PHILIPPE II., better known as PHILIPPE AUGUSTE, King of France, was the son of Louis VII. and Alix of Champagne, and was b. in Aug.. 1165. He was crowned, in 1179, during the life of his father, succeeded him in 1180, and proved one of the great est monarchs of the Capetian dynasty. His marriage With Isabella of Hainanit, a descendant of the Carlovingians, established more completely' the right of his family to the throne of France. He first made war upon the count of Flanders to obtain the dis tricts of Vermandois, Valois, Amienois, and Artois, which belonged to his wife, and, after various fortunes, obtained Amienois and part of Vermandois at once, and the rest aftbr the count's death in 1185. By the advice of St. Bernard (q.v.) he rigorously pun ished heretics, despoiled the Jews, absolving their debtors of all obligations, excepting one-fifth, which he transferred to himself; put down with vigor the numerous bands of brigands and priest-haters who devastated the country and burned the churches and monasteries, compelling their chief leader, the duke of Burgundy, to submit (1186) to his authority—acts which gave him great popularity among his subjects. He sustained the sons of Henry IL of England in their rebellions against their father, and conquered, in conjunction with Richard Cceur•de-Lion, many of the English possessions in France. After the accession (1282) of Richard to the throne, Philippe and he set out together on the third crusade; but quarreled while wintering in Sicily, and this dissension continu Philippe, after a sojourn of 31 months in Syria, set out (July 31, 1190) on his return to France, after taking a solemn oath to respect the integrity of Richard's dominions; but no sooner had he returned than lie entered into an arrangement for the partition of Richard's territories in France with his unworthy brother John. Some acquisitions were Made, but Richard's sudden return overset the calculations of the conspirators, and a war immediately commenced between the two monarchs, in which Philippe had at one and the same time to defend his territories from the English, and the counts of Champagne, Boulogne, Bretagne, and Hainault, who attacked them on all sides. In order to obtain money, he was Obliged to rescind his edicts against the Jews; but the mediation of Pope Innocent put an end (Jan. 13, 1199) to a war which was productive of no other result than the exhaustion of the strength of the combatants. Richard of England died within
two months after; but war almost immediately recommenced with England, regarding the respective claims of king John of England and his nephew Arthur of Bretagne to the French heritage of Richard Cwur-de-Lion, which consisted chiefly of Anjou, Maine, and Touraine. Arthur had applied for aid to Philippe, and the French king immediately responded by causing the young duke to be recognized in the above-mentioned prov inces; but a quarrel in which he became involved with the pope on account of his hav ing divorced his second wife, Ingelburga of Denmark, to marry Anges of Meran, a Tyro kse princess, compelled him to leave the English in possession for a little time longer. The defeat, capture, and subsequent murder of Arthur, however, again brought him into the field. The English provinces in France were attacked by the combined French and Bretons: Normandy and Poitou, with the three disputed provinces, were annexed to France; and the English dynasty in Bretagne dispossessed by a French one (Oct. 26, 1206): During 1211 -14 Philippe was engaged in a war with king John of England and the emperor Otho of Germany, who had leagued themselves against him, in which he was on the whole successful. During the rest of his reign, Philippe was occupied in consolidating his new possessions, and took no part either in the war with the Albigenses or that in England, though his son Louis (q.v.) went to the latter with an army. Philippe succeeded in establishing the unity of his dominions, and in emancipating the royal authority from the trammels of the papacy and clergy, and vindicated his sovereign authority over the latter as his subjects, irrespective of the pope. His measures, without alienating the great feudal lords, tended firmly to establish his authority over them, and to emancipate the larger toavns from their sway. To increase the unity of the kingdom, and strengthen the central power, he established at Paris a chamber of 12 peers, 6 lay and 6 ecclesiastical, who almost always supported his plans, even against the court of Rome. Finally, he largely improved and embellished Phris, built many churches and ot'icr institutions, and encouraged commercial associations; he also fortified many of the chief towns, including the capital. He died at Mantes, July 14, 1223.