Philip III of France
king of France from 1270 to 1285 (1245–1285)

Philip III (1 May 1245 – 5 October 1285), called the Bold (French: le Hardi), was King of France from 1270 until his death in 1285. His father, Louis IX, died in Tunis during the Eighth Crusade. Philip, who was accompanying him, returned to France and was anointed king at Reims in 1271.
Philip inherited numerous territorial lands during his reign, the most notable being the County of Toulouse, which was annexed to the royal domain in 1271. With the Treaty of Orléans, he expanded French influence into the Kingdom of Navarre and following the death of his brother Peter during the war of the Sicilian Vespers, the County of Alençon was returned to the crown lands.
Following the War of the Sicilian Vespers, Philip led the Aragonese Crusade in support of his uncle, Charles I of Naples. Philip was initially successful, but his army was racked with sickness and he was forced to retreat. He died from dysentery in Perpignan in 1285 at the age of 40. He was succeeded by his son Philip IV.
Early life
Philip was born in Poissy on 1 May 1245, the second son of King Louis IX of France and Margaret of Provence. As a younger son, Philip was not expected to rule France.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Philip III of France” as king of France from 1270 to 1285 (1245–1285). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as king of France from 1270 to 1285 (1245–1285). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q172203. VIAF identifies the subject as 264129541. The Library of Congress control number is n81007429. 4 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1245, 1285, 1270 and 1271.
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This entry incorporates text from “Philip III of France” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.