Philip IV and Boniface VIII: A Struggle for Sovereignty In the year 1296, the two swords of temporal and spiritual power finally clashed. Two great men, Philip IV of France and Pope Boniface VIII, were determined to maintain complete dominance of their respective domains. Neither one, of course, could maintain ultimate sovereignty if the boundaries of their domains were to overlap. The issue of the churches in France falling within both realms of control remained of little consequence until Boniface VIII made clear the need of papal permission before secular rulers, including Philip IV, could tax clergy within their own lands (Lowry). Philip IV, in desperate need of funds for his war with Edward I, challenged and fought this doctrine of church …show more content…
He still sees it as an unjust violation of his supreme power and commands the churches in France to immediately stop its paying of taxes. Philip responds quickly by arresting and trying the French Bishop of Pamiers, attempting to remind Boniface VIII of his temporal power over spiritual matters. Concerned that Philip IV has taken these seemingly absurd actions under poor advisement, Boniface VIII sends Philip a private bull “Ausculta Fili.” By ecclesiastical law, bishops may not be tried by anyone but the pope himself, so Philip’s actions were clearly unacceptable (Ladner). Boniface tells him this in the bulls and also shows genuine worry that he fears poor advisement might have been what was leading Philip away from the church. Further, the real bull supposedly made even more concessions, not demanding that Philip obey everything but at least try to come to some sort of truce with the church. Naturally, of course, the bull itself was burned and so all of this is really but historical conjecture (Lowry). It seems that Boniface was right to question Philips’s advisors because those councilors later put together forged documents which made Boniface appear as a power hungry monster. However, there is some evidence to suggest Philip preferred this fiction as it gave him an excuse to take even more control away from the church. Given Boniface had so quickly made major concessions with the bulls “Clericis Laicos” and “Etsi de Statu,” it likely seemed a good idea to Philip to fight for even more