Philip IV

Philip IV

Philip IV was the king of France from 1268 until 1314 and ruled for 46 years. He had some epithets, like the Right, the Charming One or the Iron King. He married Joanne of Navarre and as a result of this, Philip became  the King of Navarre from 1284 until 1305. He also ruled over the region of Champagne, but later the region fell under German rule.

When he became king, Philip changed a lot of his father's reforms. He saw that France was a monarchy in chaos, partitioned between different lords. After several years, Philip made a plan to reach internal and external peace. Philip started invading feudal territories and putting them under the administration of his loyal friends. The territory of Poitou and Brittany were captured quickly. Later on Philip occupied some parts of the English territories, Toulouse and Bourbon. This way, Philip united France under a centralized country.

Philip IV was very ambitious. His sole plan was to rule Europe, but he knew he didn't have a strong military to occupy by force. Philip IV came with another plan, though. He insisted to marry his cousins with foreign princesses. Soon, his cousins were kings of Naples, Sicily and Hungary, so Philip IV had widened his sphere of influence. From this, he became a powerful king and had a key role in European politics.

From his ambitions, Philip started some unfair wars, which soon brought his doom. He attacked Flanders, and experienced a crushing defeat. After that, he destroyed the Knights Templar, with the excuse that they were planning a revolution to overthrow him, but Philip just needed gold for his campaigns, which the Knight Templar had lots of. Then, after the Pope interfered in the Knights Templar case, Philip threatened him. Immediately, the HRE (Holy Roman Empire) began planning his assassination. In 1314, when Philip IV was leaving his royal palace, he was shot with 24 arrows. After his death, his son occupied Champagne and created the unified France we know today.