Philip V of France

Philip V (French: Philippe V;  1293 — 3 January 1322) nicknamed the Tall (French: le Long) was the King of France from 1316 until his death in 1322. He was also the King of Navarre (as Philip II) from 1314 until his death in 1322, and also the Regent of France during the interregnum between the death of his older brother Louis X and the birth of Louis' posthumous son, John I and also during the reign of the short-lived king.

Philip was the second son of King Philip IV of France and Queen Joan I of Navarre. As the second son, he never expected to become king. He was granted an appanage, the County of Poitiers, while his elder brother, Louis, inherited the French and Navarrese thrones. However, when Louis inherited the French  throne after his father's death in 1314, Louis gave the Navarrese throne to Philip and he became the King of Navarre as Philip II. When Louis died two years later in 1316, he left a daughter, Joan and a pregnant wife, Clementia of Hungary. Philip successfully claimed the regency. Clementia gave birth to a boy John who was immediately proclaimed after his birth king as John I, but the infant king lived only for five days.

After the death of his nephew, Philip immediately had himself crowned at Reims. However, his legitimacy was challenged by the party of Louis X's daughter Joan. Philip successfully contested her claims for a number of reasons, including her youth, doubts regarding her paternity (her mother was involved in the Tour de Nesle Affair), and the Estates General's determination that women should be excluded from the line of succession to the French throne. The succession of Philip, instead of Joan, set the precedent for the French royal succession that would be known as the Salic law.

Philip restored good relations with the County of Flanders, which had entered into open rebellion during his father's rule, but simultaneously his relations with his brother-in-law Edward II of England worsened as Edward, who was also the Duke of Guyenne, refused to swear homage to him. A spontaneous popular crusade started in Normandy in 1320 aiming to liberate the Iberian Peninsula from the Moors. Instead the angry populace marched to the south attacking castles, royal officials, priests, lepers, and Jews. Philip engaged in a series of domestic reforms intended to improve the management of the kingdom. These reforms included the creation of an independent Court of Finances, the standardization of weights and measures, and the establishment of a single currency.

In 1307 Philip married Joan II, Countess of Burgundy, with whom he had four daughters. The couple however, produced no male heirs, therefore, when Philip died from dysentery in 1322, he was succeeded by his younger brother Charles IV.

Philip as seen as one of France's greatest kings. Like his predecessors, he established a system of local militias under officers responsible to the crown. He also increased the efficiency of government machinery at all levels and checked the abuses of local officials. He also stabilized the country and kept France in peace.

Category:1293 births
Category:1322 deaths
Category:House of Capet
Category:Kings of France