King Philippe IV was one of the most energetic mediaeval kings of France, but also one of the most controversial, and, in terms of his impact on the history of his country, could be considered one of the most disastrous.
He came to the throne in 1285 whilst still a teenager, succeeding his rather insignificant father, who had been completely overshadowed by his own illustrious father, the famous Louis IX, Saint Louis, the mighty crusader, and the only French monarch ever to be canonised. But Philippe IV was an entirely different character, whose reign would be dominated by a series of violent and sensational events.
Philippe's main problem was that he was eternally short of money, which led to some of the most crucial events of his reign. In 1296 he levied a tax on the French clergy, leading to a confrontation with the Pope, Boniface VIII, a scholarly but domineering and aggressive personality. In 1303 Boniface issued the decree "Unam sanctum", which specified that unconditional submission to the papacy was absolutely necessary for salvation, and prepared to excommunicate Philippe himself. This could not be tolerated, and that September a French force led by Philippe's leading minister Guillaume de Nogaret arested Benedict at his home in Anagni outside Rome. Popular protests soon freed the Pope, but Boniface did not recover from the ordeal and died soon afterwards. (The great poet Dante detested Boniface, and in his "Inferno", written at the time, condemned him to hellfire)
The next Pope Benedict XI, was dead within a year, following which a Frenchman, Bertrand de Got, was elected Pope as Clement V. But he never set foot in Rome, eventaully settling in Avignon, and at no stage showed himself strong enough to stand up to King Philippe. For most of the century, all the Popes were Frenchmen, living in Avignon rather than Rome.
King Phippe's financial worries continued. In 1306 he suddenly turned against the Jewish community, seizing their wealth and expelling them all from France. But his next step was to prove enormously controversial.
The Templar Knights were a vastly wealthy Order, but seemed to lack any clear function after the final loss of the Holy Land to the Moslems. In 1307, in a sudden coup, all the Templars in France were arrested and accused of a variety of offences ranginng from sodomy to devil-worship, and their riches seized. Interrogation under violent torture organised by Nogaret soon produced a series of confessions, including from Jacques de Molay, the Grand Master of the Order. Many of the kings of Europe were quick to follow Philiipe's example. Edward II of England was initially doubtful about the confessions, but was told that was because he wasn't torturing them enough! Pope Clement must also have had his doubts, but made not the slightest effort to save the Templars.
In March 1314 Jacques de Molay and another leading Templar, Geoffrey de Charnay, were put on display in Paris to make a full public confession of their crimes; but, doubtless to Philippe's surprise, they revoked their earlier confessions and proclaimed that all the charges were false and the Knights entirely innocent. This could not be tolerated, and so a few days later the two Templars were burnt at the stake in the centre of Paris. It was said that, from the flames, Jacques de Molay cursed King Philippe, prophesying that the king, the Pope and Nogaret would all die within the year, and that Philippe's line would soon come to an end.
But before that could happen, the French court was shaken by a most appalling scandal. King Philippe had three married sons; Louis, Philippe and Charles; and now two of his daughters-in-law were convicted of adultery! (The third, Philippe's wife, was found guilty only of assisting them). The girls were sentenced to life imprisonment, and their lovers, two young squires, were hideously executed.
People must have wondered whether the curse of the Templars was already operating, and this suspicion could only have grown when Nogaret, Pope Clement and finally King Philippe himself all died before the year was out. The King was only 46 years old. And now things got far worse.
Ever since the beginning of the monarchy under the Capetian family. three centuries earlier, the throne of France had always passed seamlessly from father to eldest son, and this dynastic stability had enabled the kings to centralise the government and increase royal prestige, check the power of the great nobles and defend the country against invaders. King Phillipe would have expected this to continue, since he left three grownup sons. But as it happened, Louis, Philippe and Charles each reigned briefly in turn and all had died by 1328, without any of them managing to produce a surviving male heir, though there were daughters. So what should be done?
The great nobles of France assembled to find a solution. Lawyers conveniently discovered an ancient tradition that they called the "Salic Law", dating from the Dark Ages, that no woman could succeed to the throne. Therefore it was decided to pass the kingship to a cousin, the Count of Valois, who now succeeded as Philippe VI, thereby founding the Valois dynasty.
But Philippe IV had also had a daughter, Isabella, who had been used as a diplomatic tool to help patch up a prolonged dispute with King Edward I of England by marrying Isabella to his son and heir, who succeeded as Edward II in 1307. But Edward proved to be useless as a king (most famously being defeated by the Scots at Bannockburn in 1314), and also appears to have been bisexual; allowing great wealth and power to fall into the hands of handsome favoutites. In 1327 he was overthrown by Queen Isabella, "the she-wolf of France" and her lover, Roger Mortimer, Earl of March, and, according to legend, was shortly afterwards gruesomely murdered in Berkeley castle. The two of them then ruled England until, three years later, Isabella's young son, now Edward III, managed to capture and execute Mortimer (but he seems to have forgiven his mother, who lived peacefully until her death in 1358).
Once he had established himself, Edward III went on the offfensive. He denounced the Salic Law as nonsense, arguing that, as the only grandson of Philippe IV, the throne of France should be his. Thus began the "Hundred Years' War" which reduced France to utter ruination. Was this indeed the curse of the Templars in operation?
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The French writer Maurice Druon wrote a very entertaining series of historical novels about all this: "Les Rois Maudites", translated as "The Accursed Kings". The first, about Philippe IV, is called "The Iron King". Recommended!
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