A masterful history of the great dynasty of the Netherlands' Middle Ages. 'A sumptuous feast of a book' The Times, Books of the Year 'Thrillingly colourful and entertaining' Sunday Times 'A thrilling narrative of the brutal dazzlingly rich wildly ambitious duchy' Simon Sebag Montefiore 5 stars! Daily Telegraph 'A masterpiece' De Morgen 'A history book that reads like a thriller' Le Soir At the end of the fifteenth century, Burgundy was extinguished as an independent state. It had been a fabulously wealthy, turbulent region situated between France and Germany, with close links to the English kingdom. Torn apart by the dynastic struggles of early modern Europe, this extraordinary realm vanished from the map. But it became the cradle of what we now know as the Low Countries, modern Belgium and the Netherlands. This is the story of a thousand years, a compulsively readable narrative history of ambitious aristocrats, family dysfunction, treachery, savage battles, luxury and madness. It is about the decline of knightly ideals and the awakening of individualism and of cities, the struggle for dominance in the heart of northern Europe, bloody military campaigns and fatally bad marriages. It is also a remarkable cultural history, of great art and architecture and music emerging despite the violence and the chaos of the tension between rival dynasties.

"Gives the reader a portrayal of the social institutions of a Germanic people far richer and more exhaustive than any other available source."—from the Foreword, by Edward Peters From the bloody clashes of the third and fourth centuries there emerged a society that was neither Roman nor Burgundian, but a compound of both. The Burgundian Code offers historians and anthropologists alike illuminating insights into a crucial period of contact between a developed and a tribal society.

On 25 January 1474, Charles the Bold, duke of Burgundy, appeared before his subjects in Dijon. Robed in silk, gold and precious jewels and wearing a headpiece that gave the illusion of a crown, he made a speech in which he cryptically expressed his desire to become a king. Three years later, Charles was killed at the battle of Nancy, an event that plunged the Great Principality of Burgundy into chaos. This book, innovative and essential, not only explores Burgundian history and historiography but offers a complete synthesis about the nature of politics in this region, considered both from the north and the south. Focusing on political ideologies, a number of important issues are raised relating to the medieval state, the signification of the nation under the ‘Ancien Regime’, the role of warfare in the creation of political power and the impact of political loyalties in the exercise of government. In doing so, the book challenges a number of existing ideas about the Burgundian state.

This book is about the spectacles and ceremonies of society in the Low Countries. It is the first ever attempt to unite and translate some of the key texts which informed Johan Huizinga's famous study of the Burgundian court in The Waning of the Middle Ages, a work which has never gone out of print.

This book examines the history of a prominent castle lord of eleventh-century Anjou, a man who has been referred to in numerous works but has never been carefully studied. Robert the Burgundian was an Angevin knight whom the counts of Anjou allowed to amass enormous power on the northwestern march of Anjou. Until he departed for the First Crusade in 1098 Robert was the central figure in Count Fulk Rechin's court. In contrast with many studies of the period, this work finds that Robert spent a long career as a major supporter of the counts of Anjou, rather than as someone undermining their authority. The author calls into question what is known about "feudal anarchy" in the eleventh century and finds that Robert and his descendants were indeed loyal to the count and were able to maintain Angevin power. Remarkably, records of more than one hundred legal acts involving Robert, some based on his actual words, survive today. They reveal a richly textured life, establishing family connections, political alliances, and relations with the Church as Robert struggled to maintain his lands and position through invasion, civil war, and episcopal interdict. Of special interest is Robert's participation in the First Crusade after a personal visit by Pope Urban II, and his interaction with the counts and the effect this had on the development of the Angevin state. The book will be of interest to students of French history and politics, medieval studies, and military history. W. Scott Jessee is associate professor of history at Appalachian State University. " Jessee has produced a magisterial political biography of Robert the Burgundian. This work demonstrates that historians of pre-Crusade Europe need not limit their research to intellectuals and major ecclesiastical administrators or to kings and dukes on the secular side. Jessee's talent for telling a cogent story built from bits and pieces of charter material in a highly readable style will make this work interesting not only to scholars but to the general reader as well."--Prof. Bernard S. Bachrach, University of Minnesota, and Fellow of the Medieval Academy of America "Jessee places Robert within the larger framework of Angevin history to illustrate how Robert used his position to further Angevin interests. . . . This work provides a useful counterbalance to Norman historiography."--Choice "Jessee makes a significant contribution to ongoing efforts to replace stale arguments about eleventh-century 'anarchy' with nuanced discussions of aristocratic political practice and political culture and to abandon the theory of 'feudal revolution' in favor of subtler, more complex analyses of change in medieval European societies."--Albion "One of the particular strengths of Jessee's book is that it provides us with the discussion of one, individual life--an accomplishment that is notoriously difficult for the minor aristocracy of the Central Middle Ages. Moreover, the author is able to create a compelling narrative of Robert's life based upon characters and chronicles. Other scholars have brought to light the lives of counts and countesses, and Jessee's study suggests that we may have the voices of their supporters restored to us as well. This book is an excellent example of how skillfully local history can be done, and how it can illuminate the larger issues that shaped medieval civilization. . . . Jessee's examination of the life of Robert the Burgundian contributes much to the study of medieval France. He has brought to life an individual who challenges our notions about eleventh-century lords and politics. . . ."--The Medieval Review " I]interesting and measured treatment of the career of Robert the Burgundian. . . . Jessee's book is a thoughtful combination of attention to the sort of detail that an individual life provides and engagement with the broade