Philip of Aunay

Philip of Aunay or of Aulnay (Philippe d'Aunay or d'Aulnay) (c. 1290/93 – Pontoise, (19 April 1314), was a Norman knight implicated in a French royal scandal known as the Tour de Nesle affair. Biography In the court of Philip IV of France, Philip of Aunay was the equerry to the king's younger brother Charles, Count of Valois, and his older brother Walter of Aunay (also known as Gautier) was equerry to Philip, Count of Poitiers, the king's second son. Philip and Gautier were implicated in what would later be known as the Tour de Nesle affair, in which the king's three daughters-in-law were accused of adultery. Philip was accused of adultery with Margaret of Burgundy, wife of the king's eldest son Louis de Navarre, and Gautier was linked to Blanche of Burgundy, wife of the king's youngest son Charles, Count of La Marche. The brothers were tortured at the Place du Grand Martroy in Pontoise. Both confessed to adultery and were found guilty, therefore, of lèse-majesté. They were beaten and skinned alive, emasculated, covered in boiling lead sulfite, then decapitated, dragged through the streets, and hanged on the gallows, decaying over weeks. Family Philip was the younger son of Walter V of Aunay (who died after 1318/c. 1325), who was lord of Moussy-le-Neuf and of Grand-Moulin. His two brothers were Walter of Aunay (also known as Gautier) and Walter of Aunay the Young, lord of Savigny who had two sons: Reginald and Perceval of Aunay. Philip was married to Agnes of Montmorency, granddaughter of Matthew III of Montmorency: