CHARLES THE BOLD, Duke of Bur b. Dijon, 10 Nov. 1433; d. Nancy, 5 n. 1477. He succeeded to the dukedom in 1467, and immediately engaged in a war with the citizens of Liege, whom he conquered and treated with extreme severity. Before this undertaking he had been obliged to restore to the citizens of Ghent the privileges which had been taken from them by Philip the Good. He now revoked his forced concessions, caused the leaders of the insurrection to be executed and imposed a large fine on the city. In 1468 he married Margaret of York, sister of the king of England. Learning that the inhabitants of Liege, instigated by King Louis XI, had rebelled anew, and made themselves masters of Tongres, be compelled the King to sign a treaty, the most disgraceful condition of which was that he should march with Charles against the of Liege, which he had himself excited against the Duke. Charles encamped before Liege in company with the King; the city was taken by storm, and abandoned to the furyof the soldiers. Such success rendered the mind of the Duke utterly obdurate, and added the last traits of that inflexible, sanguinary char acter which made him the scourge of his neighborhood, and led to his own destruction. Edward IV conferred on him in 1470 the Order of the Garter. Shortly after he received in Flanders Edward himself, who came to seek an asylum with the Duke. Charles gave him money and ships to return to England.
About the end of the same year the war between the King of France and the Duke of Burgundy was renewed, and never did Charles show himself more deserving of the name of the Mold') or ((Rash," than in this war.
Having completed the conquest of Lorraine by the taking of Nancy in 1475, he turned his arms against the Swiss; and notwithstanding the representations of these peaceful mountain eers, who told him that all that he could find among them would not be worth so much as the spurs of his horsemen, he took the city of Granson, and put to the sword 800 men, by whom it was defended. But these crueities
were soon avenged by the signal victory which the Swiss obtained near the same city 3 March 1476.
With.a new army he returned to Switzer land, and lost the battle of Murten (Morat) 22 June. The Duke of Lorraine, who had fought in the army of the Swiss, led the victors to the walls of Nancy, which surrendered 6 October. At the first information of this siege Charles marched to Lorraine, to retake the city of Nancy from the Duke Rene. On 5 or 6 Jan. 1477 the two armies met: the wings of the Burgundian army were broken through and dispersed, and the centre, commanded by the Duke in person, was attacked in front and flank. As Charles was putting on his helmet, the gilded lion which formed its crest fell to the ground, and he exclaimed with surprise, Ecce magnum signum Dei! Defeated, and car ried along with the current of fugitives, he fell, with his horse, into a ditch, where he was killed by the thrust of a lance. His body, covered with blood and mire, and with the head em bedded in the ice, was not found till two days after the battle, when it was so disfigured that for some time his own brothers did not recog nize it. See Kirk, 'History of Charles the Bold' (1863-68). In 'Quentin Durward,' Sir Walter Scott has portrayed the character of Charles, and some of the quarrels between him and Louis of France.