Philippe of Alsace

Philippe Ier known as Philippe of Alsace (° 1143 - † St-Jean d' Acre, June 1st 1191), wire of the count of Flanders, Thierry of Alsace, and Sibyl of Anjou († 1165). It was count de Flandre of 1157 at 1191 and count de Vermandois by marriage of 1167 with 1185 then on a purely basis for life of 1186 to 1191.

Summary of its life

Its reign corresponds to the apogee and the beginning of the decline of the Flemish feudal power. He fought with the aimings of Philippe Auguste on the Flanders, Artois and Picardy. The problem of its succession was in the middle of the policy of the end of its life.

Detail of its life

Its reign begins as an associated count since 1157, particularly during the crusades of his/her father. It stops the hacking of the Flemish coasts by beating the count Florent III of Holland (1163). By heritage, it recovers the country of Waes (in the north of Ghent) and that of the Four-Trades (imperial Flanders). Its marriage with Elisabeth de Vermandois carries the Flemish power to its maximum extension. It controls wisely with the assistance of Robert d' Aire, Cambric bishop and true Prime Minister. It sets up an effective administrative system and ensures a recognized international policy (arbitrations between Louis VII of France and Henri II Plantagenêt, between Henri II and Thomas Becket, marriage of his/her sister Marguerite of Alsace with Baudouin V of Hainaut).

The sterility of the couple, death in 1174 of the wise Robert d' Aire, assassinated on order of the lord Jacques d' Avesnes, and those of his/her brothers (in 1173, Mathieu, count de Boulogne and in 1176 Pierre of Flanders, count de Nevers), without male child either, mark the beginning of a more imprudent policy. It formally designates his Marguerite sister and her brother-in-law Baudouin V like heirs (1177) before crossing.

Of return of Palestine (where it declined the regency of the kingdom of Jerusalem), the king Louis VII, patient, appoint it tutor of his young person wire, the future Philippe Auguste. This last is crowned king on November 1st 1179. To reconcile the new sovereign, the count gives him in marriage his niece Isabelle, with a dowry imprudently disproportionate: the Artois. As of the death of Louis VII, Philippe Auguste marks his independence. The war with France begins in 1180 by devastating the Picardy and north from the Île-de-France. The conflict continues gradually with the advantage of the king, which refuses the combat systematically, but operation politically. Indeed his/her brother-in-law, Baudouin V of Hainaut is initially his ally, but will finally follow the interests of his daughter Isabelle, queen of France at the edge of repudiation. The estrangement between the two counts is learnedly organized by the king of France, which goes until naming (without its knowledge) the count de Hainaut like his representative vis-a-vis the count of Flanders!
The death of its wife Elisabeth de Vermandois envenime still the situation (1183), since Éléonore, sister of Elisabeth, which tested in favor of the king, claims Vermandois in heritage.
Philippe of Alsace remarie in 1185 with Mathilde of Portugal (equipped with a sumptuous douaire…) in the hope of an offspring who will not arrive. Fearing to be taken definitively out of vice between the royal Field and the Hainaut, peace is signed with Amiens the March 10th 1186. The count recognizes the transfer of the Vermandois to the king, but preserves it at title Viager.

Philippe of Alsace can appear for the finishing representative of a feudal world, with the profit of a new form of sovereignty, announced and installation by Philippe Auguste: for the first time, a king of France was right of a count of Flanders. But, in spite of an expensive war, the Flanders did not cease its economic expansion (the number of communal charters attests some that the count signed) and the country is in a prosperity without precedent at the end of the reign of Philippe of Alsace.

In 1190, Philippe of Alsace crosses, and joined the Third crusade in Palestine, where Flemish quotas preceded it. Arrived at Saint-Jean-in Acre, it is struck by the epidemic of plague and dies of this disease on June 1st, 1191. Its body is repatriated by Mathilde from Portugal, to which it government of the Flanders had been entrusted, and buried with Clairvaux.

Offspring

Of a mistress whose name remained unknown, he would be the father of:

Sources and bibliography

  • Glay Edward: History of the counts de Flandre until the advent of the House of Burgundy , Counter of Printer-plain, Paris, MDCCCXLIII
  • Platelle Henri and Clauzel Denis: History of the French provinces of North, 2. Principalities with the empire of Charles Quint (900-1519) , Westhoek-Editions Editions of the Belfries, 1989; ISBN 2-87789-004-X
  • Dumont Georges-Henri: History of Belgium , Histoire/le cry, Brussels 1977, ISBN 2-87106-182-3
  • Douxchamps Cecile and Jose: Our dynastes medieval , Wepion-Namur 1996, Jose Douxchamps, editor; ISBN 29600078-1-6

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