The Burgundian StateB. Schnerb, L'État bourguignon, 1999 ( ; ) was a composite monarchy ruled by the Dukes of Burgundy from the late 14th to the late 15th centuries, and which ultimately comprised not only the Duchy and County of Burgundy but also the Burgundian Netherlands. The latter, acquired piecemeal over time and largely through inheritance, became substantial and a principal source of wealth for the state. The Dukes were members of the House of Valois-Burgundy, a cadet branch of the French royal House of Valois, and the complex of territories they ruled is sometimes referred to as Valois Burgundy.R. Vaughan, Valois Burgundy, 1975 The term "Burgundian State" was coined by historians and was not in contemporary use; the polity remained a collection of separate duchies and counties in personal union under the Duke of Burgundy.
It is regarded as one of the major powers in Europe of the 15th century. The Dukes of Burgundy were among the wealthiest and the most powerful princes in Europe and were sometimes called "Grand Dukes of the West".E. Doudet, "Le surnom du prince: la construction de la mémoire historique par un Rhétoriqueur", Questes, no 2, 2002, pp. 6–7 Including the thriving regions of Flanders and Brabant, the Burgundian State was a major centre of trade and commerce and a focal point of courtly culture that set the fashion for European royal houses and their courts.A. van Oosterwijk, Staging the Court of Burgundy (Studies in Medieval and Early Renaissance Art History), 2013 It nearly turned into a kingdom in its own right, but Charles the Bold's early death at the Battle of Nancy put an end to his Lotharingian dream and his legacy passed to the House of Habsburg through the marriage of his daughter Mary to Maximilian of Austria. Meanwhile Picardy and the Duchy of Burgundy were conquered by the King of France.
The partition of the Burgundian heritage marked the beginning of the centuries-long French–Habsburg rivalry and played a pivotal role in European politics long after Burgundy had lost its role as an independent political identity. With the abdication of Emperor Charles V in 1555, the Burgundian Netherlands passed to the Spanish Empire of King Philip II. During the Dutch Revolt, or the Eighty Years' War (1568–1648), the northern provinces of the Low Countries gained their independence from Spanish rule and formed the Dutch Republic (now the Netherlands). The southern provinces remained under Spanish rule until the 18th century and became known as the Spanish Netherlands, or Southern Netherlands (corresponding roughly to present day Belgium, Luxembourg and northern Hauts-de-France).
Historical concept The notion of a "Burgundian State" was coined in the 19th century by the Belgian historian Henri Pirenne in his Histoire de Belgique to describe what he saw as the precursor of the Belgian state.For an English account, H. Pirenne, "The Formation and Constitution of the Burgundian State (Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries)", The American Historical Review, Vol. 14, No. 3 (Apr. 1909), pp. 477–502 In his nationalist view, the Dukes of Burgundy were the creators of a Burgundian or Belgian nation. The Dutch historian Johan Huizinga reused the concept out of convenience at the beginning of the 20th century. In 1999, popularised the expression in France with a monograph named The Burgundian State.
That use is, however, controversial among historians.Jean-Marie Cauchies, "État bourguignon ou États bourguignons? De la singularité d’un pluriel", in: P.C.M. Hoppenbrouwers, Antheun Janse et Robert Stein, Power and Persuasion, Essays on the Art of State Building in Honour of W.P. Blockmans, 2010, pp. 49–58 Though he used it, Huizinga noted that the "Burgundian State" was a creation of modern historiography and was not an entity that its contemporaries recognised.Marc Boone, "Yet another failed state?", in: Peter Arnade (ed.), Rereading Huizinga: Autumn of the Middle Ages, a Century Later, 2019. Many historians, especially historians of law, Belgian and Dutch historians, argue that legally speaking, the lands of the dukes formed a collection of princely estates, rather than an actual state. As such, they call those lands "Valois Burgundy", "Burgundian states", "Great Principality of Burgundy",E. Lecuppre-Desjardin, "Burgundian History: a mirror of European venture?", 2017 "Burgundian Union"R. Stein, Magnanimous Dukes and Rising States: The Unification of the Burgundian Netherlands, 1380–1480, 2017 or "Burgundian Commonwealth".J. Boulton, "The Order of the Golden Fleece and the Creation of Burgundian National Identity", in: The Ideology of Burgundy: The Promotion of National Consciousness, 1364–1565, 2006
Indeed, the Burgundian State remained a personal union of territories constituting a "composite monarchy" rather than a state. The provinces shared no common legislation, although the dukes created common institutions. At the time, there was no name to describe the territorial complex otherwise than "the lands and estates of the duke of Burgundy". The last dukes of the Valois dynasty, however, tried to rally the various populations around symbols such as the Cross of Burgundy and the Order of the Golden Fleece. Under Charles the Bold, who wanted to create a kingdom of his own, propaganda insisted that the Belgae were the common ancestors for all of his lands. The Leo Belgicus appeared after that to symbolise the unity of the Low Countries.
Furthermore, the Burgundian State was not a de jure sovereign state. The dukes of Burgundy were nominal vassals of either the king of France or the Holy Roman Emperor, even if they acted as sovereigns. The authority of the emperor was highly hypothetical, but in most of their French fiefs, for instance, their judgements could be challenged before the Parlement of Paris. Charles the Bold created the Parliament of Mechelen to avoid this.
Following Johan Huizinga, Marc Boone and Wim Blockmans ironically concluded that a true Burgundian State existed only from the loss of the Duchy of Burgundy and the extinction of the Burgundian dynasty to the Dutch Revolt.Wim Blockmans and Walter Prevenier, The Promised Lands. The Low Countries Under Burgundian Rule, 1369–1530, 1999
History
Origins
The Capetian House of Burgundy became extinct when Duke Philip I died in 1361, before he was able to consummate the marriage with Margaret of Dampierre, heiress of Count Louis II of Flanders. On 28 December 1361 John II of France, the second Valois king, successfully claimed the duchy. The duchy did not merge into the royal domain; it remained a distinct feudal entity, with the Burgundian estates firmly opposing annexation.
In January 1362, John II of France had appointed Henri of Bar, Lord of Pierrefort, as the initial governor, but as early as 25 January 1362, John appointed John of Melun, Count of Tancarville as governor of Burgundy. He later decided to give it as a fief to his youngest son, known as Philip the Bold, who was officially recognized as Duke of Burgundy and First Peer of France on 2 June 1364.
The same year, Edmund of Langley, son of Edward III of England, became engaged to Margaret of Flanders, daughter of the Count Louis II of Flanders and heiress to Flanders, Artois, Rethel, Nevers and the Free County of Burgundy. King Charles V of France could not let this marriage happen. Since Edmund and Margaret were cousins, they needed a papal dispensation to marry, which Pope Urban V refused them because of lobbying by Charles, who wanted to marry Margaret to his younger brother, Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy. The Count of Flanders, eager for an alliance, agreed to marry his daughter and heir presumptive to Philip.
The marriage took place on 19 June 1369 in Ghent, and from then Philip was closely associated to the reign of his father-in-law, helping him to crush the Flemish at the Battle of Roosebeke. Louis of Flanders died soon after, on 30 January 1384: Philip became Count consort of Flanders, Artois, Rethel, Nevers and Burgundy. Peace was officially restored in Flanders by the Peace of Tournai in 1385. Also in 1385, the offices of Chancellor of Burgundy and of Chancellor of Flanders were merged, and in 1386 two Chambers of Accounts were created: the first one in Lille for his northern possessions, the other one in Dijon for his southern possessions. These were the first step in the centralization of power.
Philip carried out an ambitious matrimonial policy that turned to the east: his first son John married Margaret of Bavaria, and his daughters Margaret and Catherine of Burgundy married, respectively, William, Count of Hainaut, Holland and Zeeland, and Leopold IV, Duke of Austria. His last son Anthony married Jeanne of Saint-Pol, daughter of Waleran III of Luxembourg.
From French vassals to rivals of the Valois Kings
During the reigns of Philip the Bold and his son John the Fearless, loyalty to the king of France remained strong, and serving the kingdom was a significant duty. During the minority of his nephew, King Charles VI, Philip took part in the "government of the uncles": he was regent alongside his brothers Louis I, Duke of Anjou, and John, Duke of Berry, and Louis II, Duke of Bourbon. Charles VI took power for himself in 1388, aged 19, only to give it back four years later, when he showed his first signs of madness. From then, the King was considered mad and the Duke of Burgundy effectively had power, although Louis I, Duke of Orléans, gained more and more power and Philip's influence diminished.J. B. Henneman, Olivier de Clisson and Political Society in France Under Charles V and Charles VI, 1996
Philip died in 1404 and John the Fearless succeeded him. His main goal was to regain power over the regency by excluding Louis of Orléans. Louis was very unpopular: he wanted to resume war with the English and was rumoured to have had an affair with Queen Isabeau. Both men were constantly hampering each other, until John finally decided to kill his enemy. Louis of Orléans was murdered on 23 November 1407 in the streets of Paris. It was the beginning of the Armagnac–Burgundian Civil War. The Duke of Burgundy was in power until 1413, when the Armagnacs took Paris. When Henry V of England resumed the war, John of Burgundy remained neutral and avoided the French defeat at Agincourt. He took Paris back in 1418 and had control over the King, but Charles, the Dauphin of France, an Armagnac partisan, escaped. He later took the lead of the Armagnac party. In 1419, parleys took place: the Armagnac and the Burgundian parties were close to find peace at last, but on 10 September 1419, during a parley between the Duke and the Dauphin on the bridge at Montereau, John the Fearless was murdered in turn.
Seeking revenge, the new 23-year-old duke of Burgundy, Philip, later known as Philip the Good, agreed to ally with the English. As regent, he made King Charles sign the Treaty of Troyes, which disinherited his son in favor of Henry V of England, who was to marry Catherine of Valois, uniting the Houses of France and England. But Henry died in August 1422, followed two months later by Charles. Henry VI, King of France and England, was just a baby, and the regency was assumed by John, Duke of Bedford. The Anglo-Burgundian alliance won many major victories, and controlled a large part of France. However, Joan of Arc came and changed the course of the war, allowing Charles VII of France to be crowned in Reims on July 1429. Joan of Arc was later captured by the Burgundians and handed over to the English.
In 1435, the Congress of Arras took place and ended in a reconciliation between Burgundy and France. Duke Philip the Good recognized Charles VII as King of France, and Charles recognized the Burgundian territorial acquisitions. Philip was personally exempted from pledging homage to the King.
Territorial expansion
After 1435, Philip the Good was no longer interested in the French affairs, and ruled his own territories as their sovereign.