Grand Dukes of the West: A History of Valois Burgundy

In the 1440s, the Burgundian Court began to be rocked by a question: should Burgundy align itself with England or France?
Time Period Covered: 1444-1454
Notable People: Philip the Good, Isabella of Portugal, Charles the Bold, King Charles VII, Isabella of Bourbon Countess of Charolais, Charles I Duke of Bourbon, Richard Duke of York, Edmund Beaufort Duke of Somerset, Margaret of Anjou Queen of France, King Henry VI
Notable Events/Developments: Factions at the Burgundian Court, Changing Relations with France, Madness of Henry VI, Beginning of the Wars of the Roses, Relations between the Burgundians and the Yorkists, Charles the Bold's Childhood, Marriage of Charles the Bold and Isabella of Bourbon

Charles VII and his son Louis had a strained relationship to say the very least, and the Dauphin was eager to escape his father's court and head to Dauphine. Distance would not mend things between father and son, and before long, the Prince was fleeing to Burgundian territory, complicating the already complicated relationship between Philip the Good and Charles VII.
Time Period Covered: 1445-1456
Notable People: Philip the Good, Louis XI, Charles Duke of Orleans, Charles I Duke of Bourbon, Charles Count of Nevers, John of Nevers Count of Etampes, Louis of Luxembourg Count of Saint-Pol, Pierre de Breze, Agnes Sorel, Rene of Anjou, Charles of Anjou Count of Maine, Antoine de Chabannes Count of Dammartin, Francesco Sforza
Notable Events/Developments: Turmoil at Charles VII's Court, The Provocations of the Paris Parlement, Louis of Luxembourg's Dual Loyalties, Dauphin Louis' Exile in Dauphine, Dauphin Louis arrives at the Burgundian Court

Throughout the reigns of all the Burgundian Dukes so far, they have been constantly trying to expand their influence over the Church in the Low Countries. In the mid-1450s, Philip the Good would take that project as far as it had ever gone by placing Burgundians on the Episcopal thrones of Utrecht and Liege.
Time Period Covered: 1455-1460
Notable People: Philip the Good, David of Burgundy Bishop of Utrecht, Louis of Bourbon Bishop of Liege, Gijsbrecht van Brederode, Reinoud van Brederode, Duke Arnold of Guelders, Catherine of Cleves Duchess of Guelders, Jean de Lannoy Stadtholder of Holland, Rudolph von Diepholz Bishop of Utrecht, John of Heinsberg Bishop of Liege
Notable Events/Developments: Death of Rudolph von Diepholz, Election of Gijsbrecht van Brederode, Siege of Deventer (1456), David of Burgundy becomes Bishop of Utrecht, Louis of Bourbon becomes Bishop of Liege

All his life, Philip the Good dreamed of going on Crusade, and all his life other things kept getting in the way. But even though the Duke of Burgundy never made it on Crusade, the Crusading Ideal still played a large part in the Duke's reign, image, and stature as a Prince.
Time Period Covered: 1421-1456
Notable People: Philip the Good, Gilbert de Lannoy, Bertrandon de la Broquiere, Geoffroy de Thoisy, Waleran de Wavrin, Olivier de la Marche, Pope Pius II, Alphonso V of Aragon and Naples, Louis the Rich Duke of Bavaria
Notable Events/Developments: Travels of Gilbert de Lannoy, Travels of Bertrandon de la Broquiere, Crusade of Varna, Fall of Constantinople, The Feast of the Pheasant, The Diet of Regensburg (1454)

The Dukes of Burgundy presided over one of the great flowerings of Art and Culture in the Later Middle Ages. While the Northern Renaissance was not a purely Burgundian phenomenon, the Burgundian Court and the Cities of the Burgundian Low Countries were at the Center of advances in Painting, Music, Building and more.
The Duke of Burgundy, the Burgundian Nobility, and the rising Bourgeoisie, all commissioned art at a greater scale than ever before and they cultivated some of the best artists of the age in the process.
Time Period Covered: 1400s
Painters: Jan van Eyck, Rogier van Der Weyden, Robert Campin
Composers: Guillaume Dufay, Gilles Binchois, Antoine Busnois
Writers: Georges Chastellain, Michaut Taillevent, Jean Molinet, Antoine de la Salle, Olivier de la Marche, Philippe de Commynes
Artistic Movements: Early Netherlandish Painting, Brabantine Gothic Architecture, Burgundian/Franco-Flemish School of Music, Grands Rhetoriquers