Philippe II Auguste
King of the Franks, then King of France · 1180-1223 · born on 21 August 1165, died on 14 July 1223
Anointed at fourteen, Philip Augustus undertook an unprecedented consolidation of the royal domain. He took advantage of the Plantagenet imbroglio to confiscate Normandy from John Lackland (1204), then Anjou, Maine, Touraine and a large part of Poitou: the kingdom became markedly larger and richer.
His great victory at Bouvines (1214) over the Anglo-German-Flemish coalition strengthened his prestige and the cohesion of the kingdom. The royal title gradually evolved towards “king of France”, a sign of a power anchored in territory.
Under his reign Paris became the main political centre of the kingdom: wall, street paving, construction of the Louvre. Philip Augustus left a better-administered kingdom.
Key dates
- 1200: Founding of the University of Paris
- 1214: Victory of Bouvines
In the tree of power
- Era: Capetians
- Predecessor: Louis VII le Jeune (1137-1180)
- Successor: Louis VIII le Lion (1223-1226)