Duchy of Burgundy
Duchy of Burgundy | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 918–1790 | |||||||||
The Duchy of Burgundy within France on the eve of the French Revolution | |||||||||
| Status | Vassal of the Kingdom of France | ||||||||
| Capital | Dijon 47°19′23.002″N 5°2′30.998″E / 47.32305611°N 5.04194389°E | ||||||||
| Common languages | |||||||||
| Religion | Roman Catholicism | ||||||||
| Demonym(s) | Burgundian | ||||||||
| Government | Feudal monarchy | ||||||||
| Duke of Burgundy | |||||||||
• 1032–1076 | Robert I | ||||||||
• 1363–1404 | Philip the Bold | ||||||||
• 1404–1419 | John the Fearless | ||||||||
• 1419–1467 | Philip the Good | ||||||||
• 1467–1477 | Charles the Bold | ||||||||
| Legislature | Estates of Burgundy | ||||||||
| Historical era | Middle Ages | ||||||||
• Established | c. 918 | ||||||||
| 1002 | |||||||||
| 1337–1453 | |||||||||
| 1384 | |||||||||
| 1430 | |||||||||
| 1474–1477 | |||||||||
| 1477–1482 | |||||||||
• Duchy absorbed into French royal domain | 1790 | ||||||||
| Currency | goldgulden, stuiver, gros | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Today part of | France | ||||||||
The Duchy of Burgundy (/ˈbɜːrɡəndi/; Latin: Ducatus Burgundiae; French: Duché de Bourgogne) was a medieval and early modern feudal polity in north-western regions of historical Burgundy. It was a duchy, ruled by dukes of Burgundy. The Duchy 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 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.