A historical and biographical study of Charles's personality and his role as ruler, 1467-1477, discussing his relationship with his subjects and his neighbours, and giving particular attention to his imperial plans and projects and his clash with the Swiss.

Few texts offer as many insights into the history of Valois Burgundy as the work of George Chastelain (c.1414-1475), official chronicler to the dukes Philip the Good and Charles the Bold. Chastelain, a trusted courtier, closely observed his masters' authority in the many dominions they ruled in the Low Countries and France, and the role they played in the political life of neighbouring kingdoms and principalities and in Christendom as a whole. This is the first historical study of Chastelain in over half a century. An account of his life and career is followed by a study of the chronicle, Chastelain's interpretation within it of ducal actions and aspirations, and the role it played in the historical culture of the governing classes in the Netherlands after the death of the last duke in 1477. Overall, Dr Small offers a complete reappraisal of the political ambitions of the ducal elite, particularly with regard to the supposed evolution of the ducal dominions into a `Burgundian state' quite distinct from the Kingdom of France. Dr GRAEME SMALL is lecturer in medieval history, University of Glasgow.

A biography of Philip and a study of the emergence of the Burgundian state under his aegis in the years 1384-1404, paying particular attention to his crucial aquisition of Flanders. There is comprehensive analysis of how Philip'sgovernment worked. Boydell & Brewer does a major service by the simultaneous reissue of Richard Vaughan's studies of the Valois Dukes of Burgundy. Four distinguished scholars add extra value by contributing an introductory chapter for each ducal reign, surveying its historiography since the original publication... The story, which Vaughan tells with verve, has its full share of dramatic turns[: ] this is much more, though, than simply a narrative history; Vaughan's meticulousexplorations of the administrative and financial structures that underpinned ducal authority, and of the court and its culture, are integral to his exposition [...] His achievement remains monumental. There are no comparable, modern, in-depth studies of these four larger-than-life players on the late medieval European stage, in English or in any other language. They are, besides, eminently readable. Maurice Keen, TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT Whenin 1363 the duke of Burgundy died without an heir, the duchy returned to the French crown. John II's decision to give it to his fourth son, Philip, had some logic behind it, given the independence of the inhabitants; but in so doing he created the basis for a power which was to threaten France's own existence in the following century, and which was to become one of the most influential and glittering courts of Europe. Much of this was due to the characterof Philip the Bold; by marrying the daughter of the count of Flanders, he inherited the wealth of the great Flemish towns in 1384, and the union of the two great fiefdoms to the north and east of France under one ruler meant thatthe resources of the duke of Burgundy were as great as those of the kingdom itself. From 1392 onwards, he was at loggerheads with the regent of France, his brother Louis, duke of Orleans, and this schism was to prove fatal to thekingdom, weakening the administration and leading to the French defeat by Henry V in 1415. Richard Vaughan describes the process by which Philip fashioned this new power, in particular his administrative techniques; but he also gives due weight to the splendours of the new court, in the sphere of the arts, and records the history of its one disastrous failure, the crusade of Nicopolis in 1396. He also offers a portrait of Philip himself, energetic, ambitious and shrewd, the driving force behind the new duchy and its rapid rise to an influential place among the courts of Europe.

In the late fourteenth and the fifteenth centuries, the Dukes of Valois-Burgundy created a composite monarchy in the Netherlands, an area that had been dominated for centuries by several regional dynasties. In this way they laid the foundation for the modern states of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxemburg. The rise of the House of Burgundy can be read as the success story of a dynasty that in little over a century managed to assemble a great number of principalities, thus creating a new state. The Burgundian takeover, however, resulted in a modernization of administration, jurisdiction, and finances. The process of unification and the character of the union are the central topics of Magnanimous Dukes and Rising States. Robert Stein mirrors continuity and modernization in Burgundian times with the bankruptcy of the former dynasties and the decline of feudal government. The powerful towns played an important background role; it was only with their support that a unification of the Netherlands was possible, but this support was not unselfish. This study is about the development of power relations and institutions in the field of tension between ruler and subject, between centralization and particularism.