Philip I of France

Philip I
King of the Franks
1904 sketch based upon earlier artwork
Co-reign Solo-reign	23 May 1059 – 4 August 1060; 4 August 1060 – 29 July 1108
Coronation	23 May 1059
Predecessor	Henry I
Successor	Louis VI
Burial	Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire
Spouse	Bertha of Holland Bertrade de Montfort
Issue	Constance, Princess of Antioch Louis VI of France Cecile, Princess of Galilee
House	House of Capet
Father	Henry I of France
Mother	Anne of Kiev

Philip I (23 May 1052 – 29 July 1108), called the Amorous, was King of France from 1060 to his death. His reign, like that of most of the early Direct Capetians, was extraordinarily long for the time. The monarchy began a modest recovery from the low it reached in the reign of his father and he added to the royal demesne the Vexin and Bourges.

Philip was the son of Henry I and Anne of Kiev. His name was of Greek origin, being derived from Philippos, meaning "lover of horses". It was rather exotic for Western Europe at the time and was bestowed upon him by his Eastern European mother. Although he was crowned king at the age of seven, until age fourteen (1066) his mother acted as regent, the first queen of France ever to do so. Her co-regent was Baldwin V of Flanders.

Philip first married Bertha, daughter of Floris I, Count of Holland, in 1072. Although the marriage produced the necessary heir, Philip fell in love with Bertrade de Montfort, the wife of Count Fulk IV of Anjou. He repudiated Bertha (claiming she was too fat) and married Bertrade on 15 May 1092. In 1094, he was excommunicated by Hugh, Archbishop of Lyon, for the first time; after a long silence, Pope Urban II repeated the excommunication at the Council of Clermont in November 1095. Several times the ban was lifted as Philip 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 jurist.

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. In 1082, Philip I expanded his demesne with the annexation of the Vexin. Then in 1100, he took control of Bourges.

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. The pope would not have allowed him to participate anyway, as he had reaffirmed Philip's excommunication at the said council. Philip's brother Hugh of Vermandois, however, was a major participant.

Philip died in the castle of Melun and was buried per request at the monastery of Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire – 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:

… 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 so many noble kings his own tomb would not have counted for much.

Ancestry

Family of Philip I of France

16. Hugh the Great 8. Hugh Capet 17. Hedwige of Saxony 4. Robert II of France 18. William III, Duke of Aquitaine 9. Adelaide of Aquitaine 19. Gerloc (Adele) 2. Henry I of France 20. Boso II of Arles 10. William I of Provence 21. Constance of Vienna 5. Constance of Arles 22. Fulk II, Count of Anjou 11. Adelaide of Anjou 23. Gerberga of Maine 1. Philip I of France 24. Sviatoslav I of Kiev 12. Vladimir I of Kiev 25. Malusha 6. Yaroslav I of Kiev 26. Ragnvald 13. Rogneda of Polotsk 3. Anne of Kiev 28. Eric I the Victorious 14. Olof Skötkonung of Sweden 29. Sigrid the Haughty 7. Ingegerd Olofsdotter 30. Mieceslas III of the Obotrites 15. Estrid of the Obotrites 31. Sophia

Issue

Philip's children with Bertha were:

1. Constance, married Hugh I of Champagne before 1097 and then, after her divorce, to Bohemund I of Antioch in 1106
2. Louis VI (1 December 1081 – 1 August 1137), King of the Franks
3. Henry (b.1083) (died young)
4. Eudes (1087–1096)

Philip's children with Bertrade were:

1. Philippe, Comte de Mantes (living 1123)
2. Fleury, seigneur de Nangis (1093-July 1119)
3. Cecile of France, married Tancred, Prince of Galilee; married secondly Pons of Tripoli

Sources

• Genealogiae Comitum Flandriae