[2] The term "Burgundian State" was coined by historians and was not in contemporary use; the polity remained a collection of separate duchies and counties in personal union under the Duke of Burgundy.

[4] It nearly turned into a kingdom in its own right, but Charles the Bold's early death at the Battle of Nancy put an end to his Lotharingian dream and his legacy passed to the House of Habsburg through the marriage of his daughter Mary to Maximilian of Austria.

The last dukes of the Valois dynasty, however, tried to rally the various populations around symbols such as the Cross of Burgundy and the Order of the Golden Fleece.

[7][11] After the death of Duke Philip I of Burgundy in 1361, the Duchy was integrated to the royal domain of King John II of France.

He later decided to give it as a fief to his youngest son, known as Philip the Bold, who was officially recognized as Duke of Burgundy and First Peer of France on 2 June 1364.

The marriage took place on 19 June 1369 in Ghent, and from then Philip was closely associated to the reign of his father-in-law, helping him to crush the Flemish at the Battle of Roosebeke.

During the reigns of Philip the Bold and his son John the Fearless, loyalty to the king of France remained strong, and serving the kingdom was a significant duty.

When Henry V of England resumed the war, John of Burgundy remained neutral and avoided the French defeat at Agincourt.

In 1430, he inherited the Margraviate of Antwerp and the Duchies of Brabant, Limburg and Luxembourg, succeeding his cousin Philip, son of Anthony of Burgundy.

At the end of Philip's long reign, under the influence of the House of Croÿ, the Duke got closer to King Louis XI of France, whom he hosted when he was opposed to his father.

Louis bought back the towns of Picardy, which displeased Charles, count of Charolais, the Duke's son and heir.

In 1447, he held talks to that effect with Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III, but the latter only proposed kingship on behalf of Brabant or Frisia, both options too narrow to suit Philip's vision.

In 1454, Philip traveled to Regensburg with intent to negotiate Burgundy's status, but Frederick did not attend the meeting and no progress was made.

By the Treaty of Péronne of October 1468, Louis XI of France withdrew the French lands of the Duke of Burgundy from the jurisdiction of the Parlement of Paris.

During that encounter, Frederick considered having Charles elected as King of the Romans and the next Emperor, then pivoted to reviving the Kingdom of Burgundy, which would have included all Burgundian State's lands within the Empire plus the Duchies of Lorraine, Savoy and Clèves and the Bishoprics of Utrecht, Liège, Toul and Verdun.

[15] Charles continued to expand the Burgundian State by buying Brisgau and Sundgau from Sigismund, Archduke of Austria in 1469, then conquering the Duchy of Guelders and the County of Zutphen.

Unhappy with the previous duke's actions, she had to grant them the Great Privilege, which suppressed several centralized institutions, reestablished many local and communal rights, and increased the power of the States General.

The coming of Maximilian as duke cheered the troops, and turned the tables on the King of France who had been taking advantage of the death of his opponent.

However, the unexpected death of Mary in 1482, from a horse riding accident, weakened Maximilian's position, as he had to cope with difficulties being accepted as the rightful regent for his son Philip, aged three.

The Treaty of Arras, signed on December 1482, planned to marry Mary and Maximilian's daughter, Margaret, to the Dauphin Charles, aged 12.

Following the War of the Spanish Succession, the Habsburg Netherlands passed to Austria and remained in Austrian hands until the French conquest of the late 18th century.

Following the Congress of Vienna, the former Burgundian territories remaining divided between France, the Netherlands and, following the Belgian Revolution, modern-day Belgium.

But Philip the Good and his successors preferred to stay in the Netherlands, in towns such as Brussels, Ghent, Bruges, Lille, Arras and Hesdin.

The illustrated manuscripts of the dukes were well renowned, with illuminators such as Jean Miélot, Willem Vrelant, Loyset Liédet or Lieven van Lathem.

Nicolas Rolin was a well-known figure, a recognized patron and the right-hand man of Philip the Good for more than forty years.

Guillaume Hugonet succeeded him, and was a spokesman for Charles the Bold: he would always express the Duke's political views (of himself as an absolute ruler) by addressing the towns or the States General.

It relied on feudal duties, until Charles the Bold decided to modernize it by creating compagnies d'ordonnance, i.e. a regular army, based on the French model.

Philip the Bold created a Parliament in Beaune, and around the duke was a judicial Grand Conseil, itinerant and under the jurisdiction of the Parlement of Paris, until 1471.

In December 1473, Charles the Bold created a new Parliament in Mechelen, being a sovereign court receiving appeals from subjects from all the Burgundian Netherlands.

The Chambres des Comptes (Chambers of Accounts) were major elements of the centralization of power and of the modern financial system set up by the dukes.