The Duchy of Burgundy (; Latin: Ducatus Burgundiae; French: Duché de Bourgogne) was a medieval and early modern feudal polity in north-western regions of historical Burgundy. It belonged to the Kingdom of France, and was initially bordering the Kingdom of Burgundy to the east and south, thus being distinct from the neighboring Free County of Burgundy (modern region of Franche-Comté). The first duke of Burgundy (Latin: dux Burgundiae), attested in sources by that title, was Richard the Justiciar in 918.
In 1004, prince Henry of France, a son of king Robert II of France, inherited the Duchy, but later ceded it as an appanage to his younger brother Robert in 1032. Robert became the ancestor of the ducal House of Burgundy, a cadet branch of the royal Capet dynasty, ruling over a territory that roughly conformed to the borders and territories of the modern region of Burgundy (Bourgogne). Upon the extinction of the Burgundian male line with the death of Duke Philip I in 1361, the duchy reverted to King John II of France and the royal House of Valois. The Burgundian duchy was absorbed in a larger territorial complex after 1363, when King John II ceded the duchy to his younger son Philip. With his marriage with Countess Margaret III of Flanders, he laid the foundation for a Burgundian State which expanded further north in the Low Countries collectively known as the Burgundian Netherlands. Upon further acquisitions of the County of Burgundy, Holland, and Luxemburg, 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 Middle Frankish realm of Lotharingia.
The Burgundian State, in its own right, was one of the largest ducal territories that existed at the time of the emergence of Early Modern Europe. After just over one hundred years of Valois-Burgundy rule, however, the last duke, Charles the Bold, rushed to the Burgundian Wars and was killed in the 1477 Battle of Nancy. The extinction of the dynasty 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 Charles' daughter, Mary, and her Habsburg descendants.
Origins
The Duchy of Burgundy was a successor of the earlier Kingdom of the Burgundians, which evolved out of territories ruled by the Burgundians, an East Germanic tribe that arrived in Gaul in the 5th century. The Burgundians settled in the area around Dijon, Chalon-sur-Saône, Mâcon, Autun and Châtillon-sur-Seine, and gave the name to the region. The Kingdom of the Burgundians was annexed by the Merovingian King of the Franks, Childebert I, in 534, following their defeat by the Franks. It was recreated, however, on several occasions when Frankish territories were redivided between the sons on the death of a Frankish king.
As part of the Kingdom of the Franks, Burgundy maintained a semi-autonomous existence, with the Burgundians maintaining their own law code, the Loi Gombette. However, southern Burgundy was pillaged by the Saracen invasion of the 8th century. When Charles Martel drove the invaders out, he divided Burgundy into four commands: Arles-Burgundy, Vienne-Burgundy, Alamanic Burgundy and Frankish Burgundy. He appointed his brother Childebrand governor of Frankish Burgundy.
Under the Carolingians, Burgundian separatism lessened and Burgundy became a mainly geographical term, referring only to the area of the counties of the former Burgundy. Both the later Duchy of Burgundy and the Free County of Burgundy emerged from these counties, aided by the collapse of Carolingian centralism and frequent divisions of the Frankish domains during the 9th century. Already in 839, emperor Louis the Pious decided to divide Burgundian counties between his sons, by awarding most to Lothair I, and the rest to Charles the Bald (Geneva, Lyons, Chalon, Amous, Oscheret, Langres, Toul), but that initial division had to be renegotiated after emperors death in 840.
In the midst of emerging conflicts between Louis' successors, count Guerin of Provence attached himself to king Charles of the Western Franks, and aided him in the Battle of Fontenay (841) against Charles's eldest brother, the new Emperor Lothair I. When the Carolingian Empire was divided by the Partition of Verdun in 843, most of Burgundian counties were awarded to the Middle Francia, while the remaining counties, to the northwest of river Saône, became part of the West Frankish Realm. Thus, a lasting political division of geographical Burgundy was created. Count Guerin was rewarded for his services to the West Frankish king by being granted the administration of the counties of Chalon and Nevers, in which he was by custom expected to appoint viscounts to rule as his deputies. As a vital military defender of the West Frankish border, Guerin was sometimes known by the Latin term for "leader" – dux or "duke".
Later creation of distinctive realms in the neighboring regions further to the south and east, first in Lower Burgundy (879), and then in Upper Burgundy (888), did not affect the northwestern Burgundian counties, that belonged to the West Frankish Kingdom since 843, and remained under the rule of Charles the Bald's successors, in spite of a very brief attempt of Guy III of Spoleto to impose himself as ruler in those regions by being crowned king at Langres in March 888.
Carolingian division of northern Burgundian lands along the river Saône (Latin: Arar) was also reflected in later historiography by the creation of descriptive regional designations for distinctive parts of Burgundy in relation to the river Saône, and thus, depending on the point of view of a particular author, northern Burgundian lands were designated whether "on this side of Saône" (Burgundia Cisararica) or "on the other side of Saône" (Burgundia Transararica).
Beneficiary dukes
By the time of Richard the Justiciar (d. 921), a powerful feudal lord who initially became Count of Autun in 880, and then continued to expand his domains by acquiring several other counties in north-western parts of historical Burgundy, a distinctive feudal agglomeration started to emerge in that region, and by 918 count Richard was titled as Duke of Burgundy (Latin: dux Burgundiae), while continuing to rule as individual count of each county he held (if it was not held on his behalf by a viscount). As Duke of Burgundy, he was able to wield an increasing amount of power over his territory. The term that came to be applied to the collective body of a duke's territory was Duchy (Latin: ducatus). Included in the Richard's ducatus were the regions of Autunais, Beaunois, Avalois, Lassois, Dijonais, Memontois, Attuyer, Oscheret, Auxois, Duesmois, Auxerrois, Nivernais, Chaunois and Massois. Under Richard, these territories were given law and order, protected from the Normans, and served as a haven for persecuted monks.
Under Rudolph of France (also Raoul or Ralph), the son of Richard, Burgundy was briefly catapulted to a position of prominence in France, since he became King of France in 923 after acceding to the Burgundian territories in 921. It was from his territories in Burgundy that he drew the resources needed to fight those who challenged his right to rule.
Under Hugh the Black (d. 952) came the beginning of what would be a long and troubled saga for Burgundy. His neighbours were the Robertian family, who held the title of Duke of Francia. This family, wanting to improve their standing in France and against the Carolingian kings, attempted to subject the duchy to the suzerainty of their own duchy. They failed; eventually, when they appeared close to success, they were forced to scrap the scheme and instead maintain Burgundy as a separate duchy. Two brothers of Hugh Capet, the first Capetian King of France, took up the rule of Burgundy as duke. First Otto and then Henry the Venerable maintained the duchy's independence, but the death of the latter without children proved a defining moment in the history of the duchy.
Succession crisis of 1002
Henry the Venerable died in 1002 leaving two potential heirs: his nephew, Robert the Pious, King of France, and his stepson, Otto-William, count of Mâcon (kingdom of France) and count of Burgundy (kingdom of Burgundy), whom Henry had adopted. Robert claimed the duchy by his dual rights as feudal overlord and nearest blood-relative of the deceased. Otto-William disputed his claim as a potential heir, starting a war with the help of his son-in-law, Landry count of Nevers.
Had the two Burgundys been united, history would undoubtedly have taken a different course; a Burgundy united under the German Otto-William would have been within the sphere of influence of the Holy Roman Empire and would have affected the balance of power between the French and the Germans. However, it was not to be; although it took him thirteen years of bitter and prolonged battle, Robert eventually secured the duchy for the French crown by gaining control of all the Burgundian counties west of the Saône, including Dijon; prospects of a united Burgundy evaporated, and the duchy became irreversibly French in outlook.
For a time, the duchy formed part of the royal domain; but the French crown could not hope at this time to administer such a volatile territory. The realities of power combined with Capetian family feuding: Robert the Pious gave the territory to his younger son and namesake, Robert I, Duke of Burgundy. When King Henry I of France, acceding in difficult circumstances (1031), found it necessary to secure the loyalty of Robert, his brother, he further enhanced the rights given to his brother (1032). Robert was to be Duke of Burgundy; as ruler of the duchy, he would "enjoy the freehold thereof", and have the right "to pass it on to his heirs". Future dukes were to owe allegiance only to the crown of France and be overlords of the duchy, beneath the ultimate authority of the kings of France. Robert gladly agreed to this arrangement, and the era of the Capetian dukes began.
Capetian dukes
Robert found that it was largely a theoretical power that he had been granted. Between the reign of Richard the Justiciar and Henry the Venerable, the duchy had fallen into anarchy, a condition heightened by the war of succession between Robert the Pious and Count Otto-William. The dukes had given away most of their lands to secure the loyalty of their vassals; consequently, they lacked power in the duchy without the support and obedience of their vassals. In addition, the Abbot of Cluny claimed immunity from secular overlords, while the Bishop of Langres was a duke and peer of France.
Robert and his heirs were faced with the task of restoring the ducal demesne and strengthening ducal power. In this, it would be seen, the dukes were well-suited to the task: none were remarkable or outstanding men who swept all opposition away before them; rather, they were persevering, methodical, realistic, able and willing to seize any opportunity presented to them. They used the Law of Escheat to their advantage: Auxois and Duesmois fell into ducal hands through reversion, these feudatories having no heir able to administer them. They purchased both land and vassalage, which built up both the ducal demesne and the number of vassals dependent upon the dukes. They made an income for themselves by demanding cash payments in exchange for recognition of a lord's feudal rights within the duchy, by skillful management of loans from Jewish and Lombard bankers, by the careful administration of feudal dues and by the ready sale of immunities and justice.
The duchy itself benefited from the rule of the Capetians. As time passed, the state was built up and stabilised; a miniature court in imitation of the royal court at Paris grew around the dukes; the Jours Generaux, a replica of the Parlement of Paris sat at Beaune; bailiffs were imposed over the provosts and lords of the manor responsible for local government, while the duchy was divided into five bailiwicks.
The duchy became increasingly involved in the Reconquista in Spain at the end of the eleventh century, campaigning against Muslim taifas and forming marriage alliances with the Spanish royalty. Robert's daughter Constance married King Alfonso VI of León and Castile, and his grandson Henry married Theresa of León to found the Portuguese House of Burgundy. With the advent of First Crusade, the attention of Burgundian dukes shifted to the Holy Land, and Odo I, Duke of Burgundy died during the Crusade of 1101.
Under the competent leadership of Robert II (r. 1271–1306), one of the more notable dukes of the Capetian period, Burgundy reached new levels of political and economic prominence. Previously, the development of the duchy had been impeded by the bestowal of minor lands and titles on younger sons and daughters, diminishing the ducal fisc. Robert firmly ended this practice, stating in his will that he left to his eldest son and heir, Hugh, and after Hugh to his heir, "all the fiefs, former fiefs, seigneuries and revenue... belonging to the duchy". The younger children of Robert would receive only annuities; since these derived from property held by Hugh, these younger children would need to owe liege homage to ensure their income.
Hugh V died in 1315; his brother Odo IV succeeded. Himself the grandson of King Louis IX of France by his mother, Agnes of France, he would also be the brother-in-law of two French kings – Louis X, married to his sister Marguerite, and Philip VI, married to his sister Joan – and the son-in-law of a third, Philip V, whose daughter Joan III, Countess of Burgundy, he married. Previous attempts to gain territory through marriage – Hugh III and the Dauphiné, Odo III and Nivernais, Hugh IV and the Bourbonnais – had failed; Odo IV's wife Joan, however, was sovereign Countess of Burgundy and Artois, and the marriage reunited the Burgundys again.