Episode 65: The Almost Crusade
All his life, Philip the Good dreamed of going on Crusade, and all his life other things kept getting in the way. But even though the Duke of Burgundy never made it on Crusade, the Crusading Ideal still played a large part in the Duke’s reign, image, and stature as…
Keep readingEpisode 64: Jan van Eyck and the Northern Renaissance
The Dukes of Burgundy presided over one of the great flowerings of Art and Culture in the Later Middle Ages. While the Northern Renaissance was not a purely Burgundian phenomenon, the Burgundian Court and the Cities of the Burgundian Low Countries were at the Center of advances in Painting, Music,…
Keep readingEpisode 63: Jacques de Lalaing and the Tournament
Tournaments were more than an excuse for knights to whack each other with sticks, they were elaborate court events filled with splendor, ritual, and the careful exercise of violence. Perhaps nobody in Burgundy exemplified the Tournament as much as Jacques de Lalaing; through his skill in the lists, Jacques won…
Keep readingBonus Episode: The Formidable Women Who Shaped Medieval Europe with Susan Abernethy
Susan Abernethy, who you might also know as the Freelance History Writer, has recently put out her second book, The Formidable Women Who Shaped Medieval Europe, which dives into the biographies of over 40 women whose lives intersected with Burgundy in some way or another and adds rich context to…
Keep readingEpisode 62: Bastards of Burgundy
Two Portraits of Antoine, the Grand Bastard of Burgundy, painted by Northern Renaissance Masters Rogier van der Weyden (left) and Hans Memling (right). Philip the Good was known to suffer from the ‘weakness of the flesh.’ The Duke of Burgundy had dozens of mistresses and bastards throughout his life, so…
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Grand Dukes of the West 