FRANCE. 
t) "4 
ftatiding, and alfo of great courage. Her father caufed 
her to be acknowledged and crowned queen of Navarre 
when file was only two years of age. Her marriage with 
Philip the Fair was concluded in 1274, and confummated 
in 1284. This royal couple afcended the throne in 1286, 
thus uniting the kingdoms of France and Navarre. Yet 
this increafe of influence and territory was fcarcely fuf- 
ficient to extricate him from his embarraffments. By 
abandoning the interefls of the infants de le Cerda, he 
adjufled the difpute with Caffile; and the terms of peace 
between the crowns of Arragon and France were fettled 
by the mediation of Edward I. of England. At the in- 
terceflion of tile Englifli monarch, in 1291, Charles the 
Lame was releafed from his captivity ; part of his ran- 
fom was paid by the generofity of Edward himfelf; and 
Charles confented to renounce his claim to Sicily, and to 
prevail on his namefake of Valois to withdraw his preten- 
fions to Arragon, which were only founded on the frantic 
liberality ot an enraged pope, and which the brother of 
the king of Fiance readily exchanged for the eldeft 
daughter of Charles the Lame, and the princely dowry 
of the extenflve counties of Anjou and Maine. 
But the tranquillity which thefe treaties happily pro¬ 
moted, was foon interrupted by a fucceflion of wars and 
political differences with Edw.ard I. of England ; with 
pope Boniface VIII. and with Guy de Dampier count of 
Flanders. That the reader may more clearly comprehend 
the origin and event of each of thefe Angular tranfactions, 
it will be neceffary to review them diftinCt and feparate. 
Philip, in 1293, in confequence of a treaty between 
Louis IX. and Henry III. had ceded to Edward the 
county of Saintonge; the friendly inclinations of the 
Englifli monarch had been amply difplayed in his media¬ 
tion between Arragon and France ; and on a vifit to Pa¬ 
ris, had yielded homage to Philip for the dominions he 
held under that crown. This promife of permanent amity 
wasblafled by an incident, trifling in itfelf but confide- 
rable in its confequences ; and which ferves to difplay 
the general appetite for revenge which actuated in that 
age every deicription of men, and urged them, on any 
provocation, to feek redrefs by immediate retaliation on 
the aggrelfors. A Norman and an Englifli veil'd met off 
the coaft of Bayonne, and both having occaflon to water, 
the crews they detached met at the lame fpring. A quar¬ 
rel enfued for the preference ; and a Norman drawing his 
dagger attempted to flab an Englifhman, but fell, as it 
was pretended, by his own weapon. In this difpute be¬ 
tween the feamen, the two nations were foon involved. 
'Fhe Norman mariners carried their complaints to the 
throne of Philip; and the French monarch, without de- 
feending to enquiry, authorifed them to vindicate their 
own injuries. This exprefiion was the fignal of mutual 
violence; and the fea became a feene of piracy and bar¬ 
barity between the two rations. The fovereigns, with¬ 
out either feconding or reprelfing the violence of their 
RibjeCts, feemed a long time to remain indifferent fpedta. 
tors. With the Englifli flded the Irifh and Dutch tea¬ 
men ; and with the French thofe of Flanders and Genoa. 
A bloody and obffinate war was kindled at fea ; and to 
numerous were the fleets fitted out to avenge this aCt of 
private hoftility, that in one engagement fifteen thoufand 
of the French are reported to have fallen. 
The lofs of his people awakened the dormant fpirit of 
Philip ; and the policy of Edward I. to avoid extremi¬ 
ties, was conflrued into pufiilanimity. The king of Eng¬ 
land was funimoned to attend as tiie vaffal of France ; 
and on his refnfal to obey, his eftates in that kingdom 
were declared to be forfeited. After a variety of nego¬ 
tiations, it was infinuatcd that Philip conceived his Ho¬ 
nour interefted by the outrages of the inhabitants of 
Guienne ; and that the nominal ceflion of that province 
would alone efface the infult; but he engaged, as foon as 
it was delivered into his lianas, to reftore it to the king of 
England. Edward, embarraffed with the Scotch, and 
anxious for peace, fell into the fnare ; and the king of 
France no fooner found himfelf pofTeffed of Guienne,. 
than he threw off the mafic, and perfevered in the fen— 
tence he had procured againft his rival. Edward, enraged 
at finding himfelf thus egregioufly duped, endeavoured, 
by extending his alliances, to deprive Philip of the fruits 
of his perfidy. He concluded a treaty with the emperor 
Adolphus, and he gained to his fide the counts of Brit¬ 
tany, Holland, Bar, Juiiers, Guelders, and Flanders. Yet 
even this powerful confederacy ferved rather to diflrefs 
his finances than advance his progrefs in Guienne: Adol¬ 
phus, while he loudly demanded confiderable fubfidies, 
tardily furniflied the afliftance he had flipulated. Philip 
had in the mean time connected himfelf with Scot¬ 
land, and laid the foundation, by his treaty with John 
Baliol, of that union which was preferved between France 
and England for two fucceflive centuries. The town of 
Dover was deffroyed by a predatory defeent of the French ; 
and Edward, to avenge the infult, landed in Gafcony with 
an army of fifty thoufand Englifli. The forces of the 
competitors being nearly balanced, inclined both topeace; 
a fufpenfion of hoftilities was agreed on for two years, 
and the war was finally concluded, in 1298, by the medi¬ 
ation of pope Boniface VIIL Guienne was reftored to- 
Edward, who efpoufed Margaret the filler of Philip ; 
and Ifabella, the daughter of that monarch, bellowed her 
hand on the prince of Wales. Each king, with mutual 
perfidy, abandoned his allies; and while John Baliol 
king of Scotland was expofed to the refentment of Ed¬ 
ward, Guy earl of Flanders was given up to the indigna¬ 
tion of Philip. 
When the rival monarclis had appointed Boniface the 
judge of their differences, fenfible of the encroaching 
temper of the Roman pontiff, they inferted in the refer¬ 
ence that he was feleCted as a private man, and not as the 
fucceffor to the chair of St. Peter. That pontiff had 
early difplayed a degree of pride which alarmed his con¬ 
temporaries, and the king of France was firft doomed to 
experience the effects of his fpiritual ambition. He pre¬ 
fumed to forbid the clergy to grant any fubfidies to that 
prince, as lie had done to Edward I. in England, without 
firft obtaining leave from the holy fee, under pain of ex¬ 
communication. In return, Philip prohibited any eccle- 
fiaffics, without his licenfe, from fending money out of 
the realm ; and while the Roman pontiff affailed him 
with fpiritual arms, he openly protected the Colonnas, 
the implacable enemies of Boniface. The haughty pre¬ 
late, after defeending to the lowed abufe, and ftigmatizing 
Philip with the opprobrious name of Fool, lummoned 
the clergy of France to a council at Rome; while Philip 
retaliated, by feizing the temporalties of thofe who at¬ 
tended, and recalling his brother Charles of Valois, who 
aCted as the pope’s general. Senfibie, however, of the 
miftaken zeal of a fnperftitious age, before the minds of 
his people could be impreffed with the facred dread of 
a conteft with the holy father, he determined to prevent 
the danger by the boldnefs of his own meafures. Two 
of his emifiaries, difpatched under the pretence of con¬ 
ciliating thefe differences by the efficacious application of 
gold, employed the money in privately levying a fuffi- 
cient force, and fuddenly invefted Boniface in Anegnia, 
the town of his birth and refidence. Corrupted by the 
liberality of the befiegers, the inhabitants opened their 
gates, and joined in feizing the perfon of the pope at the 
moment the bull was actually prepared to excommuni¬ 
cate the French king. Yet the tide of popular favour 
foon turned, and the fickle citizens, who had betrayed 
Boniface, pitied his dillrefs, refeued him from his guards, 
and efcorted him to Rome, where he foon expired, the 
victim of difappointed rage. 
In the treaty with Edward I. of England, Guy earl of 
Flanders being left to the mercy of the French king, 
Philip now determined to feize upon that fertile territory. 
The Flemings, polfeffed of the advantages of' commerce, 
were rich, fickle, and turbulent; impatient of the go¬ 
vernment of their counts, their intrigues invited, while 
their 
