Pierre Flote

Pierre Flote († July 11, 1302 in the Battle of the Spurs near Kortrijk ) was one of the most famous lawyers from the reign of King Philip IV. Born in the Dauphiné in the middle of the 13th century , he was the confidante of the Dauphin Humbert from 1283 to 1291 I. of Viennois .

In 1294, during the Franco-English conflict , he was the negotiator for Philip IV in Gascony. In 1296 he was accepted into the royal council, from which he organized the French fight against the pope . With his decretal Clericis laicos Boniface VIII had reminded the king of the papal approval of the investiture of the bishops. At the instigation of Flote and other lawyers, Philip IV then prohibited the export of gold and silver from the kingdom, which robbed the Pope of a large part of his income. Boniface VIII thereupon withdrew the decisions from Clericis laicos with the bull Romana mater ecclesia .

In 1297 , Pierre Flote was appointed keeper of the seals of France , which at that time corresponded to the office of Chancellor of France .

The conflict with Rome flared up again in 1301 when the king had the bishop of Pamiers , Bernard Saisset arrested, charged with high treason and convicted. A new bull, Ausculta filii , once again declared the primacy of the clerical over the secular and denied the king the right to try a member of the French clergy. Again, it was Pierre Flote who organized the royal response. He called the barons, prelates and citizens to the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris for April 1302 , what is considered by some historians to be the first meeting of the Estates-General in history. There he summarized the papal bull in six sentences, including: "We want you to know that you are subject to us both in the clergy and in the secular", and then had the anti-papal policy of the king confirmed, also by the ecclesiastical Dignitaries, whose approval, however, was much more cautious.

Three months later, Pierre Flote was killed in the Spore Battle near Kortrijk . His task as a political strategist towards Rome was taken over by Guillaume de Nogaret .

Boniface VIII said to Pierre Flote shortly after the meeting in Notre-Dame: “This is the devil or someone possessed by the devil. God has already punished him by blinding his body (Flute was one-eyed) as his spirit is blind. Pierre Flote, a man full of poison and gall, is to be chastised and condemned as a heretic. He is the downfall of his own brother. He is an advisor to the king and since then the king and the kingdom have done nothing but damage their relationship with the Church. "

literature

• Jean Favier : Philippe le Bel. Fayard, Paris 1978.