Charles I, Duke of Burgundy

Childhood

Charles Martin was born on 10 November 1433 in Dijon, capital of the Duchy of Burgundy.^[15] He was the third child of Philip the Good and his third wife Isabella of Portugal and the only one to survive past infancy.^[16] Fearing that she would lose another child, Isabella consecrated the infant to the Blessed Sacrament.^[16]

Philip the Good arrived in Dijon in November to celebrate the birth. He made his son a knight of the Golden Fleece and granted him the title of count of Charolais, traditionally borne by the heirs of the dukes of Burgundy.^[17][18][c] Charles was baptised on 20 November. His sponsors were Count Charles of Nevers and Antoine of the influential de Croÿ family, and he was named after the count of Nevers, Philip the Good's stepson through his second wife, Bonne of Artois.^[18][19]

In early spring 1434, Isabella and her son moved to the mountain fortress of Talant because of outbreaks of plague in Burgundy.^[20] Later that winter, they travelled to Paris to join Philip the Good.^[18] On the way, they stayed in Bruges, where a rebellion against Philip was brewing. In 1436, as Isabella and her entourage prepared to leave the city, rebels arrested them near the gate.^[21] The rebellion was suppressed in 1438, when Philip blockaded the city and forced the rebels to surrender.^[22]

During infancy, Charles was described as a robust child.^[16][20] Philip appointed many tutors for the young Charles. The most important of them was Antoine Haneron, professor of rhetoric in the University of Louvain.^[23] Like his father, Charles developed a fondness for reading histories, chronicles, and historical romances.^[23] He aspired to become a conqueror like Alexander the Great. The fact that both he and Alexander had fathers named Philip appears to have stimulated his imagination and encouraged his ambition.^[24][25]

Until the age of six, Charles was brought up by his cousins, John and Agnes of Cleves, both children of Mary of Burgundy, daughter of John the Fearless. Of the two, Agnes played the larger role in Charles's early education. She remained in close company with Isabella and Charles.^[26]

In 1435, the Treaty of Arras, reconciled Philip the Good with Charles VII, King of France, marking the end of the Armagnac–Burgundian Civil War.^[27] As a sign of good faith, Charles VII agreed to a marriage between one of his daughters and Philip's heir and sent his daughters to Burgundy. Philip chose Catherine, the king's ten-year-old daughter, to marry the six-year-old Charles.^[28] They were married on 11 June 1439, at Saint-Omer in a ceremony accompanied by concerts, jousts, and banquets.^[29] The pair were put under the care of a governess, but were often kept apart and given pursuits suited to their age.^[29][30] Catherine died on 30 July 1446, and her death was deeply mourned at the Burgundian court.^[31]

In 1441, Philip appointed Jean d'Auxy, seigneur of Auxi-le-Château, as guardian to the eight-year-old Charles. D'Auxy later served as Charles's chamberlain from 1456 to 1468.^[32] At the age of 12, Charles began to take part in the public affairs of his father's realm. In 1445, he accompanied his father on a rare state visit to Holland and Zealand.^[33]

Youth

In 1449, the wealthy city of Ghent rebelled against Burgundian rule in response to new taxes on salt.^[34] Charles took part in the fighting, but Philip the Good, wishing to keep him out of danger, sent him to Lille with the false news that his mother Isabella was seriously ill. Charles left shortly before the decisive Battle of Gavere in 1453.^[35] In Lille, his mother honoured him with a feast and encouraged him to return to the battlefield and fight for his inheritance. By then, Philip had already defeated the rebellious burghers at Gavere.^[36]

Charles remained a widower for eight years before marrying Isabella of Bourbon on 30 October 1454.^[37] Isabella, the daughter of Agnes of Burgundy and Charles I, Duke of Bourbon, was Philip the Good's niece. Her father had sent her as a child to the Burgundian court as a ward of Isabella of Portugal. A shy and pliant young woman, she was adored by Philip, who saw the match as an opportunity of renewing the Treaty of Arras after Charles VII's threatening actions towards Burgundy.^[38] Charles was not informed of his father's plan until the night before the wedding, but he did not resist the match.^[39] As part of Isabella's dowry, the town of Chinon was incorporated into Philip's realm.^[40]

Disputes with Philip the Good

From 1454 to 1464, Charles was excluded from power by his father, Philip the Good, and shut out from the ducal council and from influence at the Burgundian court.^[41][d] In 1454, Philip appointed him "governor and lieutenant-general in absence" while he attended the Imperial Diet in Regensburg.^[43] Philip hoped to meet Emperor Frederick III and win his support for a crusade to retake Constantinople from the Ottomans, but the emperor did not appear.^[44] Even as regent, Charles exercised little power compared with his father and mother.^[43] He was nevertheless able to issue documents in his own name. His regency was short-lived. Philip returned to Burgundy on 7 or 9 August, and Charles was once again excluded from power.^[43]

Charles's exclusion from power damaged his relationship with his father, and tensions between them came to a head in 1457. Charles wanted to appoint Antoin Rolin, seigneur of Aymeries and son of Nicolas Rolin, Philip the Good's chancellor, as his chamberlain. Philip the Good, wary of the influence this would give his chancellor, refused and instead proposed Philip I of Porcéan, high bailiff of Hainaut and a member of the influential House of Croÿ.^[45][46]

Charles distrusted Philip de Croÿ, whom he suspected of accepting money from Charles VII to undermine Philip the Good, and refused his father's choice.^[47] Philip was so angered that Charles's mother feared for Charles's life and had him removed from court. Charles fled to Dendermonde (now in northern Belgium) while Philip lost his way in the forests of Soignies trying to find him. Through the mediation of Isabella of Bourbon, who was pregnant with Charles's child, father and son reached a truce.^[48]

When Charles's daughter, Mary, was born on 13 February 1457, neither Charles nor his father attended her baptism, as both wished to avoid each other.^[49] Nicolas Rolin was removed from the chancellery, and Rolin's close ally, Jean Chevrot, was removed from the ducal council. As a result, the de Croÿ family became more powerful.^[17]

Charles withdrew from court to his estate at Le Quesnoy in Hainaut, where he was entrusted with minor tasks concerning his father's Flemish subjects. In 1461, he also built the Blue Tower at Gorinchem as a personal residence. He attempted to formalise his position as heir to the Burgundian State, prompting his father to cut off his allowance.^[17] As a result, Charles lacked the money to pay his household or maintain his estate. According to Burgundian court chronicler Georges Chastellain, Charles dismissed his staff in 1463 because he could no longer pay them, but they were determined to continue serving him and even offered him part of their own money.^[50] According to the German historian Werner Paravicini, such acts of altruism were typical of the time, which made the account more plausible.^[51]

In 1462, Charles survived an attempted poisoning by Jehan Coustain, premier valet de chambre, who was executed at Rupelmonde. Charles blamed de Croÿ for the plot, while de Croÿ came to believe that Charles had staged the attempt himself.^[52]

By the end of 1463, the disputes between Charles and his father grew so serious that the States General of the Burgundian Netherlands intervened. On 5 February 1464, Charles addressed the deputies assembled at Ghent and attacked the Croÿ family.^[53] He and Philip reconciled in June 1464, after they met in Lille, although de Croÿ maintained his hold on power.^[41]

Later that year, Charles secured full authority by arguing that Philip was becoming senile. He put pressure on de Croÿ, but Philip defended his favourite by threatening his son.^[54] Ten days later, however, the States General appointed Charles lieutenant général, giving him effective control of the government.^[54] His first act was to confiscate de Croÿ's estates. De Croÿ and his family were then banished to France, where their French patron, Louis XI, offered them no support.^[55]

Rivalry with Louis XI

In 1457, Louis, Dauphin of France and heir to Charles VII, suddenly arrived at Philip the Good's court at Brussels.^[56] Philip saw his guest as an opportunity to mend his relations with the French crown. He received the dauphin warmly, treated him generously, and refused all requests from Charles VII to send him back. At Philip's expense, Louis lived comfortably at Genappe.^[56] Charles VII's attempts to regain his son failed. He reportedly said: "My cousin Burgundy is feeding a fox who will eat up all his chickens".^[57] Louis went on to become Philip's favourite, partly as a result of Philip's quarrel with his own son.^[58]

Despite Louis's friendship with Philip, he and Charles disliked each other.^[59] Even so, Charles asked the dauphin to be godfather to his daughter, Mary.^[49] His hostility deepened after Louis succeeded his father on 22 July 1461.^[59] Louis was crowned as Louis XI at Reims on 31 August, with Philip the Good personally placing the crown on his head.^[60] Philip believed that hostilities between France and Burgundy had come to an end, but Louis refused to attend the feast held in his honour at the coronation, and Philip returned to Burgundy disappointed.^[61]

Charles feared Louis intended to dismantle the Burgundian defensive system in Picardy, and he was angered by the crisis over the Somme towns in the autumn of 1463.^[62][56] De Croÿ persuaded Philip to amend the Treaty of Arras and return towns including Saint-Quentin, Abbeville, Amiens, Péronne, and Montdidier to the French crown in exchange for 400,000 gold écus from Louis to return those cities to the crown domains.^[63][56] After Charles was appointed lieutenant général in 1464, he moved openly against Louis by forming the League of the Public Weal.^[62]

The League of the Public Weal was a confederation of prominent French princes formed to undermine Louis XI's authority. Its leading members included Charles of Berry (the king's brother), Francis II, Duke of Brittany, John II, Duke of Bourbon, and Jacques and John d'Armagnac.^[62] The league declared Charles of Berry regent of France and appointed Francis II captain general of the army.^[64] As rebellion loomed, Louis offered to pardon all the dukes and lords involved. The lesser lords accepted the pardon, but the leading princes persisted with their demands.^[64] The members of the league then chose Charles as their leader and began to assemble an army.^[64] The league became the most dangerous in a series of princely revolts against the French crown; one chronicle recorded the number of the participants against Louis XI to be seven dukes, twelve counts, two lords, one marshal, and 51,000 men-at-arms.^[65]

To counteract the rebels, Louis XI raised an army and marched south into central France to defeat John II of Bourbon. Charles soon mustered an army of 25,000 men and marched towards Paris.^[64] Louis then hastily returned to Paris to defend the city.^[66] On 15 July, Charles reached the village of Montlhéry and discovered that the royal army was camped a few miles south at Arpajon.^[67] On learning of Charles's position, Louis moved to engage him.^[66]

On 16 July 1465, the two armies met and fought the Battle of Montlhéry.^[66] Charles positioned himself beside the Burgundian vanguard under Louis of Saint-Pol. He attacked the French left flank, commanded by Charles IV, Count of Maine. While pursuing the fleeing count and his men, he was caught by a French counterattack and wounded in the throat, but escaped capture and returned to his lines.^[66] He then ordered his gunners to fire on the royal army; according to his own account, 1,200–1,400 men and many horses were killed.^[68] By evening, Louis XI had retreated eastwards to Paris.^[67]

While each side claimed victory at Montlhéry, neither achieved all its objectives.^[66] Charles failed to capture Louis on the battlefield, while Louis failed to prevent Charles from joining his allies.^[67] Although Charles could deploy his troops in good order, he had not yet become a skilled tactician.^[69] The rebel armies joined at Étampes and began marching towards Paris on 31 July.^[68] They then laid siege to Paris, during which Charles directed artillery fire against the city's walls.^[70][71] The rebels entered the city when the nobleman Charles de Melun opened the Saint-Antoine gate for them.^[72] Louis XI was then forced to negotiate.^[66] The resulting Treaty of Conflans granted the Normandy to Charles, Duke of Berry, and returned the Somme lands to Burgundy.^[73][74]

Ascension

On 12 June 1467, Philip the Good suddenly fell ill.^[75] Over the following days, he could hardly breathe and vomited repeatedly. Charles was summoned from Ghent to come to his father at once.^[76] By the time he arrived, Philip had fallen unconscious and died on 15 June.^[76] Charles arranged for his father's funeral to be held in St. Donatian's Cathedral. It was attended by 1,200 people from the households of both Charles and Philip. The cathedral was lit by 1,400 candles, which heated the inside of the church so much that holes had to be made in the windows to cool the air.^[77] During the funeral, Charles displayed intense emotion: he shook, trembled, pulled his hair, and repeatedly shouted and wept. The court chronicler, Georges Chastellain, doubted the sincerity of his distress and expressed astonishment that he could show such emotion.^[78]

Fourteen days later, Charles formally assumed the title of Duke of Burgundy. In celebration, he made a Joyous Entry into Ghent on 28 June 1467, emulating Caesar.^[79] The entry provoked unrest in the city.^[80] The people demanded an end to the humiliating penalties imposed after the revolt of 1449.^[81] Charles left Ghent with his ten-year-old daughter Mary and the treasure kept by Philip at the Prinsenhof.^[82] The following January, he coerced the mayors of Ghent into asking for his pardon. He then abolished their governmental rights and announced that only he could appoint the town government, in contravention of Philip IV's constitution of 1301.^[83]

The third marriage

On 26 September 1465, Charles's wife, Isabella of Bourbon, died of tuberculosis at the age of 31. Court chronicles briefly recorded the long months of her illness.^[37] In these accounts, the most important aspect of her life was her marriage to Charles, during which she bore him one daughter and no male heir. They also emphasized that she and Charles had supposedly fallen in love, even though the match had begun as a political marriage.^[37] Charles, occupied with the political negotiations following the War of the Public Weal, could not attend her funeral.^[37][e]

Within weeks of Isabella of Bourbon's death, Charles's mother sought an English marriage for her son. She sent Guillaume de Clugny, one of Charles's close advisors, to London to negotiate with Edward IV for a marriage between his sister, Margaret of York.^[84] To prevent an English-Burgundian alliance, Louis XI proposed that Charles marry his four-year-old daughter, Anne, but Charles refused.^[84]

In the spring of 1466, an embassy led by Edward Woodville, Edward IV's brother-in-law, arrived in Burgundy to propose two marriages between the English royal family and the Burgundians: one between Charles and Margaret of York, and the other between Charles's daughter Mary and George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence, Edward IV's younger brother.^[84] The embassy achieved only part of its purpose, as Charles was not interested in marrying his young daughter to the Duke of Clarence.^[85]

In October 1467, Edward IV publicly ratified the marriage between Charles and his sister, and Margaret of York appeared before the Magnum Concilium of Kingston upon Thames and formally gave her consent to the marriage.^[86] Charles welcomed the English delegation—led by Edward and Anthony Woodville—to Burgundy, and then had his mother accompany the envoys to negotiate the final marriage treaty.^[87] The marriage treaty and the alliance were signed and ratified in February 1468, though the wedding itself did not take place until eight months later.^[88] Since Charles and Margaret were fourth-degree cousins, they needed a Papal dispensation to legitimise their marriage.^[89] As obtaining the dispensation was the groom's responsibility, Charles sent a delegation to Rome, but it did not secure the dispensation until May 1469.^[89] Edward IV announced the marriage of his sister to Charles and hailed him as "a mighty Prince who bears no crown".^[89]

Charles and Margaret were married on 3 July at Damme, three miles from Bruges.^[90] For the wedding, Charles prepared nine receptions, each ending with a jousting match. He hoped to outdo his father's famous Feast of the Pheasant.^[91] The celebrations displayed the power and wealth of the dukedom.^[92] At the end of the ceremonies, Charles retired without spending the wedding night with Margaret.^[93]

Charles and Margaret never had children.^[94] They spent little time together: only three weeks during the first six months after their marriage, about one-quarter of the time in 1469 and 1470, and only three weeks in 1473.^[95] According to the contemporary jurist Filips Wielant, Charles housed Margaret far away from him because he did not want women to hamper his court life.^[96]

Territorial expansion

Like his father, Charles pursued territorial expansion, but whereas Philip the Good relied on diplomacy and inheritance, Charles sought to enlarge his realm more aggressively.^[97][98] In the Netherlands, he looked to the north-east, especially the Duchy of Guelders.^[97] Although Guelders had never formed part of the Burgundian lands, it was economically dependent on Burgundian trade.^[99]

In 1463, Adolf of Egmond rebelled against his father, the ruling duke, Arnold. With Philip the Good's support, Adolf usurped the duchy and imprisoned his father in 1465.^[98] Adolf's treatment of his father caused a scandal that reached Rome, where the Pope sought a mediator to end the conflict in Guelders. In 1471, Charles was appointed to mediate and marched into Guelders to restore Arnold to power.^[100] Adolf was placed under house arrest and, after a failed escape attempt, imprisoned.^[101] To retain Burgundian support, Arnold made Charles Regent of Guelders. When Arnold died in February 1473, having left no heirs but his imprisoned son, he bequeathed the duchy to Charles.^[102][103]

Charles's inheritance met with opposition. The Estates of Guelders, along with the towns of Nijmegen, Arnhem, and Zutphen, rejected Arnold's will, and Louis XI asked Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor, to confiscate the duchy.^[104] Frederick, however, was diplomatically close to Charles and did not intervene. Charles subdued the rebelling cities and the nobles of Guelders by force.^[104][99]

On 9 June 1473, he entered Maastricht with a sizeable army and met little resistance. Roermond and Venlo quickly surrendered, while Moers, led by Count Vincent von Moers, yielded to Charles's artillery.^[105] The only serious resistance came at the siege of Nijmegen, which only surrendered after inflicting heavy losses on the Burgundian army. After conquering Guelders, Charles imposed heavy taxes, replaced local aldermen, and gave greater authority to ducal judicial officers to centralise the administration.^[101]

The Burgundian state under Charles was divided between two main areas, the Duchy of Burgundy in the south and Flanders in the north.^[106] To unite them, Charles needed control of the Duchy of Lorraine and Alsace.^[107] On 21 March 1469, he received Sigismund, Archduke of Austria at his court to negotiate the purchase of Sigismund's lands in Upper Alsace.^[108] Sigismund was in desperate financial straits and readily agreed to sell.^[109] Through this purchase, Charles acquired a claim to the city of Ferrette, near the Swiss border, which alarmed the Swiss Confederacy.^[98] His rights and income from the new territories were limited because most of the land rights were mortgaged to local nobles.^[110] Charles's deputy in the region, Peter von Hagenbach, imposed harsh taxes on the local population.^[111] Several towns in Alsace soon formed a league against Hagenbach.^[107] For the most part, Charles paid little attention to the region.^[112]

Meeting the Emperor at Trier

Charles greatly desired to transform the Duchy of Burgundy into a kingdom, both to free it from vassalage to the French crown and to enhance his own stature.^[113][114] The only way to achieve this was within the framework of the Holy Roman Empire.^[115] At Charles's request, Sigismund of Austria proposed him as the next king of the Romans, the title borne by the emperor's designated successor. As an inducement, he also proposed the marriage of the Emperor's son to Charles's daughter.^[116] Charles was one of the richest princes in Europe. He was allied with the rebellious princes in the Empire, as well as the Hungarians, and the Bohemians. This made him an attractive ally for Emperor Frederick III,^[117] who agreed to receive him at Trier.^[103]

In October 1473, both parties arrived at Trier. The Emperor came with his son Maximilian and 2,500 horsemen, while the Burgundian entourage included 13,000 men-at-arms, Burgundian nobility, bishops, and a display of treasures and relics.^[113][f] Despite all the grandeur, Frederick III was disappointed that Charles had not brought his daughter Mary, amid rumours spread by Habsburg opponents that she was physically defective.^[118][119]

Charles hoped to become the king of the Romans and eventually succeed Frederick as emperor. In return, Maximilian would inherit the Burgundian State and later succeed to the imperial throne.^[120][g] Charles also wanted to become a prince-elector, taking the Bohemian seat in the Electoral College, and to be recognised as the duke of Guelders.^[122][119]

Although Charles secured recognition of his possession of the Duchy of Guelders, he was still not recognised as king of the Romans, in part because Frederick III believed that the prince-electors would not vote for him.^[122][123] During the conference, Charles ignored and alienated the prince-electors.^[123] When he realised how much he needed their support, he tried to impress them with displays of his wealth, but they were not swayed.^[124] Charles largely neglected the prince-electors, a diplomatic misstep that Lecuppre-Desjardin attributes to his "very French political assumptions" and limited understanding of German elective practices.^[125]

As an alternative, Frederick III proposed elevating the Duchy of Burgundy to a kingdom, and Charles accepted.^[122][123] The two agreed that Frederick III would crown Charles in the Trier Cathedral on 25 November.^[126] However, the next day the Emperor secretly departed from Trier, embarking on the Moselle at dawn.^[127] Charles became enraged, locked himself in his room, and smashed the furniture to pieces. He did not, however, break the betrothal between Maximilian and Mary, still hoping to secure a royal crown.^[128]

Prelude

Continuing his territorial expansion, Charles turned his attention to the Rhineland, where the Archbishop of Cologne, Ruprecht, had asked for his aid against a rebellion.^[129][130] Hoping to turn the archbishopric into a Burgundian protectorate, he planned to lay siege to Colognian cities and force the subjects to accept Ruprecht's terms.^[131] His first target was Neuss, which he needed to control in order to guarantee Burgundian supply lines for an attack on Cologne. Neuss was expected to fall within a few days, and many contemporary historians feared that its fall would open up Germany to the Burgundians.^[131] The Siege of Neuss, however, lasted from July 1474 to June 1475 and cost Burgundy heavily in army strength and strategic opportunities.^{[129][132][h]} The inhabitants of Neuss endured heavy bombardment and the exhaustion of their food supplies, as they waited for relief from Emperor Frederick.^{[135][136][129]}

Emperor Frederick was slow to assemble an army. After gathering 20,000 German forces in spring 1475, he took seventeen days to march from Cologne to Zons, where his army encamped.^[137] The emperor had no desire to fight the Burgundians and limited his involvement to a few skirmishes.^[137][136] The conflict quickly ended after a papal emissary threatened both sides with excommunication, and all parties signed a peace treaty on 29 May 1475.^[134]

In response to Charles's aggressive policies, the Imperial city of Strasbourg, the Rhineland cities of Colmar and Sélestat, and Swiss cantons of Basel and Bern formed the League of Constance to drive Burgundy out of Alsace.^[129][138] In April 1474, rebellion broke out in Alsace, and the league declared war on Burgundy in support of the rebels.^[129][107] The league overthrew Hagenbach, Charles's deputy in Alsace, put him on trial, and executed him on 9 May.^[139] Charles was enraged by the news, but could not act immediately because he was still preoccupied with the Siege of Neuss.^[140][141] In August, he sent an army led by Hagenbach's brother, Stefan von Hagenbach, into Alsace, where it plundered the region.^[140] This expedition has been considered a catalyst for the Burgundian Wars between Charles and the League of Constance, which by 1475 also included René II of Lorraine.^[140][142]

Battle of Grandson

Charles then invaded the Swiss and their allies. Splitting his army into two, he advanced through Lorraine without resistance and captured Nancy.^[143] At the beginning of 1476, he besieged the castle of Grandson, which was held by a garrison from Bern.^[144] After recapturing the castle, Charles executed the entire Bernese garrison in retaliation for Swiss brutality in Burgundian towns.^[145] On 1 March, expecting the Swiss army to advance against him, Charles left Grandson and moved north towards Concise. The Swiss army marched from Neuchâtel, with its vanguard reaching the mountain pass first and surprising the Burgundian army.^[145][144]

Charles quickly rallied his troops, ordered his artillery to fire on the Swiss lines, and launched an attack.^[144] Meanwhile, the Swiss had knelt down to pray, which the Burgundians may have mistaken for submission, encouraging the attack.^[146] The initial charge, commanded by Louis de Châlon-Arlay, Lord of Grandson, failed to break the Swiss defensive line, and Louis was killed.^[146] Charles then launched a second attack, but soon withdrew, hoping to draw the Swiss further down the valley to give his artillery a better target.^[147]

The rest of Charles's army mistook his tactical retreat for a full withdrawal. As the main Swiss force reached the valley, sounding their horns, the Burgundians panicked and abandoned their positions despite Charles's attempts to keep them in order.^[146][144] They also abandoned their camp at Grandson, leaving it for the Swiss to capture.^[144][148] The Battle of Grandson was a humiliating defeat for Charles: he lost many valuable treasures, along with his artillery and supplies.^[149] For two or three days after the battle, Charles refused any food or drink. By 4 March, he began reorganising his army in the hope of fighting again within two weeks.^[150]

Battle of Morat

Charles retreated to Lausanne, where he reorganised his army. He demanded more artillery and men-at-arms from his lands: in Dijon, metal objects were melted down to make cannon, and in occupied Lorraine he confiscated all the artillery.^[151][i] He received funds from all his allies, and men from Italy, Germany, England, and Poland joined his army.^[152] By the end of May, he had assembled 20,000 men in Lausanne, outnumbering the local population.^[153] He trained them from 14 to 26 May, while his own health worsened. Delayed supply lines and overdue pay forced the army to cut costs, and many horse archers had to go on foot. Although impressive in appearance, the army lacked cohesion and was unstable.^[154]

On 27 May, Charles and his army began marching towards the fortress of Morat. His main objective was Bern, but he first needed to capture Morat in order to isolate the city.^[152] He arrived at Morat on 9 June and immediately besieged the fortress. By 19 June, after several assaults and the destruction of parts of its walls, Morat sent a message to Bern asking for help.^[155]

On 20 June, the Eidgenossen (oath companion^[j]) arrived at Morat.^[158] The forces were larger than the army at Grandson: Swiss commanders estimated them at 30,000 men, while recent historians place the figure at 24,000.^[159] Charles expected a decisive battle on 21 June, but no attack came.^[158] The Swiss attacked instead on 22 June, a holy day associated with the Ten thousand martyrs, and caught the Burgundians by surprise.^[160] Charles was slow to organise a counterattack; before his men had finished taking position, the Swiss army had already reached them.^[161] The Burgundian army soon abandoned its posts and fled.^[162]

The battle was a complete victory for the Swiss, followed by heavy slaughter of the fleeing Burgundian army. Many men drowned while retreating into Lake Morat, while others were shot with arquebuses and hand cannons after climbing walnut trees. The Swiss showed no mercy to men who surrendered, killing knights, soldiers, and high officials alike.^[163] Charles fled with his men and rode for days until he reached Gex, Ain.^[164] The Milanese ambassador, Panigarola, reported that Charles laughed and joked after the defeat. He refused to believe he had been beaten and continued to think God was on his side.^[165]

Battle of Nancy

While Charles may have wanted to continue the war against the Swiss, his plans changed when Nancy was reconquered by René II on 6 October.^[165] In need of money, Charles took a large loan from the Medici bank, which he used to hastily assemble 10,000 men.^[166] The rest of his army consisted of the Italian mercenaries under the command of the Count of Campobasso, the Burgundian garrison in Nancy, and 8,000 reinforcements from the Netherlands.^[167] Charles arrived before Nancy on 11 October and by 22 October had begun bombarding the city walls. The siege continued throughout the harsh winter.^[168] Charles hoped to enter the city before René's allies came to raise the siege.^[169]

René spent November and December negotiating with the Swiss to hire mercenaries and with Louis XI to pay the Swiss. He succeeded in both efforts and marched from Basel towards Nancy on 26 December with 9,000 Swiss mercenaries.^[170] Between 31 December and 3 January 1477, the Count of Campobasso and his Italian mercenaries deserted the Burgundians.^[171][172] They joined René and fought against Charles in the coming battle.^[172][k]

On 5 January, in thick snow, René and his army marched towards the Burgundian position.^[175] The snow obscured their movements, allowing them to attack the Burgundian front, where Charles had not placed pickets.^[176] Around noon, the Burgundian artillery was too slow to engage the rapidly approaching army.^[177] Charles tried to rally his men, but the Burgundians were already fleeing from the battlefield.^[178] Alsatian and Swiss infantry encircled Charles and his horsemen. Charles fell from his horse in the River Meurthe and was struck on his head with a halberd, which pierced his helmet and skull.^[178] Half of the Burgundian army died during the battle or while retreating.^[178] Only those who escaped the 50 km (31 mi) to Metz survived.^[177]

Burial

The corpse of Charles the Bold was found two days after the battle, lying on the ice-bound river, with half of his head frozen.^[178] It was identified by a group that included Charles's Roman valet, his Portuguese personal physician, his chaplain, Olivier de la Marche, and two of his bastard brothers. They recognised it by a missing tooth, an ingrown toenail, and long fingernails.^[179] His body was moved to Nancy with full honours, where it was displayed for five days.^[178] René buried him in the Saint-George collegiate church of Nancy.^[180] In Artois, people refused to believe he was dead, believing instead that he had escaped to Germany to undergo seven years of penance and would reappear.^[179]

Margaret of York, Charles's widow, asked for his body to be returned, but René refused.^[180] More than 70 years after Charles's death, on 22 September 1550, Emperor Charles V had the body exhumed and brought to Luxembourg to strengthen his claim to Burgundy. Three years later, Charles's bones were again exhumed and transferred to their final resting place in the Church of Our Lady, Bruges, beside his daughter, Mary of Burgundy.^[180] In 1559, King Philip II of Spain ordered the construction of a monument over Charles's tomb, which was completed in 1563.^[180] Philip held masses for the repose of Charles's soul and commemorated the date of his death on 5 January.^[181]

Aftermath

Louis XI learned of Charles's death before the news reached Burgundy and took advantage of the lack of leadership. Three weeks after the Battle of Nancy, he invaded Burgundian territory through Picardy, Artois, and Mâcon.^[182] Ghent rose in rebellion and executed two of Charles's closest collaborators, William Hugonet and Guy of Brimeu.^[183] Charles's former conquests, Liège and Guelders, quickly sought independence, while in Luxembourg a struggle broke out about whether to recognise Mary of Burgundy as Charles's successor.^[182] Sigismund of Austria and the Swiss vied for Franche-Comté, while Holland, Zeeland, Frisia, and Hainault were claimed by the Count Palatine and the Duke of Bavaria.^[184]

Mary, Charles's only child, and Margaret of York, his widow, faced a political crisis. To secure her position as ruler, Mary signed the Great Privilege on 11 February 1477, restoring powers to the States General in Flanders, Brabant, Hainaut, and Holland.^[185] To secure an alliance with the Habsburgs, she married Maximilian, son of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III, in August 1477.^[183] Maximilian used diplomacy and military force to defend and regain territories from Louis XI, though France retained the geographic Duchy of Burgundy. He also suppressed several internal revolts, preserving much of the Burgundian State.^[182] Mary died on 27 March 1482, and her lands and the title of Duke of Burgundy passed to her son and heir, Philip.^[186]

Legislation

Upon his ascension as duke in 1467, Charles sought to end the jurisdiction of the Parlement of Paris as the highest judicial power in his lands. Cities and institutions in Burgundy had long appealed to the parlement against legal decisions, a dependence on France that the dukes of Burgundy resented. Philip the Good had established an itinerant, though less powerful, court of justice that travelled through the Burgundian territories.^[187][188]

By an ordinance issued at Thionville in 1473, Charles established a central sovereign court at Mechelen. The city also became the seat of the new Court of Auditors, previously based in Lille and Brussels. The language of this parliament was French, with two-thirds of its personnel being Burgundian.^[189] The Mechelen parliament had authority only in the Low Countries. In Charles's Burgundian territories to the south, another parliament sat in turn at Beaune and Dole.^[190]

In Charles's own words, the proper administration of justice was "the soul and the spirit of the public entity."^[191] He has been described as the first sovereign to make a serious effort to impose peace and justice in the Low Countries, and a century after his death the historian Andreas van Haul called him "a prince of Justice".^[192] However, Georges Chastellain criticized Charles for his lack of mercy in the exercise of justice.^[193] Charles also damaged his relations with his subjects by seeking to regulate every aspect of their lives and by ruling with unnecessary harshness.^[194]

He sought to reduce the influence of local aldermen, whom commoners often regarded as their real court of justice, and in doing so weakened the parliament of Mechelen.^[192] To tighten his control over the administration of justice and fill his treasury, Charles dismissed aldermen and sold their offices to the highest bidders, with the result that only the wealthiest subjects could hold them.^[192] Many institutions protested against these practices, but Charles persisted because he constantly needed to fund his armies.^[195]

Religion

Charles was deeply religious and regarded himself as more devout than any ruler of his day.^[196] He considered his sovereignty to have been bestowed upon him by God and thus believed that he owed his power to God alone.^[197] From a young age, Charles chose Saint George as his patron saint.^[198] He kept a sword purported to have belonged to Saint George in his treasury, and he also revered other warrior saints, such as Saint Michael.^[199] He commissioned a prayer book from Lieven van Lathem, which was completed in 1469.^[200] The opening diptych of the manuscript, as well as two other miniatures, reflects Charles's devotion to Saint George.^[198]

In Margaret of York's copy of La Vie de Sainte Colette, she and Charles are depicted as devotees of Saint Anne. Modern scholars, such as Jeffrey Chipps Smith, have linked this to the fact that both Anne and Charles had been married three times. According to Nancy Bradley Warren, the portrayal of Charles and Saint Anne may have served to legitimise his marriage to Margaret and reassure those who doubted an alliance with England.^[201]

Throughout his reign, Charles faced repeated requests to commit men to a crusade against the Ottoman Empire.^[202] Pope Sixtus IV sent three instructions to the papal legate at the Burgundian court, Lucas de Tollentis, directing him to encourage Charles to undertake a crusade against the Ottomans.^[203] On 23 June 1472, Tollentis reported to the Pope that Charles was "resolved in our favour" and that the welfare of Christendom was never far from his mind.^[196][204] Charles may have regarded an eastern expedition as the climax of his life's work. In practice, however, he never undertook a crusade or made preparations for one as his father had.^[204]

Only briefly, between late 1475 and early 1476, did Charles seriously consider a crusade. This followed a meeting with Andreas Palaiologos, the deposed Despot of the Morea, who agreed to cede to Charles his claim as the Emperor of Trebizond and Constantinople.^{[205][206][l]}

Diplomacy

Charles pursued a risky and aggressive foreign policy.^[207] He sought as many allies as possible and regarded almost everyone, apart from Louis XI, as a potential ally.^[208] In 1471, he made a list of his nineteen allies. By the following year he counted twenty-four, and by 1473 he claimed twenty-six allies, compared with Louis XI's fifteen.^[208] Some of these relationships, however, were largely formal, such as those with Scotland. The kings of Scotland and Denmark also signed treaties with Louis XI and appeared on his own list of allies.^[209]

Initially, Charles was hesitant about an alliance with Matthias Corvinus, king of Hungary.^[210] However, Burgundy and Hungary were drawn closer by their shared friendship with the Kingdom of Naples. At the same time, Charles sought contact with Matthias as part of his wider effort to ally with Frederick III's opponents.^[211] Charles hoped that by supporting Matthias's claim to the Kingdom of Bohemia, Matthias would back him in the electoral college.^[212] In November 1474, the two concluded a treaty under which they agreed to partition the Holy Roman Empire between themselves: Charles would become king of the Romans and rule the lands along the Rhine, while Matthias would acquire Breslau and Bohemia.^[213]

In 1473, through negotiations with the new Duke of Lorraine, René II, Charles secured the right to move his armies through Lorraine and place Burgundian captains in its important fortifications, effectively turning the duchy into a Burgundian protectorate.^[214] Among Charles's other allies were Amadeus IX, Duke of Savoy, whose wife, Yolande of Valois, Louis XI's sister, drew the duchy into an alliance with Burgundy through her hostility to her brother.^[215]

The intense rivalry between Louis XI and Charles kept both rulers prepared for war.^[216] In 1468, Charles and Louis attempted a reconciliation, which astonished the rest of France.^[217] Their peace talks quickly turned to hostility when Charles learned that Louis had been involved in a recent rebellion in Liège.^[218] Charles then detained Louis at Péronne and compelled him to sign a treaty favourable to Burgundy. Its terms released the Duke of Burgundy from the obligation of paying homage, recognised Charles's sovereignty over Picardy, and ended French jurisdiction over Burgundian subjects.^[219] Louis reluctantly agreed and signed the Treaty of Péronne.^[220] The French crown, however, did not abide by its terms, and Franco-Burgundian relations remained poor.^[221]

The suspicious death of Charles of Valois, Duke of Berry, the king's brother, in 1472 prompted Charles to raise arms in revenge for the death of his ally, claiming that Berry had been poisoned by Louis.^[222] After a short conflict, the two ceased fighting in the winter of 1473 without making peace. Neither ruler formally declared war on the other again during the rest of their reigns.^[99]

In Italy

At the start of Louis XI's reign, Italy's triple alliance between the Duchy of Milan, the Republic of Florence, and the Kingdom of Naples allowed French influence to grow in the peninsula, since Milan and Florence were long-standing allies of Louis.^[223] To counter this, Charles expanded Burgundy's sphere of influence in Italy in order to rival that of France.^[224] The first Burgundian alliance with an Italian ruler was with King Ferdinand I of Naples, who was admired by both Charles and Louis.^[225]

Ferdinand was the legitimised bastard of Alfonso I, and the Pope did not recognise his claim to the throne.^[226] Meanwhile, René of Anjou, the deposed King of Naples, continued to press his claim. Fearing an invasion by René or his heirs, supported by Louis XI, Ferdinand allied himself with Charles, who admitted him to the Order of the Golden Fleece in 1473.^[227] Charles also considered marrying his daughter, Mary, to Ferdinand's second son, Frederick of Naples, who visited the Burgundian court in 1474 and 1475.^[228][229]

In 1474, when war against Louis XI was looming, Ferdinand made his participation dependent on his son's marriage to Mary. Charles hinted that he was willing to agree, and Ferdinand dispatched his son to Burgundy on 24 October 1474.^[230] Although Frederick became a lieutenant and close military advisor to Charles, he failed in his ultimate mission of marrying Mary.^[231]

The Duchy of Milan was France's most important ally in the Italian peninsula. Its ruler, Galeazzo Maria Sforza was tied to the French Crown through his marriage with Louis XI's niece, Bona of Savoy.^[232] Charles nevertheless sought an alliance with Milan. In 1470, he offered Galeazzo membership in the Order of the Golden Fleece, as part of a proposed alliance, but was rejected.^[233] At one point he even included Milan on one of his lists of allies, which caused Galeazzo to protest.^[208]

To draw Galeazzo into alliance, Charles spread a rumour that he intended to conquer Milan.^[234] Fear of war, together with Charles's diplomatic pressure to isolate Milan from France, persuaded Galeazzo to sign a treaty at Moncalieri on 30 January 1475, creating an alliance between Savoy, Burgundy, and Milan.^[235][236] As a result, diplomatic relations were established between Burgundy and Milan, and Galeazzo sent Giovanni Pietro Panigarola as his envoy to Burgundy.^[237]

Charles's relations with the Republic of Venice rested on his professed willingness to launch a crusade against the Turks.^[238] At the insistence of Ferdinand of Naples, the senate of Venice agreed to a treaty against the King of France on 20 March 1472.^[239] Thereafter, Venice repeatedly urged Charles to fulfil his part of the bargain and support Venice in its war with the Ottomans.^[240] His inaction gradually led to estrangement between Burgundy and Venice.^[241]

As relations between Burgundy and Venice deteriorated, Charles sought to recruit the Venetian condottiero Bartolomeo Colleoni, who could have brought 10,000 men-at-arms with him, but the Venetian government refused to let him go. Charles spent two years negotiating with the Venetian ambassadors, but in the end failed to convince them.^[242] By 1475, the alliance between Venice and Burgundy had ceased to function as a genuine partnership.^[243]

The Italian peninsula saw a shift in spheres of influence after the Treaty of Moncalieri in 1475. Charles replaced Louis XI as the dominant influence in Italian politics, with three of four major secular powers in the region—Milan, Naples, and Venice—aligned with him.^[244] Only Florence remained a French ally, though it remained neutral toward Charles because of its alliance with Venice.^[233][244] Charles thus eliminated the prospect of Italian support for France and could expect support from his Italian allies if war with France resumed.^[244]

Arts

The Burgundian court under Charles was famous for its splendour, etiquette, and chivalric culture.^[245] It attracted many young noblemen and princes from across Europe who came to learn courtly manners and the arts.^[246] Later generations admired Charles's court. At the urging of his father, Charles V, Philip II introduced the "ceremonial of the court of Burgundy" into Spain, drawing on Olivier de la Marche's account of Charles's court.^[247] In this way, Burgundian court ceremony influenced courtly life in 17th century Spain.^[248]

Although Charles's court did not differ greatly from those of his contemporaries, its appeal was strengthened by the number of knights and nobles present, the sacred image of a ruler set apart from other courtiers, and the splendour of court display.^[249] Like his predecessors, Charles used lavish patronage of the arts to project power and magnificence.^[250]

During Charles's reign, the production of illuminated manuscripts flourished.^[251] After his accession in 1467, he provided considerable funds for projects left incomplete after his father's death and commissioned new works.^[252] As a patron of Renaissance humanism, Charles commissioned the translation of Quintus Curtius Rufus's Histories of Alexander the Great into French to replace the inadequate Roman d'Alexandre en prose. He also employed the Portuguese Vasco de Lucena and Jehan de Chesne to translate Xenophon's Cyropaedia and Caesar's De bello Gallico, respectively, into French.^[24] In 1468, he commissioned Guillaume Fillastre to compose the Histoire de Toison d'Or, a didactic chronicle containing moral stories of Jason, Jacob, Gideon, Mesha, Job, and David.^[253]

Charles also employed skilled calligraphers and illuminators to engross his ordinances. The Ordinance of 1469 was illuminated by Nicolas Spierinc and distributed among Charles's courtiers.^[254] His prayer book, illuminated by Lieven van Lathem, has been described as a masterpiece of Flemish illumination that influenced later illuminators such as the Master of Mary of Burgundy.^[255] Charles and his wife Margaret were patrons of Simon Marmion, who illuminated a breviary and a panel painting for them.^[256]

Charles was a patron of music and was a capable musician.^[257] In his 1469 ordinance, he set out the composition of his musical entourage: a concert band, ceremonial trumpeters, chamber musicians, an organist, and the chapel musicians, whose music was more varied than that of Philip the Good's chapel.^[258] He took his chapel with him on campaigns and had choristers sing a new song to him each night in his chambers.^[259] Charles was a patron of the composer Antoine Busnois, who became his choirmaster; his court musicians also included Hayne van Ghizeghem and Robert Morton.^[260][261] His favourite song was L'homme armé, which may have been written for him.^[262]

Charles composed a motet that was sung in the Cambrai Cathedral, possibly in the presence of Guillaume Du Fay, one of the best-known composers of his era.^[263] He also composed chansons and secular songs.^[264] Although none of his motet or chansons survive, two songs are attributed to him: Del ducha di borghogna (of the Duke of Burgundy) and Dux Carlus (Duke Charles). Both survive in Italian songbooks without named composers. According to the musicologist David Fallows, their similarities in voice ranges, use of the pitch C, musical form (rondeau), and opening phrase Ma dame suggest that both were probably composed by Charles in the 1460s.^[265] Charles also liked to sing, although he did not have a good singing voice.^[266]

Military

When Charles became the Duke of Burgundy, his army still operated under a feudal system, with most men either summoned for service or hired under contract. Much of the army consisted of French nobles, their retainers, and English archers, and it suffered from inefficient distribution of resources and slow movement.^[267] After the long period of peace under Philip the Good, the army had trained little and was poorly prepared. Its structure was also outdated compared with other European armies.^[268] To address these problems, Charles issued a series of military ordinances between 1468 and 1473 that reorganised the Burgundian army and later influenced European military practice.^[269]

The first of these ordinances, addressed to the Marshal of Burgundy, set out who could be recruited and described the personnel of the artillery, including masons, assistants, cannoneers, and carpenters.^[270] The second ordinance, issued at Abbeville in 1471, proclaimed the formation of a standing army, called Compagnie d'ordonnance, made up of 1,250 lances fournies, accompanied by 1,200 crossbows, 1,250 handgunners, and 1,250 pikemen.^[271] A squad consisted of a man-at-arms, a mounted page, a mounted swordsman, three horse archers, a crossbowman, and a pikeman. Charles designed a uniform for each company, using the Cross of Burgundy inscribed on the ducal colours.^[272]

The last of these ordinances, issued at Thionville, marked the culmination of Charles's military administration. It regulated the organisation of squads in detail, prescribed battle marches to maintain order, specified soldiers' equipment, and placed great emphasis on discipline.^[273] Charles forbade individual soldiers from keeping camp followers, but permitted each company of 900 to have 30 women who would attend to them.^[272] He imposed harsh rules against defaulters and deserters. In 1476, he appointed Jehan de Dadizele to arrest deserters; those who encouraged desertion were to be executed, while deserters themselves were to be returned to the army.^[274] Charles intended his soldiers to explain the new rules to their comrades in private settings, without a disciplinarian present.^[275] His erratic pace in issuing detailed reforms every few years made them difficult for captains and men-at-arms to implement.^[276]

Charles's ordinances drew heavily on Xenophon's Cyropaedia.^[277] After observing how Cyrus the Great achieved the willing obedience of his subjects, Charles placed great emphasis on discipline and order among his men-at-arms.^[278] In the Abbeville ordinance, he applied Xenophon's ideas through a complex chain of command in which soldiers were expected both to command and to obey.^[275]

The influence of Vegetius's De re militari is also apparent in Charles's writings. Vegetius argued that soldiers should be recruited from men who offered themselves to military life and should then swear an oath of loyalty. Charles adapted both ideas in his 1471 ordinance.^[279] His 1473 ordinance also included exercises from Vegetius to keep soldiers disciplined and prepared.^[280]

The Burgundian standing army struggled with recruitment.^[281] Although it had enough men-at-arms, pikemen, and mounted archers, it lacked culverins and foot archers.^[282] To address this, Charles broadened recruitment and drew soldiers from other nationalities.^[283] Italian mercenaries became especially important and by 1476 formed a large part of his army.^[284] Although earlier military writers had warned against relying on mercenaries, the contemporary chronicler Jean Molinet praised Charles's policy, saying that he was favoured by both heaven and earth and therefore stood above the "commandments of philosophers".^[285]

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