- Source: List of territories of the Valois dukes of Burgundy
From 1363 to 1477, 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 and joined in personal union. The Duchy of Burgundy itself was granted to the dynasty's founder Philip the Bold in 1363 by his father the French king. The dynasty's domains were then substantially added to, mainly by Philip himself and his grandson, Philip the Good.
Philip the Bold married Margaret of Flanders, and when her father died in 1384, he acquired through her inheritance not only the adjacent County of Burgundy and other lands in eastern France, but also Flanders in the Low Countries, with its concentration of wealthy urban areas. The next period of major expansion was in the 1420s and 1430s when Philip the Good added further extensive domains by purchase, diplomacy and inheritance. These were in eastern and north eastern France, but more significantly, in the Low Countries as well. The Brabantine inheritance of 1430 and the cession of Jacqueline of Hainaut's lands in 1433, when added to Flanders, meant that Philip's territories would include a powerful contiguous domain covering most of the Low Countries and referred to as the Burgundian Netherlands.
Finally, the last Valois duke, Charles the Bold, through almost continuous warfare after his accession in 1467, briefly extended the domains further 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.
Territories of the Valois dukes of Burgundy
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, 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. Charles the Bold briefly united the southern and northern domains through conquest but these gains were lost with his death in 1477.
Notes
References
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