Charles the Bold (Charles Martin; 10 November 1433 – 5 January 1477), also called the Rash, was Duke of Burgundy from 1467 to 1477. A member of the House of Valois-Burgundy, he was the only surviving legitimate son of Philip the Good and his third wife, Isabella of Portugal. As heir and as ruler, Charles competed for power with rivals including his overlord, King Louis XI of France. In 1465, Charles played a leading role in the War of the Public Weal.
After becoming duke, Charles pursued the creation of an independent Burgundian kingdom stretching from the North Sea to the borders of Savoy. To this end, he acquired Guelders and Upper Alsace, sought recognition as King of the Romans, and became increasingly involved in conflicts within the Holy Roman Empire. He married Margaret of York to secure an English alliance, and arranged the betrothal of his only child, Mary, to Maximilian of Austria.
Charles was a patron of music and the arts, especially illuminated manuscripts, and his court was noted for its chivalric culture and elaborate etiquette. His government issued detailed ordinances regulating military, legal, and administrative affairs. He was personally devout, had Saint George as his patron saint, and repeatedly declined papal and Venetian requests to undertake a crusade against the Ottoman Empire.
In the final years of his reign, Charles fought the Burgundian Wars against an alliance of Swiss, German, and Alsatian powers while trying to retain control of Upper Alsace. After his unsuccessful siege of Neuss, he was defeated by the Swiss at the battles of Grandson and Morat. He was killed at the Battle of Nancy on 5 January 1477 while fighting René II of Lorraine and his Swiss allies. His death triggered the War of the Burgundian Succession and contributed to the collapse of the Burgundian State. His daughter Mary succeeded him, and her son, Philip the Handsome, later inherited the Burgundian Netherlands, which a generation later were part of the Habsburg Empire.
The House of Valois-Burgundy began with Philip the Bold, the fourth son of John II, King of France, who became the Duke of Burgundy in 1363. In 1369, Philip married Margaret of Male, heiress of Louis II, Count of Flanders, thereby acquiring the wealthy lands of Flanders, Rethel, Antwerp, and Mechelen, along with the counties of Artois, Franche-Comté, and Nevers. Philip further expanded Burgundian influence in the Low Countries through marriage alliances. He also remained heavily involved in the royal court of France, especially after the death of his brother, Charles V, and during the troubled reign of Charles VI. When Philip died in 1404, his lands were divided between his three sons, John, Anthony, and Philip.
John the Fearless, Philip the Bold's eldest son, inherited the Duchy of Burgundy and the greater part of his mother's inheritance. The division of Philip's lands reduced John's income severely and by 1407, his treasury was nearly empty. To restore his position, John turned to French politics and entered into a bitter struggle at court with the king's brother, Louis of Orleans. In 1407, John ordered the Louis assassination, helping to spark the Armagnac–Burgundian Civil War. John himself was assassinated in 1419.
John was succeeded by his only son, Philip the Good. Unlike his father and grandfather, Philip distanced himself somewhat from French politics. In 1430, he married Isabella of Portugal, his third wife after Michelle of Valois and Bonne of Artois, both of whom had died without producing surviving children. Philip sought to build a strong, centralised polity ruled by a prestigious dynasty with a distinct, non-French cultural identity.
Philip the Good expanded Burgundian power through purchase, inheritance, and conquest. He acquired Arras, Péronne, Roye, and parts of Picardy, and in 1420 purchased the county of Namur in the Holy Roman Empire from Jean III. He also seized the counties of Hainaut, Holland, Friesland, and Zeeland from his cousin, Jacqueline, Countess of Hainaut, and secured them completely by 1433. When Philip of Saint Pol died unexpectedly in 1430, Philip inherited the Duchy of Brabant and the principalities of Limburg and Lotharingia. The French and Burgundians were reconciled in 1435 at the Congress of Arras.
Charles Martin was born on 10 November 1433 in Dijon, capital of the Duchy of Burgundy. He was the third child of Philip the Good and his third wife Isabella of Portugal and the only one to survive past infancy. Fearing that she would lose another child, Isabella consecrated the infant to the Blessed Sacrament.
Philip the Good arrived in Dijon in November to celebrate the birth. He made his son a knight of the Golden Fleece and granted him the title of count of Charolais, traditionally borne by the heirs of the dukes of Burgundy. Charles was baptised on 20 November. His sponsors were Count Charles of Nevers and Antoine of the influential de Croÿ family, and he was named after the count of Nevers, Philip the Good's stepson through his second wife, Bonne of Artois.
In early spring 1434, Isabella and her son moved to the mountain fortress of Talant because of outbreaks of plague in Burgundy. Later that winter, they travelled to Paris to join Philip the Good. On the way, they stayed in Bruges, where a rebellion against Philip was brewing. In 1436, as Isabella and her entourage prepared to leave the city, rebels arrested them near the gate. The rebellion was suppressed in 1438, when Philip blockaded the city and forced the rebels to surrender.
During infancy, Charles was described as a robust child. Philip appointed many tutors for the young Charles. The most important of them was Antoine Haneron, professor of rhetoric in the University of Louvain. Like his father, Charles developed a fondness for reading histories, chronicles, and historical romances. He aspired to become a conqueror like Alexander the Great. The fact that both he and Alexander had fathers named Philip appears to have stimulated his imagination and encouraged his ambition.
Until the age of six, Charles was brought up by his cousins, John and Agnes of Cleves, both children of Mary of Burgundy, daughter of John the Fearless. Of the two, Agnes played the larger role in Charles's early education. She remained in close company with Isabella and Charles.
In 1435, the Treaty of Arras, reconciled Philip the Good with Charles VII, King of France, marking the end of the Armagnac–Burgundian Civil War. As a sign of good faith, Charles VII agreed to a marriage between one of his daughters and Philip's heir and sent his daughters to Burgundy. Philip chose Catherine, the king's ten-year-old daughter, to marry the six-year-old Charles. They were married on 11 June 1439, at Saint-Omer in a ceremony accompanied by concerts, jousts, and banquets. The pair were put under the care of a governess, but were often kept apart and given pursuits suited to their age. Catherine died on 30 July 1446, and her death was deeply mourned at the Burgundian court.
In 1441, Philip appointed Jean d'Auxy, seigneur of Auxi-le-Château, as guardian to the eight-year-old Charles. D'Auxy later served as Charles's chamberlain from 1456 to 1468. At the age of 12, Charles began to take part in the public affairs of his father's realm. In 1445, he accompanied his father on a rare state visit to Holland and Zealand.
In 1449, the wealthy city of Ghent rebelled against Burgundian rule in response to new taxes on salt. Charles took part in the fighting, but Philip the Good, wishing to keep him out of danger, sent him to Lille with the false news that his mother Isabella was seriously ill. Charles left shortly before the decisive Battle of Gavere in 1453. In Lille, his mother honoured him with a feast and encouraged him to return to the battlefield and fight for his inheritance. By then, Philip had already defeated the rebellious burghers at Gavere.
Charles remained a widower for eight years before marrying Isabella of Bourbon on 30 October 1454. Isabella, the daughter of Agnes of Burgundy and Charles I, Duke of Bourbon, was Philip the Good's niece. Her father had sent her as a child to the Burgundian court as a ward of Isabella of Portugal. A shy and pliant young woman, she was adored by Philip, who saw the match as an opportunity of renewing the Treaty of Arras after Charles VII's threatening actions towards Burgundy. Charles was not informed of his father's plan until the night before the wedding, but he did not resist the match. As part of Isabella's dowry, the town of Chinon was incorporated into Philip's realm.