Royal demesne of Philip II

Who rules

Name

Philip II Augustus (Philippe Auguste)

Title

King of the French (rex Francorum)

Since

Sole king from 18 September 1180, when Louis VII died; crowned at Reims as his father's associate on 1 November 1179

Born

21 August 1165 (Paris; Gonesse in a later tradition); aged 34

Family

Capetian. Son of Louis VII and Adela of Champagne (the queen mother, alive). Nephew of William of the White Hands, archbishop of Reims. First wife Isabella of Hainaut (died 15 March 1190), mother of Prince Louis. Second wife Ingeborg of Denmark (married 14 August 1193, put away the next day). Third wife, in his eyes, Agnes of Merania (married June 1196), whom Rome does not recognise.

Confidence

high

Dates of birth, accession and marriages are standard. Agnes's children: Marie born 1198; Philip (later called Hurepel) born September 1200 (en.wikipedia, Philip I, Count of Boulogne), so on 1 January 1200 Agnes is at most newly pregnant and no one can yet know it.

Overlord

None in the temporal order. The pope claims to judge his marriage, and the legate has decreed an interdict on his lands over it.

What the realm holds

• The royal demesne: the prevotes of Paris, Orleans, Etampes, Melun, Sens, Senlis, Compiegne, Bourges and many lesser ones (see Royal demesne and the office records).
• The Norman ground taken from the Angevins: Gisors and Neaufles with most of the Norman Vexin (since 1193), Vernon, Pacy, Ivry and Nonancourt (confirmed to him at Louviers in January 1196 and kept since), Gaillon held for him by the routier captain Cadoc (since 1197), and the city and county of Evreux, seized after Richard's death in April 1199 and not yet ceded by John.
• The Amienois, Montdidier and Roye (by the treaty of Boves, 1185) and Peronne (since 1191-92), with the homage of the lords of the Vermandois.
• Artois south of the Neufosse (Arras, Bapaume, Lens, Hesdin), the inheritance of Prince Louis from his mother, held by the king in his son's name (drawn by the Flanders researcher).
• Royal Berry: Bourges and its septaine, Dun-le-Roi and the king's castles south of the Loire; Gien on the Loire, ceded to the king in 1199.
• The regalia of vacant royal sees: Sens (vacant since 28 November 1199) and Bourges (vacant since 11 September 1199).
• The suzerainty of the whole kingdom: the homage of Normandy, Aquitaine, Brittany (contested), Flanders, Champagne, Blois, Burgundy, Toulouse and the rest.

How it was acquired

By inheritance from Louis VII in 1180, then by war, purchase and the law of fiefs: the Vermandois settlement with Philip of Alsace (treaty of Boves, 1185) brought the Amienois, Montdidier and Roye; Philip of Alsace's death at Acre (1 June 1191) brought Peronne and Artois for Louis; Richard's captivity (1193-94) let Philip take Gisors and the Norman march, confirmed at Louviers (January 1196); Richard's death (6 April 1199) let him take Evreux; Gien came from the Nevers settlement of 1199.

Allies and rivals

Allies: his uncle William of Reims, the elder statesman of the crown; Robert II of Dreux and the Capetian cousins; the Champagne house under Theobald III (Philip's nephew), now leading the crusade; Arthur of Brittany, whose claim to Anjou, Maine and Touraine Philip has backed; the Staufen king Philip of Swabia, against Otto IV. Rivals: John, holding Normandy, Anjou, Maine and Touraine and heir to Aquitaine; Otto IV, John's nephew; Baldwin IX of Flanders and Hainaut, at war with Philip since 1197 and about to settle; Renaud of Dammartin, count of Boulogne, an Angevin ally since 1197; Count Guy II of Auvergne, at odds with the king. Rome: Innocent III demands that Agnes go and Ingeborg return; Ingeborg's brother Cnut VI of Denmark presses her case.

The realm that morning

First light, 1 January 1200. FAMILY: Agnes of Merania is with the king's household, at most newly pregnant with the son born in September 1200 (not yet known); their daughter Marie (born 1198) is in the nursery. Prince Louis is 12 (born 5 September 1187) and unmarried. Ingeborg has been kept in religious houses since 1193 (the priory of Saint-Maur-des-Fosses near Paris, then the abbey of Cysoing among others); where she lies this morning is not pinned; after the council of Soissons (1201), if not before, she is held in the castle of Etampes.

HOUSEHOLD: royal acts are witnessed 'no seneschal; the butler Guy; the chamberlain Matthew; the constable Dreux; the chancellery vacant'. The seneschalcy (dapifer) has been left empty since Theobald V of Blois died at Acre in 1191; the butler is Guy of Senlis (the Le Bouteiller line, lords of Chantilly); the chamberlain is Matthew III, count of Beaumont-sur-Oise (in office 1190-1207); the constable is Dreux IV of Mello (since 1193); the chancellorship has been vacant since 1185 and chancery clerks draft without a chancellor. Walter the Chamberlain (Gautier de Villebeon, lord of Nemours) and his sons are the king's men of business in the chamber; the marshal is Henry Clement, lord of Le Mez, brother of the first marshal Alberic Clement, marshal since 1191 according to fr.wikipedia.

COURT: the peace with Flanders is sealed at Peronne on 2 January, so the king is at or near Peronne at the New Year [where he kept Christmas 1199 is not pinned]; when the truce with John runs out on 13 January he goes to the Norman border to talk. JOHN: the three-month truce agreed in October 1199 runs to mid-January (the feast of St Hilary, 13 January, in the usual reckoning). Philip holds Gisors, the Norman Vexin bar Les Andelys and Chateau-Gaillard, Vernon, Pacy, Ivry, Nonancourt and the city and county of Evreux; John holds Les Andelys, Chateau-Gaillard, Boutavant, Port-Mort and Normandy west of that line.

FLANDERS: since the capture of Baldwin's brother Philip of Namur by the king's men, a truce holds on the Artois border; Baldwin holds Saint-Omer and Aire, taken in 1198, and the peace of Peronne tomorrow leaves them to him. THE INTERDICT: decreed by the legate Peter Capuano at the council of Dijon (opened 6 December 1199), with publication held over; it is published on 13 January 1200 and will close the churches of the king's lands. On 1 January it is known to the bishops but not yet in force.

THE JEWS: expelled from the demesne in April 1182, readmitted in July 1198 as the king's own people, taxed and supervised; they are back in Paris and the royal towns. GOVERNMENT: the ordinance-testament of 1190 (made at Paris before the crusade) set baillis over the prevots, to hold monthly assizes and account at Paris three times a year (St Remigius, Purification, Ascension), with the treasure kept by the Templars in Paris; fixed bailliages do not yet exist and baillis ride in small groups over sets of prevotes.

Wealth

The demesne's rents, tolls, mills, ovens, forests and courts, farmed by the prevots; the regalia of vacant sees and abbeys; reliefs and wardships; the Jews' tallage since 1198; the Paris markets (the halls at Champeaux built in 1183) and the Seine trade of the Paris water merchants; the Orleans wine trade; Amiens woad; the cloth of Beauvais and the Somme towns; the fairs of Saint-Denis (the Lendit, June). The coin of the demesne is the denier parisis struck in the king's name; older local deniers still run in Orleans, Etampes, Bourges and Sens [which local mints still strike in 1200 is not pinned]. The king's treasure is at the Temple in Paris.

No figures here: the oldest surviving royal account is of 1202-03.

Military

The host is raised from the knights who hold of the king, the communes and royal abbeys who owe foot sergeants and carts (the prisee des sergents of about 1194 lists what each owes; its figures are in the source and not reproduced here), and paid routiers, the best known being Cadoc, lord of Gaillon. The constable Dreux of Mello and the marshal command under the king. Castles: Paris (the Louvre being built on the right bank, and the town wall begun on the right bank about 1190), Gisors (strengthened since 1193), Vernon, Pacy, Ivry, Nonancourt, Evreux, Mantes, Pontoise, Poissy, Montlhery, Corbeil, Melun, Moret, Etampes, Dourdan, Janville, Yevre-le-Chatel, Montargis, Lorris, Chateau-Landon, Orleans, Gien, Bourges, Dun-le-Roi, Senlis, Compiegne, Pierrefonds, Laon, Peronne, Montdidier.

Record: beaten at Freteval (3 July 1194) where his baggage and archives were lost, and at Gisors (27-28 September 1198) where the bridge broke under him; successful in the long siege war of the Norman march.

Threats

• The interdict, published 13 January: bishops who obey will close their churches and face the king's anger; the crown's prestige and the Reims bishops' loyalty are tested.
• John, if the talks after 13 January fail: the truce lapses and the Norman march opens again.
• A revived Angevin, Welf and Flemish coalition (Otto IV, John, Baldwin, Renaud of Boulogne), which Peronne and Le Goulet are meant to break.
• The crusade: the Ecry barons (Theobald III, Louis of Blois and Clermont, Simon of Montfort) are pledged to leave, and Baldwin will follow; the clergy are taxed a fortieth for it.
• The legitimacy of Agnes's children: Marie, and the son she will bear in September 1200.
• Count Guy II of Auvergne and other distant vassals who look to John or ignore the king.

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

1. 2 January 1200Treaty of Peronne with Baldwin IX: Baldwin does homage and keeps Saint-Omer, Aire and his other gains in northern Artois; Philip keeps Arras, Bapaume, Lens, Hesdin and the rest of Artois for Louis.Depends on: Baldwin's need for peace after his brother's capture and his crusade plans; Philip's wish to split Flanders from John before the Norman talks. Stopped by: Philip demanding Saint-Omer and Aire back, or John reviving the alliance with money.
2. 13 January 1200The interdict is published (from Vienne, beyond the king's reach, in the campaign notes) and the churches of the royal lands begin to close. Philip answers by driving out obedient prelates and seizing their goods.Depends on: The legate holding his ground and the king not yielding first. Stopped by: Philip sending Agnes away and taking Ingeborg back before publication.
3. mid-January 1200 (after the truce ends on 13 January)Philip and John meet on the Seine between Les Andelys and Le Goulet and agree the heads of a peace.Depends on: Both kings wanting peace: Philip under interdict, John short of allies. Stopped by: John refusing to give up Evreux and the Vexin, or Philip holding out for Arthur's claims.
4. 23 February 1200Baldwin IX takes the cross at Bruges, taking Flanders out of the war for good.Depends on: Peronne holding. Stopped by: A new rupture in Artois.
5. 22 May 1200 (Rigord puts it on Ascension Day, 18 May)Treaty of Le Goulet: John does liege homage and pays a relief; he cedes the city and county of Evreux and the Norman Vexin except Les Andelys, and the fiefs of Issoudun and Gracay with the Angevin lordship in Berry as Blanche's dowry; he gives up Otto IV and the counts of Flanders and Boulogne. Philip accepts John as Richard's heir and drops Arthur's claim; Arthur holds Brittany of John.Depends on: The January heads of peace holding, and Eleanor of Aquitaine bringing Blanche from Castile. Stopped by: War breaking out again, or the Castilian match failing.
6. 23 May 1200Prince Louis marries Blanche of Castile at Port-Mort, on John's Norman ground, because the king's own lands are under interdict.Depends on: Le Goulet, of which the marriage is a term. Stopped by: The failure of the treaty.
7. September 1200Agnes gives birth to a son, Philip (later Hurepel).Depends on: A safe birth. Stopped by: Death in childbed (Agnes dies at Poissy in July 1201 after a later birth).
8. 1200, month not pinned (often put in the summer)A brawl between German students and Paris townsmen; the king's prevot Thomas attacks the students' hostel and men are killed. Philip punishes the prevot and grants the masters and scholars a charter that takes them out of the prevot's justice: the first royal privilege of the University of Paris.Depends on: The quarrel happening as it did. Stopped by: Any change in the Paris town or schools that defuses it.
9. 1200, date not pinnedPhilip of Dreux, bishop of Beauvais, is freed from John's prison in exchange for the captured bishop-elect of Cambrai.Depends on: The peace with John and Flanders. Stopped by: A breakdown of the peace.
10. 7 September 1200The interdict is lifted by the new legate Octavian, cardinal-bishop of Ostia, after Philip promises to take back Ingeborg and part from Agnes; the marriage case goes to a council at Soissons (March 1201), where it is left undecided.Depends on: Philip's need to end the interdict once the Norman peace is made. Stopped by: The king defying Rome for longer.
11. 24 August 1200 and afterJohn marries Isabella of Angouleme, betrothed to Hugh IX of Lusignan; the Lusignan appeal to Philip as overlord follows in 1201-02 and leads to the confiscation of John's fiefs in 1202.Depends on: John's marriage choice. Stopped by: John marrying elsewhere.

Places of note

• Palace in the Cite, Paris: The king's palace on the island; the treasure is kept by the Templars at their house outside the walls.
• Peronne: Where the peace with Baldwin IX is sealed on 2 January 1200.
• Gisors: The king's great Norman fortress since 1193.
• Le Goulet, on the Seine near Vernon: Meeting place with John opposite Boutavant; the peace is sealed here in May 1200.
• Poissy castle: A favoured royal residence; Agnes dies here in July 1201.
• Etampes castle (Guinette tower): Ingeborg's prison from 1201.

Where the sources disagree

• The brief and the Normandy assignment say Evreux and the Norman Vexin are still Angevin on 1 January 1200. In law they pass only at Le Goulet, but in fact Philip seized Evreux and its county after Richard's death in April 1199 and still held it at Le Goulet (G. B. Adams, Political History of England II, ch. 19: 'seized the county of Evreux and pushed his conquests almost to Le Mans'; the Le Goulet terms as summarised on fr.wikipedia: Philip 'keeps his recent conquests, the Norman Vexin except Chateau-Gaillard, and the county of Evreux'). Gisors and Neaufles have been Philip's since April 1193, and the treaty of Louviers (January 1196) gave him the Norman Vexin with Vernon, Pacy and Nonancourt. The GM's own Church notes (Part 6 B, Evreux) agree that the city has been in Philip's hands since April 1199. We draw Gisors and the Norman Vexin as held, Evreux as occupied, and Les Andelys, Chateau-Gaillard, Boutavant and Port-Mort as John's.
• The campaign notes (Part 6 A) have Philip of Dreux of Beauvais as John's prisoner since 1197. That holds on 1 January 1200: en.wikipedia (Philip of Dreux) has him freed only after Richard's death, by an exchange agreed in 1200 for the captured bishop-elect of Cambrai. The en.wikipedia article on Peter of Capua says his release was part of the January 1199 truce; that release did not happen.
• The campaign notes have the interdict proclaimed 'from Vienne in mid-January'. en.wikipedia (Peter of Capua the Elder) gives the council of Dijon as 6 December 1199, a second synod at Vienne days later, and publication on 13 January 1200. It is lifted on 7 September 1200 (en.wikipedia, Philip II of France).
• fr.wikipedia (Agnes de Meranie) gives Philip Hurepel's birth as 1197 and Marie's as 1199; en.wikipedia gives Marie 1198 and Philip September 1200 (its article Philip I, Count of Boulogne). We follow the latter, which is the usual reckoning.

Evidence: The king's acts, Rigord and William the Breton, Roger of Howden and the papal registers make this the best documented realm in France. Thin points: Ingeborg's exact place of confinement on 1 January; where Philip kept Christmas 1199; the names of the baillis on this date.

On the map: The realm record is not drawn; the king's own land is drawn in Royal demesne and the prevotes in the office records. Royal Artois is drawn by the Flanders researcher. Belts: only the narrow Seine-Vexin march is drawn (Seine-Vexin march), and thinly; no belt is drawn on the Artois border (a truce holds and peace is sealed on 2 January) or on the Berry march (quiet since the fighting of 1196 and under the truce; the Aquitaine researcher judges it from the Angevin side).

Primary sources for this realm

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

• Chronicle of Alberic of Trois-Fontaines, Alberic of Trois-Fontaines (about 1227 to 1241, at the Cistercian abbey of Trois-Fontaines in Champagne). The widest net of any Latin chronicle for 1200, compiled from dozens of sources, many now lost. Read online
• Chronicle of Hainaut, Gislebert of Mons (about 1195 to 1196). Ends in 1195, so it has no 1200 entries, but it is the indispensable background for Flanders and Hainaut: the career of Count Baldwin V of Hainaut (VIII of Flanders), his union of the two counties, the settlement with Philip over Artois, the rights, castles, fiefs and vassals of Hainaut listed by a man who ran its chancery, and the youth of Baldwin IX, who held both counties in 1200. Read online
• Chronicle of Robert of Auxerre, Robert of Auxerre (Robert of Saint-Marien) (about 1190 to 1211; continued at Saint-Marien to 1227). A universal chronicle whose last twenty years are contemporary and well informed from Burgundy and the Auxerrois. Read online
• Chronicles of the Churches of Anjou (Saint-Aubin, Saint-Serge, Saint-Florent and others), Various (monks of Angers and the Loire) (11th to 13th centuries; the Saint-Aubin annals run to the 1220s). The Angevin houses' own annals of the succession crisis in their city: Arthur received at Angers in 1199 with Constance and the Breton and Angevin barons, John's counter-moves, the defection of William des Roches and the Angevin lords to John, and the peace of 1200 that left Arthur John's vassal. Read online
• The Great Chronicle of Tours, Anonymous (a canon of Saint-Martin of Tours) (about 1227). The Loire valley's view of the Angevin succession. Read online
• Universal Chronicle of the Anonymous of Laon, Anonymous (an English-born canon of Laon) (about 1219). A Picard chronicle whose author had lived in England and keeps an eye on both kingdoms. Read online
• Chronicle of Roger of Howden, Roger of Howden (about 1192 to 1201). The fullest single narrative for the year. Read online
• Flowers of History, Roger of Wendover (about 1220 to 1235 at St Albans). For 1200 Wendover is mostly Howden rewritten, so he is a second witness only where he adds St Albans material: a long account of Hugh of Lincoln's last months, death and funeral, and anecdotes about John's conduct toward the Cistercians and his new queen. Read online
• Images of History, Ralph de Diceto (about 1188 to 1202). A London view of the year from the dean of St Paul's, who knew the justiciar and the bishops personally. Read online
• Deeds of Philip Augustus, Rigord (about 1186 to 1206, in stages). The French court's own chronicle for the year, from the monk of Saint-Denis who called himself the king's chronographer. Read online
• Deeds of Philip Augustus; The Philippide, William the Breton (Guillaume le Breton) (Gesta about 1214 to 1220; Philippide 1214 to 1224). William abridged Rigord for the years before 1207 and then continued him, so for 1200 the Gesta is a shortened Rigord with a few added touches: the Le Goulet settlement, Blanche's marriage, and the interdict. Read online
• History of the Counts of Guines, Lambert of Ardres (about 1196 to 1203, unfinished). A house history of the counts of Guines and lords of Ardres, written while Count Baldwin II and his son Arnold were alive and finishing in 1203. Read online

11 more in the sources library for France and Iberia.