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The Dukes of Burgundy
John the Fearless: The Growth of Burgundian Power
The aims and personality of the second duke are illuminated, and the development of the Burgundian state during his ducal reign (1404-1419) charted. His supposed 'infernal pact' with the English and his assassination are examined;his activities in France are studied, as he exploited French resources for the benefit of Burgundy.
John the Fearless, second Duke of Burgundy, is one of the more dramatic and puzzling characters among medieval rulers. He inherited the newly created duchy from his father, and defended and developed its power ruthlessly during his ducal reign (1404-1419). In the process, he allied himself with the English party in France, with whom he was supposed to have made an 'infernal pact', and came to dominate French politics; his manoeuvres led directly to his assassination on the bridge of Montereau in the presence of Charles, dauphin of France, who may have been personally involved. Indeed, the main theme of the book is John the Fearless's activities in France, which are seen in the light of the continued need to exploit French resources for the benefit of Burgundy. John also continued to build on the administrative and financial structures created by his father, which were the mainstay of the ducal power, andhe had to deal with the restlessness of the Flemish towns, only recently made part of the Burgundian state.More than any other Burgundian ruler, it is John's personality which determines the course of violent and unscrupulous, one quality which John the Fearless completely lacked was prudence. He was a masterful opportunist, who acted impulsively with speed and decision, on the spur of the moment. In the end it was one of his own favoured weapons, political assassination, which was turned against him.
John the Fearless, second Duke of Burgundy, is one of the more dramatic and puzzling characters among medieval rulers. He inherited the newly created duchy from his father, and defended and developed its power ruthlessly during his ducal reign (1404-1419). In the process, he allied himself with the English party in France, with whom he was supposed to have made an 'infernal pact', and came to dominate French politics; his manoeuvres led directly to his assassination on the bridge of Montereau in the presence of Charles, dauphin of France, who may have been personally involved. Indeed, the main theme of the book is John the Fearless's activities in France, which are seen in the light of the continued need to exploit French resources for the benefit of Burgundy. John also continued to build on the administrative and financial structures created by his father, which were the mainstay of the ducal power, andhe had to deal with the restlessness of the Flemish towns, only recently made part of the Burgundian state.More than any other Burgundian ruler, it is John's personality which determines the course of violent and unscrupulous, one quality which John the Fearless completely lacked was prudence. He was a masterful opportunist, who acted impulsively with speed and decision, on the spur of the moment. In the end it was one of his own favoured weapons, political assassination, which was turned against him.
360 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1979
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October 19, 2025
Professor Richard Vaughan Examines The Reign Of John The Fearless & The Growth Of Burgundian Power.
Bertrand Schnerb, Professor Emeritus of Medieval History from the University of of Lille-III, opens his introduction to the 2002 edition of Richard Vaughan's John The Fearless: The Growth Of Burgundian Power, with a series of bold statements regarding the long-lasting impact to modern scholarship that Vaughn's groundbreaking research on John the Fearless has had in the years since his study was first released : "The publication in 1966 of Vaughan's John the Fearless - The Growth of Burgundian Power signified a major contribution to Burgundian studies and to French historiography of the early fifteenth century. It is now quite impossible to examine the construction of the Burgundian state or the reign of the French king Charles VI without reference to this richly informative work, the product of profound reflection. Every single book and article which has appeared since the late 1960's concerning any aspect of the life or deeds of John the Fearless is indebted, in some way or another, to the research of Richard Vaughan."
This revised 2002 edition of John The Fearless : The Growth Of Burgundian Power features a main text which is 287 pages in length & divided into 10 chapters, followed by a 19-page bibliography of Professor Vaughan's predominantly French literary sources & an index located at the back of the volume. The author has also included several interesting photographs of locations such as the tour de Jean sans peur on the rue Etienne Marcel, in Paris, as well as several illuminated manuscripts, among them Jehan Petit's Justification de duc de Bourgogne & Pierre Salmon's Traictés de Pierre Salemon a Charles VI roy de France. There are also various maps of the Two Burgundies, Flanders & the Low Countries, one of which is a helpful diagram depicting the inheritances of John the Fearless & his 2 brothers, Duke Anthony of Brabant & Count Philip of Nevers.
John the Fearless, formerly John of Nevers, was the eldest son of the Duke of Burgundy, Philip the Bold & his wife, the Duchess Margaret of Male. The majority of his reign is overshadowed with the outbreak of the Armagnac–Burgundian Civil War, which lasted from 3 November 1407 – 21 September 1435 & represented in many ways the struggle between Louis I of Orleans & John the Fearless, both princes of the blood, for control of the French government. The Armagnac-Burgundian rivalry was bitter & longstanding, & was rooted in the power vacuum caused by the madness of the French king, Charles VI, who was called 'the Beloved' before he became known as 'the Mad'.
Although the ill-fated expedition to Hungary in 1396 led by John that came to be known as the crusade of Nicopolis ended in an utter disaster for the Burgundians, during the 2 year venture & his consequent captivity at the hands of Sultan Bayazid John learned a great deal about military operations & strategy, as evinced by Professor Vaughn's astute appraisal of his skill on the battlefield early on in the study's first chapter, 'John The Fearless & His Inheritance': "Subsequent military history shows conclusively that John had not failed, at Nicopolis, to learn some important lessons on the art of warfare from the fatal errors and vain, uncalculating precipitation of the military advisers his father had appointed over his head: he became the only one of the four Valois dukes of Burgundy who really knew how to use an army." Vaughan does an excellent job in Chapter 1 of establishing a picture of John's early life prior to becoming Duke of Burgundy, as well as fleshing out the convoluted exchange of lands & titles which tells the story of how John & his brothers, Anthony & Philip, came into their inheritances, with the former becoming Duke of Brabant & Limbourg, & the latter gaining the titles of Count of Nevers & Rethel.
The funeral procession for John the Fearless' father, Philip the Bold, was an elaborate affair which was to traverse 300 miles & make stops at 12 different churches as it wended its way from Hal to Dijon, & word was sent ahead to Dino Rapondi, the late duke's Lucchese banker, to dispatch a number of cloths of Lucca for the cortège to present at each stop along its journey. Plate & silverware from Philip's household which was valued at 6,000 gold crowns was pawned off to help defray the cost of this extravagant funeral, which involved commissioning a 700-lb. coffin in which to lay the duke's body & over 3,000 ells of black cloth imported from Brussels. Vaughan describes the breathtaking funeral carriage & other aspects of the procession in the following passage : "The hearse was draped with a magnificent pall of cloth-of-gold, edged with black, adorned, in the centre, with a crimson velvet cross. At each corner fluttered a blue banner emblazoned with the arms of Philip the Bold. It was drawn by six horses caparisoned in black, & followed by sixty mourners or pleurants dressed in black gowns with ample hoods." This second volume of Vaughan's 4-book set on the Valois dukes of Burgundy features an overall more cohesive narrative structure than the previous entry which mainly focuses on the political career of Philip the Bold & the component parts of the medieval Burgundian & Flemish governments, & it expands upon many of the core concepts which were explored in the first volume, such as the makeup of the Four Members of Flanders, & the constituent parts of the Two Burgundies & the Low Countries, & as such, it is recommended for the reader to have completed Philip The Bold - The Formation Of The Burgundian State prior to beginning this study.
Following the death of John the Fearless' mother Margaret of Male on 16 March 1405, the Four Members of Flanders, which was a coalition of the Flemish cities of Ghent, Bruges, Ypres & the Franc, or castellany, of Bruges, sent a delegation to John at Arras which initially was to invite him to Flanders to hammer out an agreement with the English & restructure the ducal council at Lille. After his arrival on Easter, however, John the Fearless found an elaborate written document awaiting him with a series of the Four Members' appeals concerning the administration & leadership of the region, one of which is a request for John's residence to be in a Flemish town of his own choosing. Professor Vaughan records the duke's reply in 'Flanders: 1405-9', a subsection of Chapter 1 : John The Fearless & His Inheritance : "That the duke has always been extremely fond of Flanders & has had great pleasure in visiting it, all the more so now that he has become its lord and prince. He fully intends to reside in Flanders. When he must be absent, he will leave his wife there with full powers and councillors familiar with the country; and if, when he is away he should find it necessary, whether for the wedding of one of his children or for some other reason, to have his wife with him, he will leave some of his councillors to look after things in Flanders."
John the Fearless' chief opponent & bitter rival at the court of the French king, Charles VI 'the Mad' was Louis of Orleans, a powerful French nobleman & prince of the blood who was married to Valentina Visconti, the only daughter of the Milanese despot, Giangaleazzo Visconti, & was rumored to have had an affair with the French queen herself, Isabeau of Bavaria. Louis was fabulously wealthy, & he derived a great deal of his fiscal revenue from the French crown, as can be seen in Professor Vaughan's breakdown in Chapter 2 : Louis Of Orleans. Louis' income from 1404-5 consisted of 250,158 livres of Tours acquired from royal gifts, 159,000 l. originated from royal aides granted to him, & only 45,000 l. came from his own lands & holdings, adding up to a considerable yearly income of 454,158 livres of Tours. There are 2 exceptional studies of Giangaleazzo Visconti available in English which should find appeal with the reader who is curious to learn more about the enigmatic first Duke of Milan - E.R. Chamberlin's 1965 The Count Of Virtue, & D.M. Bueno de Mesquita's Giangaleazzo Visconti, Duke Of Milan (1351-1402). Both titles offer different formats & a diverse variety of information on this intriguing figure from the Italian Late Middle Age, & are highly recommended.
One of Professor Vaughan's primary areas of focus in Chapter 2, Louis of Orleans: 1404-7, is his fascinating comparison between the reigns of Philip the Bold & John the Fearless regarding the amount of financial assistance each duke received from the French crown. From 1402-4, the last 2 years of Philip the Bold's reign, the duke received a grand total of 387,541 francs from the court of Charles VI, while his son John the Fearless from the years 1405-7 received the comparatively miniscule sum of 39,000 francs in receipts from royal gifts & pensions, & Vaughan provides an itemized list reflecting John's ensuing effort in the winter of 1406-7 to recoup the enormous sum of 347,591 francs owed to him by the crown, a number which includes an outstanding pension of 45,300 francs payable to John following his father's death in 1404 & a staggering debt of 189,666 francs still owed to Philip the Bold which was unpaid as of 15 April 1407. The author's thorough research & attention to detail combine with his superior skills as a writer to render this section one of the study's most engrossing chapters.
John The Fearless: The Growth Of Burgundian Power is a fascinating & thought-provoking journey through the reign of one of the more controversial rulers in French history. Utilizing the first volume which concerns the life & reign of Philip the Bold as a solid foundation, Professor Richard Vaughan deftly weaves a rich narrative intermeshed with the high drama of Louis of Orleans & John the Fearless' fierce political rivalry that should find appeal with readers seeking a well-written political biography on an intriguing yet seldom-examined historical figure from France's Late Middle Age. Vaughan underwent an enormous amount of painstaking historical research while composing this excellent study, & his unprecedented access to French literary sources gives English audiences an opportunity to enjoy learning about who is possibly the most colorful of the Valois dukes of Burgundy. The Roman Papacy's struggle with its Avignon counterpart is the subject of the study's 3rd chapter, Liège, & was one of the major motivating factors in John the Fearless' war with the city of Liège, & readers who are intrigued to learn more about this period are encouraged to try Professor Joëlle Rollo-Koster's 2015 Avignon & Its Papacy, 1309-1417 : Popes, Institutions, & Society.
Bertrand Schnerb, Professor Emeritus of Medieval History from the University of of Lille-III, opens his introduction to the 2002 edition of Richard Vaughan's John The Fearless: The Growth Of Burgundian Power, with a series of bold statements regarding the long-lasting impact to modern scholarship that Vaughn's groundbreaking research on John the Fearless has had in the years since his study was first released : "The publication in 1966 of Vaughan's John the Fearless - The Growth of Burgundian Power signified a major contribution to Burgundian studies and to French historiography of the early fifteenth century. It is now quite impossible to examine the construction of the Burgundian state or the reign of the French king Charles VI without reference to this richly informative work, the product of profound reflection. Every single book and article which has appeared since the late 1960's concerning any aspect of the life or deeds of John the Fearless is indebted, in some way or another, to the research of Richard Vaughan."
This revised 2002 edition of John The Fearless : The Growth Of Burgundian Power features a main text which is 287 pages in length & divided into 10 chapters, followed by a 19-page bibliography of Professor Vaughan's predominantly French literary sources & an index located at the back of the volume. The author has also included several interesting photographs of locations such as the tour de Jean sans peur on the rue Etienne Marcel, in Paris, as well as several illuminated manuscripts, among them Jehan Petit's Justification de duc de Bourgogne & Pierre Salmon's Traictés de Pierre Salemon a Charles VI roy de France. There are also various maps of the Two Burgundies, Flanders & the Low Countries, one of which is a helpful diagram depicting the inheritances of John the Fearless & his 2 brothers, Duke Anthony of Brabant & Count Philip of Nevers.
John the Fearless, formerly John of Nevers, was the eldest son of the Duke of Burgundy, Philip the Bold & his wife, the Duchess Margaret of Male. The majority of his reign is overshadowed with the outbreak of the Armagnac–Burgundian Civil War, which lasted from 3 November 1407 – 21 September 1435 & represented in many ways the struggle between Louis I of Orleans & John the Fearless, both princes of the blood, for control of the French government. The Armagnac-Burgundian rivalry was bitter & longstanding, & was rooted in the power vacuum caused by the madness of the French king, Charles VI, who was called 'the Beloved' before he became known as 'the Mad'.
Although the ill-fated expedition to Hungary in 1396 led by John that came to be known as the crusade of Nicopolis ended in an utter disaster for the Burgundians, during the 2 year venture & his consequent captivity at the hands of Sultan Bayazid John learned a great deal about military operations & strategy, as evinced by Professor Vaughn's astute appraisal of his skill on the battlefield early on in the study's first chapter, 'John The Fearless & His Inheritance': "Subsequent military history shows conclusively that John had not failed, at Nicopolis, to learn some important lessons on the art of warfare from the fatal errors and vain, uncalculating precipitation of the military advisers his father had appointed over his head: he became the only one of the four Valois dukes of Burgundy who really knew how to use an army." Vaughan does an excellent job in Chapter 1 of establishing a picture of John's early life prior to becoming Duke of Burgundy, as well as fleshing out the convoluted exchange of lands & titles which tells the story of how John & his brothers, Anthony & Philip, came into their inheritances, with the former becoming Duke of Brabant & Limbourg, & the latter gaining the titles of Count of Nevers & Rethel.
The funeral procession for John the Fearless' father, Philip the Bold, was an elaborate affair which was to traverse 300 miles & make stops at 12 different churches as it wended its way from Hal to Dijon, & word was sent ahead to Dino Rapondi, the late duke's Lucchese banker, to dispatch a number of cloths of Lucca for the cortège to present at each stop along its journey. Plate & silverware from Philip's household which was valued at 6,000 gold crowns was pawned off to help defray the cost of this extravagant funeral, which involved commissioning a 700-lb. coffin in which to lay the duke's body & over 3,000 ells of black cloth imported from Brussels. Vaughan describes the breathtaking funeral carriage & other aspects of the procession in the following passage : "The hearse was draped with a magnificent pall of cloth-of-gold, edged with black, adorned, in the centre, with a crimson velvet cross. At each corner fluttered a blue banner emblazoned with the arms of Philip the Bold. It was drawn by six horses caparisoned in black, & followed by sixty mourners or pleurants dressed in black gowns with ample hoods." This second volume of Vaughan's 4-book set on the Valois dukes of Burgundy features an overall more cohesive narrative structure than the previous entry which mainly focuses on the political career of Philip the Bold & the component parts of the medieval Burgundian & Flemish governments, & it expands upon many of the core concepts which were explored in the first volume, such as the makeup of the Four Members of Flanders, & the constituent parts of the Two Burgundies & the Low Countries, & as such, it is recommended for the reader to have completed Philip The Bold - The Formation Of The Burgundian State prior to beginning this study.
Following the death of John the Fearless' mother Margaret of Male on 16 March 1405, the Four Members of Flanders, which was a coalition of the Flemish cities of Ghent, Bruges, Ypres & the Franc, or castellany, of Bruges, sent a delegation to John at Arras which initially was to invite him to Flanders to hammer out an agreement with the English & restructure the ducal council at Lille. After his arrival on Easter, however, John the Fearless found an elaborate written document awaiting him with a series of the Four Members' appeals concerning the administration & leadership of the region, one of which is a request for John's residence to be in a Flemish town of his own choosing. Professor Vaughan records the duke's reply in 'Flanders: 1405-9', a subsection of Chapter 1 : John The Fearless & His Inheritance : "That the duke has always been extremely fond of Flanders & has had great pleasure in visiting it, all the more so now that he has become its lord and prince. He fully intends to reside in Flanders. When he must be absent, he will leave his wife there with full powers and councillors familiar with the country; and if, when he is away he should find it necessary, whether for the wedding of one of his children or for some other reason, to have his wife with him, he will leave some of his councillors to look after things in Flanders."
John the Fearless' chief opponent & bitter rival at the court of the French king, Charles VI 'the Mad' was Louis of Orleans, a powerful French nobleman & prince of the blood who was married to Valentina Visconti, the only daughter of the Milanese despot, Giangaleazzo Visconti, & was rumored to have had an affair with the French queen herself, Isabeau of Bavaria. Louis was fabulously wealthy, & he derived a great deal of his fiscal revenue from the French crown, as can be seen in Professor Vaughan's breakdown in Chapter 2 : Louis Of Orleans. Louis' income from 1404-5 consisted of 250,158 livres of Tours acquired from royal gifts, 159,000 l. originated from royal aides granted to him, & only 45,000 l. came from his own lands & holdings, adding up to a considerable yearly income of 454,158 livres of Tours. There are 2 exceptional studies of Giangaleazzo Visconti available in English which should find appeal with the reader who is curious to learn more about the enigmatic first Duke of Milan - E.R. Chamberlin's 1965 The Count Of Virtue, & D.M. Bueno de Mesquita's Giangaleazzo Visconti, Duke Of Milan (1351-1402). Both titles offer different formats & a diverse variety of information on this intriguing figure from the Italian Late Middle Age, & are highly recommended.
One of Professor Vaughan's primary areas of focus in Chapter 2, Louis of Orleans: 1404-7, is his fascinating comparison between the reigns of Philip the Bold & John the Fearless regarding the amount of financial assistance each duke received from the French crown. From 1402-4, the last 2 years of Philip the Bold's reign, the duke received a grand total of 387,541 francs from the court of Charles VI, while his son John the Fearless from the years 1405-7 received the comparatively miniscule sum of 39,000 francs in receipts from royal gifts & pensions, & Vaughan provides an itemized list reflecting John's ensuing effort in the winter of 1406-7 to recoup the enormous sum of 347,591 francs owed to him by the crown, a number which includes an outstanding pension of 45,300 francs payable to John following his father's death in 1404 & a staggering debt of 189,666 francs still owed to Philip the Bold which was unpaid as of 15 April 1407. The author's thorough research & attention to detail combine with his superior skills as a writer to render this section one of the study's most engrossing chapters.
John The Fearless: The Growth Of Burgundian Power is a fascinating & thought-provoking journey through the reign of one of the more controversial rulers in French history. Utilizing the first volume which concerns the life & reign of Philip the Bold as a solid foundation, Professor Richard Vaughan deftly weaves a rich narrative intermeshed with the high drama of Louis of Orleans & John the Fearless' fierce political rivalry that should find appeal with readers seeking a well-written political biography on an intriguing yet seldom-examined historical figure from France's Late Middle Age. Vaughan underwent an enormous amount of painstaking historical research while composing this excellent study, & his unprecedented access to French literary sources gives English audiences an opportunity to enjoy learning about who is possibly the most colorful of the Valois dukes of Burgundy. The Roman Papacy's struggle with its Avignon counterpart is the subject of the study's 3rd chapter, Liège, & was one of the major motivating factors in John the Fearless' war with the city of Liège, & readers who are intrigued to learn more about this period are encouraged to try Professor Joëlle Rollo-Koster's 2015 Avignon & Its Papacy, 1309-1417 : Popes, Institutions, & Society.
April 19, 2022
This was a great find (so sad that this library book was only checked out twice, in 1971). I admit that it is not light reading; this biography gives us everything we wanted to know about John the Fearless and then some. What I like is that the author was not an apologist; nor did he condemn the actions of this unscrupulous duke. He was totally neutral throughout, which I found quite refreshing. I think he put it in a nutshell in his conclusion: “John the Fearless pursued the same aims as his father, which were, broadly speaking, the aims of all the rulers of those days—self-aggrandizement. And in the case of Burgundy, this self-aggrandizement took the deliberate, purposeful, form of exploitation of the weaknesses of both France and the Empire, in order to further the interests and enhance the power, of Burgundy.” And man, did he ever! If we look at his career as an attempt to aggrandize Burgundy at the expense of everything else, many of his actions make sense…even the murder of Louis Duke of Orleans. Of course, to the modern eye he was a rascally, double-dealing, conniving reprobate, but there’s no getting around the fact that throughout most of his reign, he was incredibly popular with the citizens of Paris—who mattered—and his own people. As a ruler, he was fair and deliberate. It’s quite a strange dichotomy, and I found it fascinating. A lot of documentation has survived from this period, and many letters and treaty terms are quoted in full. It really does help fill in the gaps. If you are interested in this period, I would highly recommend this book.
March 26, 2023
Funner and funnier than the previous book, if only because Philip was primarily greedy where John's virtues were of a bloodier sort. Too little on the Burgundian & Flemish economies, but very good on the political process of constructing the Burgundian alliance system in the low countries.
November 10, 2020
Way more readable than I had expected of a political history written in the nineteen seventies. I really enjoyed this and look forward to the next one.
August 9, 2017
Link to my review of this book:
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https://flhwnotesandreviews.com/2017/...
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