October 5, 1285: Death of Philippe III, King of France, Part I.

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Crusades, James I of Aragon, Kingdom of France, Louis IX of France, Margaret of Aragon, Philip III of France, The Eighth Crusade at Tunis

Philippe  III (April 30, 1245 – October 5, 1285), called the Bold, was king of France from 1270 until his death in 1285. His father, Louis IX, died in Tunis during the Eighth Crusade. Philippe who was accompanying him, returned to France and was anointed king at Reims in 1271.

Philippe inherited numerous territorial lands during his reign, the most notable being the County of Toulouse, which was returned to the royal domain in 1271. With the Treaty of Orléans, he expanded French influence into the Kingdom of Navarre and following the death of his brother Pierre during the Sicilian Vespers, the county of Alençon was returned to the crown lands.

Following the Sicilian Vespers, Philippe III led the Aragonese Crusade in support of his uncle. Initially successful, Philip, his army racked with sickness, was forced to retreat and died from dysentery in Perpignan in 1285. He was succeeded by his son Philippe IV.

Early life

Philippe was born in Poissy, the second son of King Louis IX of France and Margaret of Provence. As a younger son, Philippe as not expected to rule France. At the death of his older brother Louis in 1260, he became the heir apparent to the throne.

Philippe’s  mother Margaret made him promise to remain under her tutelage until the age of 30, however Pope Urban IV released him from this oath on June 6, 1263. From that moment on, Pierre de La Brosse was Philippe’s mentor. His father, Louis IX also provided him with advice, writing in particular Enseignements, which inculcated the notion of justice as the first duty of a king.

According to the terms of the Treaty of Corbeil (1258), concluded on  March 11, 1258 between Louis IX and James I of Aragon, Philippe was married in 1262 to Isabella of Aragon in Clermont  daughter of King James I of Aragon and his second wife Yolande of Hungary by the archbishop of Rouen, Eudes Rigaud.

Crusade
As Count of Orléans, Philippe accompanied his father on the Eighth Crusade to Tunis in 1270. Shortly before his departure, Louis IX had given the regency of the kingdom into the hands of Mathieu de Vendôme and Simon II, Count of Clermont, to whom he had also entrusted the royal seal. After taking Carthage, the army was struck by an epidemic of dysentery, which spared neither Philippe nor his family. His brother Jean Tristan, Count of Valois died first, on August 3 and on August 25 the king died. To prevent putrefaction of the remains of Louis, they decided on Mos Teutonicus.

Philippe was only 25 years old and stricken with dysentery, was proclaimed king in Tunis. His uncle, Charles I of Naples, was forced to negotiate with Muhammad I al-Mustansir, Hafsid Sultan of Tunis. A treaty was concluded  November 5, 1270 between the kings of France, Sicily and Navarre and the caliph of Tunis.

Other deaths followed this debacle. In December, in Trapani, Sicily, the brother-in-law of Philippe King Theobald II of Navarre, died. He was followed in February by Philippe III wife, Isabella, who fell off her horse pregnant with their fifth child. She died in Cozenza (Calabria). In April, Theobald’s widow and Philippe’s sister Isabella also died.

Philippe III arrived in Paris on 21 May 1271, and made foremost tribute to the deceased. The next day the funeral of his father was held. The new sovereign was crowned King of France in Reims 15 August 15, 1271.

April 30, 1245: Birth of King Philippe III of France.

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Edward I of England, Henry III of England, Isabella of Aragon, Kings and Queens of France, Louis IX of France, Louis of France, Marie of Brabant, Philip III of France, Philip the Bold, Philip the Fair, The Eighth Crusade at Tunis

Philippe III (April 30, 1245 – October 5, 1285), called the Bold was King of France from 1270 to 1285.

Philippe was born in Poissy to King Louis IX of France and Margaret of Provence, the eldest of four daughters of Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Provence, and Beatrice of Savoy.

King Philippe III “The Bold” of France

Margaret of Provence younger sisters (thus aunts of Philippe III) were Queen Eleanor of England (wife of King Henry III of England), Queen Sanchia of Germany (wife of Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall, brother was Henry III of England. Richard was elected in 1256 as King of Germany by a majority of the seven electoral princes, with the title of King of the Romans, a preparatory step in being named Holy Roman Emperor by the pope).

Margaret’s youngest sister was Queen Beatrice of Sicily (was ruling Countess of Provence and Forcalquier from 1245 until her death, as well as Countess of Anjou and Maine, Queen of Sicily and Naples by marriage to Charles I of Naples).

Becoming Heir to the Throne

As a younger son, Philippe was not expected to become King of France. He had an elder brother Prince Louis (1244-1260). Philippe’s elder brother fell ill after Christmas 1259 and died shortly after New Year, aged fifteen, a month before his sixteenth birthday. At the death of his elder brother Louis Philippe became the heir to the throne. He was then 15 years old and had less skill than his brother, being of a gentle character, submissive, timid and versatile, almost crushed by the strong personalities of his parents.

His mother Margaret made him promise under a solemn oath to remain under her tutelage until the age of 30, but his father King Louis IX preferring to improve his son through education. Pope Urban IV released Philippe from his oath on June 6, 1263.

Marriages of Philippe III

On May 6, 1262, Philippe married Isabella, daughter of King James I of Aragon and his second wife Yolande of Hungary. They had four sons:

Louis (1265–1276)
Philippe IV “the Fair” (1268–1314), King of France
Robert (1269–1271)
Charles, Count of Valois (1270–1325)

Isabella accompanied her husband on the Eighth Crusade against Tunis. On their way home, they stopped in Cosenza, Calabria. Six months pregnant with her fifth child, on January 11, 1271 she suffered a fall from her horse. After they had resumed the trip back to France, Isabella gave birth to a premature stillborn son.

She never recovered from her injuries and the childbirth, and died seventeen days later, on January 28. Her death was a devastating emotional blow to her husband, especially since she had been pregnant. Philippe took the bodies of Isabella and their stillborn son and, when he finally returned to France, buried them in the Basilica of St Denis. Isabella’s tomb, like many others, was desecrated during the French Revolution in 1793.

After death of Isabella, King Philippe married Marie of Brabant on August 21, 1274. Marie was daughter of the late Heinrich III, Duke of Brabant, and Adelaide of Burgundy, Duchess of Brabant. They had three children: Louis (1276-1319), Blanche (1278-1305) and Margaret (1282-1318). Margaret became Queen of England as the second wife of King Edward I of England.

Marriage of Philip and Marie of Brabant, Queen of France

Philippe III was under the strong influence of his mother, Margaret of Provence, and his minion, surgeon and chamberlain (Chambellan) Pierre de La Broce. Not being French, Marie stood out at the French court.

Marie was the step-mother to Philippe’s children. Philippe’s eldest son with his first wife Isabella of Aragon was also named Prince Louis (1264-1276), not to be confused with Philippe III’s elder brother, also named Louis. He died under suspicious circumstances.

Following Louis’ death, Pierre de la Broce, Philippe’s chamberlain, accused Mary of Brabant, Philippe’s second wife, of poisoning Louis. However, by 1277, suspicion had also fallen on Pierre de la Broce, who was then tried for treachery, and hanged at Montfaucon. Despite that, it is widely believed Louis was poisoned, by orders of his stepmother, Marie of Brabant. At Louis death at the age of 12, his younger brother Philippe, succeeded him as heir apparent.

Kingship

Philippe’s father, King Louis IX, died on August 25, 1270 in Tunis during the Eighth Crusade. Philippe, who was accompanying him, returned to France to claim his throne and was anointed at Reims in 1271.

Coronation of Philippe III in Reims.

Philippe III proved indecisive, soft in nature, and timid. The strong personalities of his parents apparently crushed him, and policies of his father dominated him. People called him “the Bold” on the basis of his abilities in combat and on horseback, and not on the basis of his political or personal character.

Philippe III was pious but not cultivated. He followed the suggestions of others, first of Pierre de La Broce and then of his uncle King Charles I of Naples, Sicily, and Albania.

Philip III made numerous territorial acquisitions during his reign, the most notable being the County of Toulouse, which was annexed to the Crown lands of France in 1271. Following the Sicilian Vespers, a rebellion triggered by Pedro III of Aragon against Philippe’s uncle Charles I of Naples. Philippe led an unsuccessful Aragonese Crusade in support of his uncle. Philippe III was forced to retreat and died from dysentery in Perpignan in 1285. He was succeeded by his second surviving son as King Philippe IV the Fair, who was crowned King of France on January 6, 1286 in Reims.

After the death of Philippe III in 1285, his second wife Queen Marie lost some of her political influence, and dedicated her life to their three children.

Marie lived through Philippe IV’s reign and she outlived all her children. She died in 1322, aged 67, in the monastery at Les Mureaux, near Meulan, where she had withdrawn to in 1316.

History of the French Dynastic Disputes. Part II.

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Arrêt Lemaistre, Charles VI of France, Fundamental Laws of Succession to the French Crown, Henry of Navarre, Philip III of France, Philip IV of France, Robert II of France

The fundamental laws concerning the royal succession In Ancien Régime France, the laws that govern the succession to the throne are among the fundamental laws of the kingdom. They could not be ignored, nor modified, even by the king himself, since it is to these very laws to which he owes his succession. In the French monarchy, they are the foundation of any right of succession to the throne. They have developed during the early centuries of the Capetian monarchy, and were sometimes transferred to other countries linked to the dynasty.

Heredity: the French crown is hereditary. The early Capetians had their heirs crowned during their lifetime, to prevent succession disputes. The first such coronation was in favor of Robert II, in 987.

Primogeniture: the eldest son is the heir, while cadets only receive appanages to maintain their rank. This principle was strengthened in 1027, when Henry, the eldest surviving son of Robert II, was crowned despite the protests of his mother, Constance of Arles, and younger brother, Robert.

Masculinity: females are excluded from the succession. This issue was not raised until 1316, as the Capetian kings did not lack sons to succeed them for the preceding three centuries. This was invoked by Philip V of France to exclude his niece, Jeanne, daughter of his elder brother.

Male collaterality: the right of succession cannot be derived from a female line. This was invoked in 1328 by Philippe VI of France, to counter the claims of Edward III of England, making the succession exclusive to the Capetian family.

Continuity of the Crown (or immediacy of the Crown): as soon as the king dies, his successor is immediately king because “the King (the State) never dies”. Philippe III, who was in Tunis when his father died, was the first to date his reign from the death of his predecessor (1270), instead of his own coronation.

Orders made under Charles VI, in 1403 and 1407, anxious to avoid any interregnum, declared that the heir to the throne should be considered King after the death of his predecessor. But even after these decisions, Joan of Arc persisted in the old position by calling Charles VII, whose father died in 1422, the “Dauphin” until his coronation at Reims in 1429.

Inalienability of the Crown (or unavailability of the Crown): the crown is not the personal property of the king. He cannot appoint his successor, renounce the crown, or abdicate. This principle arose circa 1419, in anticipation of the Treaty of Troyes, which sought to exclude the Dauphin Charles from the succession. The succession can no longer be regulated by the king, and would rely only on the force of custom.

Catholicism: this principle was not specifically identified in the Middle Ages, but it was implied. Since the baptism of Clovis, the kings of France were Catholic. The Protestantism of Henri of Navarre led to a civil war wherein the king had to reestablish his legitimacy. In the famous Arrêt Lemaistre (1593), Parlement protected the rights of the legitimate successor, Henri of Navarre, but deferred his recognition as legitimate king, pending his conversion.

It is clear that the constitution of the fundamental laws is empirical: masculinity, Catholicity and inalienability for example, have been added or rather clarified because there is uncertainty on points considered already implied by others or by custom (as was the case for masculinity, practiced with the rule of male collaterality, in 1316 and 1328 before being formulated in 1358 and formally put into effect in 1419).

The ‘fundamental’ character of the laws was that they could be supplemented in order to clarify, but not changed, or have any or all of the basic laws ignored to change the direction of the whole. It also appears that the role of parliaments is essential in these various clarifications, the fourteenth to the eighteenth century or the nineteenth century if we add the episodes from the history of the French Capetian dynasty in 1830, 1848, 1875 and 1886.

Joan of Kent, Princess of Wales. Part I.

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1st Earl of Kent, Earl of Kent, Edmund of Woodstock, Edward III of England, Edward the Black Prince, Isbella of France, Joan of Kent, King Edward II of England, Kings and Queens of England, Philip III of France, Princess of Wales, Richard II of England, The Fair Maid of Kent, Thomas Holland

Joan of Kent (September 29, 1328 – August 7, 1385), known to history as The Fair Maid of Kent*, and the mother of King Richard II of England, whom she bore to her third husband Edward the Black Prince, son and heir of King Edward III. Joan was the daughter of Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent, and Margaret Wake, 3rd Baroness Wake of Liddell. Her father Edmund was the son of King Edward I by his second wife, Margaret of France, daughter of Philippe III of France.

Royal Standard of England

Edmund was always a loyal supporter of his elder half-brother, King Edward II of England, which placed him in conflict with the queen, Isabella of France (who was also Edmund’s cousin), and her lover Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March. Edmund was executed after Edward II was deposed, and his wife and four children (including Joan, who was only two years old) placed under house arrest in Arundel Castle. It was a time of great strain for the widowed countess of Kent and her four children. They received respite after the new King, Edward III (Joan’s first cousin), attained adulthood and took charge of affairs. He took on the responsibility for the family and looked after them well. Incidentally, his wife, Queen Philippa, was Joan’s second cousin; both were descended from Philippe III of France. In 1352 Joan assumed the title of fourth Countess of Kent and fifth Baroness Wake of Liddell after the death of her brother John.

Joan of Kent

Early marriages

In 1340, at the age of twelve, Joan secretly married 26-year-old Thomas Holland of Upholland, Lancashire, without first gaining the royal consent necessary for couples of their rank. Shortly after the wedding, Holland left for the continent as part of the English expedition into Flanders and France. The following winter (1340 or 1341), while Holland was overseas, Joan’s family arranged for her to marry William Montacute, son and heir of the first Earl of Salisbury. The 13-year-old Joan said nothing and married Montacute, who was her own age. Later, Joan said that she did not reveal her existing marriage with Thomas Holland because she was afraid it would lead to Holland’s execution for treason. She may also have become convinced that the earlier marriage was invalid. Montacute’s father died in 1344 and he became the 2nd Earl of Salisbury.

When Holland returned from the French campaigns around 1348, his marriage to Joan was revealed. Holland confessed the secret marriage to the King, and appealed to the Pope for the return of his wife. Salisbury kept Joan confined to his home until, in 1349, Pope Clement VI annulled Joan’s marriage to the Earl and sent her back to Thomas Holland. Holland was created Earl of Kent in right of his wife.

Over the next eleven years, Thomas Holland and Joan had five children:
1. Thomas Holland, 2nd Earl of Kent
2. John Holland, 1st Duke of Exeter
3. Lady Joan Holland (1356–1384), who married John IV, Duke of Brittany (1339–1399).
4. Lady Maud Holland (1359–1391), who married firstly Hugh Courtenay and secondly Waleran III of Luxembourg, Count of Ligny (1355–1415).
5. Edmund Holland (c. 1354), who died young. He was buried in the church of Austin Friars, London.

* Although the French chronicler Jean Froissart called her “the most beautiful woman in all the realm of England, and the most loving”, the appellation “Fair Maid of Kent” does not appear to be a contemporary description of Joan.

Royal Ancestry of Henry VII of England. Part II

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Earl of Richmond, Henry Tudor, Henry VII of England, Isabella of of France, Kings and Queens of England, Kings of france, Philip III of France, Philip IV of France, Philippa of Hainault

Henry VII, King of England and Lord of Ireland.

In our first look at the royal ancestry of Henry VII we’ll examine the maternal line starting with His mother, Lady Margaret Beaufort May 31, 1441 or 1443 – June 29, 1509. She had been an essential figure in the Wars of the Roses and an influential matriarch of the House of Tudor. She was the daughter and sole heiress of John Beaufort, Duke of Somerset (1404–1444), who was a great-grandson of King Edward III through his third surviving son, John of Gaunt by Katherine Swynford. It was Margaret’s descent from John of Gaunt that gave Henry Tudor, 2nd Earl of Richmond a slight claim to the English throne. Henry VII’s descent from Edward III also establishes Henry’s first link to royal ancestry.

Lady Margaret Beaufor, Countess of Richmond.

Though noted last week, just because Henry had royal ancestry doesn’t conclude his claim to the throne was strong. At first the children of John of Gaunt by Katherine Swynford were illegitimate, however, Letters Patent in 1397 by Richard II and a subsequent Papal Bull issued by the Pope Eugene IV, legitimized the adult children of John of Gaunt and Katherine Swynford with full rights to the throne. However, an Act of Parliament in the reign of Henry IV confirmed their legitimacy but barred the children from having succession rights to the throne.

Also, as stated in my original post, that Henry VII’s royal ancestry was not just from the English Royal Family, he descended from other royal houses that English royalty married into, such as the royal houses of France and Spain. For the rest of this post as I examine the royal descent of Henry VII, I’ll examine the ancestry of the spouses of the English kings from which he descends.

The ancestry I’ll examine next is Philippe of Hainaut, spouse of Edward III who were Henry VII’s closest royal ancestors. Philippa was born June 24, c.1310/15 in Valenciennes in the County of Hainaut in the Low Countries, a daughter of William I, Count of Hainaut, and Joan of Valois, Countess of Hainaut, a granddaughter of Philippe III of France. She was one of eight children and the second of five daughters. Her eldest sister Margaret married the Holy Roman Emperor Ludwig IV in 1324. Edward promised in 1326 to marry her within the following two years. She was married to Edward, first by proxy, when Edward dispatched the Bishop of Coventry “to marry her in his name” in Valenciennes (second city in importance of the county of Hainaut) in October 1327. The marriage was celebrated formally in York Minster on 24 January 1328, some months after Edward’s accession to the throne of England.

Philippe IV, King of France

With Philippa being a great-granddaughter of Philippe III of France, her royal ancestry does reconnect back to the English Royal Family. Philippe III himself was a great-great-grandson of Henry II of England via his daughter Eleanor who married Alfonso VIII of Castile. Their daughter Blanche of Castile married Louis VIII of France and their son was Louis IX of France the father of Philippe III. Philippa and Edward III were second cousins via their descent from Philippe III.

Next royal ancestry we’ll examine is Isabella of France (1295 – 22 August 1358), sometimes described as the She-Wolf of France. She was Queen of England as the wife of Edward II, and regent of England from 1326 until 1330. She was the youngest surviving child and only surviving daughter of Philippe IV of France and Joan I of Navarre. Queen Isabella was notable at the time for her beauty, diplomatic skills, and intelligence.

Isabella is descended from Gytha of Wessex through King Andrew II of Hungary and thus brought the bloodline of the last Anglo-Saxon King of England, Harold II Godwinson, back into the English Royal family.

As said, Isabella was married to Edward II of England and her first cousin, Joan of Valois, was the daughter of Charles of Valois (himself a brother of Philippe IV of France, the father of Isabella) and Joan married William I, Count of Hainaut and their daughter, Philippa of Hainaut, was the wife Edward III son of Edward II and Isabella!

Arms of the Kings of France

If you can follow that, it simply means that Philippa and Edward III were second cousins via their descent from Philippe III. This further exemplifies the fact that these cousin relationships increased the number of times Henry VII descended from the royal families of France, Castile and even England.

To keep this post at a digestible level I’ll stop here.