Philip I was born in 1052 to Henry I of France and Anne of Kiev. As was the practice he was crowned while his father was alive in 1059, but succeeded as a minor in 1060. Count Baldwin V of Flanders became regent, and he remained in power until Philip came of age.

One early action was to increase his landed holding by acquiring a county in return for staying neutral in the war over Anjou, and he tried to use cunning to prevent William I’s Norman dynasty from dominating the region by supporting Robert II against William I (Robert II’s father) and William II (Robert’s brother).

William II won.

He was also fighting the papacy, having raised funds and secured power from abusing ecclesiastical positions, and this coupled with his questionable relations with the already married Bertrada de Montfort led to more than one excommunication. Before he died in 1108 the corpulent Philip had retired from practical power, and his son Louis VI (from the legitimately married Bertha) took over. It is fair to say the sources really don’t like him.

Rulers of France