Duchy of Burgundy

Duchy of Burgundy
Duché de Bourgogne  (French) Ducatus Burgundiae  (Latin)
Vassal of the Kingdom of France
1032–1477
Flag Coat of arms
Burgundian and Netherlandish territories ruled by Duke Charles the Bold 1467–1477
Capital		Dijon
Languages		Latin Oïl languages (Old French), Low Franconian languages (Middle Dutch)
Religion		Roman Catholicism, Judaism
Government		Feudal monarchy
Duke of Burgundy
•	1032–1076	Robert I
•	1419–1467	Philip the Good
•	1467–1477	Charles the Bold
Legislature		Estates-General created during the reign of Philip the Good
Historical era		Middle Ages
•	Enfeoffed to House of Burgundy	1032
•	Hundred Years' War	1337–1453
•	Order of the Golden Fleece	1430
•	Burgundian Wars	1474–1477
•	Battle of Nancy	1477
Currency		goldgulden, stuiver, gros
Preceded by Succeeded by County of Burgundy Early modern France Habsburg Netherlands
Today part of		Belgium  France  Germany  Luxembourg  Netherlands

The Duchy of Burgundy (Latin: Ducatus Burgundiae, French: Duché de Bourgogne, Dutch: Hertogdom Bourgondië) existed from 1032 as a successor of an ancient and prestigious patrimony and a large division of the lands of the Kingdom of the Burgundians. The duchy roughly conforms to the borders and territories of the modern region of Burgundy, but its dukes came to own considerable possession of numerous French and Imperial fiefs further north in the Low Countries collectively known as the Burgundian Netherlands. In its own right, it was one of the larger ducal territories that existed at the time of the emergence of Early Modern Europe from Medieval Europe, reminiscent of the Middle Frankish realm of Lotharingia.

The French remnants of the Burgundian kingdom were demoted to a ducal rank by King Robert II of France in 1004 and in 1032 awarded to the House of Burgundy as a cadet branch inheritance via Salic law – other portions had passed to the Imperial Kingdom of Arles and the Free County of Burgundy. From 1363 the duchy was ruled by a succession of the Valois Burgundy dukes. Their extinction with the death of Charles the Bold in the 1477 Battle of Nancy led to the absorption of the duchy itself into the French crown lands by King Louis XI, while the Burgundian possessions in the Low Countries passed to the Habsburg Archduke Maximilian I of Austria by his marriage with Charles' daughter Mary the Rich.