OF MACEDON, the father of Alexander the Great, usurped the
kingdom from the infant king Amyntas, his nephew and ward, in 360 B.C.;
having secured his throne, he entered on a series of aggressive wars,
making expeditions into Thrace and Thessaly; the siege of Olynthus
brought him into conflict with Athens, the two cities being allies, and
occasioned some of the most brilliant orations of Demosthenes; the
successive appeals for his aid against their enemies by the Thebans and
the Argives led him into Greece and into the Peloponnesus; in 339 B.C. a
council of Greek cities appointed him commander-in-chief of their leagued
forces in a projected war against the Locrians, but the Athenians and
Thebans opposed his coming; the defeat of their armies at Chaeronea, 338
B.C., placed all Greece at his feet; his next project was an expedition
against Persia, but while preparations were on foot he was assassinated
at AEgae; a man of unbridled lust, he was an astute and unscrupulous
politician, but of incomparable eloquence, energy, and military skill
(382-336 B.C.).

PHILIP II., Philip-Augustus, king of France, shared the throne with
his father, Louis VII., from 1179, and succeeded him as sole ruler in
1180; marrying Isabella of Hainault, he united the Capet and Carlovingian
houses; his grand aim was to secure to himself some of the English
possessions in France; his alliance with Richard of England in the third
crusade ended in a quarrel; returning to France he broke his oath to
Richard by bargaining with John for portions of the coveted territory; an
exhausting war lasted till 1119; on Richard's death Philip supported
Arthur against John in his claim to Anjou, Maine, and Touraine; after
Arthur's murder, the capture of Chateau Gaillard in 1204 gave him
possession of these three provinces with Normandy and part of Poitou; the
victory of Bouvines 1214 secured his throne, and the rest of his reign
was spent in internal reforms and the beautifying of Paris (1165-1223).

PHILIP IV., the Fair, king of France, succeeded his father Philip
III. in 1285; by his marriage with Joanna of Navarre added Navarre,
Champagne, and Brie to his realm; but the sturdy valour of the Flemish
burghers at Courtrai on the "Day of Spurs" prevented the annexation of
Flanders; his fame rests on his struggle and victory over the papal
power; a tax on the clergy was condemned by Boniface VIII. in 1296;
supported by his nobles and burghers Philip burnt the papal