Philip the Good

Duke of Burgundy

• Born: July 31, 1396
• Birthplace: Dijon, Burgundy (now in France)
• Died: June 15, 1467
• Place of death: Brugge, Flanders (now Brugge, Belgium)

Despite his failure to build a unified state between France and the German states, Philip created sound administrative policies throughout his territories and established one of the most brilliant and cultured courts in Europe.

Early Life

Philip the Good was the third of four Valois dukes of Burgundy and the ablest among them. He was born in the ducal capital of Burgundy, the son of Duke John the Fearless and Margaret of Bavaria. Reared in wealthy circumstances, he was fascinated by the courtly manners of chivalry and ambitious for the future of Burgundy.

He succeeded to his inheritance on September 10, 1419, at the brutal assassination of his father by agents of the heir to the French throne. In 1409, Philip married Michelle of France, daughter of Charles VI and sister to Catherine, the wife of Henry V of England. Philip was involved with both countries as a result of the Hundred Years’ War and always conscious of the fact that the duchy of Burgundy had been exploited by the French crown until the days of his grandfather, Philip the Bold.

Because of Philip’s interest in art and patronage of artists, as well as his desire to publicize the history of his territory by encouraging official chroniclers, there are portraits and writings that form a clear picture of the duke. He was described as being of medium stature with proportionate weight, slim in arms and legs. His biographer wrote that he was bony rather than fleshy and had a dark complexion with brown hair. His eyebrows were thick above gray eyes and his nose was somewhat long.

In personality, he was said to have been proud, sensitive, and temperate. He had a fear of drunkenness and was abstemious in food and drink. His rather large brood of illegitimate children numbered at eleven by modern scholarship, more by his contemporaries indicated that his sexual appetite was not governed by the same moderation.

Although he had a quick temper, he did not hold grudges, and a sincere apology usually sufficed to clear the air after differences with his associates. As a youth he was fond of sports, riding, fencing, jousting, and hunting. He loved reading and tried to read, or be read to, each day. He had inherited a remarkable library of nine hundred volumes; by the end of his reign it had grown to include four times that number.

After his father’s assassination, Philip dressed in black, although his simple clothing was of rich material and he had a penchant for fine jewels. He loved to hear music but was not very musical himself. Less superstitious than most of his contemporaries, he disliked flattery but demanded much of his courtiers.

Life’s Work

The basis of Philip’s inheritance was the duchy of Burgundy, roughly equivalent to a sizable portion of southeastern France on a modern map. It had been a holding of the French crown but was given to Philip the Bold, fourth son of John II of France, in 1364. It was a reward from the king to a son who had been captured with him at the Battle of Poitiers in 1356 and who had shared his father’s captivity in England.

Although not originally intended, the duchy became virtually independent of the French crown thereafter. Territories of Flanders, Nevers, Artois, and Rethel (all portions of modern northern France and Belgium) were added by 1380. Philip’s first marriage brought him additional French territory, and during his reign, he added more, namely Namur, Hainaut, Brabant, Holland, Zeeland, and Luxembourg. These territories incorporated much of modern Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg.

Philip’s goal was a firm union of these lands, which he acquired by force of arms, marriage contracts, negotiation, and purchase. The difficulty lay in the fact that they were scattered possessions. Not only were they separated geographically but also they had no linguistic or cultural unity. In spite of the obvious, the duke sought to unify the administrative apparatus, especially the financial chambers. Although he had some success, effective union never was a reality. He was spurred on by his knowledge that the Carolingian Empire had been divided into three parts by the Treaty of Verdun (843). Lothair had been granted a middle kingdom, which Philip believed might be re-created if he could gain the duchy of Lotharingia from the German emperor. In this he was to be disappointed. Yet he passed on to his heir the dream of such a state.

His relationship with the leaders of many of his wealthy cities was often stormy. From the 1430’s to the 1450’, great cities such as Antwerp, Ghent, and Bruges rose in rebellion. These and other communes had developed autonomous control of internal affairs, and the merchant leadership resisted the centralizing efforts of ducal government, while accepting the overall hegemony of the Burgundian power structure.

Efforts toward political union did not deter the duke from spending excessive energy and monies in creating the most lavish court of his age. He was more successful in achieving this goal. His patronage of art brought such names as Hans Memlinc, Rogier van der Weyden, and Jan van Eyck to his court. He encouraged the illumination of manuscripts, which included exquisite miniature painting at the capitals. Tapestries also became art forms of remarkable size and workmanship, sometimes illustrating legends of ancient history as well as contemporary scenes.

Artisans of every kind filled the cities. The gigantic caldron built to heat six thousand gallons of water for the court baths was the talk of Europe. In Dijon, walls were smoothed for murals, a superior tile was developed for roofs, and cloths of the richest material were developed for the prevailing fashions (which were carefully preserved in artists’ portraits).

Education was encouraged, and chroniclers such as Georges Chastellain and Olivier de La Marche kept careful records, investigating past history as well as glorifying the House of Burgundy. The search for and the copying of books became an end in itself. Perhaps the duke’s perception in choosing qualified men to carry out his governmental and cultural pursuits made much of the work possible. Philip the Good was adept at delegating authority. His chancellor, Nicholas Rolin of Auten, served him loyally for thirty-nine years.

As a psychological effort to strengthen the position and reputation of the Burgundian dukes, nothing was more successful than Philip’s establishment of the chivalric order known as the Order of the Golden Fleece. It was established in Bruges on July 10, 1430, at Philip’s marriage to his third wife, Isabel of Portugal. It was a chivalric order much like the Order of the Garter in England, extended as a signal honor to a chosen few.

The symbol of the Golden Fleece represented the victory of the mythological Jason over his challengers. Churchmen would have preferred a biblical victor, but wool was a commodity on which the manufacturing towns of Flanders had built a great industry. By dedicating the order to the Virgin, Philip believed that the pagan symbol did not threaten Christianity. The rules of the order demanded loyalty and service of its members, and it is probable that Duke Philip envisioned it as a nucleus for a crusading movement to wrest the property of Christians and the Holy Land from Turkish hands. He also hoped that it would establish a link between noblemen from all parts of his holdings, a link that would increase the possibility for internal union.

The first meeting of the order was held on November 22, 1431, at Lille. There, the sixty-six statutes that established the order were read, and the number of members increased to thirty-one. Saint Andrew, patron of Burgundy, was named sponsor. The Papacy confirmed the order and its goal by three bulls and praised its founder. Standards for admission were based on proven military accomplishment, courage, honor, and devotion to Christian precepts. Treachery, immorality, cowardice, or unbecoming conduct were grounds for expulsion.

To celebrate the order, elaborate and beautiful pageants were created around tournaments. The tournaments, frowned on by the Church as dangerous, became famous throughout Europe. The feasts that attended them were served in splendor by liveried servants in a hall where the labors of Hercules were depicted in priceless tapestries. The duke’s order became a highly coveted honor, and its value in bringing attention to him and his family was significant.

Philip survived serious illnesses in 1465 and again in 1466. It was said that he maintained his faculties until his death at seventy in 1467. He was succeeded by his son, Charles, the last of the Valois dukes of Burgundy.

Philip the Good faced insurmountable problems as he proceeded with his grandiose plans for a unified Burgundian state. While his internal problems were legion, the role of his disparate duchy in international affairs was an even greater problem. The wealth of his territories was well known. England and France, in the throes of struggling national statehood, were very much aware of the role of Burgundy.

Following the assassination of his father, Philip was an ally of the French for a period of time. He was to share the regency of France with John, duke of Bedford, brother of Henry V of England, after the latter’s successful conquest of French forces. Yet Philip refused that responsibility, fearing the growth of English power on the Continent. A wool-producing country, England was interested in its commercial connections to the provinces of Burgundy, where artisans and merchants were masters of woolen manufacture. Therefore, Philip had to be wary of both countries, and he became more aloof in his dealings with them as his reign progressed.

For a period of time Philip had serious concerns as a dynast about producing an heir. His first wife, Michelle of Valois, whom he married in 1409, died childless in 1422. His second wife, Bonne of Artois, also died childless. Finally, Isabel of Portugal, whom he married in 1430, gave birth to the son and heir so necessary for Philip. While Philip did not hesitate to recognize his illegitimate sons and employ them in various ways to serve his state, his legitimate son Charles was his successor.

Significance

The lasting contribution of Philip the Good resulted from his patronage of artists whose works still hang in museums from Spain to Vienna, and from his desire for the House of Burgundy to be chronicled in song and history. The illuminated manuscripts from his court, now collected in Brussels, are a reminder of his love of beauty and craftsmanship.

His chivalric tendencies, concretized in court etiquette, influenced every European court for centuries. They became, especially in the latter part of his reign, the greater part of his interest. The effort to increase his territories and to improve his administration also flagged as time went by. A modern biographer has said that one of his problems was that he lived too long.

He bequeathed to his son, the last of the Valois dukes of Burgundy, a failing political structure, handicapped by an increasingly cumbersome administration. The heads of the territories he valued had developed varying degrees of distrust, even hatred, for the ducal power. Perhaps Philip was too medieval for the new, Renaissance concepts of national statehood, but his appreciation of civility and beauty have earned for him an important place in European cultural history.

Bibliography

Cartellieri, Otto. The Court of Burgundy. Translated by Malcolm Letts. 1929. Reprint. New York: Barnes and Noble Books, 1972. A work that is the result of twenty years of research on the Burgundian court. Well-chosen plates add to its usefulness, as well as a detailed genealogical chart. Includes chapter notes but no index.

Clark, Gregory T. Made in Flanders: The Master of the Ghent Privileges and Manuscript Painting in the Southern Netherlands in the Time of Philip the Good. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2000. Surveys illuminated manuscript painting in Flanders. Includes some colored illustrations.

Fowler, Kenneth A. The Age of Plantagenet and Valois: The Struggle for Supremacy, 1328-1498. New York: Putnam, 1967. A very basic text on the subject of the Hundred Years’ War whose value lies mainly in its splendid plates, which include portraits, weapons, armors, clothing, buildings, and interiors.

Seward, Desmond. A Brief History of the Hundred Years’ War: The English in France, 1337-1453. London: Robinson, 2003. A valuable adjunct to an understanding of the complicated period of struggle between France and England, with attention to the Burgundian faction. A clear, historical overview of a most difficult subject. Includes illustrations and maps.

Taylor, Aline S. Isabel of Burgundy. Lanham, Md.: Madison Books, 2001. Explores the life of Philip’s third wife, Isabel, an important and powerful figure in Medieval History/Middle Ages and in the domestic and foreign affairs of Burgundy. Isabel served as an authority and negotiator for France during Philip’s absences.

Tyler, William R. Dijon and the Valois Dukes of Burgundy. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1971. Primarily a social history, this important book helps the reader gain a sense of the wealth and level of expenditure that made Burgundy known throughout the Continent. Includes excellent descriptions of life at court, art, feasts, and tournaments. Contains a short selected bibliography, chronological summary, and family chart.

Vaughan, Richard. Philip the Good: The Apogee of Burgundy, 1419-1467. Rochester, N.Y.: Boydell and Brewer, 2002. The author, a preeminent authority on the history of Valois Burgundy, presents a highly detailed study of the reign of the third duke. Part of the History of Valois Burgundy series. Includes a bibliography and index.

Vaughan, Richard. Valois Burgundy. Hamden, Conn.: Archon Books, 1975. This volume, an overview of the territories and their four rulers, is clearly written, with sufficient maps to make the territorial problems intelligible. Includes a bibliography and index.