Philip V of France

Philip V
Contemporary miniature depicting the coronation of Philip V, from the Grandes Chroniques de France
King of France and Navarre
Reign20 November 1316 – 3 January 1322
Coronation9 January 1317
PredecessorJohn I
SuccessorCharles IV and I
Regent of France
Regency5 June 1316 – 20 November 1316
MonarchLouis X
John I
Bornc. 1291
Lyon, France
Died3 January 1322 (aged 30–31)
Abbey of Longchamp, Bois de Boulogne, Paris, France
Burial8 January 1322
Spouse
(m. 1307)
Issue
HouseCapet
FatherPhilip IV of France
MotherJoan I of Navarre

Philip V (c. 1291 – 3 January 1322), known as the Tall (French: Philippe le Long), was King of France and Navarre (as Philip II) from 1316 to 1322. Philip engaged in a series of domestic reforms intended to improve the management of the kingdom. These reforms included the creation of an independent Court of Finances, the standardization of weights and measures, and the establishment of a single currency.

Philip was the second son of King Philip IV of France and Queen Joan I of Navarre. He was granted an appanage, the County of Poitiers, while his elder brother, Louis X, inherited the French and Navarrese thrones. When Louis died in 1316, he left a daughter and a pregnant wife, Clementia of Hungary. Philip the Tall successfully claimed the regency. Queen Clementia gave birth to a boy, who was proclaimed king as John I, but the infant king lived only for five days.

At the death of his nephew, Philip immediately had himself crowned at Reims. However, his legitimacy was challenged by the party of Louis X's daughter Joan. Philip V successfully contested her claims for a number of reasons, including her youth, doubts regarding her paternity (her mother was involved in the Tour de Nesle Affair), and the Estates General's determination that women should be excluded from the line of succession to the French throne. The succession of Philip, instead of Joan, set the precedent for the French royal succession that would be known as the Salic law.

Philip restored somewhat good relations with the County of Flanders, which had entered into open rebellion during his father's rule, but simultaneously his relations with his brother-in-law Edward II of England worsened as Edward, who was also Duke of Guyenne, initially refused to pay him homage. A spontaneous popular crusade started in Normandy in 1320 aiming to liberate the Iberian Peninsula from the Moors. Instead the angry populace marched to the south attacking castles, royal officials, priests, lepers, and Jews.

In 1307 Philip married Joan II, Countess of Burgundy, with whom he had four daughters. The couple produced no male heirs, however, so when Philip died from dysentery in 1322, he was succeeded by his younger brother Charles IV.


© MMXXIII Rich X Search. We shall prevail. All rights reserved. Rich X Search