(Excerpted from A History of Medieval Europe
Book II - The Rise of France, Chapter 4,

The Reign of King Charles IV the Rich, 1163-1189
by A. M. Afrit , PhD in Creative History

Introduction:

King Charles IV is an interesting character in the saga of the royal French dynasty of the early Middle Ages. Unlike his predecessors, he was not a true warrior King. While there were some wars and conquests during his reign, his time on the throne is mostly remembered as an era of plenty and relative peace. In fact, his main achievement was the phenomenal growth of the Kingdom's treasury which earned him the surname The Rich.

The new King's Character:

To understand the events of King Charles' reign, one must look at the man himself. Records from the reign of his father, Henri II, do not shed much light on Charles childhood. He was born in 1135, presumably in Paris Castle. Evidence points to him participating in several battles during his father's reign, but again no historical records survive today. However, his reputation as a capable military commander was well established at the time of his ascension, when he was already a commander of the 7th rank.

He was also famous for his mathematical skills. Folk stories tell of him regaling his guests with his ability to juggle difficult arithmetic problems in his head, without assistance from scribes. This skill with hard sums -as it was called by contemporaries - doubtless contributed to his management of the French treasury, which more than tripled in his reign.

His other personal characteristics, however, are somewhat confusing. Letters written by courtesans who knew him tell of his charming manner. As Madame de Poitiers put it, he oozes charm. Yet, letters from Lieutenants in the field also talk about his killer instinct even before his ascension to the throne. He later carried that trait further and became well known for his swift execution of enemy prisoners and his scant mercy.

His reign is conveniently divided into 3 periods.

The Early Years and Consolidation of the Levant (1163-1167)

The first part of the new reign was marked by the continuation of the war in the Levant. A letter from the King's younger brother, Prince Henri, sheds light at the situation at the time of the King's coronation in 1163:

Dearest brother, my Liege,
I praise the Lord that He granted you the health to succeed our beloved father, King Henri. I write this letter from the Fort of Jerusalem. Thanks to our brave Order Foot Soldiers, veterans of the recent crusades, I am pleased to advise you that Jerusalem is securely in our hands and all the Holy Land is now open to Christian pilgrims. I am delighted to report that construction on the Krak Des Chevaliers in nearby Tripoli proceeds at a good pace, and our master masons tell me it will be done in a dozen years or so. But more work remains to be done if France wants to secure the Levant to herself. The despised Egyptians still control Arabia and Syria and are within striking distance of the citadel under construction. I advise you to send in haste a capable commander with ample troop support to push back the enemy and secure our new realm in the Levant. .

It appears that Charles took his brother's advice seriously for in the first year of his reign simultaneous invasions of Syria and Arabia were launched. In Syria, De Lusignan, commander of the 5th rank, led a force of 1050 men against Amir Nasir Ad Din of Egypt with 2108 men. An eyewitness account of the battle survives in the form of a letter written by a Gerbert De Plaisian, commander of a company of Hobilars:

My beloved Matilde,
I write to you with mixed joy and sadness. I thank our Lord for the swift victory he delivered us today, and I pray that he protects me and my fellow Hobilars until the day I meet you again. But I also pray for the souls of my fallen companions. I am sure young Pierre would be eager for an account of the fight, so please relay this to him:
The heat was suffocating and our troops were anxious. Scouts reported an enemy force twice our size approaching under the banner of the famous Emir Nasiradin. A large dune separated the two forces. Our commander De Lusignan quickly ordered the Turcopoles to climb up the dune. I followed on their left flank with my 39 companions, and my borther Arthur followed with another company of Hobilars to my left. The drums of the Egyptians could barely be heard over the blowing sand. From my horse I could see a mass of Egyptians climb up the dune on the other side: Muwahids, Nubians, Archers and Camels. Our Turcopoles started the battle by shooting their arrows at the advancing enemy. The enemy camel, commanded by Nasiradin himself, were clearly bothered by the Turcopoles' arrows and charged up the hill. At that time, our mercenary Khawarazmians were cresting the dune and therefore engaged the enemy camel. A melee started and I quickly charged the enemy flank with my brave Hobilars. The stench of those damned camels was horrific. Our horses were taking fright and I saw several of my brave men fall. But I swear to God we put up a great fight until those treacherous Khawarazmians began to flee So-called knights fleeing from unarmored troops Seeing the dire situation, I had to order my men to retreat (my dear son, do not ever believe other accounts that we fled in fear). De Lusignan quickly ordered a volley of javelins against Nasiradin, and that thinned his band of camels even further. But they must have been valorous veterans, for even with so many casualites they outfought my brother and his second Hobilar company. But then Nasiradin's impetuousness got the better of him, and he charged behind the Hobilars. Our Turcopoles let him through, all the while peppering him with arrows. And then, at the perfect moment I ordered my regrouped Hobilars to charge. What a great fight My 12 surviving companions and I got to the Emir and finished his life with the thrust of a lance. On seeing its leader fall, the Muslim host took fright. De Lusignan saw his chance and ordered a relentless pursuit. Luckily for us we had so many units of light cavalry that we pressed the rout all the way to the edge of the battlefield, never giving the enemy the chance to regroup. We took 376 prisoners that day which were executed on account of instructions from the King himself . My fellow Hobilars bore the brunt of the fight and only 12 men survived in my company.

Please send my condolences to all the the families of the fallen, particularly those of Gilbert, Clovis and Geoffrey. May God bless their souls.

yours for ever,
Gerbert, Seigneur de Plaisians

Further South, the French under Prince Henri met little resistance and quickly set out to besiege Kerak castle as the Egyptians retreated to the Sinai. The Egyptian army of Syria, retreating after its defeat, was therefore trapped and surrendered.
Next year (1164) , both Damascus and Kerak were assaulted by the French and taken. Meanwhile, the King himself decided to visit the Levant, landing in Tripoli in 1164 where he visited the construction site of the Krak Des Chevaliers. He moved to Palestine in 1165 and organized an army to invade the Sinai.
In Spring of 1166, the King led exactly 16 full-strength companies across the desert . He was opposed by the Egyptian Sultan Ali accompanied by several of his sons. The armies came within sight of each other, and the French maneuvered to outflank the Egyptians. The Egyptian Sultan thereupon feigned a re-positioning maneuver and withdrew from the field in an orderly fashion, without making any contact with the French. On their route back to Egypt, the Sultan and his sons learned of a rebellion in their homeland and discovered that the passes out of the desert were all occupied by the rebels. The poor Sultan Ali had no choice but to surrender his entire army to King Charles. The unfortunate Sultan was unable to ransom himself and he was executed -with his children -by King Charles, whose reputation for ruthlesness grew with this incident.

With Egypt's might destroyed and their threat to the Krak Des Chevalier finished, King Charles turned back the next year and headed to Tripoli, without invading Egypt. The Egyptian dynasty survived several more years as the late Sultan's son held out in Cairo castle against the rebels and then a German crusade until 1186 (this is one of the longest sieges of Medieval Times, totaling 20 years).

The middle years of peace and prosperity (1168-1184)

With Tripoli and the Krak secure from sudden enemy attack, the King's focus moved to improving finances and building up the realm. He initiated several reforms in that regard.

First, he ordered all governors not in command of major border armies back to their respective provinces. He had them supervise an ambitious building program and improve tax collection. Many of them later on became known for their skill as builders.

Second, he embarked on an aggressive building spree. It can be said with confidence that each French province had an active building project every single year with almost no interruptions. As early as 1168, King Charles was referred to by foreign diplomats as a great builder. By the end of his reign, he was renowned as a magnificent builder and Great Steward. He was particularly remembered for building a number of Citadels. The first to finish was in Tripoli, named Krak Des Chevaliers. It was inaugurated to great fanfare in 1175, 16 years after it was started by the late King Henri I. Next came Citadels in Ile De France (1180), Toulouse (1189) and Brittany (1190). With the conquest of Constantinople in 1188, only France had such fortifications. In fact, the French were by then known all over Europe as a technologically advanced nation. He also started the construction of the renowned Notre Dame cathedral in Paris in 1181, but he died before he could witness its completion.

Third, he improved military training facilities, again by aggressive support of buildings. At the end of his reign in 1191, France was training some of the best troops in Europe. Feudal Knights from Toulouse in fact played a crucial role in the conquest of Constantinople in the late 1180s, and facilites were constructed to provide for more rigorous training of Chivalric Knights. Both Ile De France and Palestine were able to produce Royal Knights to replenish the ranks of princely generals.

Fourth, he improved the situation of the navy. By 1191, shipyards and dockyards were present in Friesland, Flanders, Wessex, Brittany, Navarre, Leon, Cordoba, Morocco, Algeria and Sinai. The fleet in 1191 totaled 79 ships, up from 31 at the beginning of the reign. With at least 2-3 ships on active patrol in every sea, France was mistress of the Mediterranean and Atlantic without competitors.

Fifth, he improved trade in many provinces. He supported merchants in the provinces of Antioch and Tripoli and restarted trade in Constantinople after its capture.

Sixth, he sent emissaries and representatives of the crown to all the provinces of Europe. Yearly letters from these agents provided the King with a clear picture of pan-European events during the latter half of his reign. He tried to obtain an armistice from all the European powers that had declared war on France, but met no success.

Finally, with all the improvements above, he almost tripled the size of the French treasury. By 1191, despite the loss of significant trade income from Byzantium, the treasury was levying around 30,000 florins a year from taxes. Historians estimate that about 2/3 of that income was from farming and land taxes, the remainder mostly from trade dues. During his entire reign, the treasury ran a budget surplus, and by 1191 it had 345,745 florins.

This long period of peace from 1168 to 1184 was only interrupted by the invasion of rebellious Lesser Armenia in 1178. The invasion was led by the King in person, and in a messy forest fight with the rebels the King again showed his ruthlesness by executing all prisoners (106 in total). Rumors of the King's demise in the fight prompted widespread unrest in Leon, Navarre, Toulouse and Aragon. All these peasant rebellions were easily subdued the next year, but the King never ventured again at the head of his army.

On a personal level, the King married the daughter of a French aristocrat in 1164. The future King, Prince Jean was born in 1169 in Antioch (or possibly Tripoli). He was groomed as a warrior and would eventually command the invasion of Constantinople. The King's younger boys, Louis and Charles were not great commanders and were not favored by their father.

The later years and the War with Byzantium (1185-1191)

The major military campaign of King Charles reign was arguably the capture of Constantinople. Historians still debate the motives behind this war. The nagging question, of course, is what drove Charles to war knowing that he would lose the income from the lucrative trade with Byzantium? Some historians hold the view that he feared the growing power of the Byzantines, while others argue that it was greed for the rich province of Constantinople. The most accepted theory, however, and the one told by contemporary sources, ascribes the seeds of the war to a seemingly unrelated event: the launch of a German crusade against Egypt 14 years earlier

In 1171 the Germans launched a crusade against Egypt. They decided to pass through French Lorraine. Charles, fearing excommunication, grudgingly allowed passage. To his dismay, large numbers of French troops deserted and joined the crusaders. In a fit of anger, Charles ordered a retaliatory measure in the form of a crusade to cross Germany by land. This was promptly declared at the Paris chapterhouse and its target was set to Volga-Bulgaria, the last rebel steppe province, all the other steppes having been conquered by Byzantium.
In 1172 the German crusade moved to Flanders and then sailed to the Levant. Meanwhile, the French crusade under De Molay proceeded through central Europe. It was given permission to pass by the Germans and reached Bohemia in 1173. That year the Byzantines captured Volga-Bulgaria. After gathering new recruits, the crusade left Polish Volhynia in 1177 and entered Byzantine Moldavia. Surprisingly, the Byzantines granted it passage. By 1181, the crusade was in Khazar awaiting the final orders to move to its target.

King Charles now found himslef in a dilemma. Fearing the embarassement of a failed crusade, he had to proceed towards Volga. But wanted to avoid war and its detrimental effect on the treasury. He therefore compromised and ordered the crusade to rest in Khazar as long as possible. Menawhile, he ordered the French fleets to move into position to take out all the Byzantine ships in the Black and Mediterranean seas when war came.

Over the next 3 years, the crusade suffered significant desertions, with its numbers dipping down to about 800 men only. But the King still waited for the opportune moment to attack.

In 1184, Prince Jean reached the age of maturity. With his tutors declaring him a military prodigy (commander of the 8th rank), the King saw the time for war with the Byzantines had come.

In 1185, De Molay proceeded into Volga-Bulgaria. To his amazement, the Byzantines left him the entire province with its castle. But it was too late to avoid war for Prince Jean had already landed with a large force on the north shores of the Aegean and proceeded towards the great citadel of Cnstantinople. Taken by surprise, the Byzantines retreated to the protection of the city's great walls. Thus began the siege of Byzantium.

Meanwhile, the French fleets launched simultaneous attacks on Byzantine ships in the Ionian, Balck, Marmaran and Adriatic seas. They only managed to engage and sink the Adriatic fleet, the others escpaing destruction for a while. The Marmara Dromon squadron, in particular, proved problematic. Commanded by the wiley Basil Maniakes, it managed to slip by the French ships in the Dardanelles and blockade the North Aegean coast. This meant that Prince Jean's expedition, now besieging Constantinople, was cutoff and isolated.

In April of 1186, Prince Jean recognized his difficult situation, for he urgently sent a letter to his father:

My Lord the King,
I have carried out your orders successfully and our force now stands in sight of the walls of the second Rome. Our fleet in Maramra has blocked the city port and we have surrounded the walls . None can leave the city. But I fear that the enemy will not allow their captial to fall. Scouts already report that a large host is gathering against us, from Bulgaria, Trebizond and Greece. My scouts to the South report that enemy Dromons have cut off our shipping lanes, and I am told that the reinforcements I was expecting from Iberia and the Levant will not arrive. I have no fear of the enemy and I will stand up and fightl. However, I do ask of you to provide for our soldiers a way home should our luck turn against us on the battlefield. My scouts tell me that the enemy's army in Nicaea has been ordered to march against us. Thus, this is an opportune moment to seize that province and provide us with an escape route, should it be needed.....

The King, worried about his son's safety, promptly sent an overwhelming force under De Brienne to take Nicaea. The Byzantines retreated to the castle without a fight.

But this precaution was unecessary, for Prince Jean managed to repulse the Byzantine attempt at relievign their capital. This is detailed in a letter he wrote later that year to this father.

My Lord.
thanks be to Our Lord and Our Lady. I report to you a great victory over the heretic Greeks. I dedicate the best spoils to the Our Lady and hope they be forever displayed in the Cathedral of Notre Dame.

Our forces fought valiantly in this long day. The battle took place at the crossroads leading to Adrianople, half a day;s march from the city gates. The Lord was with us today, for the enemy were commanded by the incapable Emperor himself. My fear that the fearsome Lord Palealogus of the 9th rank would be in command was not meant to be. I chose a wooded hill overlooking the crossroads as the fulcrum of the defense. I placed the few units of foot troops in the middle, and had the Turcopoles, Jinetes and Mounted Seargeants on the flanks. Then I waited for the enemy to advance. .The foolish emepror first sent a company of Trebizond archers to harrass ourt line. Separated from their companions, they were easy prey to a charge by our Jinetes. The enemy then sent a unit of infantry in support and our Jinetes cutoff the engagement and lured them towards our lines. Our well positioned missile units quickly thinned their ranks and a well timed charge by the Templars finished them off. Meanwhile, the enemy King sent his heaviests cavalry, 40 Kataphractoi and 40 Lancers in flanking maneuver our our left and generally shifted his center to our left. I promptly ordered our right wing cavalry (Turocpoles, Feudal Knights and Jinetes ) to wheel around and engage their rear. To parry that maneuver, the enemy King moves his personal guard to his left, opening a wide gap in their center. Menawhile our left was successfully holding back their heavy cavalry on the right thanks to the advantage of height the hill provided. With the enemy Emperor exposed in the midfield, under our archer fire, I ordered the Feudal Knights and other cavalry to surround him. The coward then fled and I followed him with my royal knight companions and took him prisoner. I then ordered a halt to the pursuit of the enemy and reorgnaized our lines to wait for their reinforcement. The second wave of enemy troops was lighter and weaker and easily dispatched with the arrows of freshTurcopole reinforcements and a couple of heacy cavalry charges. Again we reorganized after a brief pursuit. Their third wave had a unit of Kataphraktoi. But our Turcopoles easily harassed it, and by the time it reached the main line, it counted only 20 horsemen. Needless to say, our foot troops and Templars took care of them easily. This time, I pressed the pursuit all the way, sensing the enemy is running out of reinformcements. At the end of this long day, we had captured 1109 men including the Emperor himslef, killed 968 enemy to a loss of only .... on our side. Following your instructions to take no prisoners, I executed the enemy captives. I believe this mass execution has impressed our soldiers, for now I hear whispers of scant mercy and butcher when I walk around the camp .....


Prince Jean's great victory sealed the fate of Constantinople, which would fall 2 years later in 1188
But all did not go well for the French that year. Lord Andronicus of the Byzantines overpowered De Molay's small force in Vogla-Bulgaria and put him under siege, while their Tyrhenian fleet scored a small vicotry over the French barques.

In 1187, the French land a crusade in Greece and besiege the small garrison there, while the Byzantines finish off the remnants of the Molay's force in Volga.

In 1188, Constantinople fell after a 3-year siege. Amazingly, the destruction of the city was limited and most of its structures, including teh Port, Amor Guild and Church survived. Meanwhile, Prince Philippe landed a force in Moldavia in the hopes of cutting the Byzantine empire into 3 parts, while De Brienne sacked Nicaea and abandoned it now that the shipping lanes to Constantinople were reopened.


Recognizing the danger his oldest son was in, the King wisely ordered the invasion of neighboring Nicaea in an effort to provide an escape route for Prince Jean, should he be forced to retreat. With a large force at his disposal, Lord De Brienne intimidates the Byzantines into retreating to Nicaea castle. But further west, Prince Jean faced the brunt of the Byzantine counterattack, which he had to face with his initial


In 1189, the Byzanitines counterattack in Greece. Totally outnumbered, the French put up a delaying rear action with low quaity troops while the main force of order foot retreated to Constatinople. As Prince Jean readied for a new attempt to take Greece, news reached him of the death of his father from a sudden illness. He promptly left COnstantinople and sailed to Toulouse, where a citadel has been recently completed, for the coronation .

Thus King Charles started, but did not finish, the war with Byzantium.

King Charles IV's Legacy:

Historians generally agree that France was stronger at the death of King Charles relative to its beginning. He left a healthy treasury with a budget surplus for his son. He developed many provinces, and laid plans for France to obtain good qualioty heavy cavalry from Avar Nobles in Modlavia and Chivalric Knights in Toulouse. He supervised the completion of the Krak Des Chevaliers and started the construction of Notre Dame Cathedral. However, he left an unfinished wart with Byzantium and left France with no allies besides the Papacy. The full effect of his policies would not be felt till the reign of his son Jean, which is the topic of the next Chapter