ABSTRACT
In 1259 the extent of Louis IX’s royal lands gave him a pre-eminent position in the French kingdom: he had held and consolidated the conquests of his predecessors and had increased royal power to formidable proportions. With the German kings weakened and the papacy under French control, France reached its medieval apogee under the last Capetians. Philip III had the historical misfortune to rule France between two of its most celebrated kings, Louis IX and Philip IV, and posterity has not been kind to him. Because of Philip’s political weakness the French court soon became the centre of intrigue. During Philip IV’s critical and dramatic reign, royal power in France arguably reached its medieval apogee. The miniature is from a magnificent manuscript containing moral tales for princes which was presented to Philip IV during the great Pentecost ceremonies in Paris in 1313, marking the apogee of his reign.
