Philip I of France
Philip I (
French:
Philippe Ier) (
May 23,
1052 –
July 29,
1108) was King of
France from 1060 to 1108.
A member of the
Capetian Dynasty, Philip I was born on May 23, 1052, the son of
Henry I (1031–60) and Princess
Anne of Kiev (1024–75). His name (derived from the Greek
Philippos, "lover of horses") was rather exotic for
Western Europe at the time; it was bestowed upon him by his mother from Kiev. Although he was crowned King at the age of seven, until age fourteen in
1066 his mother acted as
Regent, the first Queen ever to do so. Her co-regent was
Baldwin V of Flanders (1036–67).
Philip I's first marriage was in
1072 to
Bertha, daughter of
Floris I, Count of Holland (1055 –
July 30,
1094). Their children were:
# Constance (1078–c. 1125) married to Hugh of Troyes (Hugh I,
count of Champagne) before 1097 and then, after her divorce, to
Bohemund I of Antioch in 1106.# King
Louis VI of France (December 1, 1081 – August 1, 1137)
Although the marriage produced the necessary heir, Philip I fell in love with
Bertrade de Montfort, the wife of Count
Fulk IV of Anjou. He repudiated Bertha and married Bertrade on May 15, 1092. In 1094, he was
excommunicated by Hugh, bishop of Lyon for the first time; after long silence,
Pope Urban II (1088–99) repeated the excommunication at the
council of Clermont in November 1095. Several times the ban was lifted as Philip I promised to part with Bertrade, but he always returned to her, and after 1104, the ban was not repeated. In France, the King was opposed by Bishop
Ivo of Chartres, a famous canonist.
The children of Philip I and Bertrade were:
# Philippe, Comte de Mantes (living
1123) # Fleury, seigneur de Nagis (living
1118) # Cécile, married
Tancred, Prince of Galilee; married secondly
Pons of Tripoli Philip I appointed Alberic, the first
Constable of France in 1060. A great part of Philip I's reign, like his father's, was spent putting down revolts by his power-hungry
vassals. In 1077, he made peace with
William I of England (Duke of Normandy) who gave up attempting the conquest of
Brittany. In 1082, Philip I expanded his empire with the annexation of
Vexin, then in 1100, he took control of
Bourges.
It was during Philip I's time that the
First Crusade was launched in
1095 which he at first did not personally support because of his conflict with Urban II (1088–99). The Pope would not have allowed him to participate anyway, as he had reaffirmed Philip I's excommunication at the
Council of Clermont before he called for the Crusade. Philip I's brother
Hugh of Vermandois, however, was a major participant.
King Philip I died in the castle at
Melun on July 29, 1108 and was buried at the monastery of Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire – and not in
St Denis with almost all Capetian Kings. According to
Abbot Suger:
"...King Philippe 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 Philippe 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 so many noble kings his own tomb would not have counted for much."He was succeeded by his son,
Louis VI whose succession was, however, not uncontested.
*Genealogiae Comitum Flandriae
