The Crown & The Kingdom

The king's court in Paris in the early fourteenth century seethed with politics, lust, betrayal and, occasionally, brilliance. Philippe le Bel is king: he had an ongoing dispute with England, mounted a war against Flanders, and may well have killed the pope, allowing for his own choice, Clement, to become pope and move the Papal See to Avignon. He expelled the Jews from France and annihilated the order of the Knights Templar. His final year saw a scandal in the royal family, during which his three daughters-in-law were accused of adultery… and adultery is treason when the sons of kings are being betrayed.

So it was that Philippe le Bel had to sit in judgment on his daughters- in-law, and condemn them to life in prison. He did not live long enough to regret his decision. Jacques de Molay's prediction came true: a few months after the princesses' trial, Philippe le Bel died. The mentally deficient Louis of Navarre became king upon his father's death, and his first official act was to have Marguerite of Burgundy strangled in her prison cell.