Philip IV, also known as Philip the Fair, was the king of France from 1285 to 1314, and became the king of Navarre and the count of Champagne through his marriage to Joan I of Navarre. During his rule as the king of France, for nearly 3 decades, Philip and his advisors played a key role in transforming the nation from a feudal country to a centralized state. While ruling, he would rely on skilled civil servants instead of nobles. He remained influential in European affairs and aimed at making his relatives rule foreign kingdoms. Although he managed to place princes from his house to the thrones of Hungary and Naples, he failed in case of the Holy Roman Emperor. He expanded France eastward, through the control of scattered fiefs. Two of his notable victories were in the Anglo–French War (1294–1303) and the Franco–Flemish War (1297 and 1305). He was deeply in debt to the order of the ‘Knights Templar’ and to the Jews and completely destroyed the former and expelled the latter. His final year was marked with the royal family scandal called the ‘Tour de Nesle’ affair. His eldest son, Louis X, succeeded him as the king of France.