the Fourth Week of Advent
Click here to join the effort!
Bible Encyclopedias
Philip I of France
1911 Encyclopedia Britannica
or PHILIP (1052-1108), king of France, eldest son of Henry I. of France and Anne, daughter of Jaroslav I. (d. 1054), grand duke of Kiev, came to the throne, when a child of eight, by the death of his father on the 4th of August 1060. He had been crowned at Reims, in the presence of a number of magnates, on the 23rd of May 1059. Philip passed most of his early years in and around Paris, where the castles of lawless barons, such as that of Montlhery, threatened even his personal safety. His minority came to an end in 1066. In the long reign that followed he showed no great ability or energy, and a looseness of morals which embroiled him with the Church. Before he was fifty years of age he became "fond of nothing but good cheer and sleep." But he increased the lands of his house around Paris, maintained order in them, and held his own against William I. and William II. of England, whose power in France far exceeded his own. This he accomplished for the most part by taking advantage of the quarrels among his vassals. When Baldwin VI. of Flanders died, in 1070, his son Arnulf was attacked by his uncle Robert the Frisian, count of Holland. Philip interfered, at the prayer of Arnulf's mother, Richildis; but the allies were defeated near Cassel on the 22nd of February 1071 and Arnulf slain. After a second war peace was sealed, apparently, by the marriage of Philip to Robert's step-daughter Bertha, daughter of Gertrude of Saxony and Florence, count of Holland. In 1074 a new rupture led to Philip seizing Corbie, part of the dower of his aunt Adele, who had married Baldwin IV. of Flanders. By this he secured a sort of outpost in the direction of Flanders. The other main episodes of his reign were the quarrel over the Angevin inheritance and his wars with the dukes of Normandy. In the struggle between Fulk Rechin and his brother Geoffrey the Bearded for the inheritance of their uncle, Geoffrey Martel (d. 1060), count of Anjou, Philip received from Fulk in 1069, as the price of his neutrality, Chateau Landon and the Gatinais. This acquisition linked the county of Sens, acquired in 1055, with the rest of the domain round Paris, Melun and Orleans. War with William I. was chronic but intermittent. In 1076 Philip forced him to raise the siege of Dol in Brittany. Peace was made in 1077, and in December 1079 they together besieged Robert Curthose in the castle of Gerberoy. On the 8th of May 1080 the siege was raised and peace made. War with William began again in 1081 over the county of Vexin, which Philip had seized on the retirement of its count, Simon of Valois, to a monastery in 1076. William demanded reparation for the raid of Philip's vassals and the cession of Pontoise, Chaumont-en-Vexin and Mantes, but died after sacking Mantes in the same year. In 1098 there was war between Philip and William Rufus in both Maine and the Vexin. William came in person from Maine to lead the attack in the Vexin in September, and crossed the Seine, penetrating to within 30 m. of Paris on the west; but the campaign brought no results. In his last years Philip left the duty of repelling the attacks of his Norman and other enemies to his son Louis, associating him with himself, as "king-designate," some time between the 24th of May 1098 and the 25th of September 110o.
It was his second marriage which was the cause of Philip's greatest difficulties. On the 15th of May 1092 he carried off Bertrada, daughter of Simon, baron de Montfort, wife of Fulk Rechin, and prepared to marry her, though his wife Bertha was still living. The bishops, headed by Ivo, bishop of Chartres, refused to attend the ceremony of marriage, but one was found to perform it. Philip's open simony had long been a cause of friction with the papacy. When he added bigamy and adultery, Urban II. excommunicated him. The bishop of Chartres, in consequence, refused to bring his vassals ,to help Philip's ally, Robert, duke of Normandy, against his brother. William in 1094. Bertha died in that year, but Fulk was still living, and the sentence was renewed at the council of Autun on the 15th of October. Philip replied by summoning the bishops to Paris to try No of Chartres for treason. He gained a respite from the papal sentence by promises of submission, but the sentence was renewed by Urban at the council of Clermont in 1095, in 1096, and in 1097, and at Poitiers in 1 ror, despite the protest of William IX., count of Poitiers, who entered the church with his knights to prevent his suzerain from being excommunicated on his lands. Philip was reconciled with the Church in 1104, and took an oath not to have any converse or society with Bertrada except in the presence of "non-suspect" persons. But they seem to have gone on living together, and even visited Fulk Rechin (Bertrada's husband) in company on the 15th of October 1106. Philip died at the end of July 1108.
His reign is chiefly remarkable for the steady growth of the royal domain. In addition to the gains mentioned, he bought in iior a large slice of territory, including Bourges and Dun-leRoi, from Eudes Arpin, viscount of Bourges, who was going on the crusade; and toward the end of his reign took Montlhery, whose lord beset the southern approach to Paris. By his first queen he had four children: Louis VI., who succeeded him; Henry, who died young; Charles; and Constance, who married Hugh I., count of Champagne, and later Bohemund I., prince of Antioch. By Bertrada de Montfort he had three children: Philip, count of Montes; Fleury or Florus, who married the heiress of Nangis; and Cecilia, who married, first Tancred, prince of Galilee and Antioch, and secondly Pons de Saint Gilles, count of Tripoli.
The materials for the reign of Philip I. are in the Recueil des historiens des Gaules et de la France; vols. xi. to xvi. See especially the critical examination by Dom Brial of the historians who have spoken of Philip I. at the beginning of vol. xvi. Consult also E. A. Freeman, Norman Conquest, iv., passim, and William Rufus, ii. 165-302; A. Luchaire, Louis le Gros (Paris, 1890), and "Les Premiers Capetiens" in E. Lavisse's Histoire de France (II. ii., pp. 168-175). More recent is the Recueil des actes de Philippe I., edited by M. Pron (1908), and B. Monod's Essai sur les rapports de Pascal II. avec Philippe I. (Paris, 1907). For notices of the principal chronicles of the time see A. Molinier, Les Sources de l'histoire de France (II., esp. p. 307 et seq.).
These files are public domain.
Chisholm, Hugh, General Editor. Entry for 'Philip I of France'. 1911 Encyclopedia Britanica. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/bri/p/philip-i-of-france.html. 1910.
