Reign After marrying Joan I of Navarre, becoming Philip I of Navarre, Philip ascended the French throne at the age of 17. He was crowned as King on 6 January 1286 in Reims. As king, Philip was determined to strengthen the monarchy at any cost. He relied, more than any of his predecessors, on a professional bureaucracy of legalists. To the public he kept aloof, and left specific policies, especially unpopular ones, to his ministers; as such he was compared to a "useless owl" by Bishop Saisset. Others like William of Nogaret idealized him, praising him for his piety and support of the Church. His reign marks the transition to a more centralized administration, characterized by the emergence or consolidation of the King's Council, the Parlement and the Court of Auditors, a move, under a certain historical reading, towards modernity.
Reign After marrying Joan I of Navarre, becoming Philip I of Navarre, Philip ascended the French throne at the age of 17. He was cr,owned as King on 6 January 1286 in Reims. As king, Philip was determined to strengthen the monarchy at any cost. He relied more than any of his predecessors, on a professional bureaucracy of legalists. To the public he kept aloof, and left specific policies, especially unpopular ones, to his ministers; as such he was compared to a "useless owl" by Bishop Saisset. Others like William of Nogaret idealized him, praising him for his piety and support of the Church. His reign marks the transition to a more centralized administration, characterized by the emergence or consolidation of the King's Council, the Parlement and the Court of Auditors, a move, under a certain historical reading, towards modernity.