Burgundian Netherlands

History of the Low Countries
Bishopric of Liège 985–1790	Burgundian Netherlands		Duchy of Luxembourg integrated 1441
	1384/1473–1482
	Habsburg Netherlands 1482–1556
	Spanish Netherlands	Dutch Republic 1581–1795	1581–1713
	Austrian Netherlands		1713–1790
United States of Belgium			1790
Bishopric of Liège 1790–1795	Austrian Netherlands		1790–1794
French Republic		Batavian Republic 1795–1806	1795–1804
French Empire			1804–1815
		Kingdom of Holland 1806–1810
United Kingdom of the Netherlands 1815–1830			Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (in personal union with the Netherlands until 1890)
Kingdom of Belgium since 1830		Kingdom of the Netherlands since 1830

In the history of the Low Countries, the Burgundian Netherlands refers to the period when the dukes of Burgundy ruled the area, as well as Luxembourg and northern France from 1384 to 1530.

Dynastic

A fair share (but not most) of these territories were inherited by the Burgundian dukes, a younger branch of the French royal house of Valois in 1384, upon the death of Louis de Mâle, count of Flanders. His heiress, Margaret III of Flanders had married Philip the Bold (1342–1404), youngest son of John II of France and the first of the Valois dukes of Burgundy, who thus inherited the counties of Flanders, Artois, Rethel, Burgundy, and Nevers. Together they initiated an era of Burgundian governance in the Low Countries.

The Burgundian territories were expanded with the county of Namur in 1421, the duchies of Brabant and Limburg in 1430, the counties of Hainaut, Holland and Zeeland in 1432, the duchy of Luxembourg in 1441 and the duchy of Guelders in 1473.

The Valois era would last until 1477, when the last Valois duke Charles the Bold died on the battlefield, leaving no male heir. The territorial Duchy of Burgundy reverted to the French crown (see Salic Law), and the Low Countries portion of the Duchy of Burgundy passed to the Habsburgs through Mary of Burgundy and her husband Maximilian of Habsburg to their son Philip the Handsome (see Seventeen Provinces).

The Burgundian dukes who ruled the Netherlandish territories were:

House of Valois, territorial Dukes of Burgundy

• Philip the Bold and his wife Margaret III of Flanders (1384–1405)
• John the Fearless (1405–1419)
• Philip the Good (1419–1467)
• Charles the Bold (1467–1477)

House of Valois, titular Duchess of Burgundy

• Mary of Burgundy (1477–1482)

House of Habsburg, titular Dukes of Burgundy

• Philip the Handsome (1482–1506); Maximilian I, regent (1482-1493)
• Charles V (1506–1555); Margaret of Austria, regent (1507-1515) and (1519–1530)

Political

The sheer burden of variety of bishoprics and independent cities, the intensely local partisanship, the various taxation systems, weights and measures, internal customs barriers, fiercely defended local rights were a hindrance to a good Valois, but attempts at enlarging personal control by the dukes resulted in revolts among the independent towns, sometimes supported by independent local nobles, and bloody military suppression in response, and an increasingly modernized central government with a bureaucracy of clerks allowed the dukes to become celebrated art patrons and establish a glamorous court life that set conventions of behavior that lasted for centuries. Philip the Good (1419-1467) extended his personal control to the southeast bringing Brussels, Namur, and Liège under his control. He channeled the traditional independence of the cities through such mechanisms as the first States Généraux, which was composed of delegates from the middle-class, the clergy and the nobility, and he consolidated the region's economy.

Ducal patronage

From 1441, Philip based his ducal court in Brussels, but Bruges was the center of commerce, though by the 1480s the inevitable silting of its harbor was bringing its economic hegemony to a close. Philip was a great patron of illuminated manuscripts and court painting reached new highs: Robert Campin, the van Eyck brothers, and Rogier van der Weyden

Social and economic

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External links

• Metropolitan Museum: "Burgundian Netherlands: Court Life
• Metropolitan Museum: "Burgundian Netherlands: Private Life

References

• Panofsky, Erwin, Early Netherlandish Painting
• Prevenier, W. and Blockmans W., The Burgundian Netherlands Cambridge University Press 1986

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