Charles the Bold
Charles Martin, called the Bold, was the last Duke of Burgundy from the House of Valois-Burgundy, ruling from 1467 to 1477. He was the only surviving legitimate son of Philip the Good and his third wife, Isabella of Portugal. As heir and as ruler, Charles vied for power and influence with rivals such as his overlord, King Louis XI of France. In 1465, Charles led a successful revolt of Louis's vassals in the War of the Public Weal.
After becoming the Duke of Burgundy in 1467, Charles pursued his ambitions for an independent kingdom which would stretch contiguously from the North Sea in the north to the borders of Savoy in the south. For this purpose, he acquired Guelders and Upper Alsace; sought the title King of the Romans; and gradually became an enemy of the Germans. Charles married Margaret of York for an English alliance. He arranged the betrothal of his only child, Mary, to Maximilian of Austria.
A passionate musician and patron of the arts, Charles supported the production of illuminated manuscripts and music. His court was famously known as a centre of arts, chivalry, and etiquette. He was obsessed with order and regulation and issued many ordinances throughout his rule, dictating military matters, legislation, and diplomacy in the minutest detail. Charles was religious and his patron saint was Saint George. He turned down multiple requests from the pope and the Venetians to undertake a crusade against the Ottoman Turks.
Towards the end of his life, Charles became engaged in a multi-national conflict called the Burgundian Wars, where he fought to retain ownership of Upper Alsace against an alliance of Swiss, German, and Alsatian polities called the Lower League. After his unsuccessful siege of Neuss, he was defeated by the Swiss at the battles of Grandson and Morat. Charles was killed during the Battle of Nancy on 5 January 1477, fighting against Duke René II of Lorraine and his Swiss army. His death triggered the War of the Burgundian Succession and led to the end of the Burgundian State. Charles's daughter, Mary, was the last of Charles's dynasty. Mary's son, Philip of Austria, inherited the Burgundian Netherlands.
Background
The House of Valois-Burgundy began with Philip the Bold, the fourth son of John II, King of France. Philip became the Duke of Burgundy in 1363. In 1369, Philip married Margaret of Male, the heiress of Louis II, Count of Flanders, who would inherit the wealthy lands of Flanders, Rethel, Antwerp, and Mechelen, along with the territories bordering Flanders and Burgundy: the counties of Artois, Franche-Comté, and Nevers. Philip expanded his influence in the Low Countries further by contracting marriage alliances. He was heavily involved in the royal court of France, especially after the death of his brother, Charles V, and during the troublesome reign of his successor, Charles VI. When Philip died in 1404, his lands were divided between his three sons, John, Anthony, and Philip.John the Fearless, Philip the Bold's eldest son, inherited the Duchy of Burgundy and the major part of his maternal inheritance the following year. The division of Philips's lands reduced John's income severely and by 1407, his treasury was nearly empty. John was forced to borrow money. To restore his influence, John turned to French politics and bitterly vied for power in the French court against the king's brother, Louis of Orleans. In 1407, John ordered the assassination of Louis and sparked the Armagnac–Burgundian Civil War. John himself was assassinated in the conflict in 1419.
John was succeeded by his only son, Philip the Good. Unlike his father and grandfather, Philip distanced himself from French politics. He forged alliances elsewhere, marrying Isabella of Portugal in 1430. Isabella was Philip's third wife after Michelle of Valois and Bonne of Artois, who both died without producing any children. Philip the Good desired a strong, centralised duchy ruled by a prestigious dynasty with a new, non-French cultural heritage.
Philip then began his territorial expansion in France; bringing Arras, Péronne, Roye, and Picardy into his realm. In 1420, he purchased the county of Namur, a town located in the Holy Roman Empire, from Jean III. He used warfare to seize the counties of Hainaut, Holland, Friesland, and Zeeland from his cousin, Jacqueline, Countess of Hainaut, and won them completely by 1433. When Philip of Saint Pol died suddenly and unexpectedly in 1430, Philip inherited the Duchy of Brabant and three principalities: Brabant, Limburg, and Lotharingia. The Holy Roman Emperor, Sigismund, unsuccessfully sought to curb the expansions until his death in 1437. The French and Burgundians reconciled in 1435 at the Congress of Arras.
Early life
Childhood
Charles Martin was born on 10 November 1433 in Dijon, capital of the Duchy of Burgundy. He was the third child of Philip the Good with his third wife Isabella of Portugal and the only one to survive past infancy. His mother, fearing that she would lose another child, consecrated the infant to the Blessed Sacrament. Philip the Good arrived in Dijon in late November to celebrate the birth. He made his son a knight of the Golden Fleece and the count of Charolais in France. The Golden Fleece was a knightly order created by Philip in 1430, and Charolais was a title given to the heirs of the dukes of Burgundy. Charles was baptised on 20 November, with Count Charles of Nevers and Antoine from the influential de Croÿ family as his sponsors; he was named after the count of Nevers, Philip the Good's stepson through his second wife, Bonne of Artois.File:La Duchesse de Bourgogne arrêtée aux portes de Bruges - Sophie Rude - MBA Lyon 2014.JPG|thumb|La Duchesse de Bourgogne arrêtée aux portes de Bruges by Sophie Frémiet. 19th-century depiction of the arrest of Isabella of Portugal, her son Charles, and their entourage at the gates of Bruges
In early spring 1434, Isabella and her son moved to the mountain fortress of Talant, in fear of multiple outbreaks of plague in Burgundy. In winter, the Duchess and her son travelled to Paris to join Philip the Good. En route, they stayed in Bruges, where a rebellion against Philip the Good was brewing. In 1436, when Isabella and her entourage were to leave the city, rebels forcefully arrested them near the city gate. The rebellion was suppressed in 1438, when Philip the Good blockaded the city and forced the rebels to surrender.
During infancy, Charles was described as a robust child. Philip the Good assigned many tutors for the young Charles, the most important among them being Antoine Haneron, professor of rhetoric in the University of Louvain. Like his father, Charles developed a fondness for reading histories, chronicles, and historical romances. Charles aspired to become a conqueror like Alexander the Great. The fact that both he and Alexander had fathers named Philip stimulated his imagination and further encouraged his ambition.
Until the age of six, Charles was brought up by his cousins, John and Agnes of Cleves, who both were the children of Mary of Burgundy, the daughter of John the Fearless. Of the two, Agnes was more prominent in Charles's early education. Agnes and Charles were constantly in his mother's company.
In 1435, with the Treaty of Arras, Philip the Good reconciled with Charles VII, King of France, marking the end of the Armagnac–Burgundian Civil War. As a sign of good faith in his new ally, Charles VII also allowed 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. The two were married on 11 June 1439, during a ceremony accompanied by concerts, jousts, and banquets in the city of Saint-Omer. The two were put under the care of a governess, but were often separated from each other to spend their time with hobbies in line with their ages. Catherine died on 30 July 1446, and her death was deeply mourned at the Burgundian court.
In 1441, Philip the Good appointed Jean d'Auxy, of Auxi-le-Château, as the eight-year-old Charles's guardian. D'Auxy later served as Charles's chamberlain, from 1456 to 1468. At the age of 12, Charles began to participate in the public affairs of his father's realm. In 1445, he accompanied his father on a rare state visit to Holland and Zealand.
Youth
In 1449, the wealthy city of Ghent rebelled against Burgundian rule in response to new taxes on salt. Charles took part in the fighting; however, to keep him out of danger, Philip the Good falsely told Charles that his mother Isabella was seriously ill in Lille. Charles left shortly before the decisive Battle of Gavere in 1453. In Lille, his mother honoured him with a feast, and to everyone's surprise, encouraged him to return to the battlefield and fight for his inheritance. By that time, Philip the Good had won the battle and defeated the rebellious burghers.Charles remained a widower for eight years until he married Isabella of Bourbon in 1454. Isabella was the daughter of Agnes of Burgundy, and was Philip the Good's niece. Her father, Charles I, Duke of Bourbon, sent her as a child to the Burgundian court as a ward of Isabella of Portugal. A shy and pliant young woman, Isabella was adored by Philip the Good, who saw an opportunity to renew the Treaty of Arras by marrying a Bourbon to his son. Charles was not aware of his father's intention until the night before his marriage on 31 October; he did not resist the match. With his marriage, the town of Chinon was incorporated into Philip the Good's realm, as part of Isabella's dowry.
Struggle for power
Disputes with Philip the Good
From 1454 to 1464, Charles was excluded from power—the ducal council and the Burgundian court—by his father, Philip the Good. In 1454, Philip appointed Charles "governor and lieutenant-general in absence" while he attended the Imperial Diet in Regensburg. Philip hoped to meet Emperor Frederick III and attach him to his aspirations for a crusade to retake Constantinople from the Ottomans. However, the emperor did not show up. Even as regent, Charles held little to no power compared to his mother, the duchess, and his father. Nevertheless, Charles still was able to issue documents in his own name. His regency was short-lived, for Philip returned to Burgundy on 7 or 9 August, and Charles returned to his former powerless position.Charles was on bad terms with his father due to his exclusion from power, and their bad relations climaxed in 1457, when Charles wanted to appoint Antoin Rolin, the of Aymeries, as his chamberlain. Antoin was the son of Nicolas Rolin, Philip the Good's chancellor. The Duke, wary of the power his chancellor might get with this appointment, refused his son's request and instead proposed Philip I of Porcéan, high bailiff of Hainault and a member of the influential House of Croÿ. Charles distrusted Philip, because he suspected that the Croÿ family accepted money from Charles VII to undermine Philip the Good, and refused his father's proposal. Philip was so furious that Charles's mother feared for Charles's life and had him removed from court. Charles fled to Dendermonde and Philip got lost in the forests of Soignies trying to find his son. Through the mediation of Isabella of Bourbon, who was pregnant with Charles's child, Philip and his son reached a truce.
When Charles's daughter, Mary, was born on 13 February 1457, neither Charles nor his father attended her baptism, for both wanted to avoid each other. Nicolas Rolin was removed from the chancellery, and Rolin's close ally, Jean Chevrot, was removed from the ducal council. Consequently, de Croÿ became more powerful. Charles left the court for his personal estate at Le Quesnoy in Hainaut. There, he was entrusted with minor tasks regarding the Flemish subjects of his father. He also constructed the Blue Tower castle in Gorinchem as his personal seat in 1461. He attempted to formalise his status as the heir to the Burgundian State, which in turn prompted his father to cut off his allowance. Charles was deprived of any money to pay his staff or otherwise maintain his estate. According to Burgundian court chronicler Georges Chastellain, in 1463, Charles dismissed his staff because he could not pay their salaries, however, his staff were adamant to serve him and even offered him a share of their money. According to German historian Werner Paravicini, such acts of altruism were typical of that time, rendring the account more plausible.
In 1462, Charles survived a poisoning attempt on his life by Jehan Coustain,. Coustain was executed in Rupelmonde. Charles blamed de Croÿ for the assassination attempt, while de Croÿ came to believe that Charles had staged this attempt. By the end of 1463, the disputes between Charles and his father caused the States General of the Burgundian Netherlands to intervene. On 5 February 1464, Charles made a speech, attacking de Croÿ's family, to the deputies assembled at Ghent. Charles and Philip the Good reconciled in June 1464, after they met in Lille, although de Croÿ maintained his hold on power. Later that year, Charles assumed full power by arguing that Philip was becoming senile. Charles put pressure on de Croÿ, but Philip protected de Croÿ by threatening Charles. Ten days later, the States General gave Charles full power by appointing him. His first act was to confiscate de Croÿ's estates; de Croÿ and his family were banished to France, where their French patron, Louis XI, gave them no support.