon from 1972-3 ( not the 2005 remake ) of Les Rois Maudits.
Few Kings of France have rivalled King Philip IV in their impact as rulers. In his reign France occupied a position that in many ways it was not to do again until the reign of King Louis XIV.
In his expansion of Royal authority, his move against not just the Templars but against the Papacy itself in the person of Pope Boniface VIII, the transfer of the institution from Rome to Avignon being a consequence, and with the prestige the French monarchy enjoyed, he can be seen as a very significant figure.
In his clash with the Papacy he can be seen to prefigure King Henry VIII in England, or, in the modern history of France, the tension between Church and State. As State-builder he and his ministers point to future development across the whole of Europe and indeed the modern world. In his debasement of the currency he also resembles his English descendent. He was a ruler who seemingly made up his own rules and enforced them on his subjects and neighbours.
Handsome and inscrutable he was an enigma to his contemporaries, and he remains enigmatic to historians and commentators today. A great king, a great state builder, but in many ways unsuccessful both within and beyond France, the powerful ruler whose achievements were often enduring, but which sometimes proved to be a house of cards. Personally devout yet implacable and unscrupulous in his dealings with the Church as a public figure.
Thus his reign can also be presented as the origin of what was to become the Hundred Years War, and all that was to inflict upon France. His financial and political cynicism can be seen as entering the bloodstream of French political life. The decline of France in the early decades of Valois rule after 1328 can be seen as a consequence of events that had happened in the reign of King Philip IV, however contrary that course of events was to what were his intentions.
By coincidence in Paris today, the cathedral of Notre Dame has been opened up following its restoration. after the fire in 2019. I will say that looking at the pictures of the interior it looks infinitely superior to the rather dismal and dreary aspect it presented when I visited in 1992. The cathedral would have been well known to King Philip who lived nearby in the ancient Royal Palace, now better known as the Conciergerie, and it was in Notre Dame that in 1302 the first meeting of the Estates General was held. This was convoked by the King to strengthen the kings position in his dispute with Pope Boniface VIII.
Another link between the King and the cathedral was an equestrian statue of him in the choir. This appears to have been an ex voto given after his Flanders campaign in 1304. This alas does not survive, having been destroyed during a drastic makeover of the cathedral in 1772. Although not as old as the Rider of Augsburg - who may well be the Emperor Frederick II - this was one of the first equestrian statues created in medieval Europe.
Given the delicate, indeed curious, relationship of Church and State since 1905 the visit to the cathedral today and on the occasion of its formal liturgical reopening next weekend by M.Macron has involved not a little discreet negotiation. This can be seen as one of the continuing legacies of the reign of King Philip the Fair.
Political turmoil is nothing new in France. It does strike me some of the issues that are confronting the country at the moment do strike interesting parallels with the events of seven and more centuries ago. Just as King Philip debased the currency because of debt so the present French government faces a very uncertain future over its budget and over dealing with its debt obligations. The regional issues and tension between different parts of the national community that has surfaced in recent years are in many ways resonant of both the profound regional loyalties of mediaeval France and something that at times can look like a peasant revolt. France in 1314 and France in 2024 had and has a grand vision of itself as a leading nation as a centre of intellectual and cultural life and as a power in the world. At the same time, both times were and are fraught with uncertainty, both within and without, as to the future.
Plus ça change……as the French might very well say.
