16. Philip II.
CHAPTER XVI. Philip II. (1180-1223)
The next king was Philip II. son of Louis. (I have said how he was named Dieudonné, and how joyfully his birth was welcomed by all the people of France.) He grew up a wise and a strong king, though he was not in all respects a good man, and he did more to make France a great and powerful country than any of the kings before him had done. He was only fifteen at the death of his father, but he already cared more about his own greatness and that of his country than Louis had ever done.
While he was still quite young, some of his courtiers,seeing him one day gnawing a green bough and looking much excited, asked him what he was thinking about. He answered, "I am wondering whether God will give me grace to raise France once more to the height she reached in the days of Charlemagne." He did not succeed in conquering such an empire as Charlemagne's, and it was well for him that he did not, for it could not have lasted for more than a few years; but he did what was better, he made France strong enough to defend herself against Germany and all her other enemies, and made the people who lived in the different parts of France feel that they all belonged to the same country, and were subjects of the same king. The first act of his reign was one which we should now consider a bad one. He drove all the Jews out of the country and took away their money, which he kept for himself. At that time many people thought there was no harm in ill-treating any one who was not a Christian, and there were even found men among the clergy of the kingdom to praise the king for dishonestly taking money which belonged to his subjects. He also put to death some other people who, though not Jews, did not believe in the Christian religion, and tried to make changes in what was usually taught to the people. All such men were called heretics; and the Pope and many of the clergy taught their hearers that heretics ought not to be allowed to live, that all true Christians should be their enemies, that it was right to make war upon them, and do them any kind of harm, only because they were heretics; and, worst of all, that if you made a promise to a man who was a heretic you were not bound to keep it. Philip had been brought up by priests, and from his treatment of his heretic subjects it seems as if his teachers must have taught him all these cruel and, as we now think, wicked ideas.
Philip, before he became king, found for himself a wife, Isabella, niece of the Count of Flanders. She suited him well in age, being only thirteen, and the two children were married and crowned together when Philip became king. Philip hoped by this marriage to make the Count of Flanders his friend, but they soon quarrelled, and the count, persuading some of the other counts to join him, raised an army against Philip. Henry II. of England and his sons came to the help of Philip, and managed to arrange a peace.
After this there were many quarrels and disputes between Philip and the King and princes of England. These young princes sometimes attacked Philip, and sometimes joined him in attacking their own father. One of them, Richard, who was afterwards King of England, and known as Cœur-de-Lion, became so great a friend of Philip that they slept in the same bed, ate at the same table, and even used the same plate. When the English and French kings wanted to make an agreement or discuss any question together, they usually met under a great elm that stood just on the boundary where the lands of the two kings met. It was called the elm of conference or discussion. One day the English arrived there first, and as they sat comfortably in the shade, mocked at the French as they saw them marching through the burning plain in their hot armour. The French were so angry that they fell upon the English, drove them away, and then cut down the elm, Philip "swearing by all the saints of France that there should never more be held a conference in that place." Philip had to fight with several of his great vassals, who perhaps thought that he would be easy to conquer because of his youth; but he got the better of them all, and managed either to conquer them or to make them his friends.
Philip was able to attend to other matters besides war. He had the chief streets of Paris paved, which was a very great improvement to the town, as the streets had before been piled up with mud and dirt of all kinds, so that carts could hardly pass along them, and there was always a bad and unwholesome smell. He built colleges, hospitals, and waterworks, and walls round part of the city to defend it. He also began to build the Louvre, the palace of the kings of France for many hundred years.
After Philip had been king for about seven years, bad news came from Jerusalem. The Christians had been growing weaker and weaker, and the Mahommedans, under a brave and wise leader named Saladin, had taken from them many of the chief places which they had won in the Holy Land, and had at last besieged and taken Jerusalem itself, and made prisoner the King of Jerusalem and many other of the chief European princes. When the news reached Europe, all the knights, barons, and men of war in the country were eager to go at once to the help of the Christians in Asia.
Philip and Henry of England, who were at war, made peace and took the cross. The Emperor of Germany and a crowd of German princes and barons did the same.
Before they could set out, however, Henry II. died, and his son Richard became King of England. Richard was a brave warlike prince, and delighted in the idea of fighting against Saladin; he sold many of his lands to obtain money for the expedition, and was soon ready to set out. Philip was less fiery and more prudent. He was sorry to leave his kingdom, and made careful arrangements as to how it was to be governed while he was away. His young wife died just at this time, and he left the chief power to his mother and uncle. Philip and Richard made an agreement by which they solemnly promised that they would always defend one another, and treat one another as brothers in arms. We shall see how Philip kept this promise.
Richard and Philip set off at the same time, by different roads, for the Holy Land. They were both, obliged to spend the winter in the Island of Sicily, where they passed the time in feasts and amusements, and, when they were tired of gaiety, in quarrelling. In the spring they went on to the Holy Land and took a city called Acre, but not till after a long siege. Philip soon grew tired of the Crusade, and as there seemed to be very little chance of winning back Jerusalem, and the quarrels between himself and Richard grew more and more common, he resolved at last to leave the Holy Land and to go back to his own kingdom. Before he did so he took a solemn oath that he would not attack any of Richard's lands or subjects, but that he would defend them against all enemies as he would his own town of Paris. Richard was angry at his going, but could not stop him, though he would not himself leave the Holy Land till he had tried every means of winning back Jerusalem.
When Philip arrived in Europe he went to visit the Pope, and asked him for leave to break the solemn promise which he had given not to attack Richard's lands. It was thought that if the Pope said a promise might be broken, there was no harm in breaking it; but the Pope refused, and even said that he should excommunicate Philip if he raised his hand against Richard's land. Philip, therefore, went on into France, and as he could not take what belonged to Richard, made plans for making himself as strong as possible in other ways before Richard should come back to prevent him.
About a year after this, Richard found that there was no use in his staying longer in the Holy Land, for that he should never be able to take Jerusalem. He made a truce with Saladin, by which it was settled that the Christians should be allowed to go to Jerusalem to worship undisturbed, though the town should belong to Saladin. A truce means a peace which is to last only for a fixed time. This truce was to last for three years, three months, three weeks, and three days.
Richard then turned homewards, and reached Europe safely; but as he was travelling through Germany he was made prisoner by the Archduke of Austria, an old enemy with whom he had quarrelled during the Crusade. The Archduke gave him up to the Emperor, who kept him in prison for some time. Philip was much pleased at Richard's imprisonment, and at once attacked Normandy, which belonged to Richard, as it had done to his father Henry II. John, Richard's brother, who ought to have defended his country for him, was base enough to join Philip and help him as much as possible. At last Richard was set free, and at once came to Normandy and began to defend his lands against Philip.
There was a new Pope, named Innocent III., one of the greatest Popes there has ever been, who commanded Richard and Philip to make peace with one another. A truce for five years was agreed upon; and Richard soon after went to attack the castle of one of his vassals, where he was told that a great treasure had been found, which the vassal refused to give up to him, as, according to law, he ought to have done. While Richard was one day making arrangements for an attack, an arrow shot from the castle wounded him, and he died ten days afterwards.
The next King of England and Normandy was his base and cowardly brother John, and Philip was glad of the change, thinking that with so weak a man to resist him, he should be able to have his own way in Normandy.
John had become King of England, but some people thought that he was not the right person to be king, because there still lived the son of one of his elder brothers, who had died some time before. This son, however, was quite a child, and as people always wish to have for their king a man who can think and decide for himself (sooner)<rather> than a child, who must be governed by some one else, most of the English wished to have John (sooner than)<instead of> his little nephew Arthur. Arthur had been born and brought up in Brittany, one of the provinces of France close to Normandy, and the people of Brittany and of the provinces round were fond of him, and wished to have him for their king. They asked Philip to help them and Arthur, and protect them against John, which Philip was glad to do, as he thought it would give him a chance of becoming king himself of some part of the country, and it always vexed him very much that part of France should belong to the Kings of England, as Normandy had done ever since the time of William the Conqueror, who, as you remember, was only Duke of Normandy to begin with, but had made himself King of England as well.
The story of Arthur is a sad one; three years after this time, John took him prisoner and shut him up in the Tower of Rouen. There he disappeared; no one ever knew exactly what had happened to him, but every one supposed that John had murdered him, and the common idea was that John had taken him out in a boat on the Seine, a river close to the tower of Rouen, thrown him overboard, and drowned him.
Arthur's barons and vassals called upon Philip to help them. He at once marched into Normandy. He attacked a great castle which Richard Cœur-de-Lion had built to prevent any enemy from coming to Rouen, the chief city of Normandy, and took it after a siege of five months. When he had taken it, all the chief Norman towns, Rouen among the others, opened their gates to him. It would have been of no use for them to resist, for John did not care to help them. He stayed for some time in Rouen, amusing himself with feasting, gambling, drinking, and lying in bed till dinner-time after his great banquets, and if any one spoke to him of Philip and of the towns which Philip was taking from him, he answered, "Let him do as he likes. I shall be able to take back in a day all that he takes from me." When Philip came near to Rouen, John was frightened, and fled away into England, leaving all Normandy at Philip's mercy. Thus the province of Normandy was conquered by the French king, and it has belonged to the kings of France ever since, and had no more dukes of its own, Brittany and the other provinces of France which had belonged to John, all gave themselves up to Philip. Philip called upon John to appear before a court of French nobles, that the question whether he had murdered Arthur might be fairly tried. John thought it wiser not to trust himself in France. The question was then considered without him, and Philip and his chief lords decided that John had been guilty of murder, and that all his land in France should be taken away from him.
As Philip had already taken all this land, it did not make much difference to John what might be the reasons he gave for doing so; but Philip was glad to find a good excuse for what he had done, though, had John been the best king that ever reigned, Philip would probably have still managed to make himself master of Normandy, if the English king had not been strong enough to prevent it.
There is so much to be said about Philip's reign that the rest must be left for (a fresh)<another> chapter. He was king for forty-three years, and of these only twenty-three had passed at the time of Arthur's death.
