Philip IV the Handsome of the Capetian family is one of the few kings whose name is forever inscribed in history. In fact, it was a ruler who, in the entire history of mankind, managed to destroy a significant part of the "oligarchy" in his state, despite the fact that he had very few forces and means for this. Subsequently, this event received the name - the defeat of the Order of the Templars. But let's start from the beginning …
In 1285, becoming king of France at the age of 17, young Philip immediately realized that he was the main source of power. It was not something separate, like an army, money, or a blessing from the pope. Strong authority rested on the fact that it constantly used one or another component only where it was most needed.
It looked something like this. It was possible to bribe some Flemish castle so that by joining it to your kingdom within a year to recoup the cost of the bribe. But why bribe some rebellious Aquitaine village, with no sense except confusion? Burn it down! Or why ask the King of England to take you a vassal oath, if you can set the Scots on him, and in a couple of months he will come running to you for help. At the same time, he will not only take the oath, but for a couple of thousand swordsmen he will dig up the grave of his own father?
And so on and so forth. Philip masterfully felt where, how and what was most "subtle" of his opponents, and after a short preparation he delivered a lightning strike. Most of his foreign and domestic political actions are distinguished by extreme precision and maximum pragmatism. Contemporaries called him the "Iron King" for this manner of solving issues.
Philip got a difficult inheritance: the treasury was devastated, in the north of Flanders it had long dreamed of seizing part of the adjacent territories from France, the papal throne demanded tightening control over the functions of the king and his foreign policy. At the same time in the country, parallel to the royal power, there were several groups of the nobility, actively thinking not only about changing the ruling dynasty, but also about a radical revision of the state structure. The crawl solved almost all of these problems in his usual manner of quick and brutal actions.
The first thing the king dealt with was Flanders. The war, which lasted with varying success, was victoriously over in 1305. The king had every reason to be proud: half of the enemy's lands were forever annexed to France, the rest gave Philip a vassal oath, issued more than three thousand especially active "figures" for execution, destroyed all their border fortresses and paid France a huge indemnity.
The Iron King acted with the papal throne as no one had ever done with the popes. By using all possible means from bribery to open terror, Philip was able to make sure that Avignon, a city in southern France, became the residence of the Pope instead of the Vatican. And naturally, the king now had a decisive influence, both on the choice of the pope and on his functions. This decision further strengthened the position of France and its king on the world stage.
However, the main problem of the monarch was maintaining the economy in proper condition - after all, the world leader should first of all think about what ensures the stability of his state. The king found money in the most unexpected places: he constantly convened the States General to increase taxes and fees, a significant part of the proceeds was provided by income from the war and foreign vassals, he did not shy away from outright forgeries - in especially difficult times he printed copper money instead of gold, and when the people rebelled, I just quickly "dumped" on another trip … But, be that as it may, there was always not enough money.
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The king has long been staring at the rich order of the Templars, the history of which goes back to the distant, even for that time, the 12th century. However, the modern Templars were not the same. They ceased to be knights, becoming, rather, financial tycoons and usurers, leaving themselves knightly swords and shields with red crosses only as external fashionable paraphernalia. More than once, the king heard rumors that these rich moneybags were seriously thinking about changing the ruling dynasty.
The Papal See also did not have respect or any sympathy for the order, since the Templars, especially in the eastern regions, openly interfered in the affairs of the church, both spiritual and purely practical, mercantile. The common people generally considered the Templars to be almost the servants of Satan, and there were a number of very serious reasons for this: almost the entire south of France suffered from the "raids" of these knights on local villages with the aim of stealing young girls (and boys too) to participate in their orgies. In a word, no one would have grieved that the Templars would have died. However, a very good reason for such an action was needed, and the king, as luck would have it, did not have one.
And then, one day, a prisoner sentenced to death asked for an audience with the king: this was his last wish, and the king accepted him. The story threw the monarch into shock. It turned out that for several years now a conspiracy has been woven around Philip, the main figures of which are the leaders of the Templar Order. After collecting all the information and checking the most important facts, the king, practically without communicating with anyone, went to the Pope in the circle of the most trusted persons and agreed with him all the details on the arrest of all participants in the conspiracy. And then everything was simple …
About a month later, within one day, the entire top of the order was arrested throughout the country. Documents were seized from them, from which followed not only confirmation of the conspiracy and a list of the persons involved, but also evidence that for more than a dozen years the order had been hiding taxes, engaged in forging diplomatic correspondence and artificially undermining the already problematic economy of France. The reprisal against the order was also quick: the entire leadership was executed, the lands and treasury of the order were confiscated, the ideology of the Templars was declared forbidden. After these actions, the authority of the monarch was further strengthened, and no one dared to contradict the Iron King anymore.
There is a legend that before his death, the master of the order, cavalier Jacques de Molay cursed the king and the pope for an allegedly unfair trial. Among conspiracy theorists and occultists, this version finds confirmation in the fact that Philip died in the same year, and the Capetian family died out 15 years after the death of the king. However, such versions are not considered by history. Philip was already 47 years old - quite a normal age for the end of life in that troubled era (his father died at 40 years old, his grandfather - at 55, and his great-grandfather - generally at 38). As for the withdrawal from the historical scene of the Capetian and the accession of Valois - here, rather, the reason must be sought in the incessant rivalry of these close and kindred royal families …