114 PHILIP VI. OF FRANCE 



i-iiiur n. or SPAIN 



tin- papal legate into prison, ami Minimum-.! 

 I lie (MM Kstates .il France, cleigy, noble-, ami 

 hingheis. Tin- last two a-ssmed him uf their 

 Mi|>|Mirt even in case of excommunication and 

 interdict, lion if are replied with the celebrated 

 dull I'niiin Sinifldiii. Philip caused I lie bull to 

 IK- publicly liurneil, ami with the consent of the 

 Suites-general confiscated the propeity of those 

 prelates whn hail sided with tin- pope. Itonifoce 

 now excommunicated him, ami threatened tn lay 

 the kingdom nmler interdict, hut the kill); sent 

 to Home William <le Nogaret, who si-i/ed ami 

 imprisoned the po].e, with the aid of the Colonnas. 

 Though released after a few days liy a popular 

 rising, lionilace soon afterwards died. In 1305 

 1'hilip obtained the elevation of one of hi- own 

 creatures to the pupal chair as Clement V'., and 

 placed him at Avignon, the lieginning of the 

 seventy year*' ' captivity.' He compelled the un- 

 happy and reluctant |NI|K- to condemn the Templars 

 in l.'ilO, and to decree the aUtlition of the order 

 in 131 -J. In xpiut of skilful defence, they were con- 

 demns! and litirned l>v scop-- i see TKMPI.AH.S), and 

 th.-ii wealth appropriated by I'liilip. The grand 

 (mister. Jacques de Molay. was liiirned 18th March 

 1314, and at the stake lie summoned Philip to 

 roni|N-ar within a year and a day, and the pope 

 within forty days, liefore the judgment-seat of 

 (iod ; strange to say, both pope and king died 

 within the time, tlie latter at Fontainehleau, 

 November 29, 1314. Philip during his whole 

 reign -tea. lily strove for the suppression of feudal- 

 ism and the introduction of the (Ionian law ; but 

 while thus increasing the power of the crown, and 

 al-o that of the thiril estate, he converted royalty, 

 which was formerly protecting, kind, and popular 

 to the mass of the people, into a hard, avaricious, 

 and pitiless taskmaster. Under him the taxes 

 were ^n-atlv increased, the Jews persecuted, and 

 their pro|*rty confiscated ; and, when these means 

 were insnllicient to satisfy his avarice, he caused 

 the coinage to he greatly debased. 



Philip VI., OK VAIXIIS, king of France, was 

 the son of Charles of Valois, younger brother of 

 Philip IV., and succeeded to the regency of France 

 on the deuth of Charles IV. The proclamation of 

 a king was deferral on account of the pregnancy of 

 Charles IV.'s widow; but on her giving birth to a 

 daughter Philip caused himself to In- crowned 

 king at Khcims (Mayi.1l. I32M). His right to the 

 throne was denied by Kdward 111. of England, 

 the grandson of I'liilip IV., who .1. -dared that 

 females, though excluded by the Salic law, could 

 transmit their rights to their children, and there 

 foie insisted U|M>II the SII|H-I unity of bis own claims. 

 Philip, however, was not only already crowned 

 king, but he bad the support of the people. Hi- 

 reign commenced gloriously ; for, marching into 

 Flanders to Hii|i]Mirt the count against his rebellious 

 subject*, he wi|M*l out the disgrace of Courtrai by 



vanquishing the l-'l ings at Cassel (August -j:t. 



l.'i.'s., He was obliged to give up Navarre (q.v.), as 

 the Salic law of siici-essj.in did not apply to it. but 

 he retained Champagne and Hrie, paying for them 

 aeon-ideiiihle animal -tipeml. The bundled years' 

 war with Kngland l>egan in 1337 lioth la QoMBM 

 and in Flanders, but was carried on languidly for 

 everal years, the only prominent incident lu>ing 

 the destruction of the 'French tle<'t off Sluys (June 

 94, I .'M i. I'liilip wax n had and faithless man, 

 and his grasping extortion well-nigh exhausted the 



wealth of the country. Yet nev for his pleasures 



and for new wars had constantly to )>e provided 

 by Rome new tax or fresh confiscation. In 1346 

 Kdward HI. landed in Normandy, ravaged the 

 whole country to the environs of Paris, and totally 

 defeated Philip at Crecy. A truce wan then 

 concluded, but the devoted kingdom had no sooner 



been released from war than destruction threatened 

 in the yet mole terrible form of the ' Itlack Ik-nth.' 

 I'liilip received Daiiphine in gift in 134!, pun-hosed 

 Majorca fnim its unfortunate king, ami died 

 August '2, I3.">0, neither loved nor respected. 



I'liilip II.. king of Spain, the only son of the 

 Kni]H>ror Charles V. ami lsal>ella of Portugal, was 

 liorn at \alladolid, '.'1-t May 1.V27. He was 

 brought up in Spain, and carefully educated for 

 his destiny, but grew up distrustful and reserved : 

 cold and austere, without In-ing virtuous : haughty 

 and bigoted, yet without real respect for honour 

 or religion. In l.">43 he married Mary of Portugal, 

 who died three years later, after bearing a son, tin- 

 ill-fated Don Ca'rlos. In 1548 he went to join hi- 

 father at Brussels, and made a decidedly unfavom 

 able impression upon his future siibic.-t-. Three 

 years later he returned to Spain, mid in 15.V4 he 

 made a marriage of policy with Mary Tudor, Queen 

 of Kngland. During his fourteen months' stay 

 in England he lalioured hard but unsuccessfully 

 at the uncongenial task of ingratiating him-eif 

 with his wife's subjects. His failure, together 

 with the vexatious jealousy of a wife who \\;is 

 plain, spare, nearly forty, and likely to IK- childl.---. 

 prompted him to leave England and return to 

 IJrussels (SeptemlK-r l.Vio). In the next half-year 

 he became by the alidication of his father the most 

 powerful prince in Europe, having under his sway 

 Spain, the Two Sicilies, the Milanese, the Low 

 Countries, Francbe Comte, Mexico, and Peru ; with 

 the best disciplined and otlic.-red army of the age. 

 The treasury alone was deficient, liaving IH-CII 

 drained by the enormous expenditure of his father's 

 wars. The first danger he had to face was a leagmt 

 formed between Henry II. of France and the 

 Nca|K)litan jxipe Paul IV. to deprive him of his 

 Italian dominions. Alva soon overran the terri- 

 tories of the pope, while Philip's army under 

 Phililiert of Savoy defeated the French nt St 

 (,'uentin (August III, I.V>7) and llravelines (July 

 13, 155S). These reverses forced Henry II. to agree 

 to terms of peace at Cateou Cainhri-sis (April 2, 

 1559). In January l.V.s, the French had captured 

 Calais, and Mary Tudor's death followed eleven 

 months later. Her husband, after an unsuccessful 

 attempt to obtain the hand of Queen F.li/abeth. 

 married Isitliella of France (June 24, 1;V>!II and 

 returned to Spain, where he lived the rest of bis- 

 life. 



The main object of his domestic policy was to 

 concentrate all jiower in himself, ami to this end 

 he laboured to destroy everything resembling free 

 institutions in any of his dominions. He ostenta- 

 tiously put himself at the bead of the Catholic 

 party in Euro|M>, but. the interests of the church in 

 his eyes were ever identical with his own. He 

 found the Inquisition the l-st engine of his tyranny 

 in Spain, hut its effect in the Low Countries was a 

 formidable revolt, which ended in 1579 with the 

 northern part, the Seven 1'nited Provinces, achiev- 

 ing independence. In this conflict the resources .>t 

 Si.ain wen; exhausted, anil to replenish his treasury 

 I'liilip exacted enormous contributions from hi- -ill. 

 jcct-. abolishing all the ancient special communal or 

 provincial privileges of Spain, and suppressing all 

 insurrection and discontent by force of arms or the 

 Inquisition. His son, Don Carlos, whom be bated, 

 died in prison in I .Mis. and all that can lx- said in 

 the father's justification is that at least he did not 

 directly murder him. His pride did not disdain 

 the aid of cowardly murder in the pursuit of his 

 jMilicy, and the tragic death of William the Silent 

 (15H4) and the relentless persecution of Antonio 

 Perez show how pitiless and how persistent wa 

 his bailed of an enemy. He married in 1570 as 

 his fourth wife his niece, Anne of Austria, whose 

 sole surviving son afterwards liecarne Philip III- 



