15th Century Burgundy

Under the influence of the royal court, the dukes of Burgundy laid the foundations for their own magnificent court. The court ceremonial was developed at its peak in the second half of the fifteenth century, a period which scholars consider to be a time of great development. Numerous sources are dedicated to this period, including one that is unique because it was written by a lady of the court. Using the notes of Éléonore de Poitiers (1444/1446-1509), the article examines the ceremonial customs at the court of the dukes of Burgundy, especially those of the women, as well as the irregularities that frequently occurred. Thanks to Éléonore's surviving testimony, it becomes clear to us that ceremonial norms in the French court at the dawn of the Modern Age were quite fluid, and that the Burgundian court remained invariably linked to the court of the French king.

La richesse des archives judiciaires échevinales dijonnaises permet d’observer et d’analyser les comportements contestataires de ses habitants et leurs évolutions. Il s’agit ici de s’intéresser à la criminalisation de propos régulièrement qualifiés de « séditieux », en procédant à l’analyse lexicale de leur contenu, pour distinguer les affaires liées à des questions sociales de celles présentant de plus importants enjeux politiques. La procédure employée par le tribunal urbain est alors centrale dans ce qu’elle révèle de la fabrication de la norme par l’autorité urbaine en matière d’encadrement de la population.

The present paper will investigate pardon letters or “lettres de rémission” granted to soldiers by the Valois dukes of Burgundy from 1386 to 1482. During this period, the chancery records contain 885 remission letters by which the prince granted his pardon to individuals who committed a crime and petitioned for mercy. This large amount of documents includes more than 15 percent of pardons granted to petitioners who served or had served the dukes in their armies. In the narrative parts of their letters, these soldiers insisted on their military pasts as a good reason to be pardoned. The purpose of this paper is to study the contents of these military pardons to underline how they contributed to shape a collective military identity in the Burgundian State. Following the works of Christopher Allmand, according to whom fifteenth-century leaders undertook to transform their soldiers into professional State agents, I will argue that military pardons were used by the dukes of Burgundy as a tool of social disciplining. Because they granted a large amount of pardons to their soldiers who affirmed their military identity in their petitions, the dukes promoted the military service as a motive to be forgiven. And because they only forgave simple homicides and refused to pardon typical war crimes such as pillage, rape, or even desertion, they indicated which kind of behaviour was worthy for the good Burgundian soldier, and which one was not.

Article in Alain Marchandisse, Gilles Docuqier (dir.), Nils Bock (coll.), Les cultures de la décision dans l’espace bourguignon : acteurs, conflits, représentations, Turnhout 2017 (Publications du Centre Européen d’Etudes Bourguignonnes (XIVe-XVIe s., 57).

Présentation à l'occasion de la journée d'étude sur les maisons, villages et châteaux du Moyen Âge et de la Renaissance comtoise organisée par l'association Franche-Bourgogne (http://www.franche-bourgogne.fr), à Vallerois-le-Bois (Haute-Saône) le 4 mai 2013

When Holland and Zeeland were integrated in the Burgundian personal union, the court of the count disappeared in these counties . Instead. a regional administrative machinery was set up. in which the govemor,later called stadholder; was the most important officer.In the first years of Burgundian rule in Holland and Zeeland, the office of stadholder took shape. The office was based on predecessors in both the two counties as well as being modelled after French-Burgundian examples. In Holland and Zeeland the office developed out of a situation of crisis and war and found its final form after an unsuccessful experiment with a non-noble president. The stadholder replaced the count of Holland, that is the Burgundian duke, in allrespects. He was his lieutenant general and the subjects of Holland and
Zeeland regarded him as such. With the court at a distance, the stadholder was the most important link between the duke and his counties . He spoke the language of both the duke and his subjects in Holland and Zeeland. Moreover, he was a trustee of the duke and an expert in matters of justice, war and diplomacy. But he was not only formally the most important link between the regional and the supra-regional administrative level. Through
relationships based on patronage and kinship, nearly all stadholders had strong ties with one or more persons at the court . Fundamentally, the regional administration, and especially the stadholder, was the link between the duke and his subjects. They were the perfect mediators between the Burgundian dukes with their ambitious plans on the one hand and the towns that wanted to keep their independence and privileges without paying too many subsidies, on the other. In a sense they were brokers who could provide their clients access to the patron (the duke). Through their formal and informal relations, they connected the central powers with regional and local interest groups.

Статья представляет собой краткий обзор и авторский перевод фехтовального трактата «Le Jeu de la Hache» (MS Francias 1996), что значит «Игры с топором». Это анонимный манускрипт на среднефранцузском языке, предположительно написанный в XV веке миланским фехтовальным мастером при дворе бургундского герцога Карла Смелого (1433 – 1477) и состоящий из 18 страниц рукописного текста форматом 240 на 160 мм. Трактат полностью посвящен только одному оружию, рыцарскому топору (poleaxe), и содержит самое большое из известных собрание приемов с этим оружием. Манускрипт был обнаружен в 1544 году в библиотеке Франциска I в Фонтенбло. В данный момент находится в Bibliothèque nationale de France в Париже.

В статье рассматривается предпринятый бургундским придворным Пьером Мишо своеобразный способ борьбы с ложью и обманом - тактиками, становящимися привычными при дворах на рубеже Средних веков и Нового времени. Он пишет сатирический «Трактат о нынешних временах» (1466), где резко высмеивает принятые придворными способы борьбы с конкурентами за продвижение по карьерной лестнице. Вместе с тем, его текст свидетельствует о процессах, происходящих в обществе в это время: о стекании людей ко двору в надежде на получение благ от правителя, о необходимости бороться с конкурентами в складывающихся условиях, выражающейся в разнообразных обманных практиках, а также о неприятии конкретным индивидом – автором – существующего положения.

Serving the state. The regional officers of Holland and Zeeland in the Burgundian period (1425-1482).

This is a summary of my phd-thesis, a prosopographical study into the officers of the Council and Chambre des Comptes of Holland and Zeeland in the Burgundian period (1425-1482)

In de jaren 1425-1433 kreeg de Bourgondische hertog Filips de Goede via een diplomatiek en militair offensief de graafschappen Holland en Zeeland in handen. In dit boek beschrijf ik op welke manier de ambtenaren van de hoogste bestuurlijk-juridische en financiële instellingen van Holland en Zeeland, de Raad en de Rekenkamer, hebben bijgedragen aan de integratie van deze gewesten in de Bourgondische personele unie. In het eerste deel wordt onderzocht welke institutionele vernieuwingen het gewestelijk staatsapparaat onderging in de vijftiende eeuw en passeren alle ambtenaren de revue. In het tweede deel bekijk ik welke strategie de vorst volgde bij de recrutering van zijn ambtenaren en met welke middelen hij trachtte hun dienstbaarheid en loyaliteit te bevorderen. De intermediaire positie van de ambtenaren - ingeklemd tussen de belangen van de hertog en die van de onderdanen - is het onderwerp van het derde deel. In een bijlage zijn biografische notities van 170 ambtenaren opgenomen met gegevens over hun herkomst, familie, carrière en netwerk.

The Montpellier parchment (made circa 1467–1477), now kept in the Bibliothèque Municipale de Montpellier, is an enigmatic image from Valois Burgundy. In this article, I argue that its peculiarities result from its attempt to synthesise two conceptions of authority: firstly, the virtues of rulers and of councils, and secondly, divine and feudal hierarchy. To make this synthesis, the parchment depicts Iustitia as a signature: a sign that translocates presence and authority between two realms. Iustitia translocates Christ’s authority in the earthly realm, as well as extends worldly judicial hierarchy into the heavenly sphere. In depicting the duke and his councils as fulfilling divine providence, this rhetoric suited the politics and learned culture of the later Burgundian state, and the inscriptions in the Montpellier parchment as well as iconography could have been devised by the Burgundian poet and chronicler, Jean Molinet.

This article aims to analyse how the Burgundian dukes managed to control the political process in Holland and Zeeland and get a grip on the noble elites of the counties in the period 1425-1477. During the fourteenth and fifteenth century, noble networks in Holland competed continuously for princely favours and official positions. In the Burgundian period, from 1425 onwards, some fundamental changes in this competition took place. In the Bavarian period princes normally favoured especially one of the competing networks. Moreover, the ruler was nearby and could be approached relatively easily. The Burgundian duke, however, hardly ever visited his northernmost territories. The rivalling noble networks were not integrated into the central institutions but were given material compensations and influence at a regional level in exchange for allegiance. Subsequently, in Holland and Zeeland the Burgundian court did not have a stabilising and integrating function.

Je m'appelle Leandre Mayava diplômé en Ingénierie Réseaux Informatiques a l’Université du Lac Tanganyika de Bujumbura en République du Burundi. Je partage ce document théorique et pratique sur un serveur de communication unifié avec BigBlueButton qui nous a pris moi et mon camarade de la faculté plusieurs semaines pour le finaliser.
Vos commentaires et suggestions sont les bienvenus, merci.

A critical and performance edition of Alexander Agricola's chanson "De tous biens plaine" for three voices. The cantus firmus of the tenor is extracted from Hayne Van Ghizeghem's (c. 1445 – 1476 to 1497) eponymous chanson.

The text of the first verse is underlaid in this edition, though only the first few words actually appear in the manuscript. The complete text as found in a number of Ghizeghem's sources with a complete translation is given at the end.

It seems unlikely that the outer voices should be sung, given their continual motion, frequent awkward leaps, and extreme ambitus.  However, the inner voice certainly could be sung.

The negotiations concerning the marriage of Mary of Burgundy, the sole heiress of Charles, Duke of Burgundy (also known as Charles the Bold), clearly indicate that it was by no means regarded as her private affair. In the late Middle Ages, marriages were concluded with dynastic, territorial and political interests in mind – and it was realized that the selection of Mary’s husband could change the existing network of alliances in Europe. Therefore, the mostly secret negotiations were observed closely by not only several sovereign families but also the free cities, the knowledge gleaned sometimes being shared The examples reported in the article also demonstrate that outsiders were actively involved to encourage gratitude among the families concerned, to block the negotiations, or to lead them in a different direction by highlighting alternatives. The protracted negotiations surrounding a Habsburg–Burgundian alliance clearly show that marriage played a significant role in foreign affairs, and that Emperor Frederick III and Charles the Bold used various forms of ‘diplomacy’ to seek allies all over Europe in order to achieve their aims.

A non-barred critical transcription of Alexander Agricola's motet-chanson "Belles sur toutes - Tota pulchra es" from Florence, Bibliotea del Conservatorio Luigi Cherubini,  MS 2439 ff. 63v-64r.

For a recording of the music with a score-video see link below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2N_Ru9xjuA

This article provides an accurate transcription and English translation of a little-known letter (Archives Départementales du Haut-Rhin E525) by an Alsatian nobleman who participated in the Second Crusade against the Hussites in August–October 1421. The account contained in the letter offers unusually detailed information about the course of events, from the author’s arrival in Nuremberg in the contingent of Count Palatine Ludwig III to the siege of the Hussite town of Saaz/Žatec. It also contains valuable insights, from the author’s perspective, on the conditions in the crusading army, which could help to explain the otherwise mysterious disintegration of the expedition on 2 October 1421. The edition and translation are preceded by a critical commentary which contextualises the letter and considers the ways in which it contributes to our understanding of the Second Crusade and the Hussite Wars more generally. The commentary begins by surveying the historiography of the Second anti-Hussite Crusade. It then examines the origins of the 1421 expedition and reconstructs its course from surviving sources beside the Alsatian nobleman’s letter. The content of the letter is also compared with the accounts given in other sources, and the reliability and uniqueness of that content is evaluated. Finally, this article makes the case for the identification of the author of the letter as Smassmann von Rappoltstein, a well-documented member of the higher nobility in Alsace, and demonstrates that the identification of the author as an Alsatian nobleman reinforces the importance of the Holy Roman Empire as a structural and conceptual framework which enabled the organisation of the anti-Hussite crusades.

The study of medieval book collections has many aspects and involves some fundamental questions that are not always easy to answer. What is a library? What does it mean to own a library? How is it used? By whom is it used? And what does the analysis of a library tell us about other aspects of its owner’s life? In this article, while remaining within the field of princely and noble libraries and more specifically the books of the Valois dukes of Burgundy, I will touch on some of these general questions, though I make no pretence to treat them thoroughly.
In the later Middle Ages the book collections of monasteries and university colleges such as the Sorbonne grew into real libraries in the sense that the books were kept in a special room, arranged in a logical order, each with its own marked place on a shelf to which it was often chained, and, last but not least, they were available to a public, even if that public was a restricted one. Can the same development be discerned in the book collections of nobles and princes in France and the Low Countries?

In dit artikel worden vragen met betrekking tot de functie en het gebruik van laatmiddeleeuwse boekencollecties behandeld aan de hand van het voorbeeld van de bibliotheek van de hertogen van Bourgondië. Met name de boeken van Filips de Goede (1396-1467) en Filips de Schone (1478-1506) worden nader bekeken. De eerste breidde de bibliotheek uit van 300 tot bijna 900 handschriften, waardoor de collectie een van de grootste van Europa werd. De tweede verwierf weinig nieuwe boeken, maar dankzij verschillende bronnen (met name inventarissen en rekeningen) kunnen we reconstrueren voor welke boeken uit de door hem geërfde bibliotheek hij zich vooral interesseerde, namelijk Franse vertalingen van klassieke teksten in handschriften uit de late veertiende eeuw. Beide vorsten lieten zich op die manier inspireren door de wortels van hun dynastie, het hof van koning Karel V van Frankrijk. In de loop van de vijftiende eeuw zien we de persoonlijke boekencollecties van vorsten en vorstinnen zich langzaam ontwikkelen tot een dynastieke bibliotheek die door leden van de dynastie en andere hovelingen werd gebruikt.

This is a threefold transcription of Baude Cordier's "circle canon," two versions in rondeau form and one in perpetual canon. Included with the music transcriptions are full translations from Medieval French to English of all the accompanying texts as well as an English text underlay for the music.

Also included is a full explanation of the various mensurations and colorations that appear in the piece.

The design of the scores attempts to illustrate the rondeau form overlaying the canonic conceit.

For a score animation with the transcription and original manuscript, see this link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaeOWdXM4Pg

According to the Great Privilege of Mary of Burgundy (1477), the legal boundaries between the comital bailiffs of Flanders and the region they ministered, had to be respected. A recent study, comparing the list of bailiffs to the list of alderman, implied that this was certainly the case in the castellany of Furnes (Veurne). However, a more detailed research shows that all of the bailiffs from 1477 up to the beginning of the 16th century had connections to the region, which were established years before they were appointed: by possessions (a.o. fiefs), by marriage, by being an alderman, by military activities… Several of them were even tied by close family relations or because they took over staff and personnel. The article investigates these links and presents a completely revised list of the bailiffs of the castellany of Furnes up to 1586.

This paper focusses on the role of astrologers as advisers and experts at the Burgundian court (14th/15th centuries). My argument focuses on the astrologers' presence at court and their potential influence on decision making in this context. While most details of the concrete situations of advice-giving and decision-making remain elusive, due to the nature of our sources, I stress the presence of the motif of astrology as resource for informed actions: far beyond "astrological texts" in a more restricted sense, the idea of astrological counselling appears in many other text available in the "Burgundian library" (e.g. princes' mirrors, travelogues etc.).

The winners of the jousts of the tournament company
'The White Bear' in Bruges, 1380-1458.

An authentic manuscript from the Burgundian period. The manuscript in the Royal Library of Brussels is dated around 1460. It shows the coats of arms of the participants who won the tournament in this period. Participants came from Lille (Epinette), Ypres, Douai, Tournai, Vallenciennes, Ghent and Mechelen. These participants belonged to the patriciate and nobility of their city. Flemish squires and knights also took part, as well as noblemen from the surroundings of the Burgundian court.

Les gagnants des joutes de la société du tournoi
'L'Ours Blanc' à Bruges, 1380-1458.

Un manuscrit authentique de l'époque bourguignonne. Le manuscrit de la Bibliothèque royale de Bruxelles est daté d'environ 1460. Il montre les blasons des participants qui ont remporté le tournoi à cette époque. Les participants sont venus de Lille (Epinette), Ypres, Douai, Tournai, Vallenciennes, Gand et Malines. Ces participants appartenaient au patriciat et à la noblesse de leur ville. Des écuyers et chevaliers flamands y participaient également, ainsi que des nobles des environs de la cour de Bourgogne.

Anthonis de Roovere, poet in Bruges, rhetorician, is discussed in this article which gives an overview of former research and tries to establish his place in Burgundian Flanders and Late Medieval Bruges. In delivers an inventory of his works and the sources in which they have come down to us. This publication is followed by part 2 (Jaarboek 1997)

Futur instrument de la construction étatique, l’artillerie n’est pas (encore), au début du XVe siècle, l’apanage du prince. Outre certains seigneurs, les villes des Pays-Bas disposent de parcs d’artillerie parfois impressionnants. Dans une perspective comparative, cet article examine, à un moment où le rôle du canon sur les théâtres d’opération s’accroît sensiblement, les politiques princières vis-à-vis de l’artillerie communale dans trois principautés des Pays-Bas : la Flandre de Jean sans Peur (1405-1419), le Brabant de son frère cadet Antoine (1406-1415) et le Hainaut de leur beau-frère et allié commun Guillaume IV (1404-1417). Ces principautés sont privilégiées pour deux raisons : d’une part, le développement considérable, depuis le milieu du XIVe siècle, d’un artisanat du canon et l’émergence de formes d’organisation de l’arme dans leurs villes ; d’autre part, alors même que des liens familiaux et politiques entre les trois princes favorisaient des influences réciproques, ils devaient composer avec des réalités politiques internes différentes. Envisagées sous l’angle de la dépendance des princes vis-à-vis de l’artillerie communale ainsi que des incitants ou freins mis à son développement, les politiques princières reflètent les rapports de pouvoir entre prince et villes au sein des trois principautés.