king's life. When, in 1643, the disasters falling on the monarchy on all sides led to the dismissal of Olivares, Philip had lost the power to devote himself to hard work. After a brief struggle with the task of directing the administration of the most extensive and the worst organized monarchy in Europe, he sank back into his pleasures and was governed by other favourites. His political opinions were those he had inherited from his father and grandfather. He thought it his duty to support the German Habsburgs and the cause of the Roman Catholic Church against the Protestants, to assert his sovereignty over Holland, and to extend the dominions of his house. The utter exhaustion of his people in the course of a hopeless struggle with Holland, France and England was seen by him with sympathy, but he considered it an unavoidable misfortune and not the result of his own errors, since he could not be expected to renounce his rights or to desert the cause of God and the Church. In public he maintained a bearing of rigid solemnity, and was seen to laugh only three times in the course of his life. But in private he indulged in horseplay and very coarse immorality. His court was grossly vicious. The early death of his eldest son, Baltasar Carlos, was unquestionably due to debauchery encouraged by the gentlemen entrusted by the king with his education. The lesson shocked the king, but its effect soon wore off. Philip IV. died broken-hearted on the 17th of September 1665, expressing the hope that his surviving son, Carlos, would be more fortunate than himself.
The best accounts of Philip IV. will be found in the Estudios del reinado de Felipe IV., by Don A. Cánovas del Castillo (Madrid, 1889), and in the introduction by Don F. Silvela to his edition of the Cartas de Sor Maria de Agreda y del rey Felipe IV. (Madrid, 1885-1886).
PHILIP V. (1683-1746), king of Spain, founder of the present Bourbon dynasty, was the son of the Dauphin Louis and his
wife, Maria Anna, daughter of Ferdinand Maria, elector of
Bavaria. He was born at Versailles on the 19th of December
1683. On the extinction of the male line of the house of Habsburg
in Spain he was named heir by the will of Charles II. He
had shared in the careful education given to his elder brother,
Louis, duke of Burgundy, by Fénelon, and was himself known
as duke of Anjou. Philip was by nature dull and phlegmatic.
He had learnt morality from Fénelon's teaching, and showed
himself throughout his life strongly adverse to the moral laxity
of his grandfather and of most of the princes of his time. But
his very domestic regularity caused him to be entirely under the
influence of his two wives, Maria Louisa of Savoy, whom he
married in 1702, and who died in February 1714, and Elizabeth
Farnese of Parma, whom he married in December of the same
year, and who survived him. He showed courage on the field
of battle, both in Italy and Spain, during the War of the Spanish
Succession, and was flattered by his courtiers with the title of
El Animoso, or the spirited. But he had no taste for military
adventure. If he had a strong passion, it was to provide for his
succession to the throne of France, if his nephew, Louis XV.,
should die, and he indulged in many intrigues against the house
of Orleans, whose right to the succession was supposed to be
secured by Philip's solemn renunciation of all claim to the
French throne, when he became king of Spain. It was in
pursuit of one of these intrigues that he abdicated in 1724 in
favour of his son Louis. But Louis died in a few months,
and Philip returned to the throne. At a later period he tried
to abdicate again, and his wife had to keep him in a species of
disguised confinement. Throughout his life, but particularly
in the later part of it, he was subject to prolonged fits of melancholia,
during which he would not even speak. He died of
apoplexy on the 9th of July 1746.
The best account of Philip's character and reign is still that given by Coxe in his Memoirs of the Kings of Spain of the House of Bourbon (London, 1815).
PHILIP THE BOLD (1342-1404), duke of Burgundy, fourth son of John II. of France and Bonne of Luxemburg, was born on the 15th of January 1342. He earned his surname by his bravery while fighting by his father's side on the field of Poitiers. After the defeat of King John he accompanied him into captivity
in England. In 1360 he received the title of duke of Touraine,
and in June 1363 was entrusted with the government of Burgundy,
which John had united to the crown at the death of the last
duke of the Capetian family, Philip of Rouvre, in 1361. In
September 1363 John bestowed on Philip the title of duke of
Burgundy, together with that of first peer of France. John
was anxious not to displease the Burgundians, who were accustomed
to their independence; and, moreover, with Philip as
duke of Burgundy he was in a better posture to resist the king
of Navarre, Charles the Bad, who laid claim to the duchy. The
donation, which was at first kept secret in spite of a request
made in 1363 for its confirmation by the emperor Charles IV.,
was ratified at the accession of Charles V. of France; but in
consequence of Philip's preoccupation with the Grand Companies,
which had invaded France, it was not until November
1364 that he definitely took possession of the duchy. Charles
continued to show favour to his brother, appointing him (in 1366)
his lieutenant in Champagne and marrying him to Margaret,
daughter and heiress of Louis of Male, count of Flanders,
and widow of Philip of Rouvre. Edward III. of England was
negotiating for the marriage of this princess with his son Edmund,
earl of Cambridge; but Charles prevailed upon Pope Urban V.
to refuse the dispensation necessary on grounds of kinship, and
even consented to give up Lille, Douai and Orchies to Flanders
on condition that Margaret should marry his brother. Philip
eventually won the day, thanks to the support of the late
count's mother, and the marriage took place with high revel
at Ghent on the 19th of June 1369.
During the succeeding years Philip proved a faithful ally to Charles. He took part in the almost bloodless campaign against the duke of Lancaster, who had landed at Calais; in 1377 he took several towns in French Flanders from the English; and in 1379 relieved Troyes, which had been besieged by the English. On Charles's death Philip found himself, with his brothers, the dukes of Anjou and Berry, in charge of the government of France in the name of Charles VI., who was a minor; and in the absence of the duke of Anjou, who left France in 1382 to conquer the kingdom of Naples, Philip occupied the most powerful position in the realm. He persuaded the young king to intervene in Flanders, where the citizens of Ghent, whose rebellious spirit had necessitated Philip's intervention in 1379, had again revolted under Philip van Artevelde and had expelled Louis of Male. On the 27th of November 1382 the Franco-Burgundian chivalry crushed the rebels at Rosebecke, and on his return the duke of Burgundy took part in repressing the popular movements which had broken out in Paris and other French towns. In 1383 an insurrection in Flanders supported by England gave rise to another French expedition; but in January 1384 the death of Louis of Male made Philip master of the count ships of Flanders, Artois, Rethel and Nevers; and in the following year the citizens of Ghent decided to submit. At this period Philip sought to ingratiate himself with the emperor, who was a near neighbour, and of whom he held a part of his dominions, by giving two of his daughters in marriage to two princes of the house of Bavaria; he also took an important part in bringing about the marriage of a princess of the same family, Isabel, to King Charles VI.
Hostilities, however, were renewed between France and England. A formidable expedition was prepared under the direction of the duke of Burgundy, and a fleet of 1400 sail assembled at Sluys; but the enterprise failed owing to the dilatoriness of the duke of Berry. The fatiguing and inglorious expedition in the Netherlands, into which the duke dragged Charles for the purpose of supporting his kinswoman, Joan of Brabant, against the duke of Gelderland, shook Philip's credit with his nephew, who on his return declared himself of age and confided the government to the ancient councillors of his father, the “Marmousets.” The king's madness (1392) restored his uncles to power, and particularly Philip, who after assuring peace by treating with the duke of Brittany and by concluding a truce of twenty-eight years with England, made strenuous efforts to put an end to the Great Schism, visiting Pope Benedict XIII.
