ANTHONY, THE GRAND BASTARD
AND BURGUNDY’S PLACE IN EUROPEAN HISTORY
Mungo Napier, Laird of Mallard Lodge
Shire of Isenfir, Kingdom of Atlantia
Prepared as a possible University of Atlantia Class
Meet Antoine de Bourgogne, known in English as “Anthony, The Grand Bastard of Burgundy”. With a title like that he is automatically in the running for the “Most Interesting Man in the Medieval World”. Antoine was a master jouster, excellent archer, courageous soldier, skilled diplomat, and a noted collector of fine books. Beyond his many accomplishments, Antoine’s life is a lens to understand Burgundy’s place in late medieval Europe. But first, let’s take a brief look at Burgundy’s history in the 14th and 15th centuries.
Antoine was painted about 1467 by Hans Memling. He wears the Toison d’Or suspended from a simple chain. (Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Public Domain through Wikimedia Commons)
Burgundy was among numerous duchies and counties in medieval France. In many French territories, dukes and counts were very rich and powerful, sometimes more rich and powerful than the French kings. These nobles pretty much ran their territories as they pleased, and only did what the king wanted when it was in their interest or to their profit.
The last duke in the House of Burgundy was Philip of Rouvres who died of the plague in 1361 at just 15 years old with no male relatives. Through a regent, Philip had ruled the Duchy of Burgundy. Philip's lands and titles reverted to the King of France, John II (aka “John the Good”, House of Valois). In 1363 John passed the Duchy of Burgundy to his fourth son, also a Philip. He was known as “Philip the Bold” for his spirited defense of his father during the Battle of Poitiers at the age of just 14. Philip the Bold became the first Duke of Burgundy from the House of Valois.
Philip the Bold had the good fortune to marry Margaret of Flanders (the late Philip of Rouvres’ fiancee). She was the daughter, and later sole heir, of Louis II, Count of Flanders. Flanders was where the money was thanks to the wool trade. Through Margaret, Philip the Bold also acquired Antwerp, the duchies of Brabant and Limburg, the County of Rethel, the French county of Nevers and the Holy Roman Empire's Free County of Burgundy. As a Prince of the Blood he later became Regent of France during the minority, and long madness, of Charles VI (aka “Charles the Mad”). His rivals accused Philip of lining his pockets at public expense (maybe, but they would likely done the same thing, and with a lot less style). The graft accusations were never proven. When Philip died in 1404, he was one of the richest and most powerful men in both France and the Low Countries.
The next duke of Burgundy was John the Fearless. John inherited the County of Artois upon his mother’s death in 1405, but otherwise did little to enhance Burgundian territories. He was largely involved in a fratricidal civil war with the Dukes of Orleans and Armagnac that diverted precious resources from France during the Hundred Years’ War with England. In 1419 John was assassinated during a parley in a carefully prepared death trap by Armagnac retainers. The Dauphin of France, Charles (later King Charles VII) was present, and may have been involved in the plot. He refused to prosecute the assassins, and later rewarded some with positions of power.
Yet another Philip (“Philip the Good”) inherited this diverse empire upon John’s death. Through alliance, inheritance, conquest and outright purchase, the Duchy of Burgundy reached its zenith of wealth, power, culture and political influence. Philip ended up ruling nearly all of what is now Belgium and Holland, and bought the Duchy of Luxembourg for cash.
Burgundian territories under the House of Valois Dukes, 1363-1477. (Creator: Marco Zanoli; used under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license)
Philip may have been the richest man in Europe at that time. He used his tremendous wealth to support arts and industries, particularly in the Low Countries, including painting, tapestries, illuminated manuscripts, sculpture, and of course textiles. His opulent and peripatetic court became the place where the glitterati of Europe went to see and be seen. The finest Burgundian goods were always on show, and agents were available to arrange orders for nobles with expensive tastes and deep pockets.
In 1422 Philip the Good was offered membership in the English Order of the Garter. Philip reluctantly declined the honor when he was advised that acceptance might be high treason against his liege lord, the King of France. Thoroughly miffed, Philip founded his own high order of chivalry, le Ordre de la Toison d’Or (Order of the Golden Fleece) in 1430.
Philip the Good enjoyed beautiful noble women, and kept mistresses in nearly all the cities where his court met. His mistresses bore him 18 acknowledged “natural” children. The total of his known bastards is said to be 26, but there might have been even more. This rather annoyed his pious Duchess, Isabel of Portugal, but she was wise enough to keep her mouth shut. Philip’s blow-by sons were educated at court and trained for high positions in the Burgundian army or administration, with three placed directly into the church as bishops. His daughters were married off to cement important alliances, but two became abbesses of important religious houses. Being a “Bastard of Burgundy” carried both cachet and clout.
So it was with Antoine, Philip’s second son. He was born to Jeanne de Presle on 30 December 1421, probably at Lisy in Picardy. France. Antoine was described as “a tiny baby with a weak cry and a listless appetite”. Somehow he survived to became one of Europe’s greatest knights.
Philip raised Antoine to “Count of La Roche”, possibly while still a child. Antoine was inducted into the Golden Fleece in 1456.
Like most young noblemen, Antoine was trained in the use of arms. He excelled as a swordsman, horseman and jouster. Antoine later became an arms instructor to his younger half-brother, Charles, Count of Charolais, eventually the next Duke of Burgundy as “Charles the Bold” (known to his critics as “Charles the Rash”). The bond with Charles was extremely strong, and Antoine faithfully served his half-brother in both war and the Burgundian administration.
As a man-at-arms, Antoine participated in many of his father’s wars beginning in 1451. This included the brutal suppression of the Ghent Revolt between 1449 and 1453. He was put in charge of small commands, then given increasingly larger forces. By April 1452 Antoine was commanding a thousand men in the vanguard when the Burgundians raised a siege at Oudenaarde. During the siege, Antoine received his knighthood. He commanded the rear guard at the Battle of Bazel on 16 June 1452, when his half-brother Cornille (Philip’s oldest illegitimate son) was killed pursuing the routed Ghent troops. Antoine received Cornille’s properties and titles, including lordships of Beveren and Vlissingen.
Antoine wed Marie de la Viesville in 1459. He fathered five children with Marie. He also fathered an unknown number of bastards. For his marital infidelities, Antoine was censured by his brother Charles at a general meeting of the Order of the Golden Fleece in 1468. This was rather hypocritical, as many knights of the order kept mistresses.
In 1465 Charles the Bold joined the War of Public Weal against the French king Louis XI (“Louis the Prudent”, known to his detractors as “The Universal Spider”). Their forces met at the Battle of Montlhéry on 16 July. During the battle, Antoine’s command was hard pressed by Louis’ men, the center was a stalemate, but the French collapsed in disorder before Charles’ wing. Charles personally pursued some of the fleeing soldiers for the thrill of the kill. One of the French turned on Charles and wounded him in the neck and shoulder. Just in time, Antoine rode to his brother’s rescue, but this left his own command in chaos. Thanks to Charles’ rashness, the battle ended in a costly and fruitless draw.
Antoine was a master archer. In 1463 he entered the prestigious Guild of Saint Sebastian’s annual tournament in Bruges, a popinjay shoot. Antoine hit the wooden bird, and was declared the winner and King of Archers for a year. It was one of the few opportunities he had to step out from Charles’ shadow. Later Antoine posed for the famous Rogier van der Weyden portrait, proudly holding what is likely the very arrow with which he won the tournament.
Antoine de Bourgogne circa 1463 by Rogier van der Weyden, following Antoine’s victory in the Bruges archery tournament. (Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Public Domain through Wikimedia Commons)
Antoine was considered to be among the greatest jousters in continental Europe. He was challenged by Anthony Woodville, Lord Scales, in 1465. They finally jousted in 1467 when Antoine was in England to arrange a marriage between Charles the Bold and Margaret of York. A list field was prepared at Smithfield, with the event personally presided over by King Edward IV. The knights clashed on horseback, ending when Lord Scales accidentally caused a fatal wound to Antoine’s horse. The next day they fought on foot with pole axes. King Edward stopped the bout when Antoine’s armor was broken. The combat was to have continued the following day, but that evening a messenger from Burgundy arrived with the news that Philip the Good had died. The Burgundian delegation was required to return home immediately.
The marriage between Charles and Margaret took place in 1468 near Bruges. Their wedding was followed by a huge pageant and six-day tournament known as the Pas d’Armes de l’Arbre d’Or (Tournament of the Golden Tree). Antoine initially defended the Golden Tree against all challengers until a horse kicked him in the leg. Various other knights then took turns defending the tree, while Antoine acted as master of ceremonies despite his tremendous pain.
The “Golden Tree” with its symbolic dwarf and giant from the Pas d’Armes de l’Arbre d’Or, which followed Charles the Bold’s wedding in 1468. (La Bibliothèque Virtuelle des Manuscrits Médiévaux, Licence Creative Commons Attribution 3.0)
Lord Scales was declared the overall winner of the tourney, a shrewd piece of diplomatic gamesmanship designed to please Edward IV. Besides the jousting, the event was a lavishly staged allegory involving dwarves, a giant, and a life-sized whale that disgorged singing sirens. As always, the Burgundians knew how to put on a great show!
Antoine was a voracious reader, and a collector of illuminated manuscripts, owning over 45 volumes. He always took some of his books with him on campaign. An otherwise unnamed illuminator from Bruges, the “Master of Anthony of Burgundy”, was employed to illustrate many of Antoine’s books.
It had long been Philip’s and Charles’ great dream to unite all Burgundy’s holdings into a kingdom independent from both France and the Holy Roman Empire. The fly in the ointment was the Duchy of Lorraine, a Holy Roman Empire territory just to the north of the Duchy of Burgundy that cut off Burgundy and the County of Burgundy from Philip’s and Charles’ northern territories. The dukes of Lorraine, especially René II, stubbornly rebuffed Burgundian attempts to gain control of their lands.
A coalition was assembled to contain Charles’ ambitions and assist Duke René that included the Swiss cantons, Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III, and Louis XI. Early in 1475 René struck the first blow by raiding Luxembourg. In retaliation, Charles invaded Lorraine, and seized Nancy, its capital city, on 30 November. Lorraine’s army was routed and scattered, and the Duke himself had to flee his country. Then Charles turned his fury on the Swiss, a big mistake! The Swiss seriously mauled the Burgundians at the battles of Grandson and Morat in 1476. By that autumn, René had rebuilt his army and most of Lorraine was back in his hands. He laid siege to Nancy and recovered the town on 6 October after starving English archers in the Burgundian garrison mutinied.
Charles personally laid siege to Nancy in November, foolishly in the midst of winter. His once-mighty army was decimated by cold, disease and desertion. Although Charles knew René’s army was approaching, his intelligence was very poor and he stubbornly ignored all advice. René had secretly added thousands of (yet unpaid!) Swiss mercenaries his forces. On 5 January 1477 René arrived at Nancy to raise the siege.
The Burgundians wheeled about to face René, but unknown to Charles, the Swiss vanguard had detached itself and snuck into the woods behind the Burgundians’ superb artillery park. At noon the Swiss overran the guns before they could be turned. Now Charles and his unsupported infantry were trapped between René’s army and the Swiss. The Burgundians were routed and cut down by Swiss pikemen and halberders, who took no prisoners. Charles the Bold was thrown from his horse in the retreat, and his skull was cloven by a Swiss battle axe. Antoine and the mounted command staff managed to fight their way through the Swiss to some Lorraine cavalry who accepted the Burgundians’ surrender.
The defeat at Nancy ended Burgundian power in one afternoon. Within two months Louis XI had seized all Burgundian territories within France, largely without resistance, as well as the County of Burgundy. Duke René shopped Antoine to Louis for 10,000 écus to pay off the Swiss before they turned on him. Antoine made peace with Louis, and helped reintegrate former Burgundian lands back into France.
Charles’ only child, Mary of Burgundy (aka “Mary the Rich”) was left with the Low Countries and an empty treasury. Before his death, Charles had been in early marriage negotiations with Archduke Maximilian, son of the Holy Roman Emperor (later succeeding as Emperor Maximilian I). Antoine finalized the marriage contract. Mary and Maximilian were wed at Ghent on 19 August 1477. Upon Mary’s 1482 death in a riding accident, the Burgundian Low Countries passed into direct control by the Habsburgs and eventually Habsburg-ruled Spain, leading to wars and all sorts of other turmoil for the next 200 years.
Louis granted Antoine lordship over Sainte-Menehoud, Grandpré, Châtillon and Château-Thierry in 1478. Antoine also served as an ambassador for Louis and the next French king, Charles VIII. For his services, Antoine was inducted into the French Ordre de Saint-Michel in 1480, and legitimized by decree in 1485.
During his final years, Antoine lived at Tournehem-sur-la-Hem near Calais, and was governor of nearby Ardres. He died at Ardres on 5 May 1504 at the age of 83. Antoine was buried in Tournehem at the Église Saint-Médard, a church he had restored. If so, his grave seems to have been lost when the church was rebuilt after later war damage.
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The Église Saint-Médard today, last resting place of Anthony of Burgundy (Wikimedia Commons).
