'Philip I' (
23 May 1053 –
29 July 1108) 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 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:
Ancestors
Children
Philip's children with Bertha were:
#
Constance, married
Hugh I of Champagne before 1097 and then, after her divorce, to
Bohemund I of Antioch in 1106
#
Louis (December 1, 1081 – August 1, 1137)
#Henry (b.
1083) (died young)
#Eudes (
1087-
1096)
Philip's children with Bertrade were:
# Philippe, Comte de Mantes (living
1123)
# Fleury, seigneur de Nagis (living
1118)
#
Cecile of France, married
Tancred, Prince of Galilee; married secondly
Pons of Tripoli
Sources
★ ''Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists Who Came to America Before 1700'' by Frederick Lewis Weis, Lines: 101-23, 103-23, 103-24.
★ ''
Genealogiae Comitum Flandriae''.
References
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