Philippe Pot
Encyclopedia
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...
nobleman, military leader, and diplomat. He was the seigneur
Lord
Lord is a title with various meanings. It can denote a prince or a feudal superior . The title today is mostly used in connection with the peerage of the United Kingdom or its predecessor countries, although some users of the title do not themselves hold peerages, and use it 'by courtesy'...
of La Roche
La Rochepot
La Rochepot is a commune in the Côte-d'Or department in Bourgogne in eastern France.It has a hillside chateau on the D973 road between Beaune and Nolay on the way to Saisy.-Population:-External links:* *...
and Thorey-sur-Ouche
Thorey-sur-Ouche
Thorey-sur-Ouche is a commune in the Côte-d'Or department in eastern France.-Population:-References:*...
, a Knight of the Golden Fleece, and the Grand Seneschal
Seneschal
A seneschal was an officer in the houses of important nobles in the Middle Ages. In the French administrative system of the Middle Ages, the sénéchal was also a royal officer in charge of justice and control of the administration in southern provinces, equivalent to the northern French bailli...
of Burgundy.
Born in 1428 at the Château de la Rochepot
Château de la Rochepot
Château de la Rochepot is a chateau in the Côte d'Or département in Burgundy, France. It lies on the N6 to the south west of the town of Beaune....
, he was the grandson of Régnier Pot, a Crusader
Crusades
The Crusades were a series of religious wars, blessed by the Pope and the Catholic Church with the main goal of restoring Christian access to the holy places in and near Jerusalem...
, knight of the Golden Fleece, and the chamberlain
Chamberlain (office)
A chamberlain is an officer in charge of managing a household. In many countries there are ceremonial posts associated with the household of the sovereign....
of 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...
, Duke of Burgundy
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...
. Philip's grandson and heir, Philip the Good, served as Philippe's godfather
Godparent
A godparent, in many denominations of Christianity, is someone who sponsors a child's baptism. A male godparent is a godfather, and a female godparent is a godmother...
. Educated at the ducal court in Dijon
Dijon
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....
, and knighted 11 June 1452 before the battle of Ruppelmonde against the insurgents of Ghent
Ghent
Ghent is a city and a municipality located in the Flemish region of Belgium. It is the capital and biggest city of the East Flanders province. The city started as a settlement at the confluence of the Rivers Scheldt and Lys and in the Middle Ages became one of the largest and richest cities of...
, Philippe, praised by contemporary chroniclers, became chief advisor of the dukes of Burgundy and was deeply involved in all their diplomacy.
Philippe was sent by Philip the Good as an ambassador to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in 1440, where he procured the release of Charles of Orléans, a prisoner since 1415 and the cousin of Charles VII 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...
, for 200,000 écus d'or. Charles in turn agreed to marry Mary of Cleves, Philip's niece.
In 1446, Philippe obtained the hand in marriage of Catherine of Valois for the Count of Charolais, the future Duke of Burgundy, Charles the Bold. When Catherine died in 1450, Philippe obtained another French princess, Isabelle of Bourbon, for Charles. The marriage took place in 1454. In December 1456 Duke Philip recompensed Philippe with the grant of Châteauneuf-en-Auxois
Châteauneuf, Côte-d'Or
Châteauneuf or Châteauneuf-en-Auxois is a commune in the Côte-d'Or department in eastern France.-Population:-Sights:Châteauneuf is dominated by its château, which was given in December 1456 by Philip the Good to Philippe Pot, whose renovations and fortification gave to it the aspect it retains...
(which Philippe restored and fortified, giving it the appearance it retains today) and in May 1461, with the Golden Fleece at the Saint-Omer
Saint-Omer
Saint-Omer , a commune and sub-prefecture of the Pas-de-Calais department west-northwest of Lille on the railway to Calais. The town is named after Saint Audomar, who brought Christianity to the area....
session. In 1464 he was granted the title Grand Chamberlain, and in 1466 was given the lordship of Lille
Lille
Lille is a city in northern France . It is the principal city of the Lille Métropole, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the country behind those of Paris, Lyon and Marseille. Lille is situated on the Deûle River, near France's border with Belgium...
, to which Douai
Douai
-Main sights:Douai's ornate Gothic style belfry was begun in 1380, on the site of an earlier tower. The 80 m high structure includes an impressive carillon, consisting of 62 bells spanning 5 octaves. The originals, some dating from 1391 were removed in 1917 during World War I by the occupying...
, and Orchies
Orchies
-References:* -External links:*...
were soon added. After the deaths in 1467 of both Philip the Good and Isabelle of Bourbon, Philippe Pot negotiated a third match for his new patron Charles the Bold with 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...
, a union which had been opposed by Philip. In 1468 the marriage sealed an alliance between England
Kingdom of England
The Kingdom of England was, from 927 to 1707, a sovereign state to the northwest of continental Europe. At its height, the Kingdom of England spanned the southern two-thirds of the island of Great Britain and several smaller outlying islands; what today comprises the legal jurisdiction of England...
and Burgundy. To have Philippe nearby him at Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
Charles gave him the hôtel of the comte de Nevers,
When Charles the Bold died in 1477, Burgundy was divided between his 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...
, heiress to the Burgundian Netherlands
Burgundian Netherlands
In 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...
, and Louis XI of France
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....
, legitimate heir to 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...
proper. Mary was suspicious of Philippe and his close connections with the French court, and she confiscated Lille. With the support of the Burgundian baronage Philippe was able to limit the holdings of Mary and her husband, Maximilian
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...
, to the Burgundian 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....
by another Treaty of Arras
Treaty of Arras (1482)
The Treaty of Arras was signed at Arras on 23 December 1482 by King Louis XI of France and Archduke Maximilian I of Habsburg as heir of the Burgundian Netherlands in the course of the Burgundian succession crisis....
. In gratitude Louis XI named him first counsellor, knight of Saint Michael, governor of the Dauphin Charles
Charles VIII of France
Charles VIII, called the Affable, , was King of France from 1483 to his death in 1498. Charles was a member of the House of Valois...
, and Grand Seneschal of Burgundy. His treatment of Philippe went a long way to restore Louis's favour with the petty nobles of Burgundy.
Louis died in 1483, while Charles VIII was still a minor. The great nobles of the kingdom, first among them Louis of Orléans
Louis XII of France
Louis proved to be a popular king. At the end of his reign the crown deficit was no greater than it had been when he succeeded Charles VIII in 1498, despite several expensive military campaigns in Italy. His fiscal reforms of 1504 and 1508 tightened and improved procedures for the collection of taxes...
, contested the regency
Regent
A regent, from the Latin regens "one who reigns", is a person selected to act as head of state because the ruler is a minor, not present, or debilitated. Currently there are only two ruling Regencies in the world, sovereign Liechtenstein and the Malaysian constitutive state of Terengganu...
with the dead king's nominee, Anne de Beaujeu, Charles' elder sister. In 1484 she convened the Estates General
French States-General
In France under the Old Regime, the States-General or Estates-General , was a legislative assembly of the different classes of French subjects. It had a separate assembly for each of the three estates, which were called and dismissed by the king...
at Tours
Tours
Tours is a city in central France, the capital of the Indre-et-Loire department.It is located on the lower reaches of the river Loire, between Orléans and the Atlantic coast. Touraine, the region around Tours, is known for its wines, the alleged perfection of its local spoken French, and for the...
. Philippe was the representative of the nobility and he spoke so eloquently in their favour that he was called the "mouth of Cicero
Cicero
Marcus Tullius Cicero , was a Roman philosopher, statesman, lawyer, political theorist, and Roman constitutionalist. He came from a wealthy municipal family of the equestrian order, and is widely considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists.He introduced the Romans to the chief...
" (bouche de Cicéron). In his most celebrated speech, on 9 February, he denied the right of the princes to govern and advanced instead the concept of a nation represented by a monarch, and suggested that the nation be governed by regency council. The deputies then voted to accept the choice of the king and declared Anne regent. The incipient nationalism
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
in Philippe's speech, however, frightened the regent; the Estates were quickly dissolved. Philippe was allowed to keep his function of governor of Burgundy, which he held, reconfirmed by Charles VIII, until his death in 1493.
Sources
- Philippe Pot at L'histoire de France
- Philippe Pot Room at the Louvre