Charles I The Bold Duke Of BURGUNDY

Other Events and Attributes:

• Residence: There were no issues.
• Residence: Count of Charolais
• Residence: Duke of Burgundy

Notes:

Charles, called the Bold or the Rash (French: Charles le TÈmÈraire) (November 10, 1433 ? January 5, 1477) was Duke of Burgundy from 1467 to 1477. He was known as Charles the Terrible to his detractors.

He was born in Dijon, the son of Philip III, Duke of Burgundy and Isabella of Portugal, Duchess of Burgundy. In his father's lifetime (1433-1467) he bore the title of Count of Charolais; afterwards, he assumed all of his father's titles, including that of "Grand Duke of the West". He was also created a Knight of the Golden Fleece but twenty days after his birth, being invested by Charles I, Count of Nevers and the seigneur de Croy.

He was brought up under the direction of the seigneur d'Auxy, and early showed great application to study and also to warlike exercises. He was on familiar terms with the Dauphin (afterwards Louis XI), when the latter was a refugee at the Court of Burgundy. But he viewed with chagrin the repurchase by the King of France of the towns on the Somme, which had been temporarily ceded to Philip the Good by the Treaty of Arras; and when his father's failing health enabled him to take into his hands the reins of government (which Philip abandoned to him completely by an act of April 12, 1465), he entered upon his lifelong struggle against Louis XI, and became one of the principal leaders of the League of the Public Weal.

[edit] Early battles
His bravery at the Battle of MontlhÈry (July 13, 1465), where he was wounded and was left master of the field, neither prevented the King from re-entering Paris nor assured Charles a decisive victory. He succeeded, however, in forcing upon Louis the Treaty of Conflans (October 1465), by which the King restored to him the towns on the Somme, and promised him the hand of his infant daughter Catherine, with Champagne as dowry.

In the meanwhile, the Count of Charolais obtained the surrender of Ponthieu. The revolt of LiËge and Dinant intervened to divert his attention from the affairs of France. On August 25, 1466, Charles took possession of Dinant, which he pillaged and sacked, and succeeded in treating at the same time with the Bishopric of LiËge. After the death of his father, Philip the Good (June 15, 1467), the Bishopric of LiËge renewed hostilities, but Charles defeated them at Sint-Truiden, and made a victorious entry into LiËge, which he dismantled and deprived of some of its privileges.

[edit] Treaty of PÈronne
Alarmed by these early successes of the Duke of Burgundy, and anxious to settle various questions relating to the execution of the treaty of Conflans, Louis requested a meeting with Charles and placed himself in his hands at PÈronne. In the course of the negotiations the Duke was informed of a fresh revolt of the Bishopric of LiËge secretly fomented by Louis. After deliberating for four days how to deal with his adversary, who had thus maladroitly placed himself at his mercy, Charles decided to respect the parole he had given and to treat with Louis (October 1468), at the same time forcing him to assist in quelling the revolt. The town was carried by assault and the inhabitants were massacred, Louis not having the courage to intervene on behalf of his ancient allies.

At the expiry of the one year's truce which followed the Treaty of PÈronne, the King accused Charles of treason, cited him to appear before the parlement, and seized some of the towns on the Somme (1471). The Duke retaliated by invading France with a large army, taking possession of Nesle and massacring its inhabitants. He failed, however, in an attack on Beauvais, and had to content himself with ravaging the country as far as Rouen, eventually retiring without having attained any useful result.

[edit] Domestic policies
Other matters, moreover, engaged his attention. Relinquishing, if not the stately magnificence, at least the gay and wasteful profusion which had characterized the court of Burgundy under his father, he had bent all his efforts towards the development of his military and political power. Since the beginning of his reign he had employed himself in reorganizing his army and the administration of his territories. While retaining the principles of feudal recruiting, he had endeavoured to establish a system of rigid discipline among his troops, which he had strengthened by taking into his pay foreign mercenaries, particularly Englishmen and Italians, and by developing his artillery.

[edit] Building a kingdom
Furthermore, he had lost no opportunity of extending his power. In 1469, the Archduke of Austria, Sigismund, had sold him the county of Ferrette, the Landgraviate of Alsace, and some other towns, reserving to himself the right to repurchase.

In 1472-1473, Charles bought the reversion of the Duchy of Guelders from its old Duke, Arnold, whom he had supported against the rebellion of his son. Not content with being "the Grand Duke of the West," he conceived the project of forming a kingdom of Burgundy or Aries with himself as independent sovereign, and even persuaded the Emperor Frederick to assent to crown him king at Trier. The ceremony, however, did not take place owing to the Emperor's precipitate flight by night (September 1473), occasioned by his displeasure at the Duke's attitude.

[edit] Downfall

Charles the Bold as imagined in a Victorian engraving.In the following year Charles involved himself in a series of difficulties and struggles which ultimately brought about his downfall. He embroiled himself successively with the Archduke Sigismund of Austria, to whom he refused to restore his possessions in Alsace for the stipulated sum; with the Swiss, who supported the free towns of Upper Rhine in their revolt against the tyranny of the ducal governor, Peter von Hagenbach (who was condemned by a special international tribunal and executed in May 1474); and finally, with RenÈ II, Duke of Lorraine, with whom he disputed the succession of Lorraine, the possession of which had united the two principal portions of Charles's territories? Flanders and the Low Countries and the Duchy and County of Burgundy. All these enemies, incited and supported as they were by Louis, were not long in joining forces against their common adversary.

Charles suffered a first rebuff in endeavouring to protect his kinsman, the Archbishop of Cologne, against his rebel subjects. He spent ten months (July 1474 ? June 1475) in besieging the little town of Neuss on the Rhine (the Siege of Neuss), but was compelled by the approach of a powerful imperial army to raise the siege. Moreover, the expedition he had persuaded his brother-in-law, Edward IV of England, to undertake against Louis was stopped by the Treaty of Picquigny (August 29, 1475). He was more successful in Lorraine, where he seized Nancy (November 30, 1475).

From Nancy he marched against the Swiss, hanging and drowning the garrison of Grandson, a possession of the Savoyard Jacques de Romont, a close ally of Charles, which the Confederates had invested shortly before, and in spite of their capitulation. Some days later, however, he was attacked before Grandson by the confederate army in the Battle of Grandson and suffered a shameful defeat, being compelled to fly with a handful of attendants, and leaving his artillery and an immense booty in the hands of the allies (March 1476).

He succeeded in raising a fresh army of 30,000 men, with which he attacked Morat, but he was again defeated by the Swiss army, assisted by the cavalry of RenÈ II, Duke of Lorraine (June 22, 1476). On this occasion, and unlike the debacle at Grandson, little booty was lost, but Charles certainly lost about one third of his entire army, the unfortunate losers being pushed into the nearby lake where they were drowned or shot at whilst trying to swim to safety on the opposite shore. On October 6 Charles lost Nancy, which RenÈ re-entered.

[edit] Death at Nancy

Depiction of finding his body after the Battle of Nancy.Making a last effort, Charles formed a new army and arrived in the depth of winter before the walls of Nancy. Having lost many of his troops through the severe cold, it was with only a few thousand men that he met the joint forces of the Lorrainers and the Swiss, who had come to the relief of the town, at the Battle of Nancy (January 5, 1477). He himself perished in the fight, his naked body being discovered some days afterwards, the face so mutilated by wild animals that only his physician was able to identify him by old scars on his body.

[edit] Legacy
Charles the Bold has often been regarded as the last representative of the feudal spirit?a man who possessed no other quality than a blind bravery.

Charles married Margaret 'Of York' PLANTAGENET on 03 Jul 1468 in Dame. Margaret (daughter of Richard PLANTAGENET and Cecily DE NEVILLE) was born on 03 May 1446 in Fotheinghay; died on 28 Nov 1503 in Malines; was buried in Church of the Cordeliers, Malines. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Charles married Catharine Of VALOIS in 1439. Catharine (daughter of Charles VII King Of FRANCE and Marie Of ANJOU) was born in 1428; died in 1446. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Charles married Isabella Of BOURBON in 1454. Isabella (daughter of Charles I Duke Of BOURBON and Agnes Of BURGUNDY) was born in 1436; died in 1465. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Marie Of BURGUNDY was born on 13 Feb 1457; died on 27 Mar 1482.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Fact: Duke of Burgundy

Philip married Isabel Of PORTUGAL between 10 Jan 1429 and 1430. Isabel (daughter of John I King Of PORTUGAL and Philippa Of LANCASTER) was born in 1397; died on 17 Dec 1472. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Fact: Count of Flanders
• Fact: Duke of Burgundy

Notes:

Duke John I aka Jean de Valois and Jean de Bourgogne (May 28, 1371, Dijon ? September 10, 1419, on the bridge of Montereau), also known as the Fearless (French: sans peur) was Duke of Burgundy from 1404 to 1419. John was the son of Philip II, the Bold and Margaret III, Countess of Flanders. As heir apparent, he used the title of Count of Nevers from 1384 to 1405, when after his accession he ceded it to his brother Philip
In 1385, John married Margaret of Bavaria, daughter of Albrecht of Bavaria, Count of Holland and Hainaut, to consolidate his position in the Low Countries, after cancelling his engagement with Catherine of Valois, daughter of king Charles V of France. They had the following children:

Catherine (1391?1414, Ghent)
Marie (1393 ? October 30, 1463, Monterberg bei Kalkar). She married Adolph I, Duke of Cleves. They were the great-grandparents of Johann III, Duke of Cleves, father of Anne of Cleves who was fourth Queen consort of Henry VIII of England.
Marguerite, duchess of Guyenne (1394 ? February 2, 1441, Paris), married on August 30, 1404 Louis of Valois the Dauphin (heir of king Charles VI of France), then on October 10, 1422 Arthur de Richemont, the future Duke of Brittany
Philip III, Duke of Burgundy (1396?1467)
Isabelle (d. September 18, 1412, Rouvre), married at Arras on July 22, 1406 to Olivier de Ch‚tillon-Blois, Count of PenthiËvre and PÈrigord
Jeanne (b. 1399, Bouvres), d. young
Anne of Burgundy (1404 ? November 14, 1432, Paris), married John, Duke of Bedford
Agnes of Burgundy (1407 ? December 1, 1476, Ch‚teau de Moulins), married Charles I, Duke of Bourbon
John also had several illegitimate children.

Before his accession to the Duchy, John was one of the principal leaders of the French forces sent to aid King Sigismund of Hungary in his war against Sultan Bayezid I. John fought in the battle of Nicopolis (September 25, 1396) with such enthusiasm and bravery that he was given the nickname of Fearless (Sans-Peur). Nevertheless he was taken prisoner and released only in the next year, against an enormous ransom paid by his father.

[edit] John vs OrlÈans
John was invested as duke of Burgundy in 1404 and almost immediately entered into open conflict against Louis of OrlÈans, younger brother of the increasingly mad Charles VI. Both men attempted to fill the power vacuum left by the demented king.

John played a game of marriages, exchanging his daughter Marguerite for Michelle of Valois, who would marry his heir Philip III. He did not overlook, however, the importance of the middle class of merchants and tradesman or the University of Paris.

Louis tried to gain the favor of Queen Isabella, and may have become her lover. After a game of hide and seek in which his son-in-law, the Dauphin, was successively kidnapped and recovered by both parties, the Duke of Burgundy managed to gain appointment by royal decree ? during one of the King's "absent" periods when mental illness manifested itself ? as guardian of the Dauphin and the king's children. This did not improve the relations between John and Louis.

Soon the two rivals descended into making open threats. Their uncle, John, Duke of Berry, secured a vow of solemn reconciliation, but three days later, on November 23, 1407 Louis was brutally assassinated in the streets of Paris. He was attacked after mounting his horse by a party of men who literally amputated his arms so that he was defenseless. The order, no one doubted, had come from the Duke of Burgundy, who shortly admitted to the deed and declared it to be a justifiable act of "tyrannicide". After an escape from Paris and a few skirmishes against the OrlÈans party, John managed to recover the king's favour. In the treaty of Chartres, signed on March 9, 1409, the king absolved the Duke of Burgundy of the crime, and he and Louis's son Charles pledged a reconciliation. A later edict renewed John's guardianship of the Dauphin.

[edit] John vs Armagnac
Even with the OrlÈans dispute resolved to his favour, John would not have an easy life. Charles of OrlÈans gathered allies, among them Bernard VII, Count of Armagnac, to support his claims for the property that had been confiscated from him. Peace was solemnly sworn in 1410, and John returned to Burgundy, and Bernard remained in Paris and reportedly shared the queen's bed. Armagnac's party was not contented with political power, and, after a series of riots and attacks against the citizens, John was recalled to the capital. However, he was sent back to Burgundy in 1413.

At this time king Henry V of England invaded French territory and threatened to attack Paris. John participated in the peace negotiations, but with dubious intent. Although he talked of helping his sovereign, his troops took no part in the Battle of Agincourt (in 1415), where two of his brothers, Antoine, Duke of Brabant, and Philip II, Count of Nevers, died fighting for France.

Assassination of the Duke of Burgundy, John the Fearless, on the Bridge of Montereau, in 1419. ? facsimile of a miniature in the "Chronicles" of Monstrelet, manuscript of the fifteenth century, in the Library of the Arsenal of Paris.
[edit] John vs the Dauphin
Two years later, John's troops set about the task of gaining Paris. On May 30, 1418, he captured the city, but not before the Dauphin, the future Charles VII of France, had escaped. John then installed himself in the city and made himself protector of the King. Although not an open ally of the English, John did nothing to prevent the surrender of Rouen in 1419. With the whole of northern France in English hands and Paris occupied by Burgundy, the Dauphin tried to bring about a reconciliation with John. They met in July and swore peace on the bridge of Pouilly, near Melun. On the grounds that peace was not sufficiently assured by the Pouilly meeting, a fresh interview was proposed by the Dauphin to take place on September 10, 1419 on the bridge at Montereau. John of Burgundy was present with his escort for what he considered a diplomatic meeting. He was, however, assassinated by the Dauphin's companions. He was later buried in Dijon.

John married Margaret Of BAVARIA in 1385. Margaret (daughter of Count of Hainaut Albert I Duke Of BAVARIA and Margaret Of BRIEG) was born in 1363; died on 23 Jan 1423 in Dijon. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Name: Margaret Of Holland

Notes:

Wikipedia Encyclopedia:
Jo„o I, King of Portugal KG (pron. IPA /?u'?~u/), in English, John I (the Good or sometimes, the Great or even the One of Good Memory) (Lisbon, April 11, 1357 ? August 14, 1433 in Lisbon) was the 10th king of Portugal and Algarve and the first to use the title Lord of Ceuta. He was the natural son of Pedro I by a noble Galician lady called Teresa LourenÁo. In 1364 he was created grand-master of the Order of Aviz. He became king of Portugal and Algarve in 1385, after the 1383?1385 Crisis.

On the death of his lawful brother Fernando in October 1383, without a male heir, strenuous efforts were made to secure the succession for princess Beatrice, his only daughter. As heiress-apparent Beatrice had been married to king John I of Castile, but the popular voice declared against an arrangement by which Portugal would virtually have become united with Castile. The 1383?1385 Crisis followed as a period of political anarchy, when no king ruled the country.

On April 6, 1385, the council of the kingdom (cortes in Portuguese) met in Coimbra and declared Jo„o, then Master of Aviz, king of Portugal. This was in effect a declaration of war against Castile and its claims to the Portuguese throne. Soon after, the king of Castile invaded Portugal, with the purpose of conquering Lisbon and removing Jo„o I from the throne. Juan I was accompanied by French allied cavalry as English troops and generals took the side of Jo„o (see Hundred years war). Jo„o I then named Nuno Alvares Pereira, his loyal and talented supporter, general and protector of the Kingdom. The invasion was repelled during the Summer after the Battle of Atoleiros, but especially after the decisive battle of Aljubarrota (August 14, 1385), where the Castilian army was virtually annihilated. Juan I of Castile then retreated and the stability of Jo„o I's throne was permanently secured.

A statue of John in the PraÁa da Figueira, LisbonIn 1387, Jo„o I married Philippa of Lancaster, daughter of John of Gaunt who had proved to be a worthy ally, consolidating the union of the Anglo-Portuguese Alliance that endures to the present day.

After the death of Juan of Castile in 1390, without leaving issue by Beatrice, Jo„o I ruled in peace and pursued the economic development of the country. The only significant military action was the siege and conquest of the city of Ceuta in 1415. By this step he aimed to control navigation of the African coast. But in longer perspective, this was the first step opening the arabian world to medieval Europe, which in fact led to the age of sailing across whole world.

Contemporaneous writers describe him as a man of wit, very keen on concentrating the power on himself, but at the same time with a benevolent and kind personality. His youth education as master of a religious order made him an unusually learned king in the Middle Ages. His love for knowledge and culture was passed to his sons: Duarte, the future king, was a poet and a writer, Pedro, the duke of Coimbra, was one of the most learned princes of his time and Prince Henry the Navigator, the duke of Viseu, started a school of navigation and invested heavily in science and development of nautical topics. In 1430, his only surviving daughter, Isabella, married Philip III, Duke of Burgundy and enjoyed an extremely refined court in his lands; she was the mother of Charles the Bold.

John married Philippa Of LANCASTER between 02 and 11 Feb 1387 in Oporto. Philippa (daughter of John Of GAUNT and Blanche Of LANCASTER) was born on 31 Mar 1360 in Leicester; died on 19 Jul 1415 in Odivelas, near Lisbon; was buried in Batalha. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]