* List of the stories he appears in : - D 2001-024 : "The Crown of the Crusader Kings", from 2001, by Don Rosa.

 

* His biography :
     Philip IV, also known as Philip le Bel ("the Fair") because of his handsome appearance, was born at the Royal Palace of Fontainebleau, France, in 1268, son of King Philippe III "Le Hardi" and Isabelle d'Aragon, member of the Capetian dinasty.
   In 1284, he married Jeanne of Navarre, daughter of Henry I, King of Navarre, Count of Champagne and Brie, which  united these territories to the royal domain.
   In 1285, after the death of his father, he became king and was consecrated at Reims in 1286, with his wife.
   The policies of his reign greatly strengthened the French monarchy and increased the royal revenues.
   He asserted his right to tax the clergy, making permanent a special tax permitted by the popes for support of crusades. Pope Boniface VIII opposed this measure but when threatened by excommunication, he capitulated.
   In 1296, Philip overran Guienne, the duchy of King Edward I of England, but Guienne was conceeded to Edward in 1303.
   Then, Philip turned his attention toward Flanders, but the French army was defeated in 1302, at the disastrous battle of Courtrai. But Philip was victorious from the following battle, the one of Mons-en-Pévèle, in 1304. Although he won, he was forced by treaties to reduce his demands on the Flemish.
   The Monarchy and the Church reconciliated when the arcbishop Clement V became Pope, in 1305. Clement cooperated with Philip in his persecution of the Knights Templars, whose wealth the king appropriated to finance his wars, after a process in 1307 and the supression of their orders in 1312. Other wealthy groups persecuted by him were the Jews and the Lombards, some Italian bankers. He also debased the coinage.
   In 1314, he had Grand Master Jacques de Molay of the Templars burned for heresy and sodomy, and de Molay sent him a malediction which told he'd dye within one year.
   He died on November 27, 1314, from a cerebral ictus, and was succeeded by his son Louis X.
 

* His place in the Barks/Rosa stories universe :
    In "The Crown of the Crusader Kings", M. Molay explains that the King of France Philippe le Bel had a lot of debt towards the Templars, and ordered their arrestation and the seize of their goods on October 13, 1307. That'd be the real reason why he arrested them (anyway, I don't think Don Rosa would have been allowed to tell in a Disney comic story that it was in fact for blasphem and sodomy that the Templar had been arrested). On a panel, we can even see the kings' hand and also the silhouette of Jacques de Molay, Grand Master of the Templars.
 
 

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