Franco-Burgundian Wars
The Franco-Burgundian Wars were a series of conflicts primarily during the late 15th century, rooted in a protracted power struggle between the French monarchy and the Burgundian dukes. The conflict intensified after the assassination of Louis of Orléans in 1407 and the subsequent killing of John of Burgundy in 1419, leading to a fierce blood feud that influenced French politics for a century. Key figures included Louis XI of France, who sought to diminish the influence of powerful nobles like Charles the Bold of Burgundy. The wars saw various military engagements, including the indecisive Battle of Montlhéry in 1465 and several later confrontations like the battles of Granson and Nancy in 1476-77. Charles the Bold's ambitions ultimately led to his downfall at the Battle of Nancy in 1477, where he was killed, resulting in his territories being inherited by his daughter, Mary of Burgundy. The aftermath of these conflicts saw Louis XI occupying Burgundy and Artois, but Mary’s marriage to Maximilian I of Habsburg led to continued hostilities that would last until 1559, involving multiple European powers. The complexities of these wars highlight the intricate political landscape of medieval France and its neighboring regions.
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Franco-Burgundian Wars
At issue: Burgundy’s status, the French king’s authority
Date: 1464-January 5, 1477
Location: Northern and eastern France
Combatants: French and Swiss vs. Burgundians
Principal commanders:French, Louis XI (1423–1483); Burgundian, Duke Charles the Bold (1433–1477)
Principal battles: Montlhéry, Buxy, Siege of Beauvais, Granson, Morat, Nancy
Result: Charles the Bold’s death
Background
When Louis of Orléans was assassinated in 1407 by agents of John of Burgundy, who in turn was assassinated in 1419 at a conference with Dauphin Charles (the future Charles VII), the resulting blood feud dominated French politics for a century. John’s heir, Philip III, duke of Burgundy, first joined forces with England’s Henry V in 1419 and then, recognizing how Joan of Arc had turned things about, signed a truce with Charles VII in 1435. The feud resumed when Louis XI succeeded his father in 1461. Louis was determined to reduce the power of the great nobles, of whom the duke of Burgundy, with his lands both in the kingdom (including Flanders and Artois) and outside (the Franche-Comté and the Netherlands), was the most important. Louis’s policies so antagonized the nobles that in 1464, they organized the League of the Public Weal to resist him. Its leader was Philip of Burgundy’s son, Charles the Bold. By early 1465, both sides were ready to settle the issue by war.
Action
In April, 1465, Louis XI brought his army out of winter camp at Tours and marched northward, making contact with the nobles’ forces south of Paris. The two sides gave battle at Montlhéry (July 16, 1465), which was indecisive, but the fighting ability of 500 Swiss infantrymen, the first to serve in the royal army, caught the attention of French commanders. Bloodied but unbowed, the nobles pushed on to Paris, which they put under siege on August 28. Unable to take the city before the campaigning season ended, the nobles accepted the Treaty of Conflans in late October.
Using adroit diplomacy, Louis proceeded to draw Charles the Bold’s allies away from him. By the time Charles succeeded his father in 1467, he had to depend on his own vast resources and non-French allies such as England and Aragon to achieve his goals, which included gaining the title of king of Burgundy. After six years of nominal peace, Louis made the first move against Charles by seizing Amiens in Artois in February, 1471. Fighting erupted in Picardy and Burgundy, where the largest encounter occurred at Buxy on March 14, 1471. That battle was again indecisive, but the royal army evacuated Burgundy. Charles allied with Edward IV and formally declared war on Louis in June, 1472. In conjunction with an English attack out of Calais, Charles crossed the Somme headed for Normandy but halted to lay siege to Beauvais (1472). The delay allowed Louis to assemble his forces and send a relief force that drove the Burgundians back to Artois. Meanwhile, Aragonese forces had invaded France from the south only to be driven out of Roussillon, which passed into French control.
Charles’s ambition to become king of a unified block of land from Freisland on the North Sea to Burgundy and the Franche-Comté led him to turn to conquering Alsace and Lorraine. That caught the attention of the Swiss, who believed that Charles intended to add western Switzerland to his future realm. Encouraged with French gold to the point that observers described them as fighting as French mercenaries, the Swiss invaded Burgundian territory in 1474. Charles persuaded Edward IV to invade France, but his desultory campaign in the summer of 1475 ended with the Peace of Picquigny in August. Charles now turned his full attention to the Swiss, resulting in the three great battles of Granson (1476), Morat (1476), and Nancy. At Nancy (January 5, 1477), Charles was killed, and his lands passed to his daughter, Mary of Burgundy.
Aftermath
Louis XI occupied Burgundy and Artois and demanded that Mary wed his son Charles, but she married Maximilian I of Habsburg. Thus the powerful house of Austria became caught up in the Franco-Burgundian War and continued fighting until 1559.
Bibliography
Kendall, Paul. Louis XI, the Universal Spider. New York: W. W. Norton, 1971.
Potter, David. A History of France, 1460–1560: The Emergence of a Nation-state. London: Macmillan, 1995.
Spencer, Mark. Thomas Basin (1412–1490): The History of Charles VII and Louis XI. Nieuwkoop, the Netherlands: De Graaf, 1997.
Vaughan, Richard. Valois Burgundy. Hamden, Conn.: Archon, 1975.