It all came crashing down at the Battle of Nancy in 1477. Charles, besieging the city of Nancy, found himself outmaneuvered by a coalition of Swiss pikemen and Lorrainer forces. It was a massacre. The Burgundian cavalry charge was met by a wall of pikes and brutal hand-held guns.
The original French Duchy of Burgundy was reabsorbed by the French crown. But the Low Countries—modern Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg—remained under Habsburg rule for centuries, sparking the Dutch Revolt and the Eighty Years' War. duchy of burgundy
Geographically, the Valois-Burgundy territories were a strange, fragmented collection of lands stretching from the Swiss Alps to the North Sea. The Dukes aimed to resurrect the ancient "Middle Kingdom" of Lotharingia, which had once sat between France and Germany. This put them on a collision course with the French King, Louis XI (the "Universal Spider"), who worked tirelessly to undermine Burgundian power. 5. The Fall: Nancy and the Habsburg Inheritance It all came crashing down at the Battle of Nancy in 1477
If you're interested in learning more about the Duchy of Burgundy, here are some recommended resources: The Burgundian cavalry charge was met by a
His only heir was his daughter, Mary of Burgundy. To prevent France from absorbing the entire duchy, she married Maximilian of Habsburg. That marriage changed European history forever. The Burgundian Netherlands—the economic heart of Europe—passed into the hands of the Habsburg dynasty, eventually falling to their grandson, Emperor Charles V.
Look at a map of Europe in the mid-15th century, and you will see a peculiar anomaly. Smack in the middle of what we now call France and Germany, straddling the Rhine, sits a massive, cohesive bloc of territory. It isn’t France, though it speaks French. It isn’t the Holy Roman Empire, though it holds imperial lands.