Product Description

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

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #178615 in Books
• Published on: 2008-06-20
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 516 pages

Review
This reissue of Vaughan's seminal series is welcome indeed. Nothing ofthis scale has been written before or since...on the Burgundianstate.... Erudite but highly readable.... An attractive and timelyrepackaging of an unrivalled classic of Burgundian studies. MEDIUM AEVUM

Maurice Keen, Literary Times Supplement
On series: "[Vaughan's] achievement remains monumental. There are no comparable, modern, in-depth studies... They are, besides, eminently readable."

Customer Reviews

A fine series of the great Dukes of Burgundy - part three: the Golden Age - Philipp the Good
This is part 3 of the reissue in a condensed manner of Richard Vaughan's seminal 1962-73 Dukes of Burgundy the most complete study of the Valois Duchy of Burgundy.


Philip the Good (1396 - 1467) followed his murdered father as Duke of Burgundy in 1419. His reign marked the height of Burgundy's prosperity and prestige. It was became a leading center of the arts and his court extravagant, glamours and splendid in Europe, and became the accepted leader of taste and fashion, He founded the Order of the Golden Fleece in 1430.

During his reign he alternated between English and French alliances in an attempt to improve his dynasty's position. In 1430 Philip's troops captured Joan of Arc at Compiègne and later handed her over to the English who orchestrated a heresy trial against her, conducted by pro-Burgundian clerics.

Again this excellent biography shows a remarkable ruler of Burgundy, for me the most likeable one, espcially comapred with his father. Splendour and cuture are dominating. It is fascinanting to read about this Golden Age of Burgundy.

Thorough yet very readable
Although this book is as much an in-depth study of this Philip's reign as the book in the same series on Philip the Bold, mr. Vaughan shows much more narrative talent than the author of that tome. The general reader will find himself burdened with a lot of "minor" detail, and as befits someone who writes for a professional readership, the author assumes that you will already be reasonably familiar with the history of the era that influenced Philip's policies and with a lot of its customs, titles and alliances, and that you will need no assistance in understanding any quotes in the original French.

At the same time mr Vaughan manages to push the story of Philip's life nicely along and gives you a clear understanding of the politics and of the day-to-day management of the government of Philips the Good. Not a book you will read in one go, but very good nevertheless.