Philip provided minimal support for the government of Henry VI of England and later
realigned himself with Charles VII in 1435 (Treaty of Arras). Fearing a revitalized
monarchy, Philip abstained from the decisive campaigns of the Hundred Years’ War and
sheltered the fugitive dauphin after 1456. The failure of such efforts became manifest
when his son, the future Charles the Bold, assumed control of Burgundy in 1464 and
launched the Guerre du bien publique against Louis XI. Philip’s rule thus ended as it
began, with Valois France and Valois Burgundy inextricably locked in mortal conflict.
Philip’s most celebrated achievement was to make chivalric culture an instrument of
policy. The creation of the Order of the Golden Fleece in 1430 provided a diplomatic tool
linking the nobility of his disparate territories and precluding their affiliation with any
other prince. Even such ostentatious festivals as the Pheasant Banquet in 1454 had
political value, for through such devices the prestige of the Valois dukes reached its
zenith. Philip himself was a model of late-medieval chivalry: handsome, courageous,
pious, self-indulgent, extravagant. He maintained mistresses and bastards throughout his
lands yet made heartfelt, albeit unfulfilled, promises to go on crusade. He is remembered
as “the Good” above all for the talented artists who gave him the accolade and
immortalized Burgundy in tapestries, the paintings of van Eyck, and literature ranging
from the Cent nouvelles nouvelles to the histories of Chastellain. He may seem less
successful in retrospect than he did at the time, but Burgundy was a phantasm and Philip
sustained it the best of all his line.
Paul D.Solon
See also: ARISTOCRATIC REVOLT; BEDFORD, JOHN OF LANCASTER, DUKE
OF; BURGUNDY; CHARLES VII; CHARLES THE BOLD; CHASTELLAIN,
GEORGES; GOLDEN FLEECE; HENRY V; HUNDRED YEARS’ WAR; VALOIS
DYNASTY; VAN EYCK, JAN]
Bonenfant, Paul. Philippe le Bon. Brussels: La Renaissance du Livre, 1955.
Cartellieri, Otto. The Court of Burgundy: Studies in the History of Civilization. New York: Askell
House, 1970.
Huizinga, Johan. The Waning of the Middle Ages: A Study of the Forms of Life, Thought and Art in
France and the Netherlands in the Dawn of the Renaissance. London: Arnold, 1924.
Vaughn, Richard. Philip the Good: The Apogee of Burgundy. London: Longman, 1970.
——. Valois Burgundy. London: Lane, 1975.
PHILIPPE D’ALSACE
(1144–1191). The son of Thierry d’Alsace, count of Flanders, Philippe d’Alsace assumed
power in the county when his father went to Palestine in 1157. He promoted clearance
and new settlements and furthered the cities’ economic interests while refusing them any
role in the governance of Flanders. His marriage to Elizabeth, daughter of Raoul V de
Vermandois, was childless, but he became count of Vermandois in 1163 and thereby
ruled the largest territory ever held by a Flemish count.
The bonds between the count of Flanders and the French crown became intimate under
Philippe. His heir was the son of his sister Marguerite, wife of Baudouin V of Hainaut.
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