The Reign of Philip the Fair THE REIGN OF PHILIP THE FAIR By Joseph R. Strayer PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY Copyright © 1980 by Princeton University Press Published by Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, Guildford, Surrey All Rights Reserved Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data will be found on the last printed page of this book Designed by Bruce Campbell This book has been composed in Linotype Janson Clothbound editions of Princeton University Press books are printed on acid-free paper, and binding materials are chosen for strength and durability Printed in the United States of America by Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey Princeton Legacy Library edition 2019 Paperback ISBN: 978-0-691-65571-0 Hardcover ISBN: 978-0-691-65713-4 Contents List of Illustrations vii Preface ix A Note on French Monetary Units xvii Abbreviations xix I. The King and His Family 3 II. The King and His Officers 36 SOCIAL AND GEOGRAPHIC ORIGINS OF THE KING'S SERVANTS 36 THE REWARDS OF OFFICE 55 POLICY MAKERS AND TECHNICIANS 68 III. The King and the Administration of the Realm ioo LOCAL ADMINISTRATION IOO FINANCIAL ADMINISTRATION 142 THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE 191 IV. The King and the Church 237 APPENDIX: THE CASE OF BISHOP GUICHARD OF TROYES 3 OO V. The King and His Neighbors 314 APPENDIX: THE FRENCH ARMIES 372 VI. The King and His People 380 Bibliography 425 Index 439 List of Illustrations (facing page 5) 1. Administrative Map of France under Philip IV (following page 220) 2. The Great Seal of Philip IV 3. A Gros Tournois of Philip's Reign 4. Philip and His Family 5. Sketch of Philip IV and Edward I 6. Parchment Receipt for Army Wages 7. View of the Palais de la Cite Preface This book has been a long time aborning. My interest in the subject goes back to the 1930s, when I had completed a mono- graph and edited a text dealing with the administration of Nor- mandy under St. Louis. It seemed reasonable to go on and trace the development of French institutions during the rest of the century. I discovered, however, that although most of the sources on the reign of St. Louis had been published, there were rela- tively few sources for the time of Philip III and abundant, but unpublished, sources for the reign of Philip the Fair. Grants from Princeton University and from the Social Science Research Council made it possible for me to spend about 18 months in France between 1935 and 1937. During this period I took notes on most of the financial documents later edited by Robert Faw- tier, on the Chancery Registers, and on other material in the Bibliotheque Nationale and the Archives Nationales. My mono- graph on taxation under Philip the Fair, published in Studies in Early French Taxation in 1939, was the result of this research. As with many other scholars, my work was interrupted by the war. A heavy teaching load and equally heavy administrative responsibilities, plus some intermittent work for the government, left little time for research. These burdens did not lessen at the end of the war; in fact, I spent more than a year in government service in 1953-1954. Only in 1955 was I able to begin the work that I should have done ten years earlier. The time was not en- tirely lost, however, because it was during these years that Faw- tier began publication of the Comptes royaux, followed by the Inventaire analytique of the Chancery Registers. These magnifi- cent works of scholarship made it far easier to find, verify, and compare the references to governmental activities that I had re- corded, often imperfectly, in my notes. After 1955 there were other reasonable and unreasonable causes for delay. I did not want to spend all my time on Philip, as this would have led to a narrow and distorted view of the significance of the reign. Work on the Crusades brought me back into the days of St. Louis, who was a rather different person from his grandson; work on England under the Edwards showed me that there were alternatives to the French pattern of government;