Philip III (1 May 1245 – 5 October 1285), called the Bold[a] (French: le Hardi), was King of France from 1270 until his death in 1285.

Philip inherited numerous territorial lands during his reign, the most notable being the County of Toulouse, which was annexed to the royal domain in 1271.

With the Treaty of Orléans, he expanded French influence into the Kingdom of Navarre and following the death of his brother Peter during the Sicilian Vespers, the County of Alençon was returned to the crown lands.

Initially successful, Philip, his army racked with sickness, was forced to retreat and died from dysentery in Perpignan in 1285 at the age of 40.

[5] Philip's mother Margaret made him promise to remain under her tutelage until the age of 30; however, Pope Urban IV released him from this oath on 6 June 1263.

[6] From that moment on, Pierre de la Broce, a royal favourite and household official of Louis IX, was Philip's mentor.

Shortly before his departure, Louis IX had given the regency of the kingdom into the hands of Mathieu de Vendôme and Simon II, Count of Clermont, to whom he had also entrusted the royal seal.

[32] The following year, Roger-Bernard III, Count of Foix, invaded the County of Toulouse, killed several royal officials,[32] and captured the town of Sombuy.

[32] Philip and his army arrived at Toulouse on 25 May 1272,[32] and on 1 June at Boulbonne met James I of Aragon, who attempted to mediate the issue, but this was rejected by Roger-Bernard.

[39] The Navarrese populace, unhappy with the pro-French treaty and French governors, formed two rebellious factions, one pro-Castilian, the other pro-Aragonese.

[40] Philip arrived in Bearn in November 1276 with another army, by which time Robert had pacified the situation and extracted oaths of homage from Navarrese nobles and castellans.

[46] Philip's brother, Peter, Count of Perche, who had joined Charles to suppress the rebellion, was killed in Reggio Calabria.

[48] Philip, at the urging of his wife, Marie of Brabant, and his uncle, Charles of Naples, launched a war against the Kingdom of Aragon.

[49] The war took the name "Aragonese Crusade" from its papal sanction; nevertheless, one historian labelled it "perhaps the most unjust, unnecessary and calamitous enterprise ever undertaken by the Capetian monarchy.

The French had started a withdrawal when the Aragonese attacked and easily defeated the former at the Battle of the Col de Panissars on 1 October.

Following the mos Teutonicus custom, his body was divided in several parts, each buried in different places; the flesh was sent to the Narbonne Cathedral, the entrails to La Noë Abbey in Normandy, his heart to the now-demolished Church of the Couvent des Jacobins in Paris and his bones to Basilica of Saint-Denis, north of Paris.

[64] In the Divine Comedy, the Italian poet Dante envisions the spirit of Philip outside the gates of Purgatory with a number of other contemporary European rulers.