PHILIP VI  . (1293–1350), king of France, was the son of Charles of Valois, third son of Philip III., the Bold, and of Margaret of Sicily, and was thus the nephew of Philip IV., the Fair, whose sons, Louis X., Philip V. and Charles IV., died successively without leaving male heirs . He succeeded to the throne on the death of his cousin, Charles IV., in 1328 . Before his accession Philip had enjoyed considerable influence, for he was count of Valois, Anjou, Maine, Chartres and Alengon . He had married in 1313 Jeanne (d . 1348), daughter of Robert II. of Burgundy, a determined woman who was long known as the real ruler of France . An expedition to Italy in 1319–20 against Galeas Visconti brought him little glory; he was more successful in a small expedition to Guienne, undertaken against a revolted vassal who was supported by the English . When Charles IV. died, in February 1328, his wife was enceinte. and it became necessary to appoint a regency until the birth of the child, who would, if a son, succeed to the throne . At the assembly of barons called to choose a regent, Edward III. of England, the nephew and nearest male relation of Charles IV., put in a claim . Edward III., however, descended from the royal house of France by his mother Isabel, and the barons, probably actuated by an objection to the regency of an English king, decided that neither a woman, " nor by consequence her son, could succeed to the kingdom of France," and Philip of Valois, in spite of his belonging to a junior branch of the family, was elected regent . On the birth of a girl to the queen widow the regency naturally led to the throne of France, and Philip was crowned at Reims on the 29th of May 1328 . Navarre had not accepted the regency, that kingdom being claimed by her husband for Jeanne, countess of Evreux, the eldest daughter of Louis X., the count of Evreux himself being, like Philip of Valois, a grandson of Philip the Bold .

The new king secured the friendship of the count by allowing Jeanne's claim to Navarre, in return for a renunciation of any right to

Champagne . Edward III. of England, after more than one citation, tendered verbal homage for part of Guienne at Amiens in 1329, but he declined to place his hands between those of Philip VI., and thus formally to acknowledge him as his liege lord . Two years later, however, he forwarded the acknowledgment by letters patent . Mean-while Philip VI. had won a victory, which he turned into a massacre, at Cassel (August 23, 1328) over Bruges and the other towns of West Flanders, which under the leadership of Jakob van Artevelde had thrown off the authority of their count, Louis of Nevers . The count of Flanders was reinstated, PHILIP (c . 1177–1208), German king and duke of Swabia, the and maintained his authority by a reign of terror. rival of the emperor Otto IV., was the fifth and youngest son . Much harm was done to Philip VL's authority by the scandal arising out of the prosecution of Robert of Artois, count of Beaumont, who was the king's brother-in-law . The count had presented to the parlement of Paris forged deeds in support of his claim to the county of Artois, held by his aunt, Mahaut, countess of Burgundy . The sudden death of Mahaut, and of her daughter and heiress, Jeanne, widow of Philip V., lent colour an extensive grant of lands . In 1196 he became duke of Swabia, on the death of his brother Conrad; and in May 1197 he married Irene, daughter of the eastern emperor, Isaac Angelus, and widow of Roger II., king of Sicily, a lady who is described by Walther von der Vogelweide as " the rose without a thorn, the dove without guile." Philip enjoyed his brother's confidence to a very great extent, and appears to have been designated as guardian of the young Frederick, afterwards the emperor Frederick II., in case of his father's early death . In 1197 he had set out to fetch Frederick from Sicily for his coronation when he heard of the emperor.'s death and returned at once to Germany . He appears to have desired to protect the interests of his nephew and to quell the disorder which arose on Henry's death, but events were too strong for him .

The hostility to the kingship of a child was growing, and after Philip had been chosen as defender of the

empire during Frederick's minority he consented to his own election . He was elected German king at MUhlhausen on the 8th of March 1198, and crowned at Mainz on the 8th of September following . Meanwhile a number of princes hostile to Philip, under the leadership of Adolph, arch-bishop of Cologne, had elected an anti-king in the person of Otto, second son of Henry the Lion, duke of Saxony . In the war that followed, Philip, who drew his principal support from south Germany, met with considerable success . In 1199 he received further accessions to his party and carried the war into his opponent's territory, although unable to obtain the support of Pope Innocent III., and only feebly assisted by his ally Philip Augustus, king of France . The following year was less favourable to his arms; and in March 1201 Innocent took the decisive step of placing Philip and his associates under the ban, and began to work energetically in favour of Otto . The two succeeding years were still more unfavourable to Philip . Otto, aided by Ottakar I., king of Bohemia, and Hermann I., landgrave of Thuringia, drove him from north Germany, thus compelling him to seek by abject concessions, but without success, reconciliation with Innocent . The submission to Philip of Hermann of Thuringia in 1204 marks the turning-point of his fortunes, and he was soon joined by Adolph of Cologne and Henry I., duke of Brabant . On the 6th of January 1205 he was crowned again with great ceremony by Adolph at Aix-la-Chapelle, though it was not till 1207 that his entry into Cologne practically brought the war to a close . A month or two later Philip was loosed from the papal ban, and in March 1208 it seems probable that a treaty was concluded by which a nephew of the pope was to marry one of Philip's daughters and to receive the disputed dukedom of Tuscany . Philip was preparing to crush the last flicker of the rebellion in Brunswick when he was murdered at Bamberg, on the .

21st of

June 1208, by Otto of Wittelsbach, count palatine in Bavaria, to whom h, had refused the hand of one of his daughters . He left no sons, but four daughters; one of whom, Beatrix, afterwards married his rival, the emperor Otto IV . Philip was a brave and handsome man, and contemporary writers, among whom was Walther von der Vogelweide, praise his mildness and generosity . See W. von Giesebrecht, Geschichte der deutschen Kaiserzeit, Bd . V . (Leipzig, 1888) ; E . Winkelmann, Philipp von Schwaben and Otto IV. von Braunschweig (Leipzig, 1873–1878); 0 . Abel, Konig Philipp der Hohenstaufen (Berlin, 1852) ; Regesta imperil . V., edited by J . Ficker (Innsbruck, 1881); R . Schwemer, Innocenz III. and die deutsche Kirche wahrend des Thronstreites von 1198–1208 (Strassburg, 1882) ; and R . Riant, Innocent III., Philippe de Souabe, et Boniface de Montferrat (Paris, 1875) .