Editing Philip VI of France

{{Short description|King of France from 1328 to 1350}}
{{Use British English|date=September 2022}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name         = Philip VI
| image        = Phil6france.jpg
| caption      = Philip VI in a contemporary [[Miniature (illuminated manuscript)|miniature]] depicting the trial of [[Robert III of Artois]], {{c.|1336}}
| alt          = Miniature of Philip VI
| succession   = [[King of France]]
| moretext     = ([[Style of the French sovereign|more...]])
| reign        = 1 February 1328<ref>King Charles IV died on 1 February 1328. Philip's ascension was not confirmed until the birth of [[Blanche of France, Duchess of Orléans|Charles IV's posthumous daughter]] on 1 April 1328.</ref> – 22 August 1350
| coronation   = 29 May 1328
| cor-type     = france
| predecessor  = [[Charles IV of France|Charles IV]]
| successor    = [[John II of France|John II]]
| regent       = [[Joan the Lame of Burgundy|Queen Joan]] (1340, 1345–1346, 1347)
| birth_date   = 1293
| birth_place  = [[Fontainebleau]], Paris, France
| death_date   = 22 August 1350 (aged 56 or 57)
| death_place  = Coulombes Abbey, [[Nogent-le-Roi]], Eure-et-Loir, France
| burial_date  = 
| burial_place = [[Saint Denis Basilica]], Saint-Denis, Paris
| spouses      = {{plainlist|
* {{Marriage|[[Joan the Lame of Burgundy|Joan of Burgundy]]|July 1313|12 December 1349|end=d}}
* {{Marriage|[[Blanche of Navarre (1331–1398)|Blanche of Navarre]]|11 January 1350}}
}}
| issue        = {{plainlist|
* [[John II of France]]
* [[Philip, Duke of Orléans]]
* [[Joan of France (1351–1371)|Joan of France]]
}}
| issue-link   = #Marriages and children
| issue-pipe   = among others
| house        = [[House of Valois|Valois]]
| father       = [[Charles, Count of Valois]]
| mother       = [[Margaret, Countess of Anjou]]
| signature    = 
}}

'''Philip VI''' ({{langx|fr|link=no|Philippe}}; 1293 – 22 August 1350), called '''the Fortunate''' ({{langx|fr|le Fortuné|link=no}}), '''the Catholic''' (''le Catholique'') and '''of Valois''' (''de Valois''), was the first [[king of France]] from the [[House of Valois]], reigning from 1328 until his death in 1350. Philip's reign was dominated by the consequences of [[Succession to the French throne#The succession in 1328|a succession dispute]]. When King [[Charles IV of France]] died in 1328, his [[Proximity of blood|nearest male relative]] was his sororal nephew, [[Edward III of England]], but the French nobility preferred Charles's paternal cousin, Philip of Valois.

At first, Edward seemed to accept Philip's succession, but he pressed [[English claims to the French throne|his claim to the throne of France]] after a series of disagreements with Philip. The result was the beginning of the [[Hundred Years' War]] in 1337.

After initial successes at sea, Philip's navy was annihilated at the [[Battle of Sluys]] in 1340, ensuring that the war would occur on the continent. The English took another decisive advantage at the [[Battle of Crécy]] (1346), while the [[Black Death]] struck France, further destabilising the country.

In 1349, Philip bought the [[Dauphiné|Province of Dauphiné]] from its ruined ruler, the [[Humbert II of Viennois|Dauphin Humbert II]], and entrusted the government of this province to his grandson, [[Charles V of France|Prince Charles]]. Philip VI died in 1350 and was succeeded by his son [[John II of France|John II]].

==Early life==
Little is recorded about Philip's childhood and youth, in large part because he was of minor royal birth. Philip's father, [[Charles, Count of Valois]], was the younger brother of King [[Philip IV of France]].<ref>David Nicolle, ''Crécy 1346: Triumph of the Longbow'', (Osprey, 2000), 12.</ref> Charles had striven throughout his life to gain the throne for himself but was never successful. He died in 1325, leaving his eldest son Philip as heir to the counties of [[County of Anjou|Anjou]], [[Maine (province)|Maine]], and [[Counts and dukes of Valois|Valois]].<ref name="Hallam366">Elizabeth Hallam and Judith Everard, ''Capetian France 987–1328'', 2nd edition, (Pearson Education Limited, 2001), 366.</ref>

==Accession to the throne==
[[File:Sacre philippe VI.jpg|thumb|left|Coronation of Philip VI]]
In 1328, Philip's cousin [[Charles IV of France]] died without a son, leaving his widow [[Jeanne of Évreux]] pregnant.<ref name="Hallam366"/> Philip was one of the two chief claimants to the throne of France. The other was King [[Edward III of England]], who was Charles's nephew and [[Proximity of blood|closest male relative]], being the son of Charles's sister [[Isabella of France]]. The Estates General had decided [[Salic law#The succession in 1316|12 years earlier]] that women could not inherit the throne of France. The question arose as to whether Isabella should have been able to transmit a claim that she herself did not possess.<ref name="Sumption106-107">[[Jonathan Sumption, Lord Sumption|Jonathan Sumption]], ''The Hundred Years War: Trial by Battle'', Vol. I, (Faber & Faber, 1990), 106–107.</ref> The assemblies of the French barons and prelates and the [[University of Paris]] decided that males who derive their right to inheritance through their mother should be excluded according to [[Salic law]]. As Philip was the eldest grandson of [[Philip III of France]] through the male line, he became regent instead of Edward, who was a maternal grandson of [[Philip IV of France|Philip IV]] and great-grandson of Philip III.<ref>Jules Viard, "Philippe VI de Valois. Début du règne (février-juillet 1328)", ''Bibliothèque de l'école des chartes'', 95 (1934), 263.</ref>

[[File:Hommage d’Édouard III d’Angleterre à Philippe de Valois.png|thumb|right|Edward III of England pays homage to Philip VI of France in [[Amiens]], from a 1370–75 manuscript of the ''[[Grandes Chroniques de France]]'']]
During the period in which Queen Jeanne was waiting to deliver her child, Philip of Valois rose to the regency with support of the French magnates, following the pattern set up by his cousin, [[Philip V of France]], who succeeded to the throne over his niece [[Joan II of Navarre|Joan]].<ref name="Sumption106-107"/> Philip formally held the regency from 9 February until 1 April 1328. On 1 April, Jeanne of Évreux gave birth to a daughter named [[Blanche of France, Duchess of Orléans|Blanche]],<ref>Viard, 269, 273.</ref> following which Philip was proclaimed king. He was crowned at the [[Notre-Dame de Reims|Cathedral in Reims]] on 29 May 1328.<ref>{{cite book |last= Curry |first= Anne |author-link=Anne Curry |title= The Hundred Years' War |url= https://archive.org/details/hundredyearswara00curr |url-access= limited |year= 2003 |publisher=Routledge |location= New York |pages= [https://archive.org/details/hundredyearswara00curr/page/n25 18]}}</ref> After his elevation to the throne, Philip sent the Abbot of [[Fécamp]], [[Pope Clement VI|Pierre Roger]], to summon Edward III of England to pay homage for the [[duchy of Aquitaine]] and [[Duchy of Gascony|Gascony]].<ref name="Sumption109-110">Jonathan Sumption, ''The Hundred Years War: Trial by Battle'', 109-110.</ref> After a subsequent second summons from Philip, Edward finally arrived at the [[Amiens Cathedral|Cathedral of Amiens]] on 6 June 1329 and worded his vows in such a way to cause more disputes in later years.<ref name="Sumption109-110"/>

The dynastic change had another consequence: Charles IV had also been [[List of Navarrese monarchs|King of Navarre]], but, unlike the [[Kingdom of France|crown of France]], the [[Kingdom of Navarre|crown of Navarre]] was not subject to Salic law. Philip VI was neither an heir nor a descendant of [[Joan I of Navarre]], whose inheritance (the kingdom of [[Navarre]], as well as the counties of [[Champagne (province)|Champagne]], [[Troyes]], [[Meaux]], and [[Brie]]) had been in personal union with the crown of France for almost fifty years and had long been administered by the same royal machinery established by King Philip IV, the father of French bureaucracy. These counties were closely entrenched in the economic and administrative entity of the [[crown lands of France]], being located adjacent to [[Île-de-France]]. Philip, however, was not entitled to that inheritance; the rightful heiress was the surviving daughter of his cousin [[Louis X of France|King Louis X]], the future Joan II of Navarre, the [[heir general]] of Joan I of Navarre. Navarre thus passed to Joan II, with whom Philip struck a deal regarding the counties in Champagne: she received vast lands in [[Normandy]] (adjacent to the [[Count of Évreux|fief in Évreux]] that her husband [[Philip III of Navarre]] owned) as compensation, and he kept Champagne as part of the French crown lands.

==Reign==
Philip's reign was plagued with crises, although it began with a military success in [[Flanders]] at the [[Battle of Cassel (1328)|Battle of Cassel]] (August 1328), where Philip's forces re-seated [[Louis I, Count of Flanders]], who had been unseated by [[Peasant revolt in Flanders 1323–28|a popular revolution]].<ref name="DeVries102">Kelly DeVries, ''Infantry Warfare in the Early Fourteenth Century'', (The Boydell Press, 1996), 102.</ref> Philip's wife, the able [[Joan the Lame of Burgundy|Joan the Lame]], gave the first of many demonstrations of her competence as regent in his absence.

Philip initially enjoyed relatively amicable relations with Edward III, and they planned a crusade together in 1332, which was never executed. However, the status of the [[Duchy of Aquitaine]] remained a sore point, and tension increased. Philip provided refuge for [[David II of Scotland]] in 1334 and declared himself champion of his interests, which enraged Edward.<ref>Jonathan Sumption, ''The Hundred Years War:Trial by Battle'', 135.</ref> By 1336, they were enemies, although not yet openly at war.

Philip successfully prevented an arrangement between the [[Avignon papacy]] and [[Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor|Holy Roman Emperor Louis IV]], although in July 1337 Louis concluded an alliance with Edward III.<ref>''The Hundred Years War:Not One But Many'', Kelly DeVries, ''The Hundred Years War (part II): Different Vistas'', ed. L. J. Andrew Villalon, Donald J. Kagay, (Brill, 2008), 15.</ref> The final breach with England came when Edward offered refuge to [[Robert III of Artois]], formerly one of Philip's trusted advisers,<ref name="Sumption171-172">Jonathan Sumption, ''The Hundred Years War:Trial by Battle'', 171–172.</ref> after Robert committed forgery to try to obtain an inheritance. As relations between Philip and Edward worsened, Robert's standing in England strengthened.<ref name="Sumption171-172"/> On 26 December 1336, Philip officially demanded the extradition of Robert to France.<ref name="Sumption171-172"/> On 24 May 1337, Philip declared that Edward had forfeited Aquitaine for disobedience and for sheltering the "king's mortal enemy", Robert of Artois.<ref>Jonathan Sumption, ''The Hundred Years War:Trial by Battle'', 184.</ref> Thus began the [[Hundred Years' War]], complicated by Edward's renewed [[English claims to the French throne|claim to the throne of France]] in retaliation for the forfeiture of Aquitaine.

===Hundred Years' War===
{{more citations needed|section|date=May 2016}}
[[File:Disguised as a seller of fish the Flemish leader went down into the French camp.jpg|thumb|Flemish leader as fish seller went to search in French camp]]
[[File:Philippe VI and Jeanne de Bourgogne.jpg|thumb|left|Philip VI and his first wife, Joan of Burgundy]]
Philip entered the Hundred Years' War in a position of comparative strength. [[France in the Middle Ages|France]] was richer and more populous than [[England in the Middle Ages|England]] and was at the height of its medieval glory. The opening stages of the war, accordingly, were largely successful for the French.

At sea, French privateers raided and burned towns and shipping all along the southern and southeastern coasts of England.<ref>''Oars, Sails and Guns:The English and War at Sea, c.1200-1500'', Ian Friel, ''War at Sea in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance'', ed. John B. Hattendorf, Richard W. Unger, (The Boydell Press, 2003), 79.</ref> The English made some retaliatory raids, including the burning of a fleet in the harbour of [[Boulogne-sur-Mer]],<ref name="Sumption320-328">Jonathan Sumption, ''The Hundred Years War:Trial by Battle'', 320–328.</ref> but the French largely had the upper hand. With his sea power established, Philip gave orders in 1339 to begin assembling a fleet off the [[Zeeland]] coast at [[Sluys]]. In June 1340, however, in the bitterly fought [[Battle of Sluys]], the English attacked the port and captured or destroyed the ships there, ending the threat of an invasion.<ref name="Sumption320-328"/>

On land, Edward III largely concentrated upon [[Flanders]] and the [[Low Countries]], where he had gained allies through diplomacy and bribery. A raid in 1339 (the first ''[[chevauchée]]'') into [[Picardy]] ended ignominiously when Philip wisely refused to give battle. Edward's slender finances would not permit him to play a waiting game, and he was forced to withdraw into Flanders and return to England to raise more money. In July 1340, Edward returned and mounted the [[Siege of Tournai (1340)|siege of Tournai]].<ref>Jonathan Sumption, ''The Hundred Years War:Trial by Battle'', 349.</ref> By September 1340, Edward was in financial distress, hardly able to pay or feed his troops, and was open to dialogue.<ref name="Sumption354-359">Jonathan Sumption, ''The Hundred Years War:Trial by Battle'', 354–359.</ref> After being at [[Bouvines]] for a week, Philip was finally persuaded to send [[Joan of Valois, Countess of Hainaut]], to discuss terms to end the siege.<ref name="Sumption354-359"/> On 23 September 1340, a nine-month truce was reached.<ref name="Sumption354-359"/>

So far, the war had gone quite well for Philip and the French. While often stereotyped as chivalry-besotted and incompetent, Philip and his men had in fact carried out a successful [[Fabian strategy]] against the debt-plagued Edward and resisted the chivalric blandishments of single combat or a combat of two hundred knights that he offered. In 1341, the [[War of the Breton Succession]] allowed the English to place permanent garrisons in [[Brittany]]. However, Philip was still in a commanding position: during negotiations arbitrated by the pope in 1343, he refused Edward's offer to end the war in exchange for the [[Duchy of Aquitaine]] in full sovereignty.

The next attack came in 1345, when the [[Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster|Earl of Derby]] overran the [[Agenais]] (lost twenty years before in the [[War of Saint-Sardos]]) and took [[Angoulême]], while the forces in Brittany under Sir [[Thomas Dagworth]] also made gains. The French responded in the spring of 1346 with a massive counterattack against [[Aquitaine]], where an army under [[John II of France|John, Duke of Normandy]], besieged Derby at [[Aiguillon, Lot-et-Garonne|Aiguillon]]. On the advice of [[House of Harcourt#The Harcourts and the Hundred Years' War|Godfrey Harcourt]] (like [[Robert III of Artois]], a banished French nobleman), Edward sailed for [[Normandy]] instead of Aquitaine. As Harcourt predicted, the [[Normans]] were ill-prepared for war, and many of the fighting men were at Aiguillon. Edward sacked and burned the country as he went, [[Battle of Caen (1346)|taking Caen]] and advancing as far as [[Poissy]] and then retreating before the army Philip had hastily assembled at Paris. Slipping across the [[Somme (river)|Somme]], Edward drew up to give battle at [[Crécy-en-Ponthieu|Crécy]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Philip VI|encyclopedia=Britannica |date=18 August 2024 |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Philip-VI#ref102999}}</ref>

Close behind him, Philip had planned to halt for the night and reconnoitre the English position before giving battle the next day. However, his troops were disorderly, and the roads were jammed by the rear of the army coming up and the local peasantry, which furiously called for vengeance on the English. Finding them hopeless to control, he ordered a general attack as evening fell. Thus began the [[Battle of Crécy]]. When it was done, the French army had been annihilated and a wounded Philip barely escaped capture. Fortune had turned against the French.

The English seized and held the advantage. Normandy called off the siege of Aiguillon and retreated northward, while Sir [[Thomas Dagworth]] captured [[Charles, Duke of Brittany|Charles of Blois]] in Brittany. The English army pulled back from Crécy to mount the [[Siege of Calais (1346–1347)|siege of Calais]]; the town held out stubbornly, but the English were determined, and they easily supplied across the [[English Channel]]. Philip led out a relieving army in July 1347, but unlike the [[Siege of Tournai (1340)|Siege of Tournai]], it was now Edward who had the upper hand. With the plunder of his Norman expedition and the reforms he had executed in his tax system, he could hold to his siege lines and await an attack that Philip dared not deliver. It was Philip who marched away in August, and the city capitulated shortly thereafter.

===Final years===
[[File:Funerailles Philippe VI.jpg|thumb|right|King Philip's funerary procession, which was presided over by the [[Jean de Vienne (archbishop, died 1351)|Archbishop of Reims]], illustrated by [[Loyset Liédet]]]]
After the defeat at Crécy and loss of Calais, the [[Estates General (France)|Estates of France]] refused to raise money for Philip, halting his plans to counter-attack by invading England. In 1348 the [[Black Death]] struck France and in the next few years killed one-third of the population, including Queen Joan. The resulting labour shortage caused inflation to soar, and the king attempted to [[Price controls|fix prices]], further destabilising the country. His second marriage to his son's betrothed [[Blanche of Navarre, Queen of France|Blanche of Navarre]] alienated his son and many nobles from the king.<ref>{{cite book | title=The Perfect King The Life of Edward III, Father of the English Nation | last=Mortimer | first=Ian | author-link=Ian Mortimer (historian) | pages=276 | year=2008 | publisher=Vintage }}</ref>

Philip's last major achievement was the acquisition of the [[Dauphiné]] and the territory of [[Montpellier]] in the [[Languedoc]] in 1349. At his death in 1350, France was very much a divided country filled with social unrest. Philip VI died at Coulombes Abbey, [[Eure-et-Loir]], on 22 August 1350<ref>Jonathan Sumption, ''Hundred Years War:Trial by Fire'', Vol. II, (University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999), 117.</ref> and is interred with his first wife, Joan of Burgundy, in [[Saint Denis Basilica]], though his [[viscera]] were buried separately at the now demolished church of [[Couvent des Jacobins de la rue Saint-Jacques|Couvent des Jacobins]] in Paris. He was succeeded by his first son by Joan of Burgundy, who became [[John II of France|John II]].

==Marriages and children==
{{House of Valois}}

Philip married twice. In July 1313, he married [[Joan the Lame of Burgundy|Joan the Lame]] ({{langx|fr|link=no|Jeanne}}), daughter of [[Robert II, Duke of Burgundy]],<ref>David d'Avray, ''Papacy, Monarchy and Marriage 860–1600'', (Cambridge University Press, 2015), 292.</ref> and [[Agnes of France, Duchess of Burgundy|Agnes of France]], the youngest daughter of [[Louis IX of France|King Louis IX of France]]. She was thus Philip's first cousin once removed. The couple had the following children:
# [[John II of France|King John II of France]] (26 April 1319 – 8 April 1364)<ref name="Keane17">Marguerite Keane, ''Material Culture and Queenship in 14th-century France'', (Brill, 2016), 17.</ref>
# Marie of France (1326 – 22 September 1333), who died aged only seven, but was already married to John of Brabant, the son and heir of [[John III, Duke of Brabant]]; no issue.<ref>{{cite book |first=John Bell |last=Henneman |title=Royal Taxation in Fourteenth-Century France: The Development of War Financing, 1322–1359 |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=2015 |page=91 }}</ref>
# Louis (born and died 17 January 1329).
# Louis (8 June 1330 – 23 June 1330)
# A son [John?] (born and died 2 October 1333).
# A son (28 May 1335), stillborn
# [[Philip, Duke of Orléans|Philip of Orléans]] (1 July 1336 – 1 September 1375), [[Duke of Orléans]]
# Joan (born and died November 1337)
# A son (born and died summer 1343)

After Joan died in 1349, Philip married [[Blanche of Navarre, Queen of France|Blanche of Navarre]],<ref>''Identity Politics and Rulership in France: Female Political Place and the Fraudulent Salic Law in Christine de Pizan and Jean de Montreuil'', Sarah Hanley, ''Changing Identities in Early Modern France'', ed. Michael Wolfe, (Duke University Press, 1996), 93 n45.</ref> daughter of Queen [[Joan II of Navarre]] and [[Philip III of Navarre]], on 11 January 1350. They had one daughter:
* [[Joan of France (1351–1371)|Joan (Blanche) of France]] (May 1351 – 16 September 1371),<ref name="Keane17"/> who was intended to marry [[John I of Aragon]], but who died during the journey.
By an unknown woman he had:
* Jean d'Armagnac (died after 1350), a knight<ref>Cité par Patrick Van Kerrebrouck, dans ''Les Valois'', 1990, page 85.</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Sirjean |first=Gaston |title=Encyclopédie généalogique des maisons souveraines du monde Vol.1 Part 8 |publisher=Biblioteca Universității din Georgia |year=199 |location=University of Georgia Library |pages=225 |language=English}}</ref>
By his mistress, Beatrice de la Berruère, he had another son:
*Thomas de la Marche (1318–1361), bâtarde de France<ref>{{cite book |title=Winner and Waster and Its Contexts: Chivalry, Law and Economics in Fourteenth-Century England |first=W. Mark |last=Ormrod |publisher=D.S. Brewer |year=2021 |page=52 }}</ref>

==In fiction==
Philip is a character in ''Les Rois maudits'' (''[[The Accursed Kings]]''), a series of French historical novels by [[Maurice Druon]]. He was portrayed by Benoît Brione in the 1972 French miniseries adaptation of the series, and by [[Malik Zidi]] in the 2005 adaptation.<ref name="Rois 2005 AlloCiné">{{cite web |url=http://www.allocine.fr/series/ficheserie-545/casting/saison-1659/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141219202458/http://www.allocine.fr/series/ficheserie-545/casting/saison-1659/ |title=''Les Rois maudits'': Casting de la saison 1 |language=fr |publisher=[[AlloCiné]] |year=2005 |access-date=25 July 2015 |archive-date=19 December 2014}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Sources==
* {{cite book | author=Seward, Desmond | title=The Hundred Years War | publisher=Penguin Books | year=1999 | isbn=014-02-8361-7}}
* {{cite EB9 |wstitle = Philip VI. of France |volume= XVIII |last= |first= |author-link= | page=743 |short=1}}

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{{Monarchs of France}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Philip 06 Of France}}
[[Category:1293 births]]
[[Category:1350 deaths]]
[[Category:13th-century French people]]
[[Category:14th-century kings of France]]
[[Category:14th-century French people]]
[[Category:14th-century peers of France]]<!--as Count of Anjou-->
[[Category:Captains General of the Church]]
[[Category:Counts of Anjou]]
[[Category:Counts of Valois]]
[[Category:Heirs presumptive to the French throne]]
[[Category:House of Valois]]
[[Category:People from Eure-et-Loir]]
[[Category:People of the Hundred Years' War]]
[[Category:Burials at the Basilica of Saint-Denis]]
[[Category:14th-century regents]]