p of
Alsace, Count of Flanders, as regent, and of Robert Clement, marshal of
France, as governor. But Philip, though he began his reign under this
double influence, soon let it be seen that he intended to reign by
himself, and to reign with vigor. "Whatever my vassals do," said he,
during his minority, "I must bear with their violence and outrageous
insults and villanous misdeeds; but, please God, they will get weak and
old whilst I shall grow in strength and power, and shall be, in my turn,
avenged according to my desire." He was hardly twenty, when, one day,
one of his barons seeing him gnawing, with an air of abstraction and
dreaminess, a little green twig, said to his neighbors, "If any one could
tell me what the king is thinking of, I would give him my best horse."
Another of those present boldly asked the King. "I am thinking,"
answered Philip, "of a certain matter, and that is, whether God will
grant unto me or unto one of my heirs grace to exalt France to the height
at which she was in the time of Charlemagne."

It was not granted to Philip Augustus to resuscitate the Frankish empire
of Charlemagne, a work impossible for him or any one whatsoever in the
twelfth and thirteenth centuries; but he made the extension and
territorial construction of the kingdom of France the chief aim of his
life, and in that work he was successful. Out of the forty-three years
of his reign, twenty-six at the least were war-years, devoted to that
very purpose. During the first six, it was with some of his great French
vassals, the Count of Champagne, the Duke of Burgundy, and even the Count
of Flanders, sometime regent, that Philip had to do battle, for they all
sought to profit by his minority so as to make themselves independent and
aggrandize themselves at the expense of the crown; but, once in
possession of the personal power as well as the title of king, it was,
from 1187 to 1216, against three successive kings of England, Henry II.,
Richard Coeur de Lion, and John Lackland, masters of the most beautiful
provinces of France, that Philip directed his persistent efforts. They
were in respect of power, of political capacity and military popularity,
his most formidable foes. Henry II., what with his ripeness of age, his
ability, energy, and perseverance, without any mean jealousy or puerile
obstinacy, had over Philip every advantage of position and experience,
and he availed himself thereof with discretion, habitually maintain