A. D. 987-1313 CHAP. VIII principle that the Kingdom of France depended on God alone, and declared null and void whatever pecuniary exactions the Holy See might at any time in the future impose upon France. Sustaining his reputation for piety by renewing and confirming the immunities accorded to the clergy by previous kings, he at the same time illustrated his patriotism by founding the liberties of the Gallican Church. The Spanish peninsula While his conspicuous piety, his devotion to the crusades, and his generosity toward religion enabled Louis IX, without opposition, to guard the civil rights of his kingdom; his fidelity to his engagements, his love of peace, and his practical judgment gave him a distinct pre-eminence over the sovereigns of his time. At Rome, he had endeavored to end the estrangement between Gregory IX and Frederick II. With great sagacity he had opposed the project to make his brother, Robert of Artois, emperor in Frederick's place; and had labored to dissuade Charles of Anjou from his disastrous adventures in Sicily. When peace had been made with Henry III of England, Louis was called upon to arbitrate at Amiens the differences between the King and his English nobles. Before his death, on August 25, 1270, France had gained a moral influence in Europe comparable to the military distinction which Philip Augustus had conferred upon it. Unhappily for France, the prestige acquired by St. Louis was to be in a great degree sacrificed by his son and successor, Philip III. It was in the reign of this king that France came into vital relations with the Spanish peninsula, hitherto confined to a mere provincial existence, but henceforth to play a conspicuous part in the diplomatic drama of the world. For nearly seven centuries after the conquest of Spain by the Saracens, it was practically lost to Christendom. A feudal nobility, immersed in its own interests, could form no clear idea of that greater European community which had been dissolved by the dismemberment of the Roman Empire, and Spain was as little known as Africa. The traditions of A. D. 987-1313 the lost relationship were, however, to be revived when the CHAP. VIII Infidel was driven from the land and Christian states arose to re-establish the ancient fellowship; but, during the Arab occupation, no general European effort was made to reclaim this vast territory, which had not only been lost to Christendom but offered a serious menace to its security. The enthusiasm of the mediaeval popes and chivalry in rescuing and occupying the Holy Places in the East only serves to render more conspicuous the general indifference, after the time of Charles the Great, broken only by the call of Innocent III in 1211,- to the presence of the Infidel in the most western of European lands. While the Papacy claimed as a possession of St. Peter the whole area south of the Pyrenees, no organized endeavor was made to redeem it from the occupation of the Mohammedan invader, and only isolated adventurers went forth to seek their fortunes in this field of conquest. Abandoned by Europe and left to work out its own deliverance, the Spanish peninsula slowly and painfully restored itself to Christendom. By 1210, nearly half the peninsula had been recovered from the Saracens. Portugal, Leon, Castile, Aragon, and Navarre had then entered the list of Christian countries, but the energies which should have been concentrated upon expelling the invader were dissipated in conflicts with one another. The definitive union of Leon with Castile in 1230 at last created a Christian state strong enough to beat back the frontiers of the Arabs, and the internal decay of the Mohammedan dynasty opened the path of further conquest to the Christians. But the influence of the Moorish occupation imparted to the land and people a tinge of orientalism that has never ceased to characterize the Spanish civilization. The stately courtesy of its nobility, the grave formality of its social intercourse, the sonorous dignity of its language, the intensity of its religious zeal, and the jealous seclusion of its women are all traces of the long residence of the Moors in Spain. When Christianity at length triumphed, the hatred of heresy had The restoration of Spain to Christendom A. D. 987-1313 CHAP. VIII burned itself deep into the Spanish character. The long and bitter struggle with the Infidel had engendered an intolerance of religious error that has often seemed to other nations the bigotry of fanaticism. The inheritance of Toulouse and the adventures of Philip III in Spain The first serious approaches of France and Spain disclose the rivalry that was for centuries to mark their intercourse. The death of Alfonso of Poitiers, brother of Louis IX, and his wife, Jeanne of Toulouse, in August, 1271, caused the counties of Poitiers, Toulouse, and Auvergne — with the exception of a small fief claimed by the King of England and the Venaissin, near Avignon, which had been ceded to the Papacy in 12291- to fall to Philip III. In 1274, another death, that of Henry, King of Navarre and Count of Champagne and Brie, who left only a daughter, enabled Philip III to appropriate Champagne and Brie, and by affiancing the Princess Jeanne to his own son Philip, to claim the throne of Navarre. Thus the King of France became possessed not only of a great region on the Mediterranean coast but of one of the Spanish kingdoms. The death of Alfonso X of Castile, a few years later, opened another Spanish succession, to which the sons of Philip's sister Blanche, who had married Ferdinand, the heir to the crown, had claims. The Castilian Cortes passed over these children and offered the crown to a younger son. Philip III embarked in a fruitless war to secure the inheritance of his nephews, but a third adventure in the Spanish peninsula was soon to engage his attention. The Sicilian Vespers and the transfer of Sicily to Peter III of Aragon, in 1283, after the overthrow of Charles of 1 In 1229, Raymond VII, Count of Toulouse, had been constrained to cede to the Pope the county of Venaissin. It passed into possession of the Papacy, but was retaken in 1234 by Jeanne, daughter of Raymond VII, who bequeathed it to Charles of Anjou, Count of Provence and King of Sicily. Philip III of France, claiming as heir all the lands of Alfonso of Poitiers and Jeanne of Toulouse, at the request of Gregory X ceded the Venaissin again to the Papacy. It did not include Avignon, which, as we shall see, at the time of the papal residence there, belonged to the counts of Provence. 'A. D. 987-1313 Anjou, were heavy blows to the pride of France; and Philip CHAP. VIII III permitted himself to be drawn into the conflict. Ready to grasp at every apparent advantage, when the Pope, Martin IV, offered the crown of Aragon to Philip's son, Charles of Valois, the offer was eagerly accepted, and an expedition was led by the King in person to execute the papal grant. In the midst of these vagaries, in which the rights of nations were ignored, the papal disposition of crowns accepted, and the legitimate task of building up his kingdom neglected,· Philip III died at Perpignan, on October 5, 1285, leaving to succeed him a greater administrative genius than France had yet possessed. Philip IV, called the "Fair," inherited the Spanish wars; but, seeing the necessity of organizing France, he took little interest in them. Three tasks appeared to him to be worthy of his supreme efforts: (1) the dispossession of the King of England in Guyenne; (2) the reduction of Flanders; and (3) the centralization of power in his own hands throughout his entire realm. The policy of Philip IV marks him as the first of the modern kings of France. His favorite counsellors were found among the adepts produced by the great law schools of Paris and Montpellier, whose clear, cold judgment, devoid of chivalrous sentiment and religious scruples, grasped with tenacity the material interests of the state. Among these advisers, Peter Flotte and William Nogaret, drawn from the bourgeois class and owing their advancement solely to their ability to promote the royal cause, rose to places of great distinction in the kingdom and were intrusted with the royal seal. It was by legal process rather than by force of arms that Philip IV, under the direction of these jurists, sought to accomplish the objects of his ambition. Every great enterprise in which he embarked took the form of a lawsuit before he attempted to achieve his end by force. Even in his foreign relations, the King of France followed the counsels of his jurists. Before his time, French The policy of Philip IV A. D. 987-1313 CHAP. VIII diplomacy consisted in brief and infrequent missions, whose negotiations were chiefly oral. With his reign begin the traditions of the French chancellery. The number of embassies increases, correspondence takes on a formal character, and while ecclesiastics of high station continue to serve as envoys, the hand of the notary is henceforth seen in all the public transactions. The aggressions of Philip IV and war with Edward I In 1291, the new diplomacy bore fruit in the international congress, almost European in character, held at Tarascon,where the kings of France, England, Naples, and Aragon, and the Holy See were represented, with the purpose of com posing the differences of the time. Although a peace was signed and the papal mediation was undertaken to secure its execution, the results were only transitory. Philip IV, after an interval of peace with Edward I of England, resumed the policy of Philip Augustus toward his vassal and resolved at the same time to subjugate the Count of Flanders. For the first enterprise, the time seemed favorable. Edward I was occupied in confirming his recent conquest of Wales and in waging a war with his vassal kingdom of Scotland. There was no special cause for hostility between the two kings; but, seeing that Edward I was wholly preoccupied at home, Philip IV seized the occasion of a quarrel between some English and French sailors to enter the territories of his vassal with an armed force, at the same time citing him to appear in France, in November, 1293, and answer for failure to perform his obligations as a vassal. Fearing, as a suzerain, to set a bad example to his own vassal, John Balliol of Scotland, King Edward dared not openly rebel, but pleaded illness. Perceiving that the King of France intended to treat him as Philip Augustus had treated John Lackland, Edward I adopted a policy of conciliation, married Margaret, the sister of Philip, and sought to terminate the trouble by the intervention of the two queens. But all was in vain. Then, seeing that an entente was hope- ! 1 See Déprez, Les préliminaires de la guerre de cent ans, p. 11. |