W FRA 
Jiis own adminidration. Though avarice and cruelty 
have cait a dark fhade over his talent? and virtues, yet 
the vigour which he difplayed in his coined with pope 
Boniface, and the fuccefs with which he refilled the for¬ 
midable thunders of the Vatican, balance, in fome niea- 
fure, the tolly which conftantly attended his ambitious 
wars in Flanders. 
The throne of France, on the death of Philip, was oc¬ 
cupied by his fon I.ouis X. furnamed the Boijlerovs. His 
fil'd queen, Margaret, had been drangled by his command, 
in the prifon of Chateau-Gaillard ; and he endeavoured 
to forget the vices of a licentious woman in his nuptials 
with Clemence daughter of the king of Hungary. An 
empty treafury delayed for fome time the ceremony of 
their coronation ; and the king diligently applied himfelf 
to conciliate the jea-loulies and appeafe the difcontents 
of his new fubjeCts : in this he was feconded by his uncle 
Charles of Valois, on whom, in 1316, he entirely de¬ 
volved the reins of government. But tire regency of this 
nobleman is nil lied with cruelty and rapine. The fird 
victim to his refentment was Enguerrand de Poitier -de 
Marigni, a' nobleman of Norman extraction, who with 
the adminidration of the finances pofieded the confidence 
of the late monarch. He was accrrfed by the count of 
Valois as the author of the national didrefs, and the 
fource of the royal neceffities. The warmth with which 
he vindicated his character enfured the eternal enmity of 
Charles; and the (hameful fentence, in confequence of 
which he perifhed on a gibbet, might warn future minif- 
ters how they provoked that implacable and powerful 
prince. The fortunes of Marigni were confifcated to the 
ufe of the fovereign ; but tbefe were fcarcely fufficient 
to defray the coronation which was celebrated at Rheims ; 
and as much as they fell fliort of the public expectation, 
io much did they contribute to edablifh the innocence of 
the unfortunate Enguerrand. Tar different fup.plies were 
neceffary for the fupport of a war with Flanders, which 
Louis already meditated : every fpecies of extortion w 7 as 
deviled and praCtifed to plunder the fubjeCts of France ; 
and by the oppredion of his people, Louis raifed an army 
which might have fecured the fubjeCtion of the Flemings, 
already enfeebled by the miferies of famine. But Robert 
de Bethune, count of Flanders, unable to withdand, pru¬ 
dently determined to bend before the (form : by the fpe- 
cious language of fubmiffion he involved the king in a 
feries of fruitlefs negeciations, till the feafon of aClion 
was pafied ; he then dropped the rnaik which he hadaf- 
fumed, and on the retreat of the French furprifed Cour- 
tray, which he had yielded as a pledge of his lincerity. 
While Louis, indignant of the arts of his adverfiiry, re¬ 
volved in his mind new preparations and more formidable 
hoftilities, his defigns were interrupted by death ; after 
drinking a glafs of cold water, and not without the fuf- 
picion of poifon from the furviving friends of Marigni, 
lie fuddenly expired, A.D. 1316, in the twenty-fixth year 
of his age, and the fecond of his reign ; leaving, by his 
iird wife Margaret, who had been crowned queen of Na¬ 
varre, an only daughter, and his widow Clemence in a 
Hate of pregnancy. 
Immediately on his death, Charles count of Valois feized 
the Louvre, and prepared to difpute the regency with the 
brothers of the late fovereign. The elded: of tliefe, 
Philip count of PoiCtou, was engaged at Lyons, where a 
conclave was Held for the election of a fuccelfor to the 
vacant apoftolical chair. It was not till a month after 
the deceafe of his brother that he was able to terminate 
the intrigues of the cardinals, and to purfue his more im¬ 
mediate concerns in Paris. During his abfence, his pre¬ 
tentions had been fupported by the conftable the count of 
Evreux, who oppofed his brother Charles of Valois; 
and the hopes of that turbulent prince vanifhed on the 
appearance of Philip, and the unanimous acclamatiohs of 
the citizens. But though the regency was thus amicably 
fettled, a harder talk remained in determining the fuc- 
cefiion ; the claim of the princefs Joanna, daughter of 
N C E. 
Louis and Margaret, was urged by Charles count of 
Marche, the younger brother of the late king and of the 
prefent regent, by Eudes duke of Burgundy, and by the 
counts of Valois and Evreux, who feemed to confider the 
kingdom as a great fief. But the majority alleged, that 
the greatefi part of France confided of Salic lands^ which 
a daughter was debarred fi om inheriting, and that the fuc- 
cefiion to the realm ought to be regulated in the fame 
manner. The profpefts of Philip were yet tranfiently 
clouded by Clemence being delivered of a pofthumous 
fon, who furvived only three weeks; but who, under 
the title of John I. has been enrolled among the kings 
of France. 
The death of this infant eftablidied Philip V. on the 
throne of France, in 1317 ; and who, from his lofty da- 
ture, was furnamed-the Long. During his fliort regency he 
had difplayed the important qualities of vigour and cou¬ 
rage in a war with Robert count of Artois, undertaken 
to fupport Matilda countefs of Artois, the mother of his 
confort. To acquire the friendfliip of the duke of Bur¬ 
gundy, with the province of that name he bellowed upon 
him the hand of his elded daughter ; and gained his un¬ 
cle the count of Evreux, by premifing in marriage to his 
(bn the infant queen of Navarre; while the count of 
Marche was foon difpofed to concur in the elevation of 
his brother and the exclufion of the female line, which 
opened to his own ambition the road to royalty. 
The prudence of Philip, when miftaken zeal biafled 
not his opinions, was laudably employed in concerting 
the real happinefs and profperity of his people ; lie at¬ 
tempted to eflablifli a certain dandard for the coin, 
weights, and the meafures, throughout France. From 
the counts of Valois, Clermont,, and Bourbon, he pur- 
chafed their right of coinage within their own dominions ; 
but, though he carefully explained the benefits which 
mud arife to France from perlevering in this undertaking, 
he found himfelf continually embarraffed by new and un¬ 
expected obdacles. A report was circulated, that, to 
fin mount tliefe, he intended to levy a fifth on every man’s 
eflate ; and the public di(content was increafed by the 
difaffeCtion of the clergy, whom the king had excluded 
from fitting in parliament. The mind ot Philip was too 
fenfibly wounded by the injurious fufpicions of his fub¬ 
jeCts ; he beheld his honed endeavours productive of jea- 
loufy and difappointment ; the violence of a fever only 
gave way to the mortal ravages of a dyfentery ; and after 
languifliing for about five months, in the fixth year of his 
reign, and the twenty-eighth of his age, A.D. 1322, he 
clofed a life of unblemiflied virtue. 
Charles IV. furnamed the Fair, afeended tlie throne of 
France on the demife of his brother. The mod impor¬ 
tant concern which engaged the attention of Charles, was 
to dilfolve his marriage with the faitlrlefs Blanch of Bur¬ 
gundy, who for her irregularities was dill confined in the 
prifon of Chateau-Gaillard: and, in 1324,,the king be¬ 
llowed his hand on Mary, the daughter ot Henry emperor 
of Germany. 
The feeptre of England was at this time held by the 
feeble hand of Edward II. whofe queen Ifabella was the 
filter of Charles; and the tranfient hodilities whichexid- 
ed between France and England, fpeedily gave way to a 
more important objeCt of the ambition of Charles, which 
was no lefs than the imperial diadem of Germany. From 
the decline of the race of Charlemagne, it had condantly 
been feparated from the crown of France ; and the pre¬ 
fent monarch wa« ardently dedrous of re-uniting that 
long-lod dignity. In his marriage he had connected him¬ 
felf in that expectation with Henry of Luxemburgh ; and 
a favourable opportunity, in 1325, feemed to prefent 
itfelf of attaining the height of human grandeur. 1 he 
imperial dignity had been difputed by Louis of Bavaria, 
and by Frederic of Audria ; and, the former in a victo¬ 
rious battle, had rendered himfelf mnder of the perfon 
of the latter. But his victory could not fubdue the in¬ 
dexible hatred of pope John XXII. and the Roman pon- 
