Page:The history of medieval Europe.djvu/552

 5 o2 THE HISTORY OF MEDIEVAL EUROPE Philip the Fair were entirely under his control. The Estates Lack of called during the brief reigns of his three sons, permanent Lou i s x philip V, and Charles IV, were in the opposition -^. . i "* j • 1 t 1 1 r to the king main provincial and partial. Local leagues of feudal nobles with some following among the clergy and communes sprang up in the last year of Philip the Fair's reign against new taxes which he had introduced. Some of these federations even extended over several provinces, and they continued into the reign of Louis X. But they did not result in any permanent check upon the royal power. Charters were granted by Louis X to the nobles in a number of provinces, but the concessions made were intended to preserve old feudal customs and privileges and not to up- build any new national and popular institutions. And through the remainder of French medieval history we shall find it in general true that, while there is occasional opposi- tion to the Crown, it fails to put itself into permanent insti- tutional form. Philip the Fair gave the supreme proof of the progress which the secular royal power had made by his time by Philip the refusing to admit in French affairs any such Fair and theories of papal overlordship and supremacy in international relations, or of papal interference in the internal politics of the realm, as the popes had been maintaining both by word and deed since the days of Hilde- brand. In this he was not alone; other secular rulers of his time displayed a tendency toward greater independence from ecclesiastical control and less regard for papal wishes and threats; and they were supported in this stand by their people. The State was at last becoming more powerful than 'the Church. But Philip the Fair as the most powerful monarch of his age naturally went the furthest in opposition to the Papacy. Indeed, he went so far that he was able to make a pope the tool of his policies. Innocent III — a cen- tury before — had found Philip Augustus refractory and independent; Philip the Fair was to find Pope Clement V subservient to his wishes. The crisis between Church and State was precipitated by