Philip IV of France

About Philip IV of France

Philip IV of France (1268–1314), known as Philip the Fair, was a central political figure during the High Middle Ages, securing the #626 rank in historical importance. His reign was defined by a determined effort to centralize royal power, often at the expense of feudal lords and the Church. His most notable and enduring actions include the violent suppression of the Knights Templar in 1307, confiscating their assets to fund the monarchy, and his protracted conflict with Pope Boniface VIII, which ultimately led to the Papacy moving to Avignon. These events fundamentally altered the relationship between French kings and the spiritual authority of Rome.

Despite this significant historical weight, Philip IV's modern internet attention appears commensurate with his importance, showing a near-perfect alignment. He registered 384K Wikipedia views in 2025, resulting in an attention gap of only about 1x relative to his HPI rank. For contrast, David Ben-Gurion, ranked #986 but with 965K views, receives significantly more attention despite a lower historical rank. Meanwhile, William the Conqueror, ranked #934, commands an astonishing 3.0M views, highlighting a substantial attention surplus for that contemporary era ruler.

Philip IV is experiencing slight growth in online interest, evidenced by an 11.7% year-over-year increase in pageviews, suggesting a slow but steady relevance in contemporary digital searches. The modest +1% momentum from Q1 to Q3 in 2025 suggests this interest is currently stable.