As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. This means if you click on a link and make a purchase, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.
Historical person
1165–1223
Philip II ruled France from 1180 to 1223 and greatly expanded Capetian power at the expense of the Angevin kings. He joined Richard I on the Third Crusade but returned early and later exploited Richard’s captivity and King John’s weakness. Philip conquered Normandy and other continental territories and defeated a major coalition at Bouvines in 1214. His reign transformed the French monarchy from a limited royal domain into the dominant power of the kingdom.
Philip appears in Sharon Kay Penman’s Lionheart and A King’s Ransom and in Elizabeth Chadwick’s novels about William Marshal. Historical fiction often makes him the patient, calculating rival of Richard and John. That portrayal reflects his political success, but his own court, administrative reforms and domestic conflicts deserve more attention than an exclusively English viewpoint allows.
In non-fiction, Philip II of France is discussed in Dan Jones’s Crusaders. Dan Jones’s Crusaders approaches the subject through religion, belief and institutional authority, social change and the pressures of ordinary life, and political ambition and government.
Historical context
Series
The five Angevin novels trace the Plantagenet dynasty from the succession crisis after Henry I through Henry II and Eleanor’s turbulent marriage, their sons’ rebellions, Richard I’s crusade, captivity and final campaigns. The sequence combines royal family drama with the Anarchy, Angevin state-building, church–crown conflict and the Third…
All books in this series
The Lionheart series recounts the rise, crusade and embattled kingship of Richard I through the eyes of Ferdia, an Irish captive who becomes Richard's loyal follower. Beginning during the troubled final years of Henry II, the trilogy follows Richard's accession, the Third Crusade, his rivalry with Saladin and…
All books in this series
The Roger of Huntley series follows a fugitive monk and crusader through the violence of the Third Crusade and the later crisis of King John’s reign. The early books place Roger among soldiers, pilgrims and rulers in the eastern Mediterranean, while the later novels return him to England…
All books in this series
Chronicles of the Black Lion follows Estienne Wace from King John’s divided England into the wider conflicts and military cultures of the early thirteenth century. Rebellion places the orphaned squire in William Marshal’s household as baronial opposition and Prince Louis of France threaten the crown. Crusade carries him…
All books in this series
The Outlaw Chronicles reimagine Robin Hood as Robert Odo, Earl of Locksley, a charismatic and violent criminal lord remembered by his lieutenant Alan Dale. The original novels carry Alan from his entry into the Sherwood band through the Third Crusade, Richard I’s wars, the loss of Normandy, Magna…
All books in this series
Elizabeth Chadwick’s Eleanor of Aquitaine trilogy follows one of medieval Europe’s most formidable rulers from her inheritance of Aquitaine and first marriage to Louis VII of France through her turbulent partnership with Henry II of England. The novels place Eleanor’s marriages, motherhood and political ambitions within crusade, dynastic…
All books in this series
Elizabeth Chadwick’s William Marshal cycle follows the Marshal family and the households bound to it from the civil war of the Anarchy to the crisis of King John’s reign. A Place Beyond Courage centres on William’s father, John Marshal, while The Greatest Knight and The Scarlet Lion trace…
All books in this series
These medieval mysteries follow the fictional royal agent Justin de Quincy in 1193, while Eleanor of Aquitaine governs for the captive Richard I and John manoeuvres for the throne. Each investigation links murder, theft or conspiracy to the political instability of the Angevin realm.
All books in this series
The Crusader series follows the fictional Lancastrian knight Frederick Banastre and his descendants through the conflicts of the Angevin and early Plantagenet monarchy. Frederick enters the household of the future Richard I, campaigns in France and the Holy Land, and becomes involved in the political struggles caused by…
All books in this series
Non Fiction
Biographies, histories and other non-fiction are listed separately from the historical novels above.
