Kingdom of Burgundy was a name given to various states located in Western Europe during the Middle Ages . The historical Burgundy correlates with the border area of France and Switzerland and includes the major modern cities of Geneva and Lyon .
31-506: The following is a list of the kings of the two kingdoms of Burgundy , and a number of related political entities devolving from Carolingian machinations over family relations. Flavius Aëtius moves the Burgundians into Sapaudia ( Upper Rhône Basin ) . Gradually conquered by the Frankish kings Childebert I and Chlothar I from 532–534 United with Neustria under one king, but
62-692: A majority had elected the Hohenstaufen Philip of Swabia ( antiking to Welf Emperor Otto IV of Brunswick ) he renounced his claim. In exchange for this renunciation, Berthold gained territorial concessions in what is now southern Germany and northern Switzerland , consolidating Zähringer hold over the Ortenau , the Breisgau , Schaffhausen , Breisach and All Saints' Abbey . In 1198 Philip also paid Berthold 3,000 silver Marks for renouncing his claims. His nephew Konrad von Urach who would eventually decline
93-457: A military campaign in 1153. After these failures, Emperor Frederick Barbarossa gained a firm hold of the western districts in 1156 by marrying Countess Beatrice I of Burgundy . This confined the Zähringer between Jura and Alps, where they used their regal powers to expand their possessions. In 1218, Duke Berthold V of Zähringen died without issue. King Frederick II then conferred the title of
124-594: A political entity, Burgundy existed in a number of forms with different boundaries, notably, when it was divided into Upper and Lower Burgundy and Provence. Two of the entities, the first around the 6th century and the second around the 11th century, were called the Kingdom of Burgundy. At other times were the Kingdom of Provence , the Duchy of Burgundy and the County of Burgundy . Burgundy
155-461: A separate administration (613–751) The sons of Louis the Pious divided the Frankish kingdom in the treaty of Verdun in 843. Burgundy was divided between the brothers. After Lothair's death in 855, his realm was divided between his sons. The Burgundian territories were divided between: The Kingdom of Lower Burgundy (or Cisjurane Burgundy) was also known as the Kingdom of Provence. Its capital
186-563: Is named after a Germanic tribe of Burgundians who may have originated on the island of Bornholm , whose name in Old Norse was Burgundarholmr ("Island of the Burgundians"). The Burgundian name may have also been a general Germanic name for "highlanders", as such may have been the name of more than one unrelated tribe. From their first documented location on the Middle Rhine , they migrated south into Roman Gaul and settled in large numbers in
217-515: The Count of Arles . He invaded Provence as far as Mâcon before being restrained by Hincmar of Rheims . In 858, Count Girart arranged that should Charles of Provence die without heirs, the Kingdom of Provence would revert to Charles' older brother Lothair II who ruled in Lotharingia . When Charles died in 863, his oldest brother Louis II claimed Provence for himself, so the kingdom was divided between
248-638: The Valais . The resulting treaty, signed at Hautcret Abbey on 19 October 1211, forced Berthold to accept Savoyard suzerainty over the upper Valais. Following the death of the Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI in 1198, he was one of the candidates in the Imperial election . He offered his nephews as hostages to the Archbishops of Cologne and Trier to gain their support. However, when he discovered that
279-530: The prince-bishops of Lausanne and Sitten . When Count William III of Burgundy was assassinated in February 1127, King Lothar III supported the claims of William's uncle Duke Conrad of Zähringen , grandson of Rudolf von Rheinfeld , to the countship, and conferred on him the regal powers over Burgundy. Lacking a proper title, the Zähringer called themselves dukes and rectors of Burgundy , to give themselves
310-564: The 12th century it was also known as Kingdom of Arles. The kingdom gradually fragmented as it was divided among heirs, or territories were lost and acquired through diplomacy and dynastic marriages. Emperors generally neglected its administration, even though Frederick I and Charles IV both performed a Burgundian coronation ceremony in Arles , in 1178 and 1365 respectively. Frederick also convened an imperial diet in Besançon in 1157 that highlighted
341-609: The Bald of West Francia . After the overthrow of Charles the Bald in 877, followed by the death of his son Louis the Stammerer two years later, the Frankish noble Boso of Provence proclaimed himself a "King of Burgundy and Provence" at Vienne in 879. This kingdom lasted until Boso's death in 887. in 888, Rudolph I of Burgundy of the Elder House of Welf carved out his own kingdom of Upper Burgundy , centered on Lake Geneva and including
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#1732849043284372-500: The Burgundians settled as foederati in the Roman province of Germania Secunda along the Middle Rhine . Their situation worsened when about 430 their king Gunther started several invasions into neighbouring Gallia Belgica , which led to a crushing defeat by joined Roman and Hunnic troops under Flavius Aetius in 436 near Worms (the focus of the mediæval Nibelungenlied poem). The remaining Burgundians from 443 onwards settled in
403-543: The Burgundians were decisively defeated by the Franks at Autun , whereafter king Godomar was killed and Burgundian lands was annexed by the Frankish Empire in 534. While there no longer was an independent Burgundian kingdom, Burgundy remained as one of the three main polities that together defined the core Frankish realm, together with Austrasia and Neustria . Between 561 and 592 and between 639 and 737, several rulers of
434-525: The Frankish Merovingian dynasty used the title of "King of Burgundy". Partitions of Charlemagne's empire by his immediate Carolingian heirs led to a short-lived kingdom of Middle Francia , which was created after the 843 Treaty of Verdun . It included lands from the North Sea to southern Italy and was ruled by emperor Lothair I . The northwestern part of the former Burgundian lands was included in
465-534: The Germn king as the king of Burgundy. From the 12th century it was often referred to as Kingdom of Arles. Under Conrad I and Rudolph III , royal power weakened while local nobles, such as the counts of Burgundy , gained prominence. Empress Agnes granted the Duchy of Swabia to Rudolf von Rheinfelden and also conferred on him the regal powers over Burgundy. Rudolf was elected anti-king , however, and in 1079 Henry IV stripped him of his powers and delegated them to
496-686: The Sapaudia region, again as foederati in the Roman Maxima Sequanorum province (modern day western Switzerland and northeastern France). Their efforts to enlarge their kingdom down the Rhône river brought them into conflict with the Visigothic Kingdom in the south. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476, king Gundobad allied with the powerful Frank king Clovis I against
527-592: The emperor fled during the night in September 1473, due to displeasure with the duke's attitude. The duchy ultimately ended as an independent realm with the defeat and death of Charles at the Battle of Nancy in 1477. Berthold V of Z%C3%A4hringen Berthold V, Duke of Zähringen (1160 – 18 February 1218 in Freiburg im Breisgau ), also known as Bertold V or Berchtold V , was Duke of Zähringen from 1186 until his death. He
558-635: The importance of the regnum Burgundiae within the Empire. In the late 15th century Charles the Bold , Duke of Burgundy , conceived the project of combining his territories (the Duchy of Burgundy , Franche-Comté and the Burgundian Netherlands ) into a revived Kingdom of Burgundy with himself as king. Charles and Emperor Frederick III undertook negotiations that may have led to a coronation ceremony at Trier . The planned ceremony did not take place because
589-531: The kingdom of West Francia as the Duchy of Burgundy , with its capital in Dijon . Shortly before his death in 855, Lothair I divided his kingdom among his three sons in three parts: Lotharingia , the Kingdom of Italy , and the regions of Lower Burgundy and Provence . The latter were left to the youngest son, thus known as Charles of Provence . This partition created more conflicts, as older Carolingians who ruled West Francia and East Francia viewed themselves as
620-606: The lands around Besançon that later became the Franche-Comté . Meanwhile, Boso's child son Louis, later known as Louis the Blind , became king of Lower Burgundy in Valence in 890. In 933, Rudolph's son and heir Rudolph II acquired Lower Burgundy and merged the two kingdoms into a single Kingdom of Burgundy. The Kingdom of Burgundy existed independently until 1033, even though the reality of its monarchs' power did not extend much beyond
651-515: The nobles and leading clergy of Upper Burgundy assembled at St Maurice and elected Rudolph , count of Auxerre, from the Elder Welf family, as king. At first, he tried to reunite the realm of Lothair II , but opposition by Arnulf of Carinthia forced him to focus on his Burgundian territory. In 1032, the Kingdom of Burgundy was incorporated into the Holy Roman Empire as a third kingdom, with
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#1732849043284682-664: The papacy was put under the tutelage of Berthold's uncle. In the same year Berthold crushed an uprising of the Burgundian nobles, an event that is recorded on the gate in Freiburg. In 1200, Berthold began rebuilding Freiburg's city-parish church in Romanesque style. Around 1240 the building was continued in Gothic style. The church was finished in 1360 except for the choir that took another 150 years to complete. The church admired for its steeple
713-447: The rector of Burgundy on his young son Henry , to keep the Zähringer heirs from the regal powers associated with that title. This appointment was of only momentary importance, and after Henry had been elected king of Germany in April 1220, the title disappeared for good. The decline of royal power inside the Kingdom of Burgundy also remained irreversible. Kingdoms of Burgundy As
744-483: The region of Lake Geneva . In 1033 it was absorbed into the Holy Roman Empire under Conrad II who received its crown twice, first at Payerne Abbey in February 1033 and then, after repelling a challenge from Odo II of Blois , at Geneva Cathedral on 1 August 1034. Burgundy thereafter was one of the three kingdoms within the medieval Empire, along with the Kingdom of Germany and the Kingdom of Italy . From
775-464: The status of the dukes of Burgundy. The royal chancellory, however, consistently avoided this term and the effective power of the rector (in Roman law, a generic term for provincial governor) was restricted to the possessions of the Zähringer east of the Jura . Any attempts to enforce the Zähringer's claims and to extend royal authority into the western and southern parts of the kingdom failed, most notably
806-501: The territory of Sapaudia , in what is today western Switzerland and northeastern France, before expanding their domain further south to the Rhône valley, establishing a barbarian kingdom of the Burgundians. The first documented, though not historically verified King of the Burgundians was Gjúki (Gebicca), who lived in the late 4th century. In the course of the Crossing of the Rhine in 406
837-542: The threat of Theoderic the Great . He was then able to organize the Burgundian acquisitions based on the Lex Burgundionum , an Early Germanic law code. The decline of the Kingdom began when they came under attack from their former Frank allies. In 523 the sons of Clovis I campaigned in the Burgundian lands, instigated by their mother Clotilde , whose father king Chilperic II of Burgundy had been killed by Gundobad. In 532
868-493: The true heirs of Middle Francia . As Charles of Provence was too young to rule, the actual power was held by regent, count Girart II of Vienne whose wife was the sister-in-law of emperor Lothar I. Girart was a strong regent, defending the kingdom from Vikings, who raided as far as Valence . Charles' uncle, Charles the Bald of West Francia , attempted to intervene in Provence in 861 after receiving an appeal for intervention from
899-458: The two remaining brothers: Lothair II received the bishoprics of Lyon , Vienne and Grenoble , to be governed by Girart; and Louis II received Arles, Aix-en-provence and Embrun . After the death of Lothair II, the 870 Treaty of Meerssen allotted the northern part of former Middle Francia to King Louis the German of East Francia and the southern lands of Charles of Provence to King Charles
930-576: Was first Vienne then Arles . Lothair subsumed his portion of Burgundy into the Kingdom of Lotharingia and at his brother Charles of Provence 's death, gained some northern districts from his kingdom. When Lothair II died in 869, his realm was divided between his uncles Charles the Bald and Louis the German in the Treaty of Mersen . On the death in 888 of Emperor Charles the Fat , who until 884 had united all Frankish kingdoms except for Kingdom of Provence ,
961-538: Was the son of Berthold IV and Heilwig of Frohburg. Berthold succeeded his father Berthold IV in 1186. At the beginning of his reign, he reduced the power of the Burgundian nobles and settled the Bernese Oberland and the area of Lucerne . As a result, he enlarged Thun and founded Bern in 1191, which became the focus of his expansionism. At the battle of Ulrichen in 1211, however, he failed to gain access to