From the late 14th century to the late 15th century, the Valois dukes of Burgundy, a cadet branch of the French royal House of Valois, ruled over a domain that ultimately covered much of eastern France and the Low Countries. Although sometimes referred to as the Burgundian state, it was in fact a composite monarchy, comprising an array of duchies, counties and lordships acquired by the dukes over time by a number of means.
The dukes' lands straddled the border areas between the Kingdom of France and the Holy Roman Empire and were divided into two groups of possessions. In the south was the Duchy of Burgundy itself, granted to the dynasty's founder Philip the Bold in 1363 by his father the French king, and the neighbouring County of Burgundy (the modern Franche-Comté), a fief of the Empire. These possessions were separated from the Burgundian Netherlands in the north, where the Dukes derived most of their wealth, power and prestige.
The last Valois duke, Charles the Bold, through almost continuous warfare, briefly united the two sets of domains geographically but was killed in battle in 1477 without a male heir, the last of the dynasty being his daughter Mary of Burgundy. The Duchy of Burgundy itself was then absorbed back into France and most of the remaining territories, as a result of Mary's marriage to Maximilian of Habsburg, passed to the House of Habsburg, forming part of a much larger empire.
The Valois dukes acquired their duchies, counties and lordships through feudal grants, marriages, inheritance, purchases and conquest between 1363 and 1475. After the grant of the Duchy itself, the main territorial additions were in 1384, through the Flemish inheritance of Margaret of Flanders (the wealthy towns of Flanders as well the Franche-Comté and Nevers), in 1430 as a result of the Brabantine inheritance, which included much of the central Low Countries, and in 1433 by Jacqueline, Countess of Hainaut ceding the prosperous Low Countries counties of Hainaut, Holland and Zeeland.
| Means of acquisition | Subsequent history | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Duchy of Burgundy | Philip the Bold | 1363 | Granted to Philip as an appanage by his father John II of France. | Following the death of the last Valois duke, Charles the Bold at the Battle of Nancy, 1477, the Duchy returned to the French crown. |
| County of Burgundy | 1384 | The territories were inherited by Philip's wife, Margaret of Flanders, from her father Louis of Male, Count of Flanders who died in 1384. Philip then took control of the territories and assumed the various comital and other titles. Margaret died in 1404, a year after Philip, and the territories were inherited by the next duke, John the Fearless, except Nevers and Rethel. | Seized by Louis XI after Charles the Bold's death but returned to Charles's heirs, the House of Habsburg, by the Treaty of Senlis, 1493. | |
| Lordship of Salins | ||||
| County of Artois | ||||
| Lordship of Mechelen | Following Charles the Bold's death in 1477, Flanders passed to the House of Habsburg through marriage to Charles's daughter and heir, Mary, as did Mechelen (also known as Malines). | |||
| Walloon Flanders | ||||
| County of Flanders | ||||
| County of Rethel | Given, on Margaret's death in 1404, as appanages for Philip and Margaret's youngest son, Philip of Nevers and his descendants. | |||
| County of Nevers | ||||
| County of Charolais | 1390 | Purchased by Philip for 60,000 francs from John III, Count of Armagnac. | Seized by France on Charles the Bold's death in 1477, but returned to his Habsburg heirs by the Treaty of Senlis, 1493. | |
| Bailiwick of Mâcon | John the Fearless | 1417 | Seized by force from the French crown, confirmed by Treaty of Arras 1435. | Annexed by Louis XI in 1477. |
| County of Tonnerre | 1419 | Conquest from Louis de Chalons confirmed by royal grant in 1419. | ||
| County of Boulogne | Philip the Good | 1423 | Seized in 1423 and confirmed by the Treaty of Arras 1435. | Seized by Louis XI of France on Charles the Bold's death in 1477. |
| County of Namur | 1429 | In 1421, Philip paid John of Namur 132,000 crowns for the inheritance rights. He succeeded John on his death in 1429. | Following Charles the Bold's death in 1477, the territories passed to the House of Habsburg through marriage to Charles's daughter and heir, Mary. | |
| Duchy of Limburg | 1430 | John the Fearless's brother, Anthony, inherited the Duchy of Brabant from his great-aunt Joanna of Brabant on her death in 1406. Anthony was succeeded by his two sons, the last of whom, Philip of St. Pol, bequeathed it to Philip the Good on his death in 1430. The succession, however, was not certain until confirmed by the Estates of Brabant later that year. The Margraviate of Antwerp was a dependency of Brabant, as was the Duchy of Limburg and the Lands of Overmaas. | ||
| Lands of Overmaas | ||||
| Margraviate of Antwerp | ||||
| Duchy of Brabant | ||||
| County of Holland | 1433 | The three counties had been in personal union since the 13th century. During a period of internal conflict after the accession of Jacqueline, Countess of Hainaut, Philip intervened and was able to gain control over the counties leading, in 1433, to Jacqueline ceding all her rights to him. | ||
| County of Zeeland | ||||
| County of Hainaut | ||||
| County of Ponthieu | 1435 | Transferred to Philip by the Treaty of Arras, 1435 | In 1477, Louis XI of France annexed Auxerre, the Somme towns, Ponthieu and Vermandois. | |
| County of Auxerre | ||||
| County of Vermandois | ||||
| Somme towns | ||||
| Duchy of Luxembourg | 1443 | In 1441, Philip pressured the childless Duchess of Luxembourg, Elizabeth of Görlitz, to appoint him as her heir in exchange for a pension of 7,000 florins per year. In 1443, prior to her death, he seized the Duchy and paid off any rival claimants. On Elizabeth's death in 1451 he formally became Duke. | Following Charles the Bold's death in 1477, the duchy passed to the House of Habsburg through marriage to Charles's daughter and heir, Mary. | |
| County of Zutphen | Charles the Bold | 1473 | Charles seized the Duchy by force in 1473 during a dynastic dispute between Arnold, Duke of Guelders and his son. Shortly before Charles's invasion Arnold died and left the Duchy to him in his will. The County of Zutphen was a dependency of and attached to the Duchy. | With Charles's death in 1477, Guelders re-asserted its independence. In the following decades, Charles's Habsburg heirs attempted to recover the Duchy but this was only achieved by his great-grandson, Charles V, in 1543. |
| Duchy of Guelders | ||||
| Duchy of Lorraine | 1475 | In 1475, Charles seized the Duchy by force from René II, Duke of Lorraine and had himself installed as Duke in December of that year. | With Charles's defeat and death at the Battle of Nancy, January 1477, René II recovered the Duchy. |