Philippe II 'Auguste' Capet Roi de France ³

  General Notes:

[source: Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_II_of_France]

Philip II, called Philip Augustus (August 21, 1165 – July 14, 1223 ), was King of France from 1180 to 1223.

A member of the Capetian dynasty, Philip Augustus was born August 21, 1165 at Gonesse, Val-d'Oise, France, the son of Louis VII of France and his third wife, Adèle of Champagne.
Philip II was a younger half-brother of Marie de Champagne, Alix of France, Marguerite of France, and Alys, Countess of the Vexin. He was an older brother of Agnes of France.

In declining health, his father had him crowned at Reims in 1179. He was married on April 28, 1180 to Isabelle of Hainaut. His father and co-ruler died on September 18, 1180. His eldest son Louis (later King Louis VIII), was born on September 5, 1187.

As King, Philip II would become one of the most successful in consolidating France into one royal domain. He seized the territories of Maine, Touraine, Anjou, Brittany and all of Normandy from King John of England. His decisive victory at the Battle of Bouvines over King John and a coalition of forces that included Otto IV of Germany ended the immediate threat of challenges to this expansion (1214) and left Philip II Augustus as the most powerful monarch in all of Europe. He reorganized the government, bringing to the country a financial stability which permitted a sharp increase in prosperity. His reign was popular with ordinary people when he checked the power of the nobles and passed some of it on to the growing middle class his reign had created.

He went on the Third Crusade with Richard I of England and the Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick I Barbarossa. His army left Vézelay on July 1, 1190. At first the French and English crusaders traveled together, but the armies split at Lyons, as King Richard I decided to go by sea, and Philip II Augustus took the overland route through the Alps to Genoa. The French and English armies were reunited in Messina, where they wintered together. On March 30, 1191 the French set sail for the Holy Land, where they launched several assaults on Acre before King Richard I arrived. By the time Acre surrendered on July 12, Philip II Augustus was terribly ill with dysentery and had little more interest in further crusading. He decided to return to France, a decision that displeased King Richard I, who said, "It is a shame and a disgrace on my lord if he goes away without having finished the business that brought him hither. But still, if he finds himself in bad health, or is afraid lest he should die here, his will be done." So on July 31, 1191 the French army remained in Outremer under the command of Hugues III, duke of Burgundy. King Philip II and his cousin Peter de Courtenay, count of Nevers, made their way to Genoa and from there returned to France.

Philip II Augustus decided to marry again, and so August 15, 1193 he married Ingeborg of Denmark (1175–1236), the daughter of King Valdemar I of Denmark. She was renamed Isambour, and Stephan of Dornik described her as "very kind, young of age but old of wisdom." For some unknown reason, Philip II Augustus was repulsed by her, and he refused to have her be crowned Queen. Ingeborg protested this treatment, so he shut her up in a convent. He asked the Pope for an annulment, on the grounds of non-consummation. Philip II Augustus had not counted on Ingeborg, however; she insisted that the marriage had been consummated, and she was his wife and the rightful Queen of France. In the meantime Philip II Augustus had married for a third time on May 7, 1196 to Princess Agnès of Méranie (c. 1180 – July 29, 1201). Their children were: Marie (1198 – October 15, 1224) and Philippe Hurepel (1200–1234).

Pope Innocent III declared that this new marriage was null and void, since Philip II Augustus was still wed to Ingeborg. He ordered the King to part from Agnès and when he did not, the Pope placed France under an interdict in 1199. This continued until September 7, 1200. Due to pressure from the Pope and from Ingeborg's brother, King Valdemar II of Denmark, Philip II Augustus finally took Ingeborg back as his Queen in 1213.

Philip II Augustus would play a significant role in one of the greatest centuries of innovation in construction and in education. With Paris as his capital, he had the main thoroughfares paved, built a central market, Les Halles, continued the construction begun in 1163 of the Gothic Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral, constructed the Louvre as a fortress and gave a charter to the University of Paris in 1200. Under his guidance, Paris became the first city of teachers the medieval world had known.

Philip II Augustus died July 14, 1223 at Mantes and was interred in Saint Denis Basilica. He was succeeded by Louis VIII, his son by Isabelle of Hainaut.

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[source: Catholic Encyclopedia, http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12001a.htm]

In 1190 Philip lost his wife, Isabella of Hainault, whom he had married in order to inherit Artois, and in 1193 he married Ingeburga, sister of Canute VI, King of Denmark. As he immediately desired to repudiate her, an assembly of complaisant barons and bishops pronounced the divorce, but Ingeburga appealed to Rome. Despite the remonstrances of Celestine III, Philip, having imprisoned Ingeburga, married Agnes de Méran, daughter of a Bavarian nobleman. Innocent III <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08013a.htm>, recently elected, called upon him to repudiate Agnes and take back Ingeburga, and on the king's refusal the legate, Peter of Capua, placed the kingdom under an interdict (1198). Most of the bishops refused to publish the sentence. The Bishops of Paris and Senlis, who published it, were punished by having their goods confiscated. At the end of nine months Philip appeared to yield; he feigned reconciliation with Ingeburga, first before the legate, Octavian, and then before the Council of Soissons (May, 1201), but he did not dismiss Agnes de Méran. She died in August, 1201, and Innocent III consented to legitimize the two children she had borne the king, but Philip persisted that Rome should pronounce his divorce from Ingeburga, whom he held prisoner at Etampes. Rome refused and Philip dismissed the papal legate (1209). In 1210 he thought of marrying a princess of Thuringia, and in 1212 renewed his importunities for the divorce with the legate, Robert de Courçon. Then, in 1213, having need of the aid of the pope and the King of Denmark, he suddenly restored Ingeburga to her station as queen.

Philip's reign was characterized by a gigantic advance of the French monarchy. Before his time the King of France reigned only over the Ile de France and Berri, and had no communication with the sea. To this patrimony Philip II added Artois, Amienois, Valois, Vernandois, a large portion of Beauvaisis, Normandy, Maine, Anjou, Touraine, and a part of Poitou and Saintonge. His bailiffs and seneschals established the royal power firmly in those countries. Paris became a fortified city and attracted to its university students from different countries. Thanks to the possession of Dieppe, Rouen, and certain parts of Saintonge, the French monarchy became a maritime and commercial power, and Philip invited foreign merchants to France. Flanders, Ponthieu, and Auvergne became subject fiefs, supervised by agents of the king. He exercised a sort of protectorate over Champagne and Burgundy. Brittany was in the hands of Pierre de Dreux, a Capetian of the younger branch. "History", writes M. Luchaire, "does not present so many, such rapid, and such complete changes in the fortune of a State".

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[source: My Ancient French Ancestors, Jean-Paul Vidal http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~vidalhudon/GenalogyWeb/French_Ancestor/...]

Philippe II was the first powerful Capetian king and more than doubled his domains by conquering parts of Flanders and by taking English possessions on the Continent (Angevin domains). By his victory at the battle of Bouvins in 1214 he established France as a mahor power. He also instituted administrative reforms and allowed prosecution of the Albigensians.

Philippe II had divorced his spouse Ingeborg of Denmark to marry Agnès de Méranie, so that the marriage and his posterity were considered as illegitimate. This is the reason, after the death of Agnès de Méranie, Philippe II requested that pope Innocent III legitimize their two children, a request to which the Pope acquiesced.

Philippe married Isabella de Hainault on 28 Apr 1180.¹ (Isabella de Hainault was born about 1170 ² and died on 15 Mar 1190 in France ⁵.)

Philippe next married Ingeborg Valdemarsdottir on 14 Aug 1193.² (Ingeborg Valdemarsdottir was born about 1175 and died between 1237 and 1238.)

Philippe next married Agnès d'Andechs de Méranie Princess of Méranie, daughter of Berthold III de Méranie Duke of Meran, in Jun 1196.³ (Agnès d'Andechs de Méranie Princess of Méranie was born about 1180 ⁶ and died in Jul 1201 in France ⁶.)