Philip the Good: The Apogee of Burgundy

Abstract

Under Philip Good, grandson of founder of duchy's power, Burgundy reached its apogee. Professor Vaughan portrays not only Philip Good himself, perhaps most attractive personality among four great dukes, but workings of court and of one of most efficent - if not necessarily most popular - administrations in fifteenth-century Europe. The complex diplomatic history of Philip Good's long ducal reign (1419-1467) occupies much of book, in particular Burgundy's relations with England and France. The central theme is Philip Good's policy of territorial and personal aggrandisement, which culminated in his negotiations with Holy Roman Emperor for a crown. And due attention is given to great flowering of artistic life in Burgundy which made Philip's court at Dijon an important cultural centre in period immediately preceding Renaissance. All this is based on close study of considerable surviving archives of Philip's civil service, and on chronicles and letters of period. Philip Good provides a definitive study of life and times of ruler whose position and achievements made him greatest magnate in Europe during what has been called the Burgundian century.