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The Dukes of Burgundy
Philip the Bold: The Dukes Of Burgundy
Boydell & Brewer does a major service by the simultaneous reissue of Richard Vaughan's studies of the Valois Dukes of Burgundy. Four distinguished scholars add extra value by contributing an introductory chapter for each ducal reign, surveying its historiography since the original publication... The story, which Vaughan tells with verve, has its full share of dramatic turns(: ) this is much more, though, than simply a narrative history; Vaughan's meticulous explorations of the administrative and financial structures that underpinned ducal authority, and of the court and its culture, are integral to his exposition (...) His achievement remains monumental. There are no comparable, modern, in-depth studies of these four larger-than-life players on the late medieval European stage, in English or in any other language. They are, besides, eminently readable. Maurice Keen, TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT
When in 1363 the duke of Burgundy died without an heir, the duchy returned to the French crown. John II's decision to give it to his fourth son, Philip, had some logic behind it, given the independence of the inhabitants; but in so doing he created the basis for a power which was to threaten France's own existence in the following century, and which was to become one of the most influential and glittering courts of Europe. Much of this was due to the character of Philip the Bold; by marrying the daughter of the count of Flanders, he inherited the wealth of the great Flemish towns in 1384, and the union of the two great fiefdoms to the north and east of France under one ruler meant that the resources of the duke of Burgundy were as great as those of the kingdom itself. From 1392 onwards, he was at loggerheads with the regent of France, his brother Louis, duke of Orleans, and this schism was to prove fatal to the kingdom, weakening the administration and leading to the French defeat by Henry V in 1415.
Richard Vaughan describes the process by which Philip fashioned this new power, in particular his administrative techniques; but he also gives due weight to the splendours of the new court, in the sphere of the arts, and records the history of its one disastrous failure, the crusade of Nicopolis in 1396. He also offers a portrait of Philip himself, energetic, ambitious and shrewd, the driving force behind the new duchy and its rapid rise to an influential place among the courts of Europe.
When in 1363 the duke of Burgundy died without an heir, the duchy returned to the French crown. John II's decision to give it to his fourth son, Philip, had some logic behind it, given the independence of the inhabitants; but in so doing he created the basis for a power which was to threaten France's own existence in the following century, and which was to become one of the most influential and glittering courts of Europe. Much of this was due to the character of Philip the Bold; by marrying the daughter of the count of Flanders, he inherited the wealth of the great Flemish towns in 1384, and the union of the two great fiefdoms to the north and east of France under one ruler meant that the resources of the duke of Burgundy were as great as those of the kingdom itself. From 1392 onwards, he was at loggerheads with the regent of France, his brother Louis, duke of Orleans, and this schism was to prove fatal to the kingdom, weakening the administration and leading to the French defeat by Henry V in 1415.
Richard Vaughan describes the process by which Philip fashioned this new power, in particular his administrative techniques; but he also gives due weight to the splendours of the new court, in the sphere of the arts, and records the history of its one disastrous failure, the crusade of Nicopolis in 1396. He also offers a portrait of Philip himself, energetic, ambitious and shrewd, the driving force behind the new duchy and its rapid rise to an influential place among the courts of Europe.
320 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1962
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
March 8, 2020
The Valois Duchy of Burgundy has fascinated me for a while. What was a spring-off of the Kingdom of France came very close to usurp its position in Europe so that today we could be speaking of The Republic of Burgundy (!!!) had not the French king Louis XI (1423-1483) reacted in time and managed to neutralize this powerful Duchy - its friend and foe. The Burgundian court is also renown for the luxury of its protocol and its art patronage becoming a model for subsequent circles of power.
I had already read Les Grands ducs de Bourgogne, but later purchased the four volumes by Richard Vaughan originally written in the 1960s dedicated to the four great Dukes: Philip the Bold (1342-1404), John the Fearless (1371-1419), Philip the Good (1396-1467) and Charles the Bold (1433-1477). My upcoming trip to visit Jan van Eyck exhibition prompted me to pull out from my shelves the first one of the series.
The story of this Duchy goes back to King Jean le Bon (1319-1364), who Vaughan believes was a pretty bad king. But his sons were all exceptional figures. His eldest, Charles, became Charles V, and the three others, Louis, John and Philip became the recipients of Dukedoms that would entertain chroniclers and historians. Anjou went to Louis – and this Dukedom soon made its way into Provence and Naples. Berry (plus Auvergne and Poitiers) for John who occupies a place of honour in the history of manuscript illumination. And Burgundy for the youngest, Philip, who accompanied the father during his imprisonment in England after he was captured in the battle of Poitiers.
Vaughan’s account is highly scholarly and methodical. It had way too much information for what my curious but limited mind could absorb, but he managed to convince me with his main argument, namely that Philip was the founder and creator of the Burgundian State. Granted, this Duchy, in the greater extension that Philip managed to attain during his time, remained in vassalage both to the Kingdom of France and to the Empire. But he succeeded in setting the foundations for his successors to endow their land holdings with sufficient political power so that around the mid fifteenth century it was regarded by the other European powers, including France, as a player in its own right.
Apart from the actual Duchy of Burgundy, by marrying Margaret, the only offspring of the Count of Flanders Louis de Malle, when his father in law died in 1384 added the northern lands of Flanders, Brabant and the Artois to his domains. He also succeeded, again through his wife, to annex sections of the County of Burgundy that legally belonged to the Empire. As very often many of these dealings required considerable support and financing, Vaughan makes it very clear that Philip had no qualms to milk the Treasury of the French kingdom.
Vaughan traces the formation of this ‘State’ through various chapters: how Flanders was acquired; how the relations with France unfolded in particular when Philip’s brother dies and the young son succeeds him in the throne; how it related to the other powers – mostly England and the Empire; how the finances fared – a difficult subject to investigate since they had a very different way of conceiving aggregate revenues and expenses; how it was organized internally. But the chapter which would appeal to me most is the one discussing art patronage.
During Philip’s time the Burgundian court did not yet reach the levels of extravagance that it would display later on, in particular with his grandson Philip the Good. Vaughan compares the expenditures of the four sons of Jean le Bon, and expectedly, the king’s stands out. Overall the chapter on patronage remains too light for my interests but I particularly enjoyed reading about the development of private libraries. It is when comparing these French courts with an Italian one, he one of Giangaleazzo Visconti (1351-1402), that Vaughan provides a fascinating account of their respective. During the 1360s the two earliest princely libraries were installed: in the Louvre with Charles V and in Pavia with Giangaleazzo; each had about a thousand volumes. They chose different titles, however. There was more literature in Paris and, unsurprisingly, more classical authors in Pavia. Philip’s library stood in no comparison to that of his brother the king, and what is today the most famous manuscript from that time belonged to the other brother, Jean de Berry. But Vaughan reminds us that it was Philip who first employed the Limbourg brothers, before they moved to Jean’s scriptorium.
But it is to Philip the Bold that the dynasty owes the fabulous Chartreuse de Champmol - or what remains of it, compliments from the French Revolution. It was conceived as a dynastic mausoleum in which a large convent with double the number of usual Carthusian monks were to live and pray. The architect had been the French Drouet de Dammartin. Philip's initiatives in architecture saw other magnificent buildings, mostly in the Dijon area such as the Sluis castle and the Ducal palace, but were not limited to his were not limited to it. If the architects had been French, his sculptors came from the Low Countries, and the Van Eyck exhibit, I believe investigates the relationship between this art and painting.
As this read is loaded with facts, the epilogue provides a welcome final tie up of the various arguments Vaughan has developed to sustain that Philip created a new State. At the end Vaughan reveals to the uninitiated reader that his thesis opposes that of the historians Pirenne and Huizinga. I have not read those authors , so it is hard to compare, but Vaughan’s version will certainly stay on my mind.
February 28, 2021
Dry as an accounting textbook. Interesting as a description of how a late Middle Age state was run and governed.
Accounts are described and gone over extensively. "Following the money" is a good way to get a feel for how entities such as a government is run. It does not make for scintillating reader, however. The author also uses lists of people, a lot. This is also not scintillating reading.
As a work of scholarship, this seems well-researched. The detail is fantastic. I do wish someone had taken this as a summary for writing something that was more readable about Philip the Bold.
One last criticism is the author has a thesis and they attempt to "prove" it by repeating it at the end of every chapter, despite very little in the chapter actually supporting it. The thesis is "Philip the Bold created a modern, separate state in the Two Burgundies". However, the book presents very little evidence that this actually happened during Philip the Bold's lifetime nor that he was intending to do such a thing. Instead, we get a glimpse of a powerful French aristocrat (fourth son of John II of France) doing whatever was needed to govern the lands he was given to rule. There is little evidence in the book that Philip was trying to create a separate state nor that he did so "accidentally". Instead, he copied governance from France, used French resources where he could, he emulated French methodologies, and used French personnel interchangeably with "locals" to govern. At best, Philip laid the groundwork for a separate state that undeniably came into being later.
Accounts are described and gone over extensively. "Following the money" is a good way to get a feel for how entities such as a government is run. It does not make for scintillating reader, however. The author also uses lists of people, a lot. This is also not scintillating reading.
As a work of scholarship, this seems well-researched. The detail is fantastic. I do wish someone had taken this as a summary for writing something that was more readable about Philip the Bold.
One last criticism is the author has a thesis and they attempt to "prove" it by repeating it at the end of every chapter, despite very little in the chapter actually supporting it. The thesis is "Philip the Bold created a modern, separate state in the Two Burgundies". However, the book presents very little evidence that this actually happened during Philip the Bold's lifetime nor that he was intending to do such a thing. Instead, we get a glimpse of a powerful French aristocrat (fourth son of John II of France) doing whatever was needed to govern the lands he was given to rule. There is little evidence in the book that Philip was trying to create a separate state nor that he did so "accidentally". Instead, he copied governance from France, used French resources where he could, he emulated French methodologies, and used French personnel interchangeably with "locals" to govern. At best, Philip laid the groundwork for a separate state that undeniably came into being later.
January 19, 2019
If you're interested in very dry, fact-based history, you might like this.
If you like to read the dullest nonfiction available to help you sleep at night, this works well.
If you like to read the dullest nonfiction available to help you sleep at night, this works well.
August 3, 2022
I really enjoyed this book. It was a very interesting look at how Philip the Bold acquired and managed his portfolio of territories in eastern France and the Low Countries. There's a good chronological overview of his rule, as well as more specific dives into the actual mechanisms and structures used for administering his lands, and how he went about unifying (and carefully keeping separate) certain aspects of his administration. My only real complaint is that there are a number of quotes included in the book that are only in French and aren't accompanied by a translation of said quote, so those you have to either look up on your own, or just go by context. Overall an interesting read. I'm looking forward to checking out the rest of this series.
March 5, 2023
A little dry. Would be much better with a section on the economies of Flander + the 2 Burgundies, specifically from which commodities, processes and forms of land tenure did Philip draw his revenue?
March 12, 2015
Good book considering. I need to read the 3 to make a proper judgement.
August 2, 2017
Link to my review of this book:
https://flhwnotesandreviews.com/2017/...
https://flhwnotesandreviews.com/2017/...
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews