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This book is 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's government worked. When in 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 character of 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 that the 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 the kingdom, 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. - Publisher. The theme of Richard Vaughn's first volume in his masterly four-part history of the Valois dukes of Burgundy is uncompromisingly political and institutional. It is "the emergence of a Burgundian state under Philip the Bold's aegis in the years 1384 to 1404". The book is, after all, subtitled "The Formation of the Burgundian State". Vaughan did not set out to write a biography of Philip the Bold: his overall aim was "to describe his policies, his administration, his court and his finances, and to depict Burgundy as a European power". He was aware of the potentially controversial nature of his interpretation in 1962, and it remains controversial today. Received opinion had tended to link the formation of a Burgundian "state" with the reign of Philip's grandson, Philip the Good (1419-67), which witnessed the unification of the Low Countries under Burgundian rule. From this perspective, Philip the Bold was viewed more as an ambitious French prince then as the creator of a new polity on the European political stage. The central issue addressed by Vaughan's book was whether Philip the Bold was the founder of a "new", independent state; or was he simply a great prince ("first peer") of France, seeking to expand his resources and territories at the expense of the French crown, attaining a hegemonic role in French politics by exploiting all the means at his command? If so, he was essentially similar to other French princes of the blood -- the dukes of Orleans, Berry or Bourbon -- all of whom were inextricably enmeshed in French power-politics, manipulating the networks of patronage and clientage which had formed in and around the Parisian court. Vaughan's emphasis, in 1962, on the centralization and coordination of power and institutions under Philip the Bold can now be offset by an increased awareness of alternative models for the "modern" state. - Malcolm Vale.

This book illuminates the aims and personality of the second duke, and charts the development of the Burgundian state during his ducal reign (1404-1419). His supposed "infernal pact" with the English and his assassination are examined; his activities in France are studied, as he exploited French resources for the benefit of Burgundy. John the Fearless, second Duke of Burgundy, is one of the more dramatic and puzzling characters among medieval rulers. He inherited the newly created duchy from his father, and defended and developed its power ruthlessly during his ducal reign (1404-1419). In the process, he allied himself with the English party in France, with whom he was supposed to have made an "infernal pact", and came to dominate French politics; his manoeuvres led directly to his assassination on the bridge of Montereau in the presence of Charles, dauphin of France, who may have been personally involved. Indeed, the main theme of the book is John the Fearless's activities in France, which are seen in the light of the continued need to exploit French resources for the benefit of Burgundy. John also continued to build on the administrative and financial structures created by his father, which were the mainstay of the ducal power, and he had to deal with the restlessness of the Flemish towns, only recently made part of the Burgundian state. More than any other Burgundian ruler, it is John's personality which determines the course of events: violent and unscrupulous, one quality which John the Fearless completely lacked was prudence. He was a masterful opportunist, who acted impulsively with speed and decision, on the spur of the moment. In the end it was one of his own favoured weapons, political assassination, which was turned against him. - Publisher. This book, though it bears for title the name of one man, is not meant as a biography of John the Fearless. It is the second of a projected series of four volumes on thie history of Burgundy under the Valois dukes. Not that I wish to belittle the dukes themselves, as persons. Far from it. I merely seek to warn the reader that my book has no hero. Its subject is not the life of a man, but the history of the Burgundian state from 1404 to 1419, when John the Fearless was its ruler. - Introduction.