Philip IV of France
Philip IV of France, known as Philip the Fair (Philippe le Bel), was one of the most powerful and ruthless French monarchs of the medieval period. Ascending the throne in 1285, he was determined to centralize royal power and extend French territory, and proved willing to defy any authority — including the papacy — that stood in his way. His conflict with Pope Boniface VIII over the taxation of the French clergy led to an extraordinary confrontation. Boniface issued the bull Unam Sanctam (1302) asserting total papal supremacy, to which Philip responded by having his agents physically attack and briefly imprison the elderly pope at Anagni in 1303 — known as the 'Slap of Anagni.' Boniface died shortly after, humiliated. Philip then engineered the election of a French pope, Clement V, who moved the papal seat to Avignon in southern France in 1309, beginning the 'Babylonian Captivity' of the papacy that lasted until 1377. Philip's most infamous act was the suppression of the Knights Templar. On Friday October 13, 1307, in a coordinated dawn operation, he had virtually all Templars in France arrested simultaneously, accused of heresy, sodomy, and idolatry. The order was dissolved in 1312, and its last Grand Master, Jacques de Molay, was burned at the stake in Paris in 1314 — reportedly cursing Philip and the pope to meet him before God within the year. Both died within months.
- Lived: 1268 CE – 1314 CE
- Nationality: french
- Roles: leader, politician
