Tour de Nesle Affair

The Tour de Nesle Affair was a scandal amongst the French royal family in 1314, during which the three daughters-in-law of King Philip IV of France were accused of adultery, the accusations apparently started by Philip's only daughter, Isabella, Queen of England. The Tour de Nesle was a tower in Paris where much of the adultery was said to have occurred. The scandal led to torture, executions and imprisonments, with lasting consequences for the final years of the Capetian dynasty.

The royal scandal occurred at the end of the difficult reign of Philip IV, known as "le Bel" (the Fair) because of his good looks. Philip IV was a strangely unemotional man; the contemporary bishop of Pamiers described him as "neither a man nor a beast, but a statue"; modern historians have noted that he "cultivated a reputation for Christian kingship and showed few weaknesses of the flesh." Throughout his reign, Philip had attempted to build up the authority and prestige of the French crown, raising fresh revenues, creating new institutions of government, engaging in wars against his rivals, and on occasion challenging the authority of the Church. Just before the crisis broke, Philip had been engaged in the liquidation of the order of the Knights Templar in France. By 1314, however, he was financially overstretched and in an increasingly difficult domestic political situation, and some have suggested that his weakened position contributed to the subsequent royal crisis.

Philip IV had three sons, Louis, Philip and Charles. As was customary for the period, all three were married with an eye for political gain. Initially Philip had intended for Louis to marry Joan, the eldest daughter of Otto IV, Count of Burgundy, but in the end chose Margaret, the daughter of the Robert II, Duke of Burgundy, in 1305, and arranged for his middle son Philip to marry Joan in 1307. His youngest son Charles married Blanche, another of Otto's daughters, in 1308.

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