Philip II Augustus (August 21, 1165 - July 14, 1223), the seventh king of the Capetian dynasty of France (1179-1223), was known as "the noble king" and "Augustus".

He (Philip II) not only kept the Capetian dynasty strong after his succession, but also fought a long war against the powerful Plantagenet dynasty with both perseverance and scheming

Philip II was the seventh monarch of the Capetian dynasty. Before him, the Capetian dynasty had gone through nearly 200 years of history, but the king was trapped like a prisoner on the "Isle of France", helpless to do nothing about the surrounding area. The so-called "Isle of France" refers to the actual area that the early kings of the Capetian dynasty could effectively control, including the narrow strip of the middle reaches of the Seine and Loire rivers, with Paris and Orleans as the center, and its area only accounts for about 1/15 of the French territory. Outside the "island", there are many princes who are more powerful than the royal family, such as the Duchy of Normandy, the Duchy of Burgundy, and the Duchy of Aquitaine. Even within the "island", there are many unruly castle owners.

Philip II enters Loire

Louis VI, Philip II's grandfather, and Louis VII, his father, began to strengthen the royal power, but with little success. Louis VI, the "fat man", eliminated many castle owners under his nose, but was helpless against the larger and farther princes. Louis VII fell into the shadow of a more powerful enemy, Henry II, who came from the family of Plantagenets and later became King of England. Henry II owned a large territory in France, including Normandy, Anjou, etc. He later robbed Louis VII's wife, Arienor, Duchess of Aquitaine, and gained the Duchy of Aquitaine, which was five times larger than the French royal territory. To realize the long-cherished wish of French unity, "Plantagenet" was the biggest obstacle.

Philip II ascended the throne at the age of 14, initially under the regency of his uncle Henry, Count of Champagne, Guillaume, Bleuard, and Tiber, Count of Charte. He later married Isabel, the niece of Count Flanders, and his wife brought a dowry to the territory of Artois. His wings gradually hardened, and he finally broke free from the control of Champagne's rulers and took power alone. This was the first time he showed a talent for political struggle.

For France at that time, the biggest opponent was undoubtedly the King of England, who owned almost half of France's territory. The young and mature Philip II understood this very well. Among the princes in France, the more powerful and centrifugal one was the Count of Flanders. In order to concentrate his efforts against the British, Philip II compromised with the Earl of Flanders, saying that he would not care about his past offenses.

Henry II, the "great legislator" king of England at that time, had many conflicts with several of his sons. Philip II incited the relationship between their father and son, formed an alliance with Prince Richard, and incited him to meet with his father Bing Rong. Philip II took advantage of it and regained some territory. With Richard's accession to the throne in 1189 and becoming the "Lionheart King" Richard I, many disputes inevitably arose between them. This time, Philip II enlisted the Lionheart King's younger brother John, later known as the "Landless King", to fight against the Lionheart King.

News that Saladin captured the Holy City of Jerusalem in 1187 spread to Western Europe, triggering a new wave of public opinion anger calling for a crusade. So Philip and the Lionheart made an appointment to put their differences aside for the time being and set out to join the Crusades together. But when Philip II arrived in Accra for nearly a year after fighting with Saladin's army, the Lionheart arrived. Philip II felt that working with the arrogant Lionheart was an unbearable hardship, so he left more than 10,000 French troops behind, withdrew halfway, rushed back to France and launched an attack on the British king's territory in France, forcing Richard the Lionheart to rush back home.

When the Lionheart died in 1199, Philip's opponent was replaced by John the Landless. Philip again used his usual means of leveraging power to provoke Arthur, the nephew of the Landless King, to oppose him. Later, the Landless King married the fiancée of the Lyzion family of Poitou, angering the Lyzion family, so Philip took this opportunity to ally with the Lyzion family, and in 1202 announced the abolition of the English king's territory in French territory and the attack on Normandy. The most glorious stage of Philip's life came, and in a series of subsequent battles, he captured the ports of Calais, Rouen, Mann, and Anjou. Not to be outdone, the Landless King formed an anti-French alliance that, in addition to several princes such as the Count of Flanders, included the Holy Roman Emperor Otto IV, and Philip allied with Otto IV's opponent, Pope Innocent III and King Frederick II of Sicily. The contradictions between England, France, Germany and Italy were historically united. In 1214, when the anti-French alliance organized by John landed in western France, Philip fought back and won the famous Battle of Bouvon, defeating John completely. This victory also led to the end of the Welves' rule in Germany. During Philip II's reign, the territory of the French king was tripled. The most direct effect of the expansion of territory is the expansion of income, and the rich royal family can also have a larger scale.

Philip II was closely related to the ancient name of Paris. The early kings of the Capetian Dynasty were wavering between Paris and Orleans. Philip II actively built the city of Paris and built roads and walls. The municipal appearance of Paris took on a completely new look during his reign. He was the one who started building the famous Louvre, whose main purpose was to guard the city of Paris. Philip also actively supported the University of Paris, such as granting its teachers and students tax exemptions and independent civil and criminal adjudication rights. Since the era of Philip II, Paris has become unshakable as the capital.

The Royal Seal of Philip II

Since the principle of hereditary succession had not been established in France before Philip II, all kings of France had to crown their sons during their reigns to prevent the aristocracy from electing someone else to be king. Beginning with Philip II, the superfluous form was abolished because the royal family was strong enough. From then on, the formality of the princes electing the king also ended.

France's transformation from lords to a centralized nation-state was a long process of quantitative change, and the key qualitative change occurred during the reign of King Philip II. During his long career as a king of more than 40 years, Philip II, who was mature and thoughtful, fought with various opponents at home and abroad, and finally made the French royal power turn from weak to strong, and the royal territory tripled. France took the most critical step towards Centralization, avoiding a long-term situation of feudal separatism and endless wars like Germany. In his era, Paris also established its status as the capital of the country and was never shaken. He truly deserves the name "Augustus". For these reasons, Philip II was included among the top 100 influential emperors, ranking 91st.

Comment: Compared with the German kings of the same era who led Germany to disintegrate because of their focus on foreign conquest, Philip II's war was centered on strengthening French unity. The trend of one point and one point has predicted the future historical trend of Germany and France. Philip II's step-by-step implementation of the unification strategy, the two-pronged military and diplomatic means, and the decisive attack at the critical moment are worthy of being a hero of the great cause of French national unity.