Burgundy is a red wine. Burgundy is a dark red color. Burgundy is a former administrative region in France. Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy is a 2004 comedy film. But who were the historic Burgundians?
Our core book, The Burgundians: A Vanished Empire, 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 cities, the struggle for dominance in the heart of northern Europe, bloody military campaigns and fatally bad marriages. It's kind of a Game of Thrones but without the dragons because it really happened.
At the end of the 15th 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 during the Hundred Years' War in the Middle Ages. It was Burgundian troops who captured Joan of Arc and turned her over to the English for trial and execution. This region became the cradle of what we now know as the Low Countries, modern Belgium and the Netherlands.
Our core book also traces the remarkable cultural history of great art and architecture and music which emerged despite the violence and the chaos of the tension between rival dynasties.
Rightly compared to great narrative histories written by authors like Barbara Tuchman, this work has been described as a popular and scholarly masterpiece. It has been praised in many reviews such as the following:
"A sumptuous feast of a book" The Times, Books of the Year
"Thrillingly colorful and entertaining" Sunday Times
"A history book that reads like a thriller" Le Soir.
All subtopics trace the history of the Burgundians. Some subtopics also contain additional information on Burgundian artists, composers, and other topics of interest. These are so indicated.
1. Forgotten Millennium -From Kingdom to Duchy, p.3-49
2. Burgundian Century - Rising from the Mud, p.51-94
3. Serfs You Are and Serfs You Will Remain, p.94-137
4. To Catch a Goose, p.137-175
Includes sculptor- Claus Sluter and manuscript painting- Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry
5. Murder and the Language Wars, p.176-220
6. The Most Wickedly Betrayed Woman in the World, p.220-263
Includes women in the Middle Ages and Joan of Arc
7. It Is with Such Baubles That Men Are Led, p.263-304
Includes artist Jan van Eyck
8. Et Cetera, p.304-346.
Includes Beaune Architecture
9. A Fox Who Will Eat Up All His Chickens, p.346-392
Includes composers of Burgundian Music such as Guillaume Dufay and Gilles Binchois and also artist Rogier van der Weyden
10. A Worm Wrapped in a Sheath, p.392-432
Includes artist Hugo van der Goes
11. Die or Triumph, p.432-470
12. A Memorable Day, p.471-514
Includes artist Hans Memling and Burgundy wine
Core Book
Van Loo, Bart. The Burgundians: A Vanished Empire, a History of 1111 Years and One Day. Head of Zeus. 2021/2023. Also published by Apollo. 2022/2023.
Supplemental Bibliography for Further Reading
Bradley, Barbara et al. Art from the Court of Burgundy. Univ. of Washington Press. 2003.
Huizinga, Johan. Autumntide of the Middle Ages: A Study of Life and Thought of the 14th and 15th Centuries in France and the Low Countries. Leiden Univ. Press. 2020. A new translation of a classic work.
Reese, Gustave. Music in the Renaissance. W.W. Norton. 1959.
Snyder, James et al. Northern Renaissance Art. Prentice Hall. 2004.