This is the story of a magnificent Valois King of France. In due time, he would become the master of Europe, and the most feared monarch of the world. This is his saga....
-----------------------------------------------------------
Prince Philippe Valois was the Crown Prince of France, and son of the ruling King Louis V. The realm of France had been recently freed of the English. Prince Philippe was born in 1200, the son of Louis V and Mary Habsburg of the Holy Roman Empire. From the time he was young, he was brought up to believe that every other country except for France was just trash. His father cared very much of his upbringing and he was trained in the arts, the military, and the navy. When the young Prince was only 13, he had his first affair, with a 19 year old beauty from Aragon. Princess Catalina, the daughter of Alfonso III. When he was 14, he was married to her, and they were a perfect match. In 1215, Philippe was beginning to plot a scheme to assassinate his father, the despotic King Louis, and place himself and his beloved Catalina on the French throne. When he came of age in 1216, he led the coup himself, taking Paris, and executing his father...
-----------------------------------------------------------
He was now the King of France. He and his beloved wife Catalina became King Philippe III and Queen Catalina I of France. It was a glorious coronation in which ministers from Denmark, Italy, Sicily, Aragon, Castile, England, and a Papal minister presided over. The Pope crowned King Philippe and he went to work. From 1218-1227, he fathered 4 sons and 5 daughters. The army was particularly important to him. He worked hard to advance it in technological aspects. He enlarged the army by nearly 7000 men in 21 years. In 1231, he engaged in his first major war, with the Habsburg Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, Maxmilian I, his wife's 4th cousin. He bravely led his soldiers in the capturing of Switzerland, Provence, Lorraine, and Friesland, enlarging the French dominions. The war had ended, and by the end of the war, the following treaty ceded Lorraine, Friesland, Switzerland, Provence, and Navarre, a German Crusader Kingdom, to France. French territory had been expanded by nearly 1/3.
From 1235-1245, he fathered another 10 children, 5 sons and 5 daughters. When his first children came of age, he married them to various princes and princesses across the continent. In 1246, he engaged in another war, this time with Aragon, his wife's homeland, in 1252, his armies had conquered the Spanish peninsula, French armies had completely conquered the French peninsula, and he instituted his 31 year old son Philippe as the King of Spain, effectively making him overlord of Spain. He engaged in wars over Italy and Germany in the 1250's which caused his excommunication. Only after a successful invasion of Rome did the Pope revoke this excommunication. From 1253 until his war with Milan in 1265, he did nothing but make love to his wife and meddle over affairs of marriage concerning his sons and daughters.
It tires me to walk to his chambers when he calls me. It is a strenuous affair to make love to him more than 3 times a day-Queen Cataline, wife of Philippe III.
-----------------------------------------------------------
In 1265, he, leading an army of 6000, engaged in a costly war with Milan, in which, in the first battle, he ended up losing nearly 5000 compared to the 3500 the People of Milan lost. He withdrew his army to Burgundy, contemplating another war. In 1272, his 51 year old son Philippe died, leaving an 18 year old son, Charles, as King of Spain. Charles married his aunt, King Philippe's daughter Marie Antoinette, and it was a happy marriage, spawning 7 children, of whom the eldest, Louis, was to become King on Philippe's death. In 1280, he engaged in another costly war, in which France gained Portugal and Northern Africa, as well as Genoa and Milan. The war, which ended in 1286, ended with the death of his eldest children, Louis, Jean, and Charles. By now, Philippe III was slowing down, and could not keep up with state affairs. His grandson, Charles, and his wife, Marie Antoinette, gave birth to a child, Louis, born in 1287, and then after that 3 more boys, Jean, Charles, and Philippe. Philippe III engaged in his last war in 1298, which ended in 1303, the year of his death. In 1303, the King suffered a stroke at Saint-Saens Palace in Paris, and died on the eve of March the 19th, 1303. He lived to be 103. His great-grandson, Louis, became King of Spain earlier in the year, and on Philippe III's death, became King of France. He was also chosen as King of Hungary after the last Habsburg monarch of Hungary, Laszlo VII died childless, and also as the Valois King of Sicily. At the time of Philippe III's death and Louis VI's accession, France was the most powerful and feared nation in Europe. Louis VI had the following titles: Louis I of Spain and Hungary, Louis VI of France, and Louis II of Naples-Sicily. France was truly a continental empire.
Reply With Quote
For 75 years of his life he was busy.. 
R&R 
Originally Posted by [b
...please? 
Bookmarks