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A review by durrenmatt
Burgund: Das verschwundene Reich by Bart van Loo
5.0
A fantastic history and one of the most interesting books I have ever read.
It tells the tale of the Burgundians from its beginnings in the mist of the 4th century to its heyday in the 14th and 15th century. The focus lies on the four Valois Dukes (+-1363-1477) and on the Burgundian rule of the Low Countries, with Bruges, Ghent and Brussels as the main cities. You basically get four biographies in one: Philips the Bold, John the Fearless, Philips the Good and Charles the Bold. And they are all the stuff of legends. Legends that we don't know, or at least I didn't, despite being Dutch. Our history classes tend to start with the 80 years' war against the Spanish that started in the 16th century.
On top of the chronological main storyline there are countless interesting digressions neatly woven into the text, for instance on art (Jan van Eyk, Rogier van der Weijden), church, chivalry, economy and trade, the role of women, warfare, nobility vs merchants - all in flux as traditional structures at the end of the middle ages start to shift.
Why is it so fascinating? Because of the period, because it doesn't presuppose lots of background knowledge, because it is supremely readable (the Flemish author's control of the Dutch language is phenomenal) and accessible (it is clearly popular history and I am sure critical scholars will raise an eyebrow here and there), and because the original Burgundian perspective works brilliantly as a storyline.
As the Burgundians were in a sense foreign rulers in a time there was no real Belgium or the Netherlands, this is a period that, especially in the Netherlands, is by and large ignored. I guess the Burgundian Dukes are largely forgotten everywhere else as well, except maybe for Dijon, simply because they don't exist anymore - the Duchy was more or less silently incorporated into France and the Low Countries became more Spanish as the Burgundian Duke Charles V and his son Filips II were more Spanish than Burgundian. However, the book makes a convincing case that the Burgundian era laid, in a surprising number of ways, the basis of Belgium and the Netherlands we know and live in today.
The book is somewhat of a hit here and I hope it will be translated and find the audience it deserves abroad!
It tells the tale of the Burgundians from its beginnings in the mist of the 4th century to its heyday in the 14th and 15th century. The focus lies on the four Valois Dukes (+-1363-1477) and on the Burgundian rule of the Low Countries, with Bruges, Ghent and Brussels as the main cities. You basically get four biographies in one: Philips the Bold, John the Fearless, Philips the Good and Charles the Bold. And they are all the stuff of legends. Legends that we don't know, or at least I didn't, despite being Dutch. Our history classes tend to start with the 80 years' war against the Spanish that started in the 16th century.
On top of the chronological main storyline there are countless interesting digressions neatly woven into the text, for instance on art (Jan van Eyk, Rogier van der Weijden), church, chivalry, economy and trade, the role of women, warfare, nobility vs merchants - all in flux as traditional structures at the end of the middle ages start to shift.
Why is it so fascinating? Because of the period, because it doesn't presuppose lots of background knowledge, because it is supremely readable (the Flemish author's control of the Dutch language is phenomenal) and accessible (it is clearly popular history and I am sure critical scholars will raise an eyebrow here and there), and because the original Burgundian perspective works brilliantly as a storyline.
As the Burgundians were in a sense foreign rulers in a time there was no real Belgium or the Netherlands, this is a period that, especially in the Netherlands, is by and large ignored. I guess the Burgundian Dukes are largely forgotten everywhere else as well, except maybe for Dijon, simply because they don't exist anymore - the Duchy was more or less silently incorporated into France and the Low Countries became more Spanish as the Burgundian Duke Charles V and his son Filips II were more Spanish than Burgundian. However, the book makes a convincing case that the Burgundian era laid, in a surprising number of ways, the basis of Belgium and the Netherlands we know and live in today.
The book is somewhat of a hit here and I hope it will be translated and find the audience it deserves abroad!