BUR'GUNDY (Fr. Bourgogne). A name applied at different periods during the Middle Ages to a number of kingdoms and principalities which arose in the region of western Switzerland, Savoy, and the of the Rhone. The name was derived from the Burgundians. a Germanic tribe whose original home was located between the river ()der and the Vistula, and who in the first decade of time Fifth Century invaded Gaul. After sutTering defeat at the hands of the Ro mans, the tribe, with the consent of their con querors. passed at ross the Jura Mountains (443) and established the Kingdom of Sapaudia. the modern Savor. In 476 their dominion embraced the entire valley of the Rhone north of Provence, with their chief strongholds at Geneva, Lyons. and Vienne. They early embraced Christian ity. In 514 they were subdued by the Franks. Mien the Frankish territories, upon the death of Clovis. were divided among his three sons. the name was applied to one of the three kingdoms, comprising the between the Loire. the Alps, time Vosges. and Provenee. 111 the general dismemberment which followed nom the partition of the Frankish Empire at Verdun in S43, a new kingdom arose known as Provence, or, more frequently. Cisjurane gundy. It was founded by Iloso of Vienne in 879, and included besides Provence the southern part of Savoy. the region between the ilura and the Saone. and Dauphins. Rudolph, a brother of Boso, established, imm RSA, the Kingdom of Transjurane Bunonuly, which comprehended the northwestern part of Savoy and all that portion of Switzerland lying between the Reuss and the Jura. Those two kingdoms were united in 933 and constituted the new Kingdom of Burgundy, inure eommonly known as Arles or the Arlate. The dynasty of Arletan kings became extinct in 1032. when the territory was annexed to the Germanic Empire by Conrail the Salie. Though the formal title was vested in the Emperor, the establishment of his autimrity over the country proceeded with great dillioult•, and for more than 300 years Arles was the subject of continu ous dispute between the French and German in fluence, a conflict which finally terminated in favor of the former.
lVhen the two Burgundies had united in 933 to form the Kingdom of Arles, a small portion on the northwest, with Dijon as its chief town. re
=wed an independent duchy', which came finally under the suzerainty of France. Up to 1361 its rulers were members of the House of Capet. In that year this ducal line became extinct and the duchy reverted to the French Crown. In 1363 it was conferred as an appanage upon Philip the Bold. the favorite son of -John II. of France. nder the energetic descendant, of Philip the territories of the duchy were increased, and through marriage alliances and otherwise, Flan ders. Artois, Franche-Comte, Namur, Brabant, Limburg, Holland, Hainaut. Zealand. Friesland, and Luxemburg were brought under the rule of the Burgundian dukes. By the middle of the Fifteenth Century these had come to rank among the most powerful princes of Europe by reason of the extent of territory they controlled and the wealth which they derived from the flour ishing cities of the Low Countries; and in deed it seemed not improbable that between the German Empire and Frame a middle king dom would arise equal in power to either. Especially dangerous were the dukes of Bur gundy to the French kings, their feudal lords, whose territories they threatened from the Vosges and the Rhine On the east, and from Flanders on the north. The antagonism between the dukes of Burr-undy and the French kings broke out in fierce wars carried on by Charles the Bold (q.v.). who made himself the cham pion of feudal rights against the centralizing poi Wy of Louis XI. Triumphing at first in his struggle with France. Charles the Bold met his fate when, carried away by his ambition, he made an attack upon the Swiss of the Jura Mountains, lle was defeated in two great battles and slain in the third. the battle of Nancy (1477), and the hulk of his possessions, passing to his daughter Mary, became merged, by her marriage to the Archduke Maximilian, with the possessions of the Honse of llapsburg. The Duchy of Burgundy itself, however. did not fol low the fortunes of the great Burgundian realm, being immediately seized by Louis Xl. as a fief of the French Crown. (See Nrrn Ea:LANDS. ) Iry 1512 the Burgundian territories were formed into one of the titre circles of the Empire.