Philippe VI de Valois

King of France · 1328-1350 · born on 17 November 1293, died on 22 August 1350

First king of the Valois dynasty, Philip VI was the son of Charles of Valois and the nephew of Philip IV the Fair. On the death of Charles IV (1328), he was preferred to Edward III of England: closeness through the male line outweighed rights transmitted through women. The “Salic law”, invoked later by the legists, played no role at all in the arbitration of 1328.

The beginning of his reign was brilliant: he crushed the Flemish revolt at Cassel (1328) and confiscated Guyenne (1337), but never “conquered” Flanders. In 1340 the English won the naval battle of Sluys; above all, in 1346, the defeat of Crécy and the capture of Calais (1347) opened the Hundred Years’ War.

The Black Death (1347-1348), which decimated the population, completed the gloom of his reign. Philip VI died in 1350, leaving his son John II the Good a weakened kingdom and a conflict with England that would last more than a century.

Key dates

In the tree of power

Further reading