well, moral supportThanks to you two both for the kind words, now I have to start thinking/writing over the chaos that will strike the diarchy.
well, moral supportThanks to you two both for the kind words, now I have to start thinking/writing over the chaos that will strike the diarchy.
I LOVE IT!Good day fellow historians, I am [Insert Self-OC] and welcome to the History 206: Gateway to the Renaissance. Please settle down and take a seat. So thank you for choosing this course as part of your undergraduate degree in history. I do hope all of you will learn various things, importantly the ability to question and look through things from a critical perspective and today we will be discussing Philip the Rich of Burgundy. I'm sure all of you remember him from your high school history classes where there is a small paragraph describing the events portrayed throughout his life and reign. Certainly if you people were fascinated by him, you would have done your research and read through a couple of novels before joining this class. I don't expect all of you to have read about him beforehand by the way, but I'm fairly certain all of you agree the man is popular amongst the general public and historians right?
classroom nods heads
Great let's begin, let's recap Philip's life and reign throughout Burgundy. He was born a prince, raised in Holland, moved to Lorraine, became duke, shifted Burgundy into the empire, expanded it slightly and left it in an incredibly good spot for his heir. That's the general 60 second version right? Or at least what other people know if they haven't studied Burgundy like anyone not in this classroom right?
silence follows
Let us start first, his childhood shall we? People keep having this misinterpretation of Philip being a people's king and one who truly was with the people at the time. Unlike his predecessors who exclusively spoke French and used dutch translators in order to communicate with their subjects or learned dutch later throughout their lives. Philip the Rich didn't necessarily push to learn Dutch out of his own free will or out of his parent's belief in the Dutch language. It was just pure politics, the stadholder position of Holland was one of the most prestigious, wealthy and important ranks in government. Charles' appointment there would push the family into Holland. Arguably Charles and Isabella's raising of Philip to the Dutch language was because the local elite within Holland spoke exclusively dutch. Yes Charles realized that Dutch was going to be dominant throughout Burgundy but this was not to further reach out to the people but merely to solidify ties with the elites. This isn't some nationalist or ideal ruler of the people's moment for Philip. It was just common sense and smart rulership.
The marriage of Anne and Philip would be more likely of Louis' failure and not some forbidden romance as some romanticists like to depict. A lot of historians call this match a match made in heaven, let's discuss the implications of the marriage and how it came to be. 1461, is when Anne of Champagne was born and when the betrothal discussions already persisted. She was born in modern day Burgundy, and some romanticists/revisionists would like to say she was Burgundian by birth, let's be honest she was a French princess. Her marriage and dowry is certainly confusing, why would Louis the Spider give up Champagne to Burgundy. I think the main reason was that he believed with his death Burgundy would inherit France. That's literally it, Burgundy I will note is the most powerful state beside France and if Philip inherited France well you just have a supercharged France no? What about the birth of his son Charles VIII? Arguably the independence of Burgundian independence declaration would be key thing keeping Louis away from paying that dowry. Louis arguably spent his money on other endeavours which was the expansion of French Centralization. bureaucracy and army. The plan was that with the poison gift of Champagne it would finally reel Burgundy back into France. Did this work? Not really the death of Louis who died at the age of 60 would hamper these plans probably because he expected to live slightly longer so that his son would be more firmly shaped by him.
The death of Louis didn't magically undo his centralizing reforms that is something that is a genuine myth amongst the general public. Philip weakened France to the point where he could just outright steal champagne. That's just a complete lie, Philip despite a regency that would have greatly benefited with the dismantling of French absolutism, arguably Burgundy needed to dismantle French centralization, absolutely failed in this regard as the instruments of French strength such as the parlament, royalist officer corps, and the rights of the nobility. Philip didn't do any of that in fact he absolutely failed in this regard. Honestly the French regency was practically completely self interested, you could tell with the separate courts of Reims, Clermont, and Orleans. All parties were only interested in themselves and this would balance it out, yes Orleans, Champagne and Bourbon would gain de facto independence but as soon as Charles ascended the majority, all of these measures were revoked by him. Importantly even in the sole regency, Philip and Anne could do or did do nothing to assist their position in France or to weaken the crown itself.
Student asks: What about the priviliegium lotharingia? Wasn't that just Philip and Anne's genius move?
Looks at student with surprise and a smile
Well let's discuss that shall we? We all have heard of the privilegium Lotharingia. Our "founding document" that truly set Burgundy as a nation rather than an amalgamation of French and imperial vassals. Obviously the lesser version of this was the privilegium burgundiae which bound Brabant, Limburg, Zeeland, Holland and Luxembourg together. This was forged by Charles the Absolute in the marriage of Isabella and Maximilian. Arguably it was an advantageous move made in the greatest moment of Habsburg weakness until the religious wars. It was pretty simple as Burgundy at this point wanted more independence and the Holy Roman Empire was as decentralized and as weak as it can get. So why on earth did Philip and to a lesser degree Charles try to strengthen the Habsburgs to the point of equals without the emperor? We have to discuss the geopolitical situation at the time don't we. Let's examine the Hungarians led by the warrior King Matthias Corvinus. Hungary was a monster in terms of military strength, throughout the early life of Philip the Rich and throughout the reign of Charles the Absolute. The dominance asserted by Matthias could not be understated, he nearly ruined the entire Kingdom of Bohemia and honestly fought a brutal sack of Austria as well. Ironically it would be his policies that would stand the test of time, adopted by the Habsburgs against the Ottomans. Let's not open that jar of worms though. Important to this story was that Matthias desired the title of King of the Romans which is essentially a successor position to the holy roman emperor. Let's double check this, if Matthias is elected as Holy Roman Emperor, this would be disastrous for the Burgundians, a super charged Hungary that also ruled the emperor would bring back a better Sigismund. Both Philip and Charles would not allow this to happen.
The marriage would make common sense right? Back the underdogs in order to secure your own position. That's how the privilegium Lotharingia would be created. This was basically forged by Isabella and Philip to benefit their homeland. Now you may be asking by the time of 1491, why would Maximilian give the privilegium Lotharingia. He basically is Matthias now right? laughs No, Maximilian is not Philip in terms of finance honestly it is a surprise that both Albert and Maximilian didn't bankrupt Burgundy with the amount of loans they had. Matthias had a full fighting force and a war chest to fight it. Maximilian did not, and a good portion of that debt was from the Burgundians so by forgiving this debt for greater privileges it was possible. Honestly this would be the reason why even though Maximilian had plenty of casus belli and reasons to invade Burgundy he never did because Burgundy was his bank basically. So why did Philip fund Maximilian then? He just probably didn't believe him, while he had great military victories, the loss of the Swiss and the failure of diplomacy throughout the 1490s was probably why Philip was very comfortable with Austria. Austria had no allies other than Burgundy and maybe Bavaria. All of the "allies" were all weak and loose at best in not non existent in reality at worse. I will also note, Maximilian only got the crown by surrendering privileges to the nobility to be elected and would spent the rest of his reign trying to recover that authority. So yes, Philip made the smart move in allying the Habsburgs, so what about 1516? The bohemian succession? Honestly this one was probably Isabella's fault. Isabella and Maximilian were a very passionate couple despite the age difference, importantly Isabella was ambitious. I guess this was due to both the Burgundian pride of their own duchy and the fact within two years of her marriage she would be proclaimed queen of Hungary. That's bound to inflate one's ego, a mixture of persuasion and Burgundy just being incredibly busy and not risking imperial support in the Italian wars was probably why by the end of Philip's reign his imperial policy was a disaster no? He lost the war of Landshut Succession and made the Austrians an equal on their own footing to Burgundy.
His Italian wars, oh boi where do we begin. Is the failure of the Italian wars a complete failure on Philip or on Charles? Charles' Italian policy was by all extents a masterpiece aligning Savoy, Milan, Venice, Rome and Naples to either be a firm Burgundian ally or pro-Burgundian/anti-French. This status quo formed by Charles is probably unrealistic to last but Philip's way of maneuvering probably screwed over Italy completely. First of all, Philip did not renew the Burgundy-Naples alliance that was formed back in the 1470s. Arguably this was Philip's biggest mistake with the death of Valois-Anjou this gave France very strong claims to Naples. If Burgundy remained allied with Naples it might possibly be the end of the Italian wars. The maneuvering of Milan away from Burgundy into the empire was avoidable as well, honestly this was down due to lack of attention in the Italian peninsula other than Savoy. Philip could very easily fix this, the betrothal of Philibert to Bianca Sforza. Burgundy had a very clean shot to influence the Milanese through her but didn't do anything at all instead focusing on the north and Vaud. Venice on the other hand was practically abandoned and left to the wolves by Philip. I could go on about the failures of Italy including the attempted marriage of Margaret with Frederick but we can discuss that at a later date.
Finally let's discuss his "proudest" foreign policy achievement. The Scandinavian or anti-Hanseatic foreign policy. It was a confusing and wild storm of lucky policies. The expansion of the Burgundian navy began during the war of the roses and Charles' failure in stopping Margaret of Anjou in invading England so Burgundy already had a decent navy staffed by newly minted captains. Philip would expand these naval achievements by putting them into experience with the placement of his brother John onto the throne, so we have an incredibly powerful navy but instead of sending it out westwards towards the new world or even south towards the med or Africa in order to gain a better foothold on the lucrative Silk Road, he decides to bank on the Hanseatic league by placing all of his money onto the Kalmar Union. I can not state how bad of an idea this was, Philip was already keenly aware that the Kalmar Union was a nightmare in terms of dealing with the nobility, heck he had to intervene two separate times against the Swedes with the marriage of Margaret and Christian II. Honestly, Philip probably should have expected the war of Danish succession to occur and for Burgundy to just bounced around between Denmark-Norway and Hansa-Sweden.
Oh my look at the time and the fact all of you students are packing up. sigh
This class isn't here to just diss on Philip the Rich. In fact I think he is worthy of the epithet the Rich but this is just a taste on what we are doing in this university course. We will be expanding on what we know throughout history and looking at it through multiple lenses. We were given sort of a golden vision in which Philip did absolutely everything right but I'm here to offer you a perspective where he did nothing original or right. He screwed over the legacy of his father and only succeeded in the main goals such as Frisia, the privilegium Lotharingia and Vaud. This is an interesting take on Philip the Rich, that he screwed his father's long term goals of dominating Italy, ruining France and being elected emperor by strengthening the Habsburgs, not trying to destroy France and just abandoning Italy to the wolves. We'll be back tomorrow to look at other perspectives in history I want to open your eyes and to think of other ways to interpret history. Now go to your next classes and thank you for listening to this lecture.
I'm writing it currently ;-;I LOVE IT!
When will we get the next chapter on Henri, our new Duke of Burgundy?
looking forward to it!I'm writing it currently ;-;
Philip's death would provide no peace in fact the troubles of Philip's time such as the Habsburgs, and the Italian wars would be cranked up to 11. A new rise of a great threat which was the rise of Protestantism would prove to be an incredibly difficult challenge for any ruler but Philip's heir would prove to be incredibly adept at dealing with all of these threats, if Philip was the one who founded the golden age of Burgundy then Henri was the one who led it to its peak. The instruments that laid the groundwork for Burgundian court and centralization would be not be touched at all by Henri. His innovation of religious policies, and importantly the beginning of Burgundian intervention and colonialism would lead Burgundy into a genuine world power.
The last moments of Philip's rule allowed Henri to take on the greatest challenge of Philip's reign: The Italian Wars and the treaty of London. John II of England who at this point wished for peace in order to return to dealing with internal affairs began to advocate for a peace which began negotiations over the Treaty of London which Henri attended personally greeting his uncle quite warmly as the duke and showering him with gifts. This negotiation led by Cardinal Wolsey advocated for a pact of non-aggression between Spain, France, Habsburg Austria/Holy Roman Empire, Burgundy and the papacy. Henri smartly realized that this non-aggression pact would be broken and the collective defence agreement would be invalidated due to their own rivalling interests decided to make the treaty a show of Burgundian generosity and would explore London and meet with the English people himself. This meeting would also put him into contact with the Spanish and Portuguese who spread rumours of great wealth in the new world which piqued his interest, already Burgundy was the dominant naval power throughout Europe rivalling the Spanish and was very open to exploration efforts just like his father.
Maximilian's death in 1519 would be a thunderstorm that would shake the empire, Henri was already quite prepared with the election at hand securing the palatine, Cologne and Trier to his side. Albert III who only strongly had Bohemia began to fight for control for the remaining electoral votes, the papacy began to back Albert's candidacy wary of Philip's and Henri's push of Leo's predecessor's goals of the fifth council of lateran. Francis I of France formed an uneasy alliance with Burgundy, in order to secure Milan they backed the Burgundian bid for the throne along with English led by John II. It would be this French backing that would doom the imperial bid for the Burgundians as Mainz, Brandenburg and Saxony were already wary of an incredibly powerful Burgundy and believing this French backing would doom the empire to French expansionism took on the promises of Albert III to host a diet to solve the heresy of Martin Luther along with a crusade against the Turks. Burgundy's attempts at diplomacy and bribery would fail but to Henri and according to his chroniclers, he never genuinely desired the imperial crown only seeking to ruin the French treasury as it was France who backed the bribes and to strengthen the connections Henri had over his electors.
The coronation of Albert III, Archduke of Austria and King of Bohemia and Hungary would be wrought with controversy as instead of Aachen, where the Burgundians were completely present, he convinced both Burgundy and Aachen itself to move it to Frankfurt. Henri sacrificed the coronation place for something that would be considered minute for Albert but actually consequential for Burgundy. Henri who had studied history and importantly the investiture controversy saw something somewhat exploitable, while the papacy had spiritual authority over prince-bishoprics it would be the emperor that would invest that bishop with the imperial prince title. He strengthened the priviliegium lotharingia with the authority to purchase the secular authority which was the domain of a prince bishopric of specific bishoprics: Tournai, Cambrai, Verdun, Metz, Toul, Liege, Utrecht, Basel, and Strasbourg. This small concession was quite easily granted due to the fact it was frankly obvious, those bishoprics could not leave the Burgundian sphere of influence. Henri however would face great opposition from the papacy. Albert III however would face further problems in Hungary and in the diet of worms.
The election of Leo X as papal controller would tie Florence to the Papal States and would further his own interests against the most powerful ruler in Italy, the Duke of Milan and the King of Naples and France: Francis I. Pope Leo X who at this point realized with the French treasury exhausted from the imperial bid for the election began to formulate a genius plan to kick out France from Italy for good, allying with the great Spanish king: Charles V promising him the crown of Naples and recognizing the transfer of the Trastamara claim of Naples from Frederick to Ferdinand. Albert III who wanted a win after the disastrous anti-king election of John Zapolya of Hungary joined in this alliance allying with Francesco II of Milan his brother in law in hopes of inheriting Milan joined this alliance. John II who at this point was prepared for the succession of his son Richard IV decided with Cardinal Wolsey to ensure internal peace and a full treasury for his son sat out. Henri already thinking it was long overdue to kick France out of Italy for good joined in this new Holy League.
The overstretched French forces in Italy were no match for the combined Burgundian-Imperial-Spanish triumvirate and drove out France completely within the year. Henri in particular leading his armies in person after watching his father's armies suffer defeat after defeat began to place his hand and mind over the Burgundian army turning it into a professional fighting force rivalling the French in terms of power. Francis would further doom his efforts by breaking the Bourbon powerbase in order to gain more funds and armies to fight in Italy. This betrayal would lead Charles III of Bourbon to pledge his allegiance to the Burgundians who led a devastating campaign into Provence from Savoy against Francis proclaiming himself Count of Provence and declaring that it would leave the French crown and rejoin the empire. Importantly to Henri, the crown of Arles or of Burgundy was transferred from the city of Arles to the city of Aachen, securely but not completely in Burgundian hands.
This short lived conquest of Provence would end with a new invasion led by Francis I, his armies fought a pitched battle against Henri in the battle of Marseille. Henri would retreat due to the size of the army but from his organized defence and retreat, neither side could properly claim victory. Francis returned marching into Milan and trying to remove Francesco II of Milan from his seat in Milan. His advance would be halted in Milan, the pope ironically would switch sides with the death of Pope Leo X now seeing this triumvirate began to eye the papacy and hoping to weaken it too in terms of strength such as the feudal contract of Naples, the imperial-papal relation and importantly for Burgundy the idea of purchasing the prince part of a prince-bishopric. Francis would lead his armies with papal blessing and his own forces against the Milanese in Pavia. The resulting battle would be humiliating for France.
The capture of Francis by the Burgundians would begin to negotiation processes of the treaty of Madrid in 1526. This would firmly end the French dominance of Italy. Francesco II would be restored as Duke of Milan and Charles V would ascend as Charles IV of Naples. Henri's great gain here would be the agreement that the archbishop of Sens to be part of the Burgundian sphere instead of the weird dual rival bishops that France and Burgundy would fight for, while not as large of a concession as Milan or Naples it once again ensured Burgundian internal control and importantly would not risk the ire of France should another war occur in Italy at least not on France's terms. Henri had displayed a return of the a legendary Burgundian diplomacy not seen since the Privilegium Lotharingia. These concessions would be major to Burgundy as Henri rightfully realized the new field of politics would be in religion and he would focus the most on the protestant reformation and the war of Danish succession.
I just realized that it was supposed to be Charles V of Navarre and Charles I of Spain. I'm actually so dumb, I looked at the trastamara dynasty and saw Charles IV of Navarre above like Ferdinand When it comes to the imperial election I really don't want to wank it and make Burgundy takeover the empire as well. The issue with the crown is again, imperial politics suck ass and it would be near impossible to make Burgundy a kingdom and I kinda have no plans for that to happen. (Why do you think I changed it to Walking on the Silver Line instead of Kingdom Building . Italy though, burgundy kinda just swooped in to save the day, the majority of saving the pope would be from Spain and Austria like OTL. (I'm trying desperately to figure out how to make the empire stick with Austria though)Fantastic chapter as always I have to say, in reality I think that Burgundy would have a better chance in the future of obtaining the imperial crown than now ( taking advantage of the institutional reforms that the Protestants will have to recognize in the HRE ) and perhaps the imperial Valois will be able to pull a Charles VII Otl more successful, for the rest I think that Henry can obtain from Rome the secularization of one of the episcopal princes under his control ( after all, in Otl both Charles V and William IV of Bavaria did it, perhaps one that is positioned in a fairly "vulnerable" area is preventing connections between the two parts of the kingdom, like Metz, Toul or Liège ), also putting Albert III before the fait accompli ( i.e. Henry being crowned with the Arelate crown ) and perhaps reminding Rome of who defeated the French in Italy, it is probable that the elevation to kingdom will arrive quite quickly ( this would also involve a cardinal in the curia, therefore the possibility of intervening in the conclave, although still to a much lesser extent than Spain, France and HRE )
p.s
the king of Spain would not be Charles V but rather Carlos I, because he would be the first monarch to carry that name on the throne
You did an amazing Job! And Don't worry! Since Charles is the heir of Catherine of Navarre he would truly be Charles V of spain since navarre is on the unión. Hoping the Best For Austria. LOVED seeing Francis humilliatedI just realized that it was supposed to be Charles V of Navarre and Charles I of Spain. I'm actually so dumb, I looked at the trastamara dynasty and saw Charles IV of Navarre above like Ferdinand When it comes to the imperial election I really don't want to wank it and make Burgundy takeover the empire as well. The issue with the crown is again, imperial politics suck ass and it would be near impossible to make Burgundy a kingdom and I kinda have no plans for that to happen. (Why do you think I changed it to Walking on the Silver Line instead of Kingdom Building . Italy though, burgundy kinda just swooped in to save the day, the majority of saving the pope would be from Spain and Austria like OTL. (I'm trying desperately to figure out how to make the empire stick with Austria though)
I forgot a portion of the paragraph.@Liminia1 , great work, henri is amazing.
Damn John Zápolya and the ottomans. Wish Albert the best of luck agaisnt them
Btw, we will see Charles V/IV again soon?I forgot a portion of the paragraph.
League of CognacBtw, we will see Charles V/IV again soon?
Btw i think he truly would be charles V because he also inherited navarre thanks to his mother.League of Cognac
Not too sure how personal unions worked when it came to unification and regnal numbers but I think it's safer to use Charles I because the larger unions were of Castille and Aragon who had no Charles unfortunately.Btw i think he truly would be charles V because he also inherited navarre thanks to his mother.
Noted, still happy that navarre was united peacefully into spain.Not too sure how personal unions worked when it came to unification and regnal numbers but I think it's safer to use Charles I because the larger unions were of Castille and Aragon who had no Charles unfortunately.
It was forcibly split because spider king gotta spider kingNoted, still happy that navarre was united peacefully into spain.
Yep.It was forcibly split because spider king gotta spider king
I updated the chapter btw. Henri is moving incredibly quickly.