, a Greek wine-mixing vessel found in the
Vix Grave of the second Duchy of Burgundy and later of the province The first recorded inhabitants of the area that was to become Burgundy were various tribes of
Gallic Celts, the most prominent of which were the semi-republican
Aedui, who were eventually incorporated into the
Roman Empire following the Gaulish defeat in the
Battle of Alesia.
Gallo-Roman culture flourished during the Roman period. During the 4th century, the
Burgundians, a
Germanic people who may have originated on the Baltic island of
Bornholm, settled in the western Alps. They founded the
Kingdom of the Burgundians, which was conquered in the 6th century by another Germanic tribe, the
Franks. Under Frankish dominion, the
Kingdom of Burgundy continued for several centuries. The modern Burgundy encompasses only the north-western parts of the ancient
Kingdom of the Burgundians, which had a much wider territorial scope. In 843, under the
Treaty of Verdun, the old Burgundian lands were divided, with the north-western regions being assigned to the
West Frankish Kingdom. Since the beginning of the 10th century, those regions were organized as the
Duchy of Burgundy, remaining under the sovereignty of the
Kingdom of France. Since 1004, the
House of Burgundy, a cadet branch of the French royal
House of Capet, ruled over the duchy, which roughly conformed to the borders and territory of the later administrative region of Burgundy. Upon the extinction of the Burgundian male line, the duchy reverted to the
King of France and the
House of Valois. Later, the region was divided between the
Duchy of Burgundy (to the west) and the
Free County of Burgundy (to the east). The Duchy of Burgundy is the better known of the two, later becoming the French
Province of Burgundy, while the County of Burgundy became the French province of
Franche-Comté. Burgundy's modern existence is rooted in the dissolution of the
Frankish Empire. In the 880s, there were four Burgundies: the
Duchy, the
County, and the kingdoms of
Upper Burgundy and
Lower Burgundy. During the
Middle Ages, Burgundy was home to some of the most important Western churches and
monasteries, including those of
Cluny,
Cîteaux, and
Vézelay. Cluny, founded in 910, exerted a strong influence in Europe for centuries. The first
Cistercian abbey was founded in 1098 in Cîteaux. Over the next century, hundreds of Cistercian abbeys were founded throughout Europe, in a large part due to the charisma and influence of
Bernard of Clairvaux. The
Abbey of Fontenay, a
UNESCO World Heritage Site, is today the best-preserved Cistercian abbey in Burgundy. The Abbey of Vézelay, also a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is still a starting point for pilgrimages to
Santiago de Compostela. Cluny was almost totally destroyed during the French Revolution. During the
Hundred Years' War, King
John II of France gave the duchy to his youngest son,
Philip the Bold. The duchy soon became a major rival to the crown. The court in
Dijon outshone the French court both economically and culturally. Phillip the Bold's grandson
Philip the Good acquired
Namur,
Hainaut,
Brabant, and
Holland in modern
Belgium and the
Netherlands. Following the marriage of
Philip of Valois and
Margaret III of Flanders, the Duchy of Burgundy was integrated into the emerging Valois-Burgundian State, alongside parts of the
Low Countries which would become collectively known as the
Burgundian Netherlands. Upon further acquisitions of the
Free County of Burgundy and various other domains, the
House of Valois-Burgundy came into possession of numerous French and imperial fiefs stretching from the western Alps to the North Sea, in some ways reminiscent of the old
Middle Frankish realm of
Lotharingia. The Valois-Burgundian State, in its own right, was one of the largest
composite polities that existed in western Europe during the late medieval era. It was regarded as one of the major regional powers of the 14th and 15th centuries. The
Dukes of Burgundy were among the wealthiest and the most powerful princes in Europe and were sometimes called "Grand Dukes of the West". Through its possessions the Burgundian State was a major European centre of trade and commerce. The extinction of the dynasty in the late 15th century led to the absorption of the Duchy itself into the French crown lands by king
Louis XI, while the bulk of the Burgundian possessions in the Low Countries passed to Duke
Charles the Bold's daughter,
Mary, and her Habsburg descendants. Thus 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. In 1477, at the
battle of Nancy during the
Burgundian Wars, the last duke
Charles the Bold was killed in battle, and the Duchy itself was annexed by France and became a province. However, the northern part of the empire was taken by the
Austrian Habsburgs.
Province of Burgundy From 1482 until 1790, the former Duchy of Burgundy was one of the provinces of France. It was thus the
Province of Burgundy. During this time some areas that had previously been under the control of the
Savoyard state were brought under the control of France and added to the province of Burgundy. During the early modern period, the Duchy of Burgundy was assigned as an
appanage to various members of the French royal dynasty. As a result of later administrative reforms during the republican era, the old Burgundian
province was abolished and divided into several
departments. With the French Revolution at the end of the 18th century, the administrative units of the provinces disappeared, but were reconstituted as regions during the
Fifth Republic in the 1970s. The modern-day administrative region comprises most of the former duchy. In 2016, Burgundy and the historical region of
Franche-Comté merged for administrative purposes into the new
region of
Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. == Geography ==