Philip II Of France
Philip II Augustus (French: Philippe Auguste; 21 August 1165 – 14 July 1223) was the last King of the Franks from 1180 to 1190, and the first King of France from 1190 until his death. A member of the House of Capet, Philip Augustus was born at Gonesse in the Val-d'Oise, the son of Louis VII and of his third wife, Adela of Champagne. He was originally nicknamed Dieudonné ("the God-given" - compare other epithets etymologically rooted in Indo-European devadatta) because he was the first son of Louis VII late in his father's life.
Philip was one of the most successful medieval French monarchs in expanding the royal demesne and the influence of the monarchy. He broke up the great Angevin Empire and defeated a coalition of his rivals (German, Flemish and English) at the Battle of Bouvines in 1214. He reorganized the government, bringing financial stability to the country and thus making possible a sharp increase in prosperity. His reign was popular with ordinary people because he checked the power of the nobles and passed some of it on to the growing middle class.
Read more about Philip II Of France: Early Years, Third Crusade, Marital Problems, Issue, Last Years, Portrayal in Fiction, Ancestry
Famous quotes containing the words philip and/or france:
“Yea, worse than death: death parts both woe and joy:
From joy I part, still living in annoy.”
—Sir Philip Sidney (1554–1586)
“It is not enough that France should be regarded as a country which enjoys the remains of a freedom acquired long ago. If she is still to count in the world—and if she does not intend to, she may as well perish—she must be seen by her own citizens and by all men as an ever-flowing source of liberty. There must not be a single genuine lover of freedom in the whole world who can have a valid reason for hating France.”
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