Battle of Bouvines in the context of "Otto IV, Holy Roman Emperor"

Philip II (21 August 1165 – 14 July 1223), also known as Philip Augustus (French: Philippe Auguste), was King of France from 1180 to 1223. His predecessors had been known as kings of the Franks (Latin: rex Francorum), but from 1190 onward, Philip became the first French monarch to style himself "King of France" (rex Francie). The son of King Louis VII and his third wife, Adela of Champagne, he was originally nicknamed 'God-given' (Dieudonné) because he was a first son and born late in his father's life. Philip was given the epithet "Augustus" by the chronicler Rigord for having extended the crown lands of France so remarkably.

After decades of conflicts with the House of Plantagenet, Philip succeeded in putting an end to the Angevin Empire by defeating a coalition of his rivals at the Battle of Bouvines in 1214. This victory would have a lasting impact on western European politics: the authority of the French king became unchallenged, while John, King of England, was forced by his barons to assent to Magna Carta and deal with a rebellion against him aided by Philip's son Louis, the First Barons' War. The military actions surrounding the Albigensian Crusade helped prepare the expansion of France southward. Philip did not participate directly in these actions, but he allowed his vassals and knights to help carry them out.

The Angevin Empire (/ˈændʒɪvɪn/; French: Empire Plantagenêt) was the collection of territories held by the House of Plantagenet during the 12th and 13th centuries, when they ruled over an area covering roughly all of present-day England, half of France, and parts of Ireland and Wales, and claiming overlordship and some influence over the remaining parts of Wales, Scotland and Ireland. It may be described as an early example of a composite monarchy. The empire was established by Henry II of England, who succeeded his father Geoffrey as duke of Normandy and count of Anjou (from the latter of which the term Angevin is derived). Henry married Eleanor of Aquitaine in 1152, acquiring the Duchy of Aquitaine, and inherited his mother Empress Matilda's claim to the English throne, succeeding his rival Stephen in 1154. Although their title of highest rank came from the Kingdom of England, the Plantagenets held court primarily on the continent at Angers in Anjou and at Chinon in Touraine.

The influence and power of the Angevin kings of England brought them into conflict with the kings of France of the House of Capet, to whom they also owed feudal homage for their French possessions, bringing in a period of rivalry between the dynasties. Despite the extent of Angevin rule, Henry's son King John was defeated in the Anglo-French War (1213–1214) by Philip II of France following the Battle of Bouvines. John lost control of most of his continental possessions, apart from Guyenne and Gascony in southern Aquitaine. This defeat set the scene for further conflicts between England and France, leading up to the Hundred Years' War (1337–1453), in which the Plantagenets re-established dominion over much of western, central, and northern France before losing their possessions again, this time permanently.

The Anglo-French War was a major medieval conflict that pitted the Kingdom of France against the Kingdom of England and various other states. It was fought in an attempt to curb the rising power of King Philip II of France and regain the Angevin continental possessions King John of England lost to him a decade earlier. It is widely regarded as the first anti-French coalition war and came to an end at the decisive Battle of Bouvines at which Philip defeated England and its allies.

The Duchy of Normandy, once a site of conflict between Richard I of England and Philip II, grew to be one of the hot spots of medieval Anglo-French wars as the King of England had to defend a continental holding that was so close to Paris. In 1202, Philip II launched an invasion of Normandy that culminated in the six-month Siege of Château Gaillard, which led to the conquest of the duchy and of neighbouring territories.

The Battle of Muret (Occitan: Batalha de Murèth), fought on 12 September 1213 near Muret, 25 km (16 mi) south of Toulouse, was the last major battle of the Albigensian Crusade and one of the most notable pitched battles of the Middle Ages. Although estimates of the sizes of the respective armies vary considerably even among distinguished modern historians, it is most well known for a small force of French knights and crusaders commanded by Simon de Montfort the Elder defeating a much larger allied army led by King Peter II of Aragon and Count Raymond VI of Toulouse.

Like Hastings and Bouvines, Muret is regarded as one of the most decisive tactical victories of the High Middle Ages and a much more complete victory than the first two. It showed Montfort had no equal as a battlefield commander, having now after his previous exploits defeated, against all odds, a man whose status as a sovereign king, general and crusader matched or exceeded the Frenchman's own reputation. Charles Oman described the battle as the most remarkable triumphs ever won by a force entirely composed of cavalry over an enemy that used both horse and foot.