17. Philip II. —(continued)
CHAPTER XVII. Philip II. —(continued) 1180-1223
You may perhaps have known already a good deal of what I said in the last chapter, and I may have seemed in it to be writing the history of England, as well as that of France. It is true that it is impossible to give an account of what happened in one country without mentioning often what was happening at the same time in the countries near at hand. The more rich and strong and powerful a country becomes, the more it has to do with its neighbours. While it is weak and poor, its governors have enough to do to manage their own affairs, and their great hope is that their neighbours will not take any notice of them, as they know they could not resist any attack that might be made upon them. But as they grow strong, they begin to wish to be stronger still, to conquer the countries near them, to give their opinion about all that their neighbours do, to prevent anything being done by any other king which they think might be dangerous to them or their subjects; and so, the farther we go on with the history of any country, the more we have to learn about what was happening in other countries at the same time.
This is especially true about France. ( England is, as you know, an island, and that has prevented it from being so much concerned with what went on on the Continent as it otherwise would have been. Its history has been less mixed up with that of other nations than the history of any other equally important country.)
France being close to Germany, to Spain, to Belgium, not far from Italy, and nearer to England than any other country on the Continent, has had to do with the histories of all these nations; and any one who really knew the history of France well would know a good deal of what had happened in almost all the other countries of Europe.
But there is a particular reason why, in the reigns of Richard and John the history of France and the history of England should have a great deal to do with each other. These two English kings and their father, Henry II., were Frenchmen rather than Englishmen. Henry II. had been Duke of Anjou before he was King of England, and he and his sons spoke French, and followed French laws and customs. Richard I. was King of England for nine years and a half, and he did not pass above six months of that time in England, owing to the Crusaders and to his wars with Philip in Normandy. He had been brought up in France, cared more about his French than his English dominions, and considered Rouen the capital of his kingdom. After Philip had taken Normandy, the kings of England (left off)<no longer> considering themselves Norman and French, took London for their chief town, and soon became as much Englishmen as the greater number of their subjects. Philip was usually a very good friend of the clergy and of the Pope. He was the sort of king they admired. He was prudent, fond of peace rather than war, respectful to the clergy, and cruel to heretics, which, sad to say, they thought a virtue. But he had one quarrel with the Pope, and as had happened with some of the other kings of France, the quarrel was about his wife. He had married a daughter of the Danish king, named Ingeburga, who seemed to every one gentle, good, and beautiful. The morning after her marriage, while she was being crowned queen, Philip looked at her, turned pale, and shuddered. He afterwards explained that he had taken a dislike to her, and could not have her for his wife. He wished to send her back to Denmark, but she in great distress refused to go, and appealed to the Pope, that is said that she wished the Pope to settle the question of what was to become of her.
Philip meanwhile persuaded some of the French clergy to say that the marriage was broken off, but the Pope took the side of Ingeburga, commanded the king to take her back, and when he refused, laid the kingdom under an interdict, that is forbade that any churches should be open, or any services held throughout the country. No marriages might be performed, no funeral services read, no bells rung, no one could go into the churches.
It was a horrible thing, that because the Pope was angry with the king, thousands of poor people who had done no harm, and knew nothing of the quarrel, should be shut out from what was the only comfort which some of them had in their hard lives. An excommunication would have punished the king himself, and so far would not have been unjust. But this interdict on the whole kingdom was unjust and cruel, punishing thousands of people for the fault of one The Pope hoped that the king would find his subjects growing so angry with him that he would be obliged to submit at last, and he was right. Philip gave way, took back his wife, and though it is to be feared that he never treated her very kindly, she lived with him as his wife from that time. The interdict of course was taken off.
At this time there was a great and terrible war in the south of France, in which the King himself did not take much part, but which ended at last in his grandson becoming master of the large province of Toulouse at the south-east corner of the kingdom. The count who ruled over this province was the richest and most powerful ruler in France. He lived like a king, and had never been conquered by the kings of France. His subjects were very different from the people of the other parts of France; they were all rich like their count, the cities seemed prosperous and the citizens industrious; the nobles wrote poetry, had gay feasts, and enjoyed themselves in every possible way. But they were a cruel and violent people, and when angry revenged themselves without pity for any harm done to them.
Many of the people of this land were heretics; which means, as I have already explained, people who either did not believe in the Christian religion at all, or who, though Christians, did not agree with all that was taught by the Pope. No one knows exactly what was believed by the people who lived in Toulouse, or Languedoc, as it was usually called at this time; or rather, so many different things were believed by different people, that it is impossible to find out any set of (opinions)<doctrines> which was believed by all of them, but very few were obedient servants of the Pope. Pope Innocent sent some monks to Languedoc to try and make the people believe rightly, but in vain. The monks preached, but no one listened, and at last one of the Pope's messengers was murdered. Upon this Innocent excommunicated Raymond, the Count of Toulouse, and then called upon all faithful Christians to go and make war upon him, saying that a war with Raymond would be as much a crusade as a war with the Saracens in the Holy Land, and promising that the sins of the crusaders should be forgiven. Count Raymond was frightened, forsook his subjects, and was forced by the Pope himself to lead an army against them; but he afterwards went back to them, and did what he could to help them.
Soldiers from all the provinces of France joined in a large army to attack Languedoc. They attacked and took a town called Beziers, which they burned, and murdered every one in it. They then took prisoner the Viscount of Beziers, the chief leader of the Languedocians, a brave youngs man only twenty-four years old, whom they persuaded to come to their camp by a promise that he should be allowed to go away again in safety. They thought there was no need to keep this promise made to a heretic, and threw him into prison, where he died soon after. Many people believed him to have been poisoned.
The great lords of the south then submitted. The towns that had been conquered were given to one of the French lords, Simon, Count of Montfort, who had been one of the leaders of the crusade, and the crusading army left the country, Raymond tried to make peace with the Pope, but in vain. The Pope would give him peace only upon such shameful conditions that Raymond found it impossible to accept them.
Two years after the end of the first, there was a second crusade against Languedoc. Several towns were taken by the crusaders, and the inhabitants either put to death by the soldiers, or solemnly burned as heretics. Simon de Montfort was the leader of the crusaders, and showed himself to be a skilful and brave soldier, and a kind and thoughtful general to his army; but to the people of Languedoc a most cruel and treacherous enemy. It is worth while to remember that he was the father of the De Montfort who was the leader of the people against Henry III., as we read in English history.
Count Raymond and his son, also called Raymond, came to the help of the unhappy Languedocians, but as they brought no army, they were not able to do them much good. The King of Arragon, one of the provinces of Spain, came with a large army across the Pyrenees to help the men of the south, but in his first greatbattle his army was defeated, and he himself was killed.
After this the Languedocians were too much discouraged to go on fighting; they submitted to the counts and princes from the north of France, who divided the country between them and reigned over it. The archbishops and bishops found themselves lands and bishoprics, and Simon de Montfort was made Count of Toulouse. The country was almost deserted; it was covered with empty castles, ruins black with flames, and towns half destroyed. No one was allowed to live in the country who would not say he was a Catholic, that is a man who believes what is taught by the Pope.
But this kind of peace did not last long. Two years later Raymond and his son came again to the country, and made themselves masters of Toulouse, the chief city of Languedoc, while Simon de Montfort was away in another part of the province. Montfort came quickly back and besieged Toulouse for nine months. At the end of that time, as he was watching an attack on the town, he was hit by a stone thrown from the walls — it is said by a woman — and was killed on the spot.
All the men of the south at once rose up against the crusaders, and Simon's son tried in vain to take Toulouse. From that time the crusaders began gradually to be driven out from their towns and castles by the Languedocians under the young Raymond, who was now Raymond VII., Count of Toulouse, as the old count had died. The Pope tried to stir up another crusade, but in vain. The son of De Montfort was still called Count of Toulouse by the French, but had less and less power every day. The young Raymond was called Count of Toulouse by his friends, and he gained what De Montfort lost. The Languedocians were however, defeated at last, and made subject like the rest of France to the French king; but this did not happen till twelve years later.
This crusade, called from the name of a town in Languedoc the Albigensian Crusade, lasted ten years, and was one of the most cruel and unjust wars of which we read in history.
Philip II. had himself taken no part in the war, although towards its end he had allowed his eldest son to go to the help of the De Montforts. He was growing old, and did not care to conquer any fresh lands. But before he died he won a victory which delighted the French more than anything else which had happened in his reign. There was a war going on in Germany between two men, each of whom wished to be emperor. One of them, whose name was Otho, was helped by King John, and against him Philip fought a battle, called the battle of Bouvines, which he won with some difficulty, as there were English soldiers fighting with Otho, whom it was very hard to beat. They were not driven backwards till both their generals had been taken prisoners.
The soldiers sent by the communes of France fought for the first time at this battle, and did good service. This was the first real French victory, and after gaining it, Philip was the most powerful and most famous prince in Christendom.
Towards the end of Philip's reign there had been troubles in England, where the people hated King John so much that they asked Louis, Philip's eldest son, to come and be their king instead of him. Louis went to England, marched to London, and promised solemnly to keep the good laws of the country. Some of the people took his side, others that of John; but soon after Louis had arrived in England, John died of a fever, and his son Henry, a child of ten years old, became king. The lords and barons had no quarrel with Henry, and they were beginning to dislike Louis, who did not keep his promises to them, but gave everything to his French followers. They all turned against Louis; the city of London alone remained faithful to him. A great battle was fought at Lincoln, and the French army was defeated. Louis then went back to France, and Henry III. became King of England. A few years after Philip fell ill of a fever, and he soon felt that he should not recover. He made his will and died at a place called Mantes, as he was taking a journey for his health. He was fifty-eight years old, and had been king for forty-three years. He is often spoken of as Philip Auguste, a name which was given him because he was born in August.
