The Kingdom of Burgundy, also known as the Kingdom of Arles, was a realm established in 933 by the unification of Lower Burgundy with the Upper Burgundy. As an independent kingdom, it was ruled by monarchs from the Elder House of Welf until 1032, when it was incorporated into the Holy Roman Empire, becoming one of the empire's three constituent realms, together with the Kingdom of Germany and the Kingdom of Italy. By the 13th century it went through the process of feudal fragmentation, and since the 14th century the imperial rule over the kingdom became mainly nominal, weakening further during the 15th century.
Its territory stretched from the Mediterranean Sea in the south to the High Rhine in the north, and from the Western Alps in the east to the Rhône basin in the west, thus encompassing almost all of the historical Burgundian lands, and roughly corresponding to the present-day French regions of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, Rhône-Alpes and Franche-Comté, as well as the region of Romandy in western Switzerland, and the Aosta Valley in Italy.
Name
As an independent state (933–1032), the realm was known as the Kingdom of Burgundy, keeping the same name within the Holy Roman Empire, but also becoming known as the Kingdom of Arles, in reference to its capital city of Arles. Thus in sources, as well in historiography, it is referred to in various contexts as the Second Kingdom of Burgundy in order to distinguish the realm created in 933 from the First Kingdom of Burgundy (411–534), while the term Kingdom of Arles (also Arelat, or Kingdom of Arles and Vienne) is commonly used for the later period, after 1032.
Post-Carolingian kingdoms in Burgundy
Since the middle of the 9th century, the Carolingian Empire went through a series of crises and divisions. In 843, by the Treaty of Verdun, the Empire was divided in three parts, with much of Burgundian lands becoming part of Middle Francia, which was allotted to emperor Lothair I (Lotharii Regnum), while the north-western Burgundian regions (later Duchy of Burgundy, the present-day Bourgogne), went to Charles the Bald, king of West Francia. King Louis the German received East Francia, comprising the territory east of the river Rhine.
In 855, by the Treaty of Prüm, Middle Francia was divided, allotting Upper Burgundy to Lothair's second son Lothair II (d. 869), and also designating Lower Burgundy with Provence to Lothair's younger son Charles the Young (d. 863). Upon the death of Charles in 863, his domains were divided between his brothers: emperor Louis II took Provence, while Lothair II received the rest. In 869, Lothair II died without legitimate children, and in 870 his uncles Charles the Bald and Louis the German concluded the Treaty of Meerssen and partitioned his territory: much of the Upper Burgundy, the territory around of the Jura Mountains, went to Louis the German. The western regions went to Charles the Bald, while emperor Louis II kept Provence and parts of Lower Burgundy. In 875, the emperor died, and his domains in Lower Burgundy and Provence were taken by Charles the Bald and incorporated into his domains.
In the confusion after the death of Charles' son, the West Frankish king Louis the Stammerer in 879, one of his most powerful nobles, count Boso of Provence (d. 887) refused to submit to Louis' heirs. At the Synod of Mantaille, Boso was proclaimed king, thus establishing a distinctive kingdom in the regions of Lower Burgundy and Provence, centered at Vienne and Arles, but his realm was much reduced by 882. His son and heir, king Louis the Blind (d. 928) succeeded to restore and consolidate the realm in 890, and even managed to capture northern Italy, becoming the emperor in 901. Blinded in 905, he gradually transferred the governance to his cousin, count Hugh of Arles.
In the meanwhile, a separate kingdom was created in Upper Burgundy. In 888, upon the death of the Emperor Charles the Fat, count Rudolph, from the Elder House of Welf, founded the Kingdom of Upper Burgundy, centered at Saint-Maurice which included the Upper-Burgundian lands on both sides of the Jura Mountains. In 912, he was succeeded in Upper Burgundy by his son Rudolph II.
Welfish Kingdom of Burgundy
In 933, king Hugh of Italy ceded Lower Burgundy to king Rudolph II of Upper Burgundy in return for Rudolph relinquishing his claim to the Italian throne. Rudolph merged both Upper and Lower Burgundy to form the united Kingdom of Burgundy, stretching from the Jura Mountains to the coasts of Provence.
In 937, Rudolph was succeeded by his son, king Conrad the Peaceful. Inheritance claims by king Hugh of Italy were rejected, with the support of emperor Otto I. The kingdom was simultaneously invaded by Magyar and Arab raiding parties in 954. Conrad sent envoys to both parties to attack one another, and also sent expeditions to Provence in raiding Arab settlements in the 960s.
In 993, Conrad was succeeded by his son, king Rudolph III, who had no heirs, and thus in 1006 he was forced to sign a succession treaty in favor of the future emperor Henry II. Rudolph attempted to renounce the treaty in 1016, but without success.
Imperial Kingdom of Burgundy
In 1032, king Rudolph III died without any surviving heirs, and in accordance with the 1006 treaty, the kingdom passed to Henry's successor, Emperor Conrad II from the Salian dynasty. Thus, the kingdom was incorporated into the Holy Roman Empire, though its territories operated with considerable autonomy.
In 1057, the empress Agnes (d. 1077), acting as the regent for her young son, Emperor Henry IV, appointed Rudolf of Rheinfelden as imperial representative and governor of Burgundy.
Emperor Lothair III (d. 1137) appointed Conrad I, Duke of Zähringen (d. 1152) as the imperial representative in the kingdom, titled as the Rector of Burgundy (Latin: Rector Burgundiae), and the same office was held by Conrad's successors from the House of Zähringen until Emperor Frederick II (d. 1250) decided to confer that title on his own son and designated heir, Henry (d. 1242).
Though from that time the emperors held the title "King of Arles", few went to be crowned in the cathedral of Arles. An exception was Frederick Barbarossa, who in 1157 held a diet in Besançon and in 1178 was crowned King of Burgundy by the archbishop of Arles.
In 1246, the French prince Charles I of Anjou succeeded in acquiring the County of Provence and the County of Forcalquier, thus establishing a Provençal branch of the House of Capet. In coordination with Pope Nicholas III, he made a stillborn attempt to revive the kingdom of Burgundy/Arles. Between 1277 and 1279, Charles, at that time already King of Sicily, Rudolf of Habsburg, King of the Romans and aspirant to the Imperial crown, and Margaret of Provence, queen dowager of France, settled their dispute over the County of Provence, and also over Rudolf's bid to become the sole Imperial candidate. Rudolf agreed that his daughter Clemence of Austria would marry Charles's grandson Charles Martel of Anjou, with the whole Arelat kingdom as her dowry. In exchange, Charles would support the imperial crown being made hereditary in the House of Habsburg. Nicholas III expected Northern Italy to become a kingdom carved out of Imperial territory, to be given to his family, the Orsini. In 1282, Charles was ready to send the child couple to reclaim the old royal title of Kings of Arles, but the War of the Sicilian Vespers frustrated his plans.
The Vivarais was the first of the kingdom's territories to be annexed to the Kingdom of France; this annexation occurred gradually during the 13th century and was formally recognized in 1306. The Lyonnais had been practically beyond the reach of the Empire since the late 12th century. Its incorporation into France was the result of internal conflicts between the Archbishop of Lyon, the cathedral chapter, and the city council. It was cemented in the early 14th century and formalized in a 1312 treaty between Archbishop Peter of Savoy and Philip IV of France. Emperor Henry VII protested against this but did not seriously challenge it.
From 1343, the French royal House of Valois tried to expand its influence over the Kingdom of Arles by acquiring feudal possessions in the region of Dauphiné, ruled by the childless dauphin Humbert II of Viennois. By 1349, Humbert finally decided to sell his domains to the House of Valois, and an agreement was made designating young French prince Charles (the future-king Charles V) as Humbert's successor, on the condition that the Dauphiné would remain a distinct polity and thus not be incorporated into the French realm. Thus in the summer of 1349, young Charles became the first Valois Dauphin de Viennois. In 1350, when his father ascended to the French throne, Charles became the heir presumptive and thus for the first time the two honors of Dauphin de Viennois and heir to the French throne were held by the same person.
In 1356, the young Charles, being the ruling Dauphin of Viennois, made an homage to the emperor Charles IV at Metz, and received imperial confirmation. On the same occasion, Charles was appointed as the imperial vicar in Dauphiné. Formally remaining an imperial fief within the Kingdom of Arles, the Dauphiné was from that time effectively controlled by the French royal House of Valois.
In 1361, Emperor Charles IV transferred the County of Savoy from the Kingdom of Burgundy to the Kingdom of Germany because of its strategic location.
In the spring of 1365, Emperor Charles IV came in person to the Kingdom of Arles. During the month of May he visited the County of Savoy, and appointed count Amadeus VI as imperial vicar over central regions of the Kingdom, from Lausanne and Geneva, to Lyon and Grenoble. At the same time, pretensions of the French royal House of Valois towards gaining the imperial vicariate over the region were rejected by the emperor. Proceeding to Arles, the emperor was crowned as king on 4 June (1365), by cardinal Guillaume de La Garde, the Archbishop of Arles, in the presence of high representatives of various regions, including Provence and Dauphiné, thus reaffirming imperial sovereignty over the Arlesian realm. That was the first coronation after a gap of nearly two centuries, following the previous Arlesian coronation of Frederick I in 1178. That attempt to revive the imperial hold on the Kingdom was mainly symbolic. Already in 1366, count Amadeus VI of Savoy was relieved of his duties as imperial vicar in the region.
During a state visit to Paris in early 1378, Emperor Charles IV granted the title of imperial vicar over the Kingdom of Burgundy (Arles) to the nine-year-old Charles, Dauphin of Viennois (future French king Charles VI), but only for his lifetime. Since Charles was Dauphin of Viennois and thus a holder of an imperial fief within the Kingdom, his appointment as the imperial vicar did not imply transfer of authority to the French crown, but in reality it was still seen as a gain for the House of Valois.
Imperial authority over the old Burgundian regions continued to decline, thus initiating the final stage of institutional dissolution of the Kingdom as a distinct entity. In 1421, Emperor Sigismund appointed Louis II of Chalon-Arlay as the Imperial vicar of Burgundy in the hope of restoring some imperial authority over Dauphiné, Viennois, and Provence. Those efforts were directed against rising ambitions of powerful Burgundian Duke Philip the Good. In 1463, the title of Imperial vicar was offered to Duke Philip himself, by Emperor Frederick III, as part of a proposed dynastic alliance between the houses of Burgundy and Austria, but no final agreement was reached, and thus the appointment was not accepted.
By that time French influence over northern parts of the Arlesian realm had been strengthened. In 1405, upon the death of Countess Margaret, who ruled the Free County of Burgundy in her own right, that imperial county was inherited by her son, John the Fearless, who was also the Duke of Burgundy. Since John belonged to the House of Valois-Burgundy, his acquisition of the county additionally increased French influence in regions belonging to the Kingdom of Burgundy/Arles. In 1477, upon the death of Charles the Bold, the French king seized not only the Duchy of Burgundy, which belonged to the French realm, but also the County of Burgundy, which was still an imperial fief. But in 1493, by the Treaty of Senlis, the county passed to Philip the Handsome of the House of Habsburg, thus reaffirming its attachment to the Empire.
In the southern regions of the Kingdom, the County of Provence was held by the House of Valois-Anjou, which also promoted French interests in the region. In 1481, the last Valois-Anjou count, Charles of Provence, died and left his domains to the French royal house, but under the condition that the county would not be integrated into the French realm. Thus, an effective French control was imposed in Province, but without formal annexation.