Philip V

1683-1746, king of Spain 1700-46.

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I

born 238

died 179 BC, Amphipolis, Macedonia

King of Macedonia (221–179).

Son of Demetrius II, he succeeded Antigonus Doson. He supported the Hellenic League against Sparta, Aetolia, and Elis (220–217), allying himself with Hannibal in 215 and attacking Roman client states in Illyria. Rome responded in the First Macedonian War. Intrigue against Egypt and Philip's unsuccessful sea battle with Rhodes and Pergamum led Rome to initiate the Second Macedonian War, in which it prevailed at Cynoscephalae (197). Rome's harsh terms eased after Philip made common cause against its Greek foes. Fearing that Rome would turn on him again, he attempted to expand by attacking the Balkans (184, 183, 181); he died on a fourth attempt in 179.

II

Spanish Felipe orig. Philippe, duke d'Anjou

born Dec. 19, 1683, Versailles, France

died July 9, 1746, Madrid, Spain

King of Spain (1700–46).

Grandson of Louis XIV of France and great-grandson of Philip IV of Spain, Philip was named to succeed the childless Charles II as king in 1700. Louis's refusal to exclude Philip from the line of succession to the French throne led to the War of the Spanish Succession. The resultant Peace of Utrecht (1713) deprived Philip of the Spanish Netherlands and parts of Italy, but it left him Spain and Spanish America. Initially influenced by his French advisers through his wife, Maria Luise of Savoy, after her death (1714) he was influenced by his second wife, Elizabeth Farnese, and her Italian advisers. Attempts to secure territories in Italy caused the formation of the Quadruple Alliance (1718) against Spain. Philip later brought Spain into the War of the Austrian Succession. His reign marked the beginning of the Bourbon dynasty in Spain (see house of Bourbon).

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▪ king of France

byname  Philip The Tall,  French  Philippe Le Long 

born c. 1293

died Jan. 3, 1322

      king of France (from 1316) and king of Navarre (as Philip II, from 1314), who largely succeeded in restoring the royal power to what it had been under his father, Philip IV.

      Philip was the second son of Philip IV, who made him count of Poitiers in 1311. When his elder brother, King Louis X, died in 1316, leaving an infant daughter Joan by his adulterous first wife, and a pregnant widow, Philip won recognition as regent for the unborn child and then, upon its death in November 1316, five days after birth, declared himself king. Anointed at Reims in January 1317, Philip quickly moved to consolidate his position, and on February 2 an assembly of barons, prelates, Parisian bourgeois, and doctors of the University of Paris recognized him as king, enunciating the principle that Joan, as a woman, could not succeed to the throne of France.

      Anxious to ensure peace and order as a means to the prosperity of the kingdom, Philip established a system of local militias under officers responsible to the crown; he also increased the efficiency of government machinery at all levels and checked the abuses of local officials. He was succeeded by his brother, Charles IV.

▪ king of Macedonia

born 238 BC

died 179, Amphipolis, Macedonia

      king of Macedonia from 221 to 179, whose attempt to extend Macedonian influence throughout Greece resulted in his defeat by Rome. His career is significant mainly as an episode in Rome's expansion. The son of Demetrius II and his wife Phthia (Chryseis), the young prince was adopted, after his father's death in 229, by his half-cousin Antigonus Doson, who took the throne. Philip succeeded upon Antigonus' death (summer 221) and soon won renown by supporting the Hellenic League in its war against Sparta, Aetolia, and Elis (220–217). In 215 Philip, allied with Hannibal, the Carthaginian general who was invading Italy (Second Punic War (Punic War, Second)), attacked the Roman client states in Illyria and initiated 10 years of inconclusive warfare against Rome (First Macedonian War (Macedonian Wars)). The Romans countered his moves by an alliance with the Greek cities of the Aetolian League, but Philip effectively aided his allies. When the Romans withdrew in 207, he forced an independent settlement upon Aetolia (206) and concluded the war with Rome on favourable terms (Peace of Phoenice, 205).

      Philip then turned to the east. He plotted against Rhodes and in 203–202 conspired with Antiochus III of Syria to plunder the possessions of the Egyptian king Ptolemy V. But the people of Rhodes and Pergamum defeated Philip at sea off Chios (201) and so exaggerated reports of his aggression that Rome decided to declare war (Second Macedonian War, 200–196). The Roman campaigns in Macedonia (199) and Thessaly (198) shook Philip's position in Greece, and in 197 the Romans, led by Titus Quinctius Flamininus, decisively defeated him at Cynoscephalae in Thessaly.

      The terms of the peace confined Philip to Macedonia; he had to surrender 1,000 talents indemnity and most of his fleet and deposit hostages, including his younger son, Demetrius, at Rome. Until 189 Philip aided Rome against her enemies on the Greek peninsula. As a reward his tribute was remitted and his son restored (190).

      Philip devoted the last decade of his life to consolidating his kingdom. He reorganized finances, transplanted populations, reopened mines, and issued central and local currencies. Neighbouring states constantly and successfully accused him at Rome, however. Becoming convinced that Rome intended to destroy him, he extended his authority into the Balkans in three campaigns (184, 183, 181). Demetrius, encouraged by Flamininus to hope for Roman support in his desire to succeed Philip, quarreled with his elder brother and heir to the throne, Perseus. In 180 Philip reluctantly had Demetrius executed for treason. In 179, while pursuing a scheme for directing the Bastarnae against the Dardanians, Philip died. He had been a fine soldier and a popular king whose plans for expansion lacked consistent aims and achieved only temporary success.

Additional Reading

The most important ancient source is the Greek historian Polybius, The Histories. (The Roman historian Livy is heavily dependent on Polybius.) The standard biography is F.W. Walbank, Philip V of Macedon (1940, reissued 1967). Larger works that have substantial sections on Philip include Erich S. Gruen, The Hellenistic World and the Coming of Rome (1984); N.G.L. Hammond, A History of Macedonia, 336–167 B.C. (1988), vol. 3; The Cambridge Ancient History, vol. 7, part 1, The Hellenistic World, ed. by F.W. Walbank et al., 2nd ed. (1984); and two essays in The Cambridge Ancient History, vol. 8, Rome and the Mediterranean to 133 B.C., ed. by A.E. Astin et al., 2nd ed. (1989): R.M. Errington, “Rome Against Philip and Antiochus,” pp. 244–289; and P.S. Derow, “Rome, the Fall of Macedon and the Sack of Corinth,” pp. 290–323.

▪ king of Spain

also called (until 1700)  Philippe, Duc (duke) d'Anjou 

born Dec. 19, 1683, Versailles, Fr.

died July 9, 1746, Madrid

      king of Spain from 1700 (except for a brief period from January to August 1724) and founder of the Bourbon dynasty in Spain. During his reign Spain regained much of its former influence in international affairs.

      Philip was a son of the dauphin Louis (son of Louis XIV of France) and of Marie Anne, daughter of Ferdinand, elector of Bavaria. Philip's whole career was influenced by the fact that he was a grandson of Louis XIV of France and a great grandson of Philip IV, king of Spain. Philip held the title of duc d'Anjou until 1700, when he emerged as a person of political importance. In that year Charles II, the last Habsburg king of Spain, who died without issue, left Philip all his possessions (Spain, Spanish America, the Spanish Netherlands, and parts of Italy). The refusal of Louis XIV to exclude Philip from the line of succession to the French throne resulted in the War of the Spanish Succession. The Treaty of Utrecht (Utrecht, treaties of), signed in 1713, deprived Philip of the Spanish Netherlands and of the Italian possessions of the Spanish Habsburgs, but left him the throne of Spain and Spanish America.

      During the first 13 years of Philip's reign France had a dominant influence on the Spanish court, and the French ambassador had a place on the inmost council of state. After the death of his first wife (María Luisa of Savoy) in 1714, Philip came under the influence of his second wife, Princess Isabella Farnese, who was the niece and stepdaughter of the duke of Parma. Because of Isabella's desire to secure territories in Italy for her sons, Spain became embroiled in conflict with Austria, Great Britain, France, and the United Provinces but managed to secure the succession of Philip and Isabella's oldest son, Don Carlos (later Charles III of Spain), to the duchy of Parma. Philip abdicated from the Spanish throne in January 1724 in favour of his oldest son, Luis (Louis), but was persuaded to become king again after Luis died of smallpox in August 1724. Philip's reign is noted primarily for the governmental and economic reforms instituted by his French and Italian advisers.

      Philip had few intimate friends; his chief interests were religion, hunting, and music. During the last years of his reign he often lapsed into periods of insanity, and his wife largely controlled public affairs.

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