Charles I, Duke of Burgundy
Encyclopedia
Charles the Bold (10 November 1433 – 5 January 1477), baptised Charles Martin, was Duke of Burgundy
from 1467 to 1477. Known as Charles the Terrible to his enemies, he was the last Valois Duke of Burgundy
and his early death was a pivotal, if under-recognised, moment in European history.
After his death, his domains began an inevitable slide towards division between France and the Habsburgs (who through marriage to his heiress Mary
became his heirs). Neither side was satisfied with the results and the disintegration of the Burgundian state was a factor in most major wars in Western Europe for over two centuries.
, the son of Philip the Good and Isabella of Portugal. In his father's lifetime (1433–1467) he bore the title of Count of Charolais; afterwards, he assumed all of his father's titles, including that of "Grand Duke of the West". He was also made a Knight of the Golden Fleece just twenty days after his birth, being invested by Charles I, Count of Nevers
and the seigneur de Croÿ
.
He was brought up under the direction of the Seigneur d'Auxy
, and early showed great application to study and also to warlike exercises. His father's court was the most extravagant in Europe at the time, and a centre for arts and commerce. While he was growing up, Charles witnessed his father's efforts to unite his increasing dominions in a single state, and his own later efforts centered on continuing and securing his father's successes.
.
In 1440, at the age of seven, Charles was married to Catherine, daughter of Charles VII, the King of France
, and sister of the Dauphin (afterwards Louis XI
). She was five years older than her husband, and she died in 1446 at the age of 18. They had no children.
In 1454, at the age of 21, having been a widower for eight years, Charles married a second time. He wanted to marry a daughter of his distant cousin, the Duke of York
(sister of Kings Edward IV
and Richard III of England
), but under the Treaty of Arras (1435)
, he was required to marry only a French princess. His father chose Isabella of Bourbon
for him: she was the daughter of Philip the Good's sister, and a very distant cousin of Charles VII of France. Their daughter, Mary
, was Charles' only surviving child, and became heiress to all of the Burgundian domains. Isabella died in 1465.
Charles was on familiar terms with his brother-in-law, the Dauphin, when the latter was a refugee at the Court of Burgundy
from 1456 until Louis succeeded his father as King of France in 1461. But Louis began to pursue some of the same policies as his father; Charles viewed with chagrin Louis's later repurchase of the towns on the Somme
, which Louis's father had ceded in 1435 to Charles's father in the Treaty of Arras. When his own father's failing health enabled him to take into his hands the reins of government (which Philip relinquished to him completely by an act of 12 April 1465), he entered upon his lifelong struggle
against Louis XI, and became one of the principal leaders of the League of the Public Weal
.
For his third wife, Charles was offered the hand of Louis XI's daughter, Anne
; however, the wife he ultimately chose was Margaret of York
(who was his second cousin, they both being descended from John of Gaunt). With his father gone, and being no longer bound by the Treaty of Arras, Charles decided to ally himself with Burgundy's old ally England. Louis did his best to prevent or delay the marriage (even sending French ships to waylay Margaret as she sailed to Sluys), but in the summer of 1468 it was celebrated sumptuously at Bruges
, and Charles was made a Knight of the Garter. The couple had no children, but Margaret devoted herself to her stepdaughter Mary; and after Mary's death many years later, she kept Mary's two infant children as long as she was allowed. Margaret survived her husband, and was the only one of his wives to be Duchess of Burgundy, the first two wives having died before his accession and thus being known as Countesses of Charolais.
(13 July 1465), where he was wounded, but this neither prevented the King from re-entering Paris nor assured Charles a decisive victory. He succeeded, however, in forcing upon Louis the Treaty of Conflans
(4 October 1465), by which the King restored to him the towns on the Somme
, the counties of Boulogne
and Guînes
, and various other small territories. During the negotiations for the Treaty, his wife Isabella died suddenly at Les Quesnoy on 25 September, making a political marriage suddenly possible. As part of the treaty Louis promised him the hand of his infant daughter Anne, with Champagne
and Ponthieu
as dowry
, but no marriage took place.
In the meanwhile, Charles obtained the surrender of Ponthieu
. The revolt of Liège against his father and his brother in law, Louis of Bourbon
, the Prince-Bishop of Liège, and a desire to punish the town of Dinant
, intervened to divert his attention from the affairs of France. During the previous summer's wars, Dinant had celebrated a false rumour that Charles had been defeated at Montlhéry by burning him in effigy, and chanting that he was the bastard of Duchess Isabel and John of Heinsburg, the previous Bishop of Liege (d.1455). On 25 August 1466, Charles marched into Dinant, determined to avenge this slur on the honour of his mother, and sacked the city, killing every man, woman and child within; perhaps not surprisingly, he also successfully negotiated at the same time with the Bishopric of Liège
. After the death of his father, Philip the Good (15 June 1467), the Bishopric of Liège renewed hostilities, but Charles defeated them at Sint-Truiden
, and made a victorious entry into Liège, whose walls he dismantled and deprived the city of some of its privileges.
Alarmed by these early successes of the new Duke of Burgundy, and anxious to settle various questions relating to the execution of the treaty of Conflans, Louis requested a meeting with Charles and daringly placed himself in his hands at Péronne
. In the course of the negotiations the Duke was informed of a fresh revolt of the Bishopric of Liège
secretly fomented by Louis. After deliberating for four days how to deal with his adversary, who had thus maladroitly placed himself at his mercy, Charles decided to respect the parole he had given and to negotiate with Louis (October 1468), at the same time forcing him to assist in quelling the revolt. The town was carried by assault and the inhabitants were massacred, Louis not intervening on behalf of his former allies.
At the expiry of the one year's truce which followed the Treaty of Péronne
, the King accused Charles of treason
, cited him to appear before the parlement
, and seized some of the towns on the Somme (1471). The Duke retaliated by invading France with a large army, taking possession of Nesle
and massacring its inhabitants. He failed, however, in an attack on Beauvais
, and had to content himself with ravaging the country as far as Rouen
, eventually retiring without having attained any useful result.
and Italians
, and by developing his artillery
.
sold him the County of Ferrette
, the Landgraviate of Alsace
, and some other towns, reserving to himself the right to repurchase.
In 1472–1473, Charles bought the reversion of the Duchy of Guelders
(i.e. the right to succeed to it) from its duke, Arnold, whom he had supported against the rebellion of his son. Not content with being "the Grand Duke of the West," he conceived the project of forming a kingdom of Burgundy or Arles with himself as independent sovereign, and even persuaded Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III
to assent to crown him king at Trier
. The ceremony, however, did not take place owing to the Emperor's precipitate flight by night (September 1473), occasioned by his displeasure at the Duke's attitude. At the close of 1473, his duchy of Burgundy was anchored in France and extended to the edges of the Netherlands. Charles the Bold was now one of the wealthiest and most powerful nobles in Europe. His fortunes and landholdings rivaled those of many of the royal families.
(who was condemned by a special international tribunal and executed on 9 May 1474); and finally, with René II, Duke of Lorraine
, with whom he disputed the succession of Lorraine, the possession of which had united the two principal portions of Charles's territories— the County of Flanders
, the Low Countries
, the Duchy of Burgundy
and the County of Burgundy
. All these enemies, incited and supported as they were by Louis, were not long in joining forces against their common adversary.
Charles suffered a first rebuff in endeavouring to protect his kinsman, Rupprecht of the Palatinate
, Archbishop of Cologne, against his rebel subjects. He spent ten months (July 1474 – June 1475) besieging the little town of Neuss
on the Rhine (the Siege of Neuss
), but was compelled by the approach of a powerful imperial army to raise the siege. Moreover, the expedition he had persuaded his brother-in-law, the King of England, to undertake against Louis was stopped by the Treaty of Picquigny
(29 August 1475). He was more successful in Lorraine, where he seized Nancy (30 November 1475).
From Nancy he marched against the Swiss, hanging or drowning, in spite of their capitulation, the garrison of Grandson
, a possession of the Savoyard Jacques de Romont, a close ally of Charles, which the Confederates had invested shortly before. Some days later, on 2 March 1476, he was attacked before the village of Concise
by the confederate army in the Battle of Grandson
and suffered a shameful defeat, being compelled to flee with a handful of attendants, and leaving his artillery and an immense booty (including his silver bath) in the hands of the allies.
He succeeded in raising a fresh army of 30,000 men, with which he attacked Morat
, but he was again defeated by the Swiss army, assisted by the cavalry of the Duke of Lorraine (22 June 1476). On this occasion, and unlike the debacle at Grandson, little booty was lost, but Charles certainly lost about one third of his entire army, the unfortunate losers being pushed into the nearby lake where they were drowned or shot at while trying to swim to safety on the opposite shore. On 6 October Charles lost Nancy, which René re-entered.
(5 January 1477). He himself perished in the fight, his naked and disfigured body being discovered some days afterward frozen into the nearby river. Charles' head had been cleft in two by a halberd, lances were lodged in his stomach and loins, and his face had been so badly mutilated by wild animals that only his physician was able to identify him by his long fingernails and the old battle scars on his body.
Charles' battered body was initially buried in Nancy but in 1550, his great-grandson and heir, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V
, ordered it to be moved to the Church of Our Lady in Bruges, next to that of his daughter Mary. In 1562, Emperor Charles V's son and heir, King Philip II of Spain
, erected a splendid mausoleum in early renaissance style over his tomb, still extant. Excavations in 1979 positively identified the remains of Mary, in a lead coffin, but those of Charles were never found.
, as his heir; clearly her marriage would have enormous implications for the political balance of Europe. Both Louis and the Emperor had unmarried eldest sons; Charles had made some movements towards arranging a marriage between the Emperor's son, Maximilian, before his own death. Louis unwisely concentrated on seizing militarily the border territories, in particular the Duchy of Burgundy (a French fief). This naturally made negotiations for a marriage difficult. He later admitted to his councillor Philippe de Commynes that this was his greatest mistake. In the meantime the Habsburg Emperor moved faster and more purposefully and secured the match for his son, the future Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor
, with the aid of Mary's stepmother, Margaret.
In view of Charles' irrational behaviour in the last year or so of his life, it has even been suggested that he became mentally unstable.
Duke of Burgundy
Duke of Burgundy was a title borne by the rulers of the Duchy of Burgundy, a small portion of traditional lands of Burgundians west of river Saône which in 843 was allotted to Charles the Bald's kingdom of West Franks...
from 1467 to 1477. Known as Charles the Terrible to his enemies, he was the last Valois Duke of Burgundy
Duchy of Burgundy
The Duchy of Burgundy , was heir to an ancient and prestigious reputation and a large division of the lands of the Second Kingdom of Burgundy and in its own right was one of the geographically larger ducal territories in the emergence of Early Modern Europe from Medieval Europe.Even in that...
and his early death was a pivotal, if under-recognised, moment in European history.
After his death, his domains began an inevitable slide towards division between France and the Habsburgs (who through marriage to his heiress Mary
Mary of Burgundy
Mary of Burgundy ruled the Burgundian territories in Low Countries and was suo jure Duchess of Burgundy from 1477 until her death...
became his heirs). Neither side was satisfied with the results and the disintegration of the Burgundian state was a factor in most major wars in Western Europe for over two centuries.
Early life
Charles the Bold was born in DijonDijon
Dijon is a city in eastern France, the capital of the Côte-d'Or département and of the Burgundy region.Dijon is the historical capital of the region of Burgundy. Population : 151,576 within the city limits; 250,516 for the greater Dijon area....
, the son of Philip the Good and Isabella of Portugal. In his father's lifetime (1433–1467) he bore the title of Count of Charolais; afterwards, he assumed all of his father's titles, including that of "Grand Duke of the West". He was also made a Knight of the Golden Fleece just twenty days after his birth, being invested by Charles I, Count of Nevers
Charles I, Count of Nevers
Charles I, Count of Nevers , Count of Nevers and Rethel, was the son of Philip II, Count of Nevers and Bonne of Artois....
and the seigneur de Croÿ
Croy
Croy may refer to:*Croy, Switzerland, a municipality in the canton of Vaud*One of several communities in Scotland, including:**Croy, Highland**Croy, North Lanarkshire*The House of Croÿ, an ancient and wealthy family originating in Belgium...
.
He was brought up under the direction of the Seigneur d'Auxy
Auxy
Auxy is the name or part of the name of the following communes in France:* Auxy, Loiret, in the Loiret department* Auxy, Saône-et-Loire, in the Saône-et-Loire department* Saint-Martin-d'Auxy, in the Saône-et-Loire department...
, and early showed great application to study and also to warlike exercises. His father's court was the most extravagant in Europe at the time, and a centre for arts and commerce. While he was growing up, Charles witnessed his father's efforts to unite his increasing dominions in a single state, and his own later efforts centered on continuing and securing his father's successes.
In 1440, at the age of seven, Charles was married to Catherine, daughter of Charles VII, the King of France
Charles VII of France
Charles VII , called the Victorious or the Well-Served , was King of France from 1422 to his death, though he was initially opposed by Henry VI of England, whose Regent, the Duke of Bedford, ruled much of France including the capital, Paris...
, and sister of the Dauphin (afterwards Louis XI
Louis XI of France
Louis XI , called the Prudent , was the King of France from 1461 to 1483. He was the son of Charles VII of France and Mary of Anjou, a member of the House of Valois....
). She was five years older than her husband, and she died in 1446 at the age of 18. They had no children.
In 1454, at the age of 21, having been a widower for eight years, Charles married a second time. He wanted to marry a daughter of his distant cousin, the Duke of York
Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York
Richard Plantagenêt, 3rd Duke of York, 6th Earl of March, 4th Earl of Cambridge, and 7th Earl of Ulster, conventionally called Richard of York was a leading English magnate, great-grandson of King Edward III...
(sister of Kings Edward IV
Edward IV of England
Edward IV was King of England from 4 March 1461 until 3 October 1470, and again from 11 April 1471 until his death. He was the first Yorkist King of England...
and Richard III of England
Richard III of England
Richard III was King of England for two years, from 1483 until his death in 1485 during the Battle of Bosworth Field. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty...
), but under the Treaty of Arras (1435)
Congress of Arras
The Congress of Arras was a diplomatic congregation established in Arras in 1435 between representatives of England, France, and Burgundy. Toward the close of the Hundred Years' War, both the Congress and Treaty of Arras represented diplomatic failures for England and major successes for...
, he was required to marry only a French princess. His father chose Isabella of Bourbon
Isabella of Bourbon
Isabella of Bourbon, Countess of Charolais was the second wife of Charles the Bold, Count of Charolais and future Duke of Burgundy. She was a daughter of Charles I, Duke of Bourbon and Agnes of Burgundy, and the mother of Mary of Burgundy, heiress of Burgundy.-Life:Not much is known about her life...
for him: she was the daughter of Philip the Good's sister, and a very distant cousin of Charles VII of France. Their daughter, Mary
Mary of Burgundy
Mary of Burgundy ruled the Burgundian territories in Low Countries and was suo jure Duchess of Burgundy from 1477 until her death...
, was Charles' only surviving child, and became heiress to all of the Burgundian domains. Isabella died in 1465.
Charles was on familiar terms with his brother-in-law, the Dauphin, when the latter was a refugee at the Court of Burgundy
Duchy of Burgundy
The Duchy of Burgundy , was heir to an ancient and prestigious reputation and a large division of the lands of the Second Kingdom of Burgundy and in its own right was one of the geographically larger ducal territories in the emergence of Early Modern Europe from Medieval Europe.Even in that...
from 1456 until Louis succeeded his father as King of France in 1461. But Louis began to pursue some of the same policies as his father; Charles viewed with chagrin Louis's later repurchase of the towns on the Somme
Somme River
The Somme is a river in Picardy, northern France. The name Somme comes from a Celtic word meaning tranquility. The department Somme was named after this river....
, which Louis's father had ceded in 1435 to Charles's father in the Treaty of Arras. When his own father's failing health enabled him to take into his hands the reins of government (which Philip relinquished to him completely by an act of 12 April 1465), he entered upon his lifelong struggle
Burgundian Wars
The Burgundian Wars were a conflict between the Dukes of Burgundy and the Kings of France, later involving the Old Swiss Confederacy, which would play a decisive role. Open war broke out in 1474, and in the following years the Duke of Burgundy, Charles the Bold, was defeated three times on the...
against Louis XI, and became one of the principal leaders of the League of the Public Weal
League of the Public Weal
The League of the Public Weal was an alliance of feudal nobles organized in 1465 in defiance of the centralized authority of King Louis XI of France...
.
For his third wife, Charles was offered the hand of Louis XI's daughter, Anne
Anne of France
Anne of France was the eldest daughter of Louis XI of France and his second wife, Charlotte of Savoy. Anne was the sister of King Charles VIII of France, for whom she acted as regent during his minority; and of Joan of France, who was briefly queen consort to Louis XII...
; however, the wife he ultimately chose was Margaret of York
Margaret of York
Margaret of York – also by marriage known as Margaret of Burgundy – was Duchess of Burgundy as the third wife of Charles the Bold and acted as a protector of the Duchy after his death. She was a daughter of Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York, and Cecily Neville, and the sister of...
(who was his second cousin, they both being descended from John of Gaunt). With his father gone, and being no longer bound by the Treaty of Arras, Charles decided to ally himself with Burgundy's old ally England. Louis did his best to prevent or delay the marriage (even sending French ships to waylay Margaret as she sailed to Sluys), but in the summer of 1468 it was celebrated sumptuously at Bruges
Bruges
Bruges is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located in the northwest of the country....
, and Charles was made a Knight of the Garter. The couple had no children, but Margaret devoted herself to her stepdaughter Mary; and after Mary's death many years later, she kept Mary's two infant children as long as she was allowed. Margaret survived her husband, and was the only one of his wives to be Duchess of Burgundy, the first two wives having died before his accession and thus being known as Countesses of Charolais.
Early battles
On 12 April 1465, Philip relinquished government to Charles, who spent the next summer prosecuting the War of the Public Weal against Louis XI. Charles was left master of the field at the Battle of MontlhéryBattle of Montlhéry
The Battle of Montlhéry was fought between Louis XI and the League of the Public Weal on the 16th of July 1465 in proximity to Longpont-sur-Orge. It had no clear winner and therefore didn't decide the war.-Insurgency of the Vassal countries:...
(13 July 1465), where he was wounded, but this neither prevented the King from re-entering Paris nor assured Charles a decisive victory. He succeeded, however, in forcing upon Louis the Treaty of Conflans
Treaty of Conflans
The Treaty of Conflans was signed on October 1465 between King Louis XI of France and Count Charles of Charolais. This treaty was signed months after the Battle of Montlhéry where the French dukes of Alençon, Burgundy, Berri, Bourbon, and Lorraine defeated King Louis' forces...
(4 October 1465), by which the King restored to him the towns on the Somme
Somme
Somme is a department of France, located in the north of the country and named after the Somme river. It is part of the Picardy region of France....
, the counties of Boulogne
Boulogne-sur-Mer
-Road:* Metropolitan bus services are operated by the TCRB* Coach services to Calais and Dunkerque* A16 motorway-Rail:* The main railway station is Gare de Boulogne-Ville and located in the south of the city....
and Guînes
Guînes
Guînes is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France.-Geography:Guînes is located on the border of the two territories of the Boulonnais and Calaisis, at the edge of the now-drained marshes, which extend from here to the coast. The Guînes canal connects with...
, and various other small territories. During the negotiations for the Treaty, his wife Isabella died suddenly at Les Quesnoy on 25 September, making a political marriage suddenly possible. As part of the treaty Louis promised him the hand of his infant daughter Anne, with Champagne
Champagne (province)
The Champagne wine region is a historic province within the Champagne administrative province in the northeast of France. The area is best known for the production of the sparkling white wine that bears the region's name...
and Ponthieu
Ponthieu
Ponthieu was one of six feudal counties that eventually merged together to become part of the Province of Picardy, in northern France. Its chief town is Abbeville.- History :...
as dowry
Dowry
A dowry is the money, goods, or estate that a woman brings forth to the marriage. It contrasts with bride price, which is paid to the bride's parents, and dower, which is property settled on the bride herself by the groom at the time of marriage. The same culture may simultaneously practice both...
, but no marriage took place.
In the meanwhile, Charles obtained the surrender of Ponthieu
Ponthieu
Ponthieu was one of six feudal counties that eventually merged together to become part of the Province of Picardy, in northern France. Its chief town is Abbeville.- History :...
. The revolt of Liège against his father and his brother in law, Louis of Bourbon
Louis de Bourbon, Bishop of Liège
Louis de Bourbon was Prince-Bishop of Liège from 1456. He was brought up and educated by Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, who supported him for ten years at the University of Louvain.-Conflict over the bishopric:...
, the Prince-Bishop of Liège, and a desire to punish the town of Dinant
Dinant
Dinant is a Walloon city and municipality located on the River Meuse in the Belgian province of Namur, Belgium. The Dinant municipality includes the old communes of Anseremme, Bouvignes-sur-Meuse, Dréhance, Falmagne, Falmignoul, Foy-Notre-Dame, Furfooz, Lisogne, Sorinnes, and Thynes.-Origins to...
, intervened to divert his attention from the affairs of France. During the previous summer's wars, Dinant had celebrated a false rumour that Charles had been defeated at Montlhéry by burning him in effigy, and chanting that he was the bastard of Duchess Isabel and John of Heinsburg, the previous Bishop of Liege (d.1455). On 25 August 1466, Charles marched into Dinant, determined to avenge this slur on the honour of his mother, and sacked the city, killing every man, woman and child within; perhaps not surprisingly, he also successfully negotiated at the same time with the Bishopric of Liège
Bishopric of Liège
The Bishopric of Liège or Prince-Bishopric of Liège was a state of the Holy Roman Empire in the Low Countries in present Belgium. It acquired its status as a prince-bishopric between 980 and 985 when Bishop Notger, who had been the bishop of Liege since 972, acquired the status of Prince-Bishop...
. After the death of his father, Philip the Good (15 June 1467), the Bishopric of Liège renewed hostilities, but Charles defeated them at Sint-Truiden
Sint-Truiden
Sint-Truiden is a city and municipality located in the province of Limburg, Flemish Region, Belgium, near the towns of Hasselt and Tongeren. The municipality includes the old communes of Aalst, Brustem, Duras, Engelmanshoven, Gelinden, Gorsem, Groot-Gelmen, Halmaal, Kerkom-bij-Sint-Truiden,...
, and made a victorious entry into Liège, whose walls he dismantled and deprived the city of some of its privileges.
Treaty of Péronne
Péronne, Somme
Péronne is a commune of the Somme department in Picardie in northern France.It is close to where the Battles of the Somme took place during World War I...
. In the course of the negotiations the Duke was informed of a fresh revolt of the Bishopric of Liège
Bishopric of Liège
The Bishopric of Liège or Prince-Bishopric of Liège was a state of the Holy Roman Empire in the Low Countries in present Belgium. It acquired its status as a prince-bishopric between 980 and 985 when Bishop Notger, who had been the bishop of Liege since 972, acquired the status of Prince-Bishop...
secretly fomented by Louis. After deliberating for four days how to deal with his adversary, who had thus maladroitly placed himself at his mercy, Charles decided to respect the parole he had given and to negotiate with Louis (October 1468), at the same time forcing him to assist in quelling the revolt. The town was carried by assault and the inhabitants were massacred, Louis not intervening on behalf of his former allies.
At the expiry of the one year's truce which followed the Treaty of Péronne
Treaty of Péronne (1468)
The Treaty of Péronne was signed in Péronne on October 14, 1468 between Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy and Louis XI of France. Based on the terms of the treaty, Charles especially acquired the English claimed county of Ponthieu...
, the King accused Charles of treason
Treason
In law, treason is the crime that covers some of the more extreme acts against one's sovereign or nation. Historically, treason also covered the murder of specific social superiors, such as the murder of a husband by his wife. Treason against the king was known as high treason and treason against a...
, cited him to appear before the parlement
Parlement
Parlements were regional legislative bodies in Ancien Régime France.The political institutions of the Parlement in Ancien Régime France developed out of the previous council of the king, the Conseil du roi or curia regis, and consequently had ancient and customary rights of consultation and...
, and seized some of the towns on the Somme (1471). The Duke retaliated by invading France with a large army, taking possession of Nesle
Nesle
Nesle is a commune in the Somme department in Picardie in northern France.-Geography:Nesle is situated at the junction of the D930 and D337 roads, some southwest of Saint-Quentin. The Ingon, a small stream, passes through the commune.-Population:...
and massacring its inhabitants. He failed, however, in an attack on Beauvais
Beauvais
Beauvais is a city approximately by highway north of central Paris, in the northern French region of Picardie. It currently has a population of over 60,000 inhabitants.- History :...
, and had to content himself with ravaging the country as far as Rouen
Rouen
Rouen , in northern France on the River Seine, is the capital of the Haute-Normandie region and the historic capital city of Normandy. Once one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe , it was the seat of the Exchequer of Normandy in the Middle Ages...
, eventually retiring without having attained any useful result.
Domestic policies
Other matters, moreover, engaged his attention. Relinquishing, if not the stately magnificence, at least some of the extravagance which had characterized the court of Burgundy under his father, he had bent all his efforts towards the development of his military and political power. Since the beginning of his reign he had employed himself in reorganizing his army and the administration of his territories. While retaining the principles of feudal recruiting, he had endeavoured to establish a system of rigid discipline among his troops, which he had strengthened by taking into his pay foreign mercenaries, particularly EnglishmenEngland
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and Italians
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, and by developing his artillery
Artillery
Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...
.
Building a kingdom
Furthermore, he lost no opportunity to extend his power. In 1469, Archduke Sigismund of AustriaSigismund, Archduke of Austria
Sigismund of Austria, Duke, then Archduke of Further Austria was a Habsburg archduke of Austria and ruler of Tirol from 1446 to 1490....
sold him the County of Ferrette
Ferrette
Ferrette is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France.It is situated close to the Swiss border. Its main attraction is the Château de Ferrette.-County of Ferrette:...
, the Landgraviate of Alsace
Alsace
Alsace is the fifth-smallest of the 27 regions of France in land area , and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the seventh-most densely populated region in France and third most densely populated region in metropolitan France, with ca. 220 inhabitants per km²...
, and some other towns, reserving to himself the right to repurchase.
In 1472–1473, Charles bought the reversion of the Duchy of Guelders
Guelders
Guelders or Gueldres is the name of a historical county, later duchy of the Holy Roman Empire, located in the Low Countries.-Geography:...
(i.e. the right to succeed to it) from its duke, Arnold, whom he had supported against the rebellion of his son. Not content with being "the Grand Duke of the West," he conceived the project of forming a kingdom of Burgundy or Arles with himself as independent sovereign, and even persuaded Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III
Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor
Frederick the Peaceful KG was Duke of Austria as Frederick V from 1424, the successor of Albert II as German King as Frederick IV from 1440, and Holy Roman Emperor as Frederick III from 1452...
to assent to crown him king at Trier
Trier
Trier, historically called in English Treves is a city in Germany on the banks of the Moselle. It is the oldest city in Germany, founded in or before 16 BC....
. The ceremony, however, did not take place owing to the Emperor's precipitate flight by night (September 1473), occasioned by his displeasure at the Duke's attitude. At the close of 1473, his duchy of Burgundy was anchored in France and extended to the edges of the Netherlands. Charles the Bold was now one of the wealthiest and most powerful nobles in Europe. His fortunes and landholdings rivaled those of many of the royal families.
Downfall
In the following year Charles involved himself in a series of difficulties and struggles which ultimately brought about his downfall. He embroiled himself successively with the Archduke Sigismund of Austria, to whom he refused to restore his possessions in Alsace for the stipulated sum; with the Swiss, who supported the free towns of Upper Rhine in their revolt against the tyranny of the ducal governor, Peter von HagenbachPeter von Hagenbach
Peter von Hagenbach was a Bourguignon knight from Alsace and Germanic military and civil commander....
(who was condemned by a special international tribunal and executed on 9 May 1474); and finally, with René II, Duke of Lorraine
René II, Duke of Lorraine
René II was Count of Vaudémont from 1470, Duke of Lorraine from 1473, and Duke of Bar from 1483 to 1508. He claimed the crown of the Kingdom of Naples and the County of Provence as the Duke of Calabria 1480–1493 and as King of Naples and Jerusalem 1493–1508...
, with whom he disputed the succession of Lorraine, the possession of which had united the two principal portions of Charles's territories— the County of Flanders
County of Flanders
The County of Flanders was one of the territories constituting the Low Countries. The county existed from 862 to 1795. It was one of the original secular fiefs of France and for centuries was one of the most affluent regions in Europe....
, the Low Countries
Low Countries
The Low Countries are the historical lands around the low-lying delta of the Rhine, Scheldt, and Meuse rivers, including the modern countries of Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and parts of northern France and western Germany....
, the Duchy of Burgundy
Duchy of Burgundy
The Duchy of Burgundy , was heir to an ancient and prestigious reputation and a large division of the lands of the Second Kingdom of Burgundy and in its own right was one of the geographically larger ducal territories in the emergence of Early Modern Europe from Medieval Europe.Even in that...
and the County of Burgundy
County of Burgundy
The Free County of Burgundy , was a medieval county , within the traditional province and modern French region Franche-Comté, whose very French name is still reminiscent of the unusual title of its count: Freigraf...
. All these enemies, incited and supported as they were by Louis, were not long in joining forces against their common adversary.
Ruprecht of the Palatinate (Archbishop of Cologne)
Ruprecht of the Palatinate was the Archbishop and Prince Elector of Cologne from 1463 to 1480.He was the third son of Louis III, Count Palatine of the Rhine, by his second wife, Matilda of Savoy. He renounced his claim to lands of the Palatinate and studied for holy orders at the universities of...
, Archbishop of Cologne, against his rebel subjects. He spent ten months (July 1474 – June 1475) besieging the little town of Neuss
Neuss
Neuss is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located on the west bank of the Rhine opposite Düsseldorf. Neuss is the largest city within the Rhein-Kreis Neuss district and owes its prosperity to its location at the crossing of historic and modern trade routes. It is primarily known...
on the Rhine (the Siege of Neuss
Siege of Neuss
The Siege of Neuss, from 1474–75, was part of the Burgundian Wars. The siege, led by Charles the Bold against the Holy Roman Empire city of Neuss, was unsuccessful...
), but was compelled by the approach of a powerful imperial army to raise the siege. Moreover, the expedition he had persuaded his brother-in-law, the King of England, to undertake against Louis was stopped by the Treaty of Picquigny
Treaty of Picquigny
The Treaty of Picquigny was a peace treaty negotiated on 29 August 1475 between the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of France. Louis XI of France paid Edward IV of England to return to England and not take up arms to pursue his claim to the French throne. Edward was provided with an immediate...
(29 August 1475). He was more successful in Lorraine, where he seized Nancy (30 November 1475).
From Nancy he marched against the Swiss, hanging or drowning, in spite of their capitulation, the garrison of Grandson
Grandson, Switzerland
Grandson is a municipality in the district of Jura-Nord Vaudois in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland.During the Burgundian Wars, Charles the Bold was defeated near here in the Battle of Grandson on 2 March 1476.-History:...
, a possession of the Savoyard Jacques de Romont, a close ally of Charles, which the Confederates had invested shortly before. Some days later, on 2 March 1476, he was attacked before the village of Concise
Concise
Concise is a municipality in the district of Jura-Nord Vaudois in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland.-Geography:Concise has an area, , of . Of this area, or 24.4% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 66.3% is forested...
by the confederate army in the Battle of Grandson
Battle of Grandson
The Battle of Grandson, took place on 2 March 1476, was part of the Burgundian Wars, and resulted in a major defeat for Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy.- Siege of Grandson, February 1476 :...
and suffered a shameful defeat, being compelled to flee with a handful of attendants, and leaving his artillery and an immense booty (including his silver bath) in the hands of the allies.
He succeeded in raising a fresh army of 30,000 men, with which he attacked Morat
Battle of Morat
The Battle of Morat was a battle in the Burgundian Wars fought June 22, 1476 between Charles I, Duke of Burgundy and a Swiss army at Morat, about 30 kilometres from Bern.-Background:...
, but he was again defeated by the Swiss army, assisted by the cavalry of the Duke of Lorraine (22 June 1476). On this occasion, and unlike the debacle at Grandson, little booty was lost, but Charles certainly lost about one third of his entire army, the unfortunate losers being pushed into the nearby lake where they were drowned or shot at while trying to swim to safety on the opposite shore. On 6 October Charles lost Nancy, which René re-entered.
Death at Nancy
Making a last effort, Charles formed a new army and arrived in the dead of winter before the walls of Nancy. Having lost many of his troops through the severe cold, it was with only a few thousand men that he met the joint forces of the Lorrainers and the Swiss, who had come to the relief of the town, at the Battle of NancyBattle of Nancy
The Battle of Nancy was the final and decisive battle of the Burgundian Wars, fought outside the walls of Nancy on 5 January 1477 between Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, and René II, Duke of Lorraine...
(5 January 1477). He himself perished in the fight, his naked and disfigured body being discovered some days afterward frozen into the nearby river. Charles' head had been cleft in two by a halberd, lances were lodged in his stomach and loins, and his face had been so badly mutilated by wild animals that only his physician was able to identify him by his long fingernails and the old battle scars on his body.
Charles' battered body was initially buried in Nancy but in 1550, his great-grandson and heir, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I, of the Spanish Empire from 1516 until his voluntary retirement and abdication in favor of his younger brother Ferdinand I and his son Philip II in 1556.As...
, ordered it to be moved to the Church of Our Lady in Bruges, next to that of his daughter Mary. In 1562, Emperor Charles V's son and heir, King Philip II of Spain
Philip II of Spain
Philip II was King of Spain, Portugal, Naples, Sicily, and, while married to Mary I, King of England and Ireland. He was lord of the Seventeen Provinces from 1556 until 1581, holding various titles for the individual territories such as duke or count....
, erected a splendid mausoleum in early renaissance style over his tomb, still extant. Excavations in 1979 positively identified the remains of Mary, in a lead coffin, but those of Charles were never found.
Legacy
Charles left his unmarried nineteen year-old daughter, MaryMary of Burgundy
Mary of Burgundy ruled the Burgundian territories in Low Countries and was suo jure Duchess of Burgundy from 1477 until her death...
, as his heir; clearly her marriage would have enormous implications for the political balance of Europe. Both Louis and the Emperor had unmarried eldest sons; Charles had made some movements towards arranging a marriage between the Emperor's son, Maximilian, before his own death. Louis unwisely concentrated on seizing militarily the border territories, in particular the Duchy of Burgundy (a French fief). This naturally made negotiations for a marriage difficult. He later admitted to his councillor Philippe de Commynes that this was his greatest mistake. In the meantime the Habsburg Emperor moved faster and more purposefully and secured the match for his son, the future Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor
Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor
Maximilian I , the son of Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor and Eleanor of Portugal, was King of the Romans from 1486 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1493 until his death, though he was never in fact crowned by the Pope, the journey to Rome always being too risky...
, with the aid of Mary's stepmother, Margaret.
In view of Charles' irrational behaviour in the last year or so of his life, it has even been suggested that he became mentally unstable.
Ancestors
| Charles the Bold | Father: Philip the Good |
Paternal Grandfather: John the Fearless |
Paternal Great-grandfather: Philip the Bold Philip the Bold Philip the Bold , also Philip II, Duke of Burgundy , was the fourth and youngest son of King John II of France and his wife, Bonne of Luxembourg. By his marriage to Margaret III, Countess of Flanders, he also became Count Philip II of Flanders, Count Philip IV of Artois and Count-Palatine Philip IV... |
| Paternal Great-grandmother: Margaret III, Countess of Flanders Margaret III, Countess of Flanders Margaret of Dampierre was Countess of Flanders , Countess of Artois and Countess Palatine of Burgundy and twice Duchess consort of Burgundy... |
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| Paternal Grandmother: Margaret of Bavaria Margaret of Bavaria Margaret of Bavaria, , was the fifth child of Albert, Duke of Bavaria-Straubing, Count of Hainault, Holland, and Zeeland and Lord of Friesia, and Margaret of Brieg. She was the regent of the Burgundian Low countries during the absence of her spouse in 1404–1419 and the regent in French Burgundy... |
Paternal Great-grandfather: Albert I, Duke of Bavaria Albert I, Duke of Bavaria Duke Albert I or Albrecht KG was a feudal ruler of the counties of Holland, Hainaut, and Zeeland in the Low Countries... |
||
| Paternal Great-grandmother: Margaret of Brieg |
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| Mother: Isabella of Portugal Infanta Isabel, Duchess of Burgundy Isabella of Portugal was a Portuguese infanta of the House of Aviz, the only surviving daughter of King John I of Portugal and his wife Philippa of Lancaster. Her most notable siblings were Henry the Navigator, Peter, Duke of Coimbra, and King Edward of Portugal... |
Maternal Grandfather: John I of Portugal John I of Portugal John I KG , called the Good or of Happy Memory, more rarely and outside Portugal the Bastard, was the tenth King of Portugal and the Algarve and the first to use the title Lord of Ceuta... |
Maternal Great-grandfather: Peter I of Portugal Peter I of Portugal Peter I , called the Just , was the eighth King of Portugal and the Algarve from 1357 until his death. He was the third but only surviving son of Afonso IV of Portugal and his wife, princess Beatrice of Castile.... |
|
| Maternal Great-grandmother: Teresa Gille Lourenço Teresa Lourenco Teresa Lourenco is a Trinidadian model. She was born on January 25, 1981 in Trinidad. In 1994, she moved with her mother to Hamburg, Germany, where, at the age of 14, she was discovered by a modeling scout. At 16, she won the "Les Trophees de la Mode" in Paris for Best New Face.Lourenco signed a... |
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| Maternal Grandmother: Philippa of Lancaster Philippa of Lancaster Philippa of Lancaster, LG was a Queen consort of Portugal. Born into the royal family of England, her marriage with King John I secured the Anglo-Portuguese Alliance and produced several famous children who became known as the "Illustrious Generation" in Portugal... |
Maternal Great-grandfather: John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster , KG was a member of the House of Plantagenet, the third surviving son of King Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault... |
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| Maternal Great-grandmother: Blanche of Lancaster Blanche of Lancaster Blanche of Lancaster, Duchess of Lancaster was an English noblewoman and heiress, daughter of England's wealthiest and most powerful peer, Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster... |
Titles
-
1433–5 January 1477: Count of Charolais as Charles I -
15 June 1467–5 January 1477: Duke of BurgundyDuke of BurgundyDuke of Burgundy was a title borne by the rulers of the Duchy of Burgundy, a small portion of traditional lands of Burgundians west of river Saône which in 843 was allotted to Charles the Bald's kingdom of West Franks...
as Charles I -
15 June 1467–5 January 1477: Duke of Brabant as Charles I -
15 June 1467–5 January 1477: Duke of Limburg as Charles I -
15 June 1467–5 January 1477: Duke of Lothier as Charles I -
15 June 1467–5 January 1477: Duke of Luxemburg as Charles II -
15 June 1467–5 January 1477: Margrave of NamurMarquis of NamurNamur was a county of the Carolingian and later Holy Roman Empire in the Low Countries. Its territories largely correspond with the present-day Belgian arrondissement Namur plus the northwestern part of the arrondissement Dinant....
as Charles I -
15 June 1467–5 January 1477: Count Palatine of Burgundy as Charles I -
15 June 1467–5 January 1477: Count of ArtoisCounts of ArtoisThe counts of Artois were the rulers over the County of Artois from the 9th century until the abolition of the countship by the French revolutionaries in 1790.-List of Counts of Artois:*Odalric...
as Charles I -
15 June 1467–5 January 1477: Count of Flanders as Charles II -
15 June 1467–5 January 1477: Count of HainaultCounts of HainautThe counts of Hainaut were the rulers of the county of Hainaut, a historical region in the Low Countries .-House of Reginar:...
as Charles I -
15 June 1467–5 January 1477: Count of HollandCount of HollandThe Counts of Holland ruled over the County of Holland in the Low Countries between the 10th and the 16th century.-House of Holland:The first count of Holland, Dirk I, was the son or foster-son of Gerolf, Count in Frisia...
as Charles I -
15 June 1467–5 January 1477: Count of Zeeland as Charles I -
23 February 1473–5 January 1477: Duke of GueldersDukes of Guelders-House of Wassenberg:The first count of Guelders was Gerard IV, Lord of Wassenberg.During Reginald II's reign, the county of Guelders became a duchy.* before 1096–about 1129 : Gerard I* about 1129–about 1131 : Gerard II the tall, son of...
as Charles I - 23 February 1473–5 January 1477: Count of ZutphenCount of ZutphenThe title of Count of Zutphen historically belonged to the ruler of the Dutch province of Gelderland ....
as Charles I
See also
- Burgundian NetherlandsBurgundian NetherlandsIn the history of the Low Countries, the Burgundian Netherlands refers to a number of Imperial and French fiefs ruled in personal union by the House of Valois-Burgundy and their Habsburg heirs in the period from 1384 to 1482...
- Burgundian WarsBurgundian WarsThe Burgundian Wars were a conflict between the Dukes of Burgundy and the Kings of France, later involving the Old Swiss Confederacy, which would play a decisive role. Open war broke out in 1474, and in the following years the Duke of Burgundy, Charles the Bold, was defeated three times on the...
- Duchy of BurgundyDuchy of BurgundyThe Duchy of Burgundy , was heir to an ancient and prestigious reputation and a large division of the lands of the Second Kingdom of Burgundy and in its own right was one of the geographically larger ducal territories in the emergence of Early Modern Europe from Medieval Europe.Even in that...
- Dukes of Burgundy family treeDukes of Burgundy family treeThis is a family tree of the Dukes of Burgundy, from the 9th century to 1482.Image:BurgundyDukes.pngrect 174 129 324 169 Richard of Autunrect 407 138 521 166 rect 90 189 184 214 Rainier II of Hainautrect 219 189 271 213...
- Jacques of Savoy, Count of Romont