Burgundy ( ; ) is a region
historically situated in modern-day France
and Switzerland
.
History
Burgundy was inhabited in turn by
Celts,
Romans (
Gallo-Romans), and in the 4th century assigned
by Romans to the
Burgundians, a
Germanic people, who settled there and
established their own kingdom. This Burgundian kingdom was
conquered in the 6th century by the
Franks
who continued the kingdom of Burgundy under their own rule.
Later, the region was divided between the
Duchy of Burgundy (west of Burgundy) and
the
County of Burgundy (east of
Burgundy). The Duchy of Burgundy is the more famous of the two, and
the one which reached historical fame.
Later, the Duchy of
Burgundy became the French province of Burgundy, while the County
of Burgundy became the French province of Franche-Comté
, literally meaning free
county.
The
modern-day administrative région of Bourgogne
comprises most of the former Duchy of
Burgundy.
The
Burgundians were one of the
Germanic peoples who filled the power vacuum
left by the
collapse of
the western half of the
Roman Empire.
In A.D.
411, they crossed the Rhine
and
established a kingdom at Worms
.
Amidst
repeated clashes between the Romans and Huns,
the Burgundian kingdom eventually occupied what is today the
borderlands between Switzerland, France, and Italy
. In
534, the
Franks defeated
Godomar, the last Burgundian king, and absorbed the
territory into their growing empire.
Burgundy's modern existence is rooted in the dissolution of the
Frankish Empire. When the dynastic
succession was settled in the 880s, there were four Burgundies:
- the
Kingdom of Upper Burgundy around
Lake
Geneva
,
- the Kingdom of Lower Burgundy in
Provence, and
- the Duchy of Burgundy west of
the Saône
- the County of Burgundy east
of the Saône
The two kingdoms of Upper and Lower Burgundy were reunited in 937
and absorbed into the
Holy Roman
Empire under
Conrad
II in 1032, as the
Kingdom of
Arles.The Duchy of Burgundy was annexed by the French throne in
1477.
The
County of Burgundy remained loosely associated with the Holy Roman Empire (intermittently
independent, whence the name "Franche-Comté"), and finally incorporated into France in 1678,
with the Treaties of
Nijmegen.
During the
Middle Ages, Burgundy was the seat of
some of the most important Western churches and monasteries, among them Cluny
, Citeaux
, and
Vézelay
.
Territory of the Duchy of Burgundy
(
Bourgogne) in 1477 marked in yellow.
During the
Hundred Years' War,
King
John II of France gave the
duchy to his younger son, rather than leaving it to his successor
on the throne.
The duchy soon became a major rival to the
French throne, because the Dukes of Burgundy succeeded in
assembling an empire stretching from Switzerland to the North
Sea
, mostly by marriage. The Burgundian
territories consisted of a number of fiefdoms on both sides of the
(then largely symbolic) border between the Kingdom of France and
the
Holy Roman Empire. Its
economic heartland was in the
Low
Countries, particularly
Flanders and
Brabant.
The court in Dijon
outshone the
French court by far, both economically and culturally.
In
Belgium
and in the south of the Netherlands
, a 'Burgundian lifestyle' still means 'enjoyment of
life, good food, and extravagant spectacle'.
In the late 15th and early 16th centuries, Burgundy provided a
power base for the rise of the
Habsburgs,
after
Maximilian of
Austria had married into the ducal family. In 1477 at the
battle of Nancy during the
Burgundian Wars the last duke
Charles the Bold was killed in battle and
Burgundy itself taken back by France.
After the death of
his daughter Mary her husband
Maximilian moved the court first to Mechelen and later to the
palace at Coudenberg
, Brussels
, and from there ruled the remnants of the empire,
the Low Countries (Burgundian
Netherlands) and Franche-Comté, then still an imperial fief. The latter
territory was ceded to France in the
Treaty of Nijmegen of 1678.
Geography
Highest
point: Haut-Folin
(901m) in the Morvan
.
The
Canal of
Burgundy
joins the Rivers Yonne
and Saône, allowing barges to navigate from the north
to south of France. Construction began in 1765 and was
completed in 1832. At the summit there is a tunnel 3.333 kilometers
long in a straight line. The canal is 400 kilometers long, with a
total 209 locks and crosses two counties of Burgundy, the Yonne and
Cote d'Or.
The canal is now mostly used for riverboat tourism; Dijon, the most
important city along the canal, has a harbor.
Culture
Wine
Burgundy is one of France's main
wine producing
areas. It is well known for both its
red and
white wines, mostly made from
Pinot Noir and
Chardonnay grapes, respectively, although other
grape varieties can be found, including
Gamay,
Aligote,
Pinot
Blanc, and
Sauvignon Blanc.
The
region is divided into the Côte-d'Or
, where the most expensive and prized Burgundies are
found, and Beaujolais, Chablis
, the Côte
Chalonnaise and Mâcon
.
The reputation and quality of the top wines, together with the fact
that they are often produced in tiny quantities, has led to high
demand and high prices, with some Burgundies ranking among the most
expensive wines in the world.
Cuisine
Famous Burgundian dishes include
coq au
vin,
beef bourguignon, and
Époisses de
Bourgogne cheese.
See also
References
External links
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