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Philip of France (1116-1131)
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- This article refers to Philip, the co-King of France under Louis VI, and the second King of France named Philip. For his nephew, the third King of France named Philip, but the second so numbered, see Philip II of France.
Philip (II) of France (29 August 1116 – 13 October 1131) was the first son of Louis VI of France and his second wife Adélaide de Maurienne.
The favourite son of his father whilst a child, Philip was enthroned alongside Louis VI as joint-king in 1129. However, the young king gave his father little joy after that, refusing to pay attention to the old king, or to follow the high standards that Louis himself followed. He became disobedient, refusing to heed scoldings or warnings; Walter Map said that he "strayed from the paths of conduct travelled by his father and, by his overweening pride and tyrannical arrogance, made himself a burden to all."[1]
Philip's brief period as King was ended two years after his sacring. Riding with a group of companions along the Seine, in the Parisian market section named the Greve, his running horse was tripped by a black pig which darted out of a dung heap on the quay. The horse fell forwards, and the young king was catapulted over its head. The fall "so dreadfully fractured his limbs that he died on the day following" without regaining consciousness.[2] He was buried at St Denis, and succeeded as heir, and co-King, by his meek-mannered brother, Louis the Younger (now known as Louis VII).
If Philip had been little other than trouble and a problem to his family and kingdom whilst he had lived, his legacy would prove greater trouble still. Whilst he had lived, he had nurtured a dream of visiting Jerusalem and the tomb of Christ; when he died, his brother, Louis VII, vowed to go in Philip's place. This vow would provide a reason for Louis joining the disastrous Second Crusade, and an excuse to abandon Antioch in favour of Jerusalem – the Crusade bringing many deaths on both sides, the abandonment of Antioch proving a strategic failure and a cause for the collapse of the marriage between Louis and his wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine.
Because he was co-King rather than senior King, he is not generally given an ordinal as King of France.
References
- ^ Walter Map, De Nugis Curialium, p. 285
- ^ Ordericus Vitalis, The Ecclesiastical History of England and Normandy, v. 4, p. 129
Sources
Meade, Marion, Eleanor of Aquitaine
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