Philip I (c. 1052 – 29 July 1108), called the Amorous (French: L’Amoureux),[1] was King of the Franks from 1060 to 1108. His reign, like that of most of the early Capetians, was extraordinarily long for the time. The monarchy began a modest recovery from the low it had reached during the reign of his father, Henry I, and he added the Vexin region and the viscountcy of Bourges to his royal domaine.
Early life
Philip was born c. 1052 at Champagne-et-Fontaine, the son of Henry I and his wife Anne of Kiev.[2] Unusual for the time in Western Europe, his name was of Greek origin, being bestowed upon him by his mother. In 1059 Henry I had Philip crowned in Reims at the age of seven. Henry also appointed his brother-in-law Baldwin V of Flanders as regent of the kingdom, a role which Baldwin would share with Anne after the death of Henry in 1060.[3] Despite his young age, Philip would rule in his own right, append royal documents with his own seal, and accompany Baldwin to several administrative visits to Flanders.[4] This close association allowed Baldwin to maintain peaceful relationships between the king and his vassals.[5] At age fourteen Philip was knighted by Baldwin's son, Baldwin the Good.[6]
Philip appointed Alberic first Constable of France in 1060. A great part of his reign, like his father's, was spent putting down revolts by his power-hungry vassals. In 1077, he made peace with William the Conqueror, who gave up attempting the conquest of Brittany.[9] In 1082, Philip I expanded his demesne with the annexation of the Vexin,[8] in reprisal against Robert Curthose's attack on William's heir, William Rufus. Then in 1100, he took control of Bourges.[10] Philip expanded the royal demesne by incorporating the monasteries of Saint-Denis and Corbie.[11]
It was at the aforementioned Council of Clermont that the First Crusade was launched. Philip at first did not personally support it because of his conflict with Urban II. Philip's brother Hugh of Vermandois, however, was a major participant.
Philip first married Bertha of Holland in 1072.[12] Although the marriage produced the necessary heir, Philip fell in love with Bertrade de Montfort, the wife of Fulk IV, Count of Anjou. He repudiated Bertha (claiming she was too fat) and married Bertrade on 15 May 1092.[13] In 1094 following the synod of Autun, he was excommunicated by the papal representative, Hugh of Die, for the first time;[14] after a long silence, Pope Urban II repeated the excommunication at the Council of Clermont in November 1095.[15] Several times the ban was lifted as Philip promised to part with Bertrade, but he always returned to her; between 1100 and 1104, Philip was reconciled with the papacy and he was absolved in 1104, when he made a public penance and must have kept his involvement with Bertrade discreet.[16] In France, the king was opposed by Bishop Ivo of Chartres, a famous jurist.[17]
Death
13th-century effigy of King Philip I
Philip died in the castle of Melun and was buried per his request at the monastery of Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire[18] – and not in St Denis among his forefathers. He was succeeded by his son, Louis VI, whose succession was, however, not uncontested. According to Abbot Suger:[19]
… King Philip daily grew feebler. For after he had abducted the Countess of Anjou, he could achieve nothing worthy of the royal dignity; consumed by desire for the lady he had seized, he gave himself up entirely to the satisfaction of his passion. So he lost interest in the affairs of state and, relaxing too much, took no care for his body, well-made and handsome though it was. The only thing that maintained the strength of the state was the fear and love felt for his son and successor. When he was almost sixty, he ceased to be king, breathing his last breath at the castle of Melun-sur-Seine, in the presence of the [future king] Louis... They carried the body in a great procession to the noble monastery of St-Benoît-sur-Loire, where King Philip wished to be buried; there are those who say they heard from his own mouth that he deliberately chose not to be buried among his royal ancestors in the church of St. Denis because he had not treated that church as well as they had, and because among those of so many noble kings, his own tomb would not have counted for much.
d'Avray, David, ed. (2014). "Philip I of France and Bertrade". Dissolving Royal Marriages: A Documentary History, 860–1600. Cambridge University Press.
Bradbury, Jim (2007). The Capetians: The History of a Dynasty. Bloomsbury Publishing.
Brown, Elizabeth A. R. (1990). "Authority, the Family, and the Dead in Late Medieval France". French Historical Studies. 16 (4 Autumn): 803–832. doi:10.2307/286323. JSTOR286323.
Fliche, Augustin (1912). Le règne de Philippe Ier, roi de France (1060-1108). Société française d'imprimerie et de librairie.
Hallam, Elizabeth (1980). Capetian France: 987–1328. Longman Group Ltd.
Hodgson, Natasha R. (2007). Women, Crusading and the Holy Land in Historical Narrative. The Boydell Press.
Huscroft, Richard (2016). Tales from the Long Twelfth Century: The Rise and Fall of the Angevin Empire. Yale University Press.
McDougall, Sara (2017). Royal Bastards: The Birth of Illegitimacy, 800–1230. Oxford University Press.
Nicholas, Karen S. (1999). "Countess as Rulers in Flanders". In Evergates, Theodore (ed.). Aristocratic Women in Medieval France. University of Pennsylvania Press.
Paul, Nicholas L. (2012). To Follow in Their Footsteps: The Crusades and Family Memory in the High Middle Ages. Cornell University Press. ISBN978-0-801-45097-6. OL25307863M.
Petit-Dutaillis, C. (1936). The Feudal Monarchy in France and England:From the 10th to the 13th Century. Translated by Hunt, E.D. Routledge. OL27789341M.
Power, Daniel (2004). The Norman Frontier in the Twelfth and Early Thirteenth Centuries. Cambridge University Press.
Prou, Maurice (1908). Recueil des actes de Philippe Ier, roi de France (1059-1108). Imprimerie Nationale.
Rolker, Christof (2009). Canon Law and the Letters of Ivo of Chartres. Cambridge University Press.
Shepherd, Jonathan (2003). "The 'muddy-road' of Odo Arpin from Bourges to La Charitie-sur-Loire". In Edbury, Peter; Phillips, Jonathan (eds.). The Experience of Crusading. Vol. 1. Cambridge University Press.
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