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| Siege of Orleans |
It was in March
1429 that the woman who was to be the saviour of France, Joan of Arc, arrived at the French court at Chinon. She met both Charles and Yolande of Aragon, the mother of his wife Marie. Yolande had been planning to relieve the siege of Orléans which the English were currently prosecuting and she decided to send
Joan with the troops to aid the Bastard of Orléans[i], in charge of the besieged.
‘Shortly afterwards orders
were given to the marshal to take provisions and other necessaries to Orléans,
with a strong escorting force. Jeanne the maid asked to go with him and to be
given arms and armour, which was granted.’[ii]
The arrival
of the French army turned the tide and in May the siege was lifted[iii]. Now Joan was determined
to have Charles crowned at Rheims. She wrote to Philip in June requesting his
attendance at the ceremony as one of the premier peers of France. He did not
avail himself of the invitation. On 17th July 1429 Philip received a
second letter from Joan;
‘Prince of Burgundy, I pray,
beg, and request as humbly as I can that you wage war no longer in the holy
kingdom of France, and order your people who are in any towns and fortresses of
the holy kingdom to withdraw promptly and without delay. And as for the noble
King of France, he is ready to make peace with you, saving his honor; if you're
not opposed.’[iv]
Joan was
trying, unavailingly, to persuade Philip to set aside his quarrel with Charles.
She even held out the temptation of a crusade. Philip was unmoved; he was
determined not to conciliate the man who had had his father murdered.
The Order of the Golden Fleece
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| Isabella and Philip |
The thirty
year old Portuguese Princess Isabella was the lady chosen by Philip as his
third wife from a shortlist of five. As the cousin of Henry V[v], Philip believed that
Isabella would strengthen his ties to the English. He sent an offer to her
father John I of Portugal which was received on 14th December 1428[vi]. Philip’s chamberlain and
chief counsellor, Seigneur de Roubaix headed the delegation and he also sent
his court painter Jan Van Eyck to paint Isabella’s portrait. Philip
would not confirm the offer until he’d inspected the resultant portrait.
The painting
was acceptable and John and his sons agreed that Isabella could marry one of
the foremost nobles of Europe. The couple married in Bruges on 7th
January 1430 and on 10th January Philip instituted the Order of the Golden Fleece. The order was instituted;
‘For the reverence of God and the maintenance of our Christian Faith, and
to honor and exalt the noble order of knighthood, and also ...to do honor to
old knights; ...so that those who are at present still capable and strong of
body and do each day the deeds pertaining to chivalry shall have cause to
continue from good to better; and .. so that those knights and gentlemen who
shall see worn the order ... should honor those who wear it, and be encouraged
to employ themselves in noble deeds...’’[vii]
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| Jean le Fevre de St-Remy |
There were originally
twenty five members[viii],
including Hue de Lannoy, Guibert and Baudoin de Lannoy, Jehan de la Trémoille and Jehan de Luxembourg. The orders first King of Arms was Jean le Fèvre de St-Remy. The knights all wore a heavy
scarlet mantle lined with sable and embroidered with gold thread. Each knight
had a gold collar of fire-steel links with a ram medallion signifying the
wealth of Burgundy.
The order
created an inner circle of courtiers, counsellors and captains. They met
regularly to indulge in self-criticism and were also allowed to criticise
Philip. The annual festivities of the order originally took place in November
but in 1435 the date was moved back to spring or early summer. The location of
the meetings varied; the first one took place in Lille, but the seat of the
order was based in the chapel of the ducal palace in Brussels. The shields of
the members were set up above their stalls in the chapel.
Philip had
already refused an offer to join the English Order of the Garter and this new order may have been his
response to that offer. The order may very well have been created to help unite
his disparate lands and bind his nobles into close dependence upon the person
of the duke. The order was later opened to Philip’s allies.
The Womaniser
After the wedding
Philip took his bride on a tour of his domains. He abruptly ordered that
Isabella leave Noyon, where she was currently staying, when in May 1430 Joan
attacked Compiègne; one of Philip’s secretaries noted;
‘There are those in the
court who would have wanted the duchess to win her argument and accompany her
husband into battle as this would have delayed his actions and given the French
forces more opportunity to defeat him.’[ix]
Clearly some
of Philip’s courtiers were more than disaffected.
The couple’s
first child Anthony was born on 30th September 1430 and died two
years later. A second son died within two weeks of his birth in April 1432.
Philip’s eventual heir, Charles, was born in 1433.
Throughout
his adult life, taking after his father, Philip was known as a lover of women,
in addition to his three wives he had an estimated twenty to thirty-three
mistresses and fifteen to twenty-four bastards. Philip had mistresses spread
throughout his domains, so that wherever he travelled within his own lands he
had one available to him.
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| Anthony of Burgundy |
Philip gave
them gifts of jewellery and cloth, arranged marriages for some of them[x] and helped them purchase
homes. He provided for his bastard children, paying for clothing and upkeep. At
least one mistress, Isabel de la Vigne, received a pension. Philip did exclude
his mistresses from state affairs although he used his sons in the military.
Catherine
Schaers was the mother of Corneille of Burgundy[xi], born in 1420, one of Philip’s two
favourite sons. He was named the Grand Bâtard
de Bourgogne[xii]
until his death in the Battle of Bazel when
all his titles and possessions were handed over to Anthony of Burgundy, son of Jeanne de Presle, born in
1421 and Philip’s other favourite child.
In the
Burgundian court bastards were treated almost the same as legitimate children,
being dressed, fed and educated similarly to his heir. Philip married off his
daughters well and found positions for his sons. David of Burgundy, born 1427, was made bishop of Thérouanne and then Utrecht. Anne of Burgundy (born 1435) was
married twice, the second time to Adolph of Cleves. Raphael of Burgundy was made an
abbot, Philip of Burgundy was made Admiral of Flanders and then bishop of Utrecht.
Expanding Burgundy
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| Philip's domains |
On 1st
March 1429 Philip added the county of Namur to the list of lands he owned. John III of Namur sold his county to Philip in order
to help fund a luxurious lifestyle the county could not afford. To support
himself John had raised taxes and the ensuing revolt led to mounting debts and
the eventual sale of his inheritance to the richest noble in Europe
Following
more turmoil in Brabant finally in 1429 Jacqueline agreed to the Reconciliation of Delft. Her marriage to Gloucester had been
annulled the previous year. On 4th August 1430 Philip became the
sovereign Duke of Brabant, Lothier and Limburg following the death of Philip of Brabant.
In April 1432 Philip became regent of the counties of Hainault, Holland, Zeeland. When Jacqueline died in October 1436 Philip then inherited the three
counties. In 1441 Philip made a treaty with Elizabeth of Görlitz and he assumed the duties of the Duke of Luxembourg. When Elizabeth died in 1443 Philip inherited the title as
well as the duties of ruler of Luxembourg.
Bibliography
The
Fifteenth Century - Margaret Aston, WW Norton and Company Inc. 1979
The Hundred
Years War – Alfred Burne, Folio Society 2005
Joan of Arc
– Kelly Devries, The History Press 2011
The Maid and
the Queen – Nancy Goldstone, Penguin Books 2012
The Reign of
Henry VI – RA Griffiths, Sutton Publishing Ltd 1998
Europe:
Hierarchy and Revolt 1320-1450 – George Holmes, Fontana 1984
The Fifteenth
Century – EF Jacob, Oxford University Press 1997
Orléans 1429
– David Nicolle, Osprey Publishing 2001
Isabel of
Burgundy – Aline S Taylor, Madison Books 2001
Philip the
Good – Richard Vaughan, Boydell Press 2014
The
Hapsburgs – Andrew Wheatcroft, the Folio Society 2004
www.wikipedia.en
[i]
Acting for his half-brother Charles, now in the Tower of London; the
brangling over his enormous ransom was to keep him in England for decades
[ii]
Orléans 1429 - Nicolle
[viii]
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Knights_of_the_Golden_Fleece#15th_Century
with a further twelve added in 1433
[ix]
Isabel of Burgundy - Taylor
[x]
Jeanne de la Presle was married to a minor court official in 1432
[xi]
Lord of Beveren and Vlissingen, and was also Governor and
Captain-General of the Duchy of
Luxembourg
[xii]
Burgundy was a court which gave illegitimate children almost equal standing
with their legitimate siblings. Philip’s heir was brought up with his
half-brothers and sisters
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