The former Frankish
Kingdom of Burgundy had been divided into an
East and
West Frankish part by the 843
Treaty of Verdun. While the eastern part evolved to the
Kingdom of Burgundy-Arles that included the
Free County of Burgundy and was incorporated into the
Holy Roman Empire in 1032, the western
Duchy of Burgundy, established about 918 by
Richard the Justiciar, became a
fief of the French royal
House of Capet under King
Robert II in 1002. To meet the demands of the Burgundian nobles for autonomy, King Robert installed his second son
Henry as
Duke of Burgundy about 1016, a title that passed to his younger brother
Robert I and his descendants after Henry had succeeded his father as
King of France in 1031. 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. In January 1362,
John II of France had appointed Henri of Bar, Lord of
Pierrefort, as the initial governor, but as early as January 25, 1362, John appointed John of Melun, Count of
Tancarville as governor of Burgundy. John then passed the duchy to his youngest son
Philip as an
apanage in 1363. '', late 14th century
Philip the Bold ruled as Duke Philip II of Burgundy from 1363 to 1404. In 1369 he himself married the widowed Margaret of Dampierre, and when his father-in-law Count Louis II of Flanders died in 1384, he succeeded him not only in the French counties of
Flanders,
Artois,
Rethel, and
Nevers, but also in the
Free County of Burgundy, becoming a direct vassal of the
Holy Roman Emperor. The next year he arranged the double wedding of his son and heir
John the Fearless with
Margaret of Wittelsbach, daughter of Duke
Albert I of Bavaria-Straubing and sister of Prince
William II of Bavaria, who himself married Philip's daughter
Margaret. Already upon the death of King
Charles V of France in 1380, Philip together with Duke
Louis I of Anjou and Duke
John of Berry had acted as regent for his minor son King
Charles VI. As Charles VI suffered from increasing mental derangement in 1392, Philip tried to spread his influence across the French kingdom, which met with the fierce resistance by the king's younger brother Duke
Louis I of Orléans. Raised in
Flanders, Duke John the Fearless succeeded his father in 1404 and unified the heritage of his mother Margaret of Dampierre with the Burgundian duchy. Ceding the French counties of
Nevers and Rethel to his younger brothers
Philip II and
Anthony, he began a skilful see-saw policy to create a scope for free action while the French lands were ravaged by the Hundred Years' War against the
Kingdom of England. Like his father he quarrelled with his Valois cousin Louis I of Orléans, whom he had
assassinated in 1407. The remaining tensions with the Orléans liensmen led to the French
Armagnac–Burgundian Civil War, whereby Duke John allied with King
Henry V of England and in 1418
occupied Paris, but was lured into an
ambush to ally with
Dauphin Charles against the English and
murdered by the
Armagnac leader
Tanneguy III du Chastel the next year. 1465–1477 John's son
Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy from 1419, renewed his father's alliance with King Henry V of England when he signed the
Treaty of Troyes in 1420 against the French
Dauphin Charles. He first concentrated on enlarging the
Burgundian territories, acquiring the succession in the Imperial
County of Namur in 1421 (with effect from 1429) and succeeding his cousin Duke
Philip of Saint-Pol in the Imperial duchies of
Brabant and
Limburg. He also secured the
Bavaria-Straubing heritage of his mother Margaret of Wittelsbach and his uncle Duke
John III of Bavaria-Straubing, when finally in 1433 the last Straubing heiress
Jacqueline ceded the Imperial counties of
County of Hainaut (
Hennegau),
Zeeland, and
Holland, as well as
Frisia to him. By the 1435
Congress of Arras Duke Philip acknowledged the rule of King Charles VII of France and in turn reached the formal independence of the Burgundian lands from the French Crown. In 1441 he also purchased the
Duchy of Luxembourg from the last duchess regnant
Elisabeth of Görlitz. The Valois-Burgundy duke
Charles the Bold, ideal picture of a
knightly duke, wore himself out in armed conflicts. With the acquisition of
Guelders, the
Burgundian Netherlands reached their greatest extent. Charles' plans to accomplish the rise of his dynasty peaked in the negotiations with the
Habsburg emperor Frederick III about his elevation to a "King of Burgundy" and the marriage of his daughter
Mary to Frederick's son Archduke
Maximilian of Austria. Enraged at the reluctance of the emperor, Charles started the unsuccessful
Siege of Neuss in 1474 and became involved in the
Burgundian Wars against the
Duchy of Lorraine and the
Old Swiss Confederacy. In consequence, Mary acceded the Burgundian crown when Charles was killed in the 1477 Battle of Nancy. The Burgundian heritage eventually passed to the Habsburg archduke Maximilian, who married Mary of Burgundy seven months after her father's death and could ward off the claims raised by King
Louis XI of France in the 1479
Battle of Guinegate. The French king could only seize the
Duchy of Burgundy proper,
Artois, and the former Burgundian fiefs in
Picardy. The House of Habsburg abruptly rose to a royal dynasty of European scale, however, at the price of the centuries-long
France–Habsburg rivalry. ==Dukes of Burgundy (1361–1482)==