Louis X “The Quarreler” and John I “The Posthumous”
According to John Julius Norwich, “the Capetian line ended with something of a whimper” (64). Altogether three brothers and one week-old baby reigned for fourteen years. Louis X “The Quarrelsome” wore the crown for all of eighteen months, just enough time to abolish serfdom in France (or at least compel the serfs to pay for their freedom) and he invited Jews back into France after his father forced their banishment, but they were forced to live in ghettos and wear an armband identifying signifier (though Jewish “tolerance” was only to last twelve years). The “darkest stain” on his character was the murder of his wife Margaret by suffocation resulting from her scandal in the Tour de Nesle (as previously discuss). Five days later on August 19, 1315 he married Princess Clementia of Hungary, but died nearly a year later after playing a strenuous game of tennis. Not long thereafter, Clementia gave birth to a boy who caused a minor succession crisis (since Louis already had a daughter, Joan, but she was born of Margaret). However, the young boy is known today as John I “The Posthumous” as he lived a mere four or five days under the regency of Louis’s brother Philip (the youngest King of France with the shortest reign in French history and the only king to have borne the title through his entire lifetime).
Philip V “The Tall”
The infant king was succeeded by his regent and uncle, Philip V “The Tall” (it was a reaffirmation of the old Salic law which excluded women from the line of succession).
“There can be little doubt that Philip was the ablest of the three brothers. He was also the nicest. While Louis and Charles showed no mercy to their errant wives after the great scandal, Philip stood by Joan of Burgundy – whose implication in the affair was admittedly a good deal less certain – through thick and thin, until her name was finally cleared by the Parlement in Paris and she was allowed to return to court. Cynics have suggested that he refused to abandon Joan because if he did he might also lose Burgundy, but such a consequence would have been highly unlikely: their surviving letters suggest a far more probable reason: that the two were deeply in love” (66).
Philip’s principal achievement was an agreement with Count Robert of Flanders wherein Robert pledged to recognize Philip’s youngest grandson, Louis, in exchange for Philip pledging to marry Robert’s second daughter, Margaret. Philip was, however, less successful with Edward II of England over the territory of Gascony and Edward’s refusal to properly acknowledge Philip’s dominion.
Charles IV “The Fair”
Upon his death by natural causes, Philip was succeeded by the youngest of the brothers, Charles IV, who reigned for six years and, despite marrying three women, he never produced a male heir. In England, he watched in 1326 as Queen Isabella and her lover Roger Mortimer seized the country, forced Edward II (Isabella’s husband) to abdicate, before having him brutally murdered in Berkeley Castle. Her fourteen-year-old son, Edward III, then became the richest and most powerful ruler in Europe. Thus, Charles signed a peace treaty with Edward (against Edward’s better judgment but at the urging of his mother).
Charles died on February 1, 1328 in the Chateau de Vincennes. Like his brothers before him –with history repeating itself—Charles left behind no male heirs but his wife was pregnant and a regent, Philip of Valois, was appointed, however two months later she delivered a girl. Thus, ended the Capetian line according to the ancient Salic law.
There were now three contenders for the crown: Edward III of England (son of Isabella an grandson of Philip the Fair; Philip Evreux, the son-in-law of Louis X; and Philip of Valois, the nephew of Philip IV and grandson of Philip III by his third son, Charles). With Edward being a young foreigner (from the troublesome House of Plantagenet), and with Philip of Valois already being regent, the crown passed to the House of Valois when Philip VI “The Fortunate” was crowned at Reims in 1328.
House of Capet
- Louis X “The Quarrelsome” (1314-1316)
- John I “The Posthumous” (1316)
- Philip V “The Tall” (1316-1322)
- Charles IV “The Fair” (1322-1328)
For this reading I used John Julius Norwich’s A History of France (2018), one of his final books before his death.