(from Der Große Brockhaus, 16th Edition, Vol. 2, 1953)
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Burgundy, French La
Bourgogne, historic landscape of France, named after the Burgundian
people. Its kernel zone is the
Saone-depression, surpassed by the Cote d' Or and the mountains of the
Charolais. Of here, High Burgundy
outreaches on the Jurassic in the east and the Central Plateau to the Morvan in
the west, Low Burgundy in the north into the chalk landscapes of the Parisian
basin (Tonnerre, Chablis, Auxerre).
Capital is Dijon. Burgundy
is an important run country between the Rhine-, Seine-, Loire and Rhône-zone
with important canals, railroads and streets. It is a famous region for whine cultivation with the
midpoints Dijon, Beaune and Mâcon.
1)
The East Teuton tribe
of the Burgundians, settled 443 by Aetius in the landscape Sapaudia (Savoy)
around Geneva (since 461 king's seat Lyon), created an empire in the Rhône
area, in which Teutons and Romans stood equally side by side. King Gundobad initiated to record the
Burgundian rights (Germanic people rights). But already 534 the Burgundians were defeated by the
Franconias and Burgundy was integrated into the Frankish empire; as a partial
empire of the Merovingian it got repeatedly a certain independence.
2) With
the decay of the Frankish Empire again two independent Burgundian empires
formed. Count Boso became 879 king
of Low Burgundy (Zisjuranic Burgundy, Arelat), margrave Rudolf 888 king of High
Burgundy (Transjuranic Burgundy).
Rudolf II (912-937) combined about 934 both states to the empire
Burgundy or Arelat whose rulers repeatedly sworn the oath of fealty to the German
kings. The childless Rudolf lIl
(993 to 1032) promised the succession to his sister's son, emperor Heinrich II;
emperor Konrad II took over the claims of his predecessor on behalf of the
German empire, defended them in the battle against the powerful of the country
and the nearer relatives of Rudolf, duke Ernst von Swabia and count Odo II of
Champagne, and took possession of Burgundy after Rudolf's death in 1032. At first the connection between
Burgundy and the empire remained very loose; only the Stauffer tried to attach
the connection firmer. After their
egression Burgundy began to fall gradually to France; at the end of the Middle
Ages, the old kingdom Burgundy was French, except Sapaudia, the free count
shaft Burgundy, Mömpelgard and the western Switzerland.
3) Independent
of both Burgundian empires, count Richard of Autun (+ 921), a brother Bosos,
had created northwest from high Burgundy the French duchy Burgundy which alone
kept the name Bourgogne. Richard's
son Rudolf became 923 king of France; 1032 the duchy (capital of Dijon) fell to
a side line of the Kapetinger.
When this expired in 1361, king Jean II from the house Valois 1363 gave
the duchy to his youngest son Philipp the Bold, whose new house of Burgundian
dukes initiated the glorious days of Burgundy. Philipp married 1363 the Flemish hereditary daughter
Margareta Malana and in this way acquired 1384 Flanders, the Artois and the
free count shaft Burgundy belonging to the empire, by purchase 1390 the county
Charolais. During the mental illness
of his nephew, the king Karl VI, he was the most influential man in France,
however, got in the sharpest opposition to duke Louis of Orléans, the brother
of Charles.
He was followed 1404 by his son John the Fearless; he let duke Ludwig murder in
1407, however, became 1419 killed himself during a meeting with the Dauphin
(Karl VII) on the bridge over the Yonne at Montereau. His son and successor Philipp the Good formed an alliance on
with the Englishmen, conquered the county Boulogne and acquired big parts of
the German Netherlands (1428 Namur by purchase, 1430 Brabant and Limburg by
inheritance, 1433 Hainaut, Holland and Zealand by violence); in the peace with
France at Arras in 1435 he got the areas of Mâcon, Auxerre and a part of the
Picardy with the Somme towns. To
these acquisitions 1443 the German duchy Luxembourg also was added. In the year 1430 Philipp donated the
medals of the gold fleece. He was
followed 1467 his son Charles the Bold, one of the most powerful and most
splendid monarchs of Europe; he fell 1477 near Nancy against duke René of
Lorraine whose country he had conquered in order to connect his northern and
southern states.
Both heavy defeats against the confederates at Grandson and Murten (1476) had
broken its power. Maximilian I. of
Austria married Maria, the hereditary daughter of Charles the Bold. The fight for the Burgundian
inheritance lasted for the following decades and caused the deep enmity of
Habsburg and the crown of France.
Philipp the Pretty, son of Maximilian and Maria, started in 1494 to
govern independently; he was 1506 followed by his son, the later emperor
Charles V., for whom until 1515 his grandfather Maximilian reigned in
Burgundy. The house Habsburg
maintained the Burgundian heir besides the Bourgogne, the Picardie and
Boulogne, that fell at France. In
the peace of Madrid (1526) it must in return forgot the support highness over
Flanders and Artois (Burgundian circle).