Charles, Duke of Burgundy (10 November 1433 – 5 January 1477), also known as Charles the Bold ("Charles le Téméraire" in French) was Duke of Burgundy and held several territories in the Low Countries.
The might of the Burgundian state had grown steadily since King John II of France had given Burgundy to his youngest son Philip the Bold. His grandson Philip the Good acted more like a sovereign of his own state than as a feudal lord of France. During The Hundred Years War, he sided with the English for quite a while and kept amassing territories. Philip the Good married Isabella of Portugal and together they had one son: Charles. Charles married Catherine of France when he was young, but she died when he was still young.
Charles married Isabella of Bourbon as part of a truce. They were much in love with each other, and in great contrast to his father, Charles was faithful to her. They had one daughter, Mary, Duchess of Burgundy, before Isabella died young.
Though he loved his father, he would sometimes get into conflict with him as well. Charles became more politically active as his father's reign came to an end, and was known to be merciless to any cities that would rise against him.
King Louis XI was aiming for France to become a centralized country, and Burgundy was the biggest thorn in his side. After Charles became duke in 1467, he and Louis had a meeting at Péronne. It was there that he found out that the French king was behind a revolt in Liège. To save himself, Louis agreed to help him put down the revolt. Since then, they were at each other's throats. Louis took the Somme towns and Charles invaded France, without much lasting result.
Charles married Margaret of York, sister of Edward IV of England, to strengthen their alliance. The marriage was not a total disaster, but they had no children and he did not love her like Isabella. Margaret would be a great supporter of his daughter Mary in her reign, though.
After all the struggle with France, Charles got into conflict with smaller states to the east as well. The Swiss defeated him at Grandson and Morat, in which he lost a lot of booty and a big part of his army. He was killed at the siege of Nancy against Duke of Lorraine René II in 1477 (his corpse was reportedly found naked with half of his face eaten by wolves).
Portrayals of Charles the Bold in fiction:
- Quentin Durward (1823 novel) and Anne of Geierstein (1829 novel), both by Walter Scott.
- The Adventures of Quentin Durward (1955 film), portrayed by Alec Clunes.
- Quentin Durward (1971 mini-series), portrayed by William Sabatier.
- Yolanda (1921 film), portrayed by Lyn Harding.
- The Miracle of the Wolves (1961 film), portrayed by Roger Hanin.
- Van Nul tot Nu (1982, Dutch comic book) by Thom Roep and Co Loerakker.
- Een Masker van Ijs (1987 children's book) by Anny Matti and Wim Spekking.
- Maximilian (2017 mini-series), his dead body after the siege of Nancy.
Tropes associated with Charles the Bold in fiction:
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: In Quentin Durward (and many other fictions), Charles is the red, temperamental oni to Louis XI's cooly calculating blue oni.
