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Radio War Nerd EP #182 — Annibale's The Hundred Years War, Part V: Rise of Burgundy & the "Universal Spider King" Louis XI (Patreon)

Published:
2019-05-29 01:58:14
Edited:
2020-04-28 15:20:24
Imported:
2026-06
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Guest: Annibale

Recorded: May 23, 2019

Officially, the Hundred Years War ended in 1453. In reality, the war didn't really resolve itself for at least another couple of decades — in the showdown between the Kingdom of France and the once-mighty Duchy of Burgundy. In this two-part finale, popular guest Annibale takes us through the lost history of the Burgundian Empire going back to the late Roman era, up to the period of the Hundred Years War, when Burgundy, allied with England, was perhaps Europe's wealthiest "state." We're also introduced to the two main protagonists in this showdown: "the Universal Spider King" Louis XI, and Burgundian Duke Charles "The Rash". (Episode 183 is the second part in this final chapter of our Hundred Years War series.)

Maps:

*Bornholm Island, Denmark: earliest Burgundian settlement?

*Kingdom of Burgundy, 5th century AD

*Kingdom of Burgundy at collapse of Roman Empire, 476 AD

*Burgundy within Frankish Empire, 6th c. - 9th c.

* Burgundy, 9th - 10th c.

*Burgundy's peak & fall, 1465-1477

*Burgundy today

Listen to Annibale's RWN series on the Hundred Years War: Part I, Part II, Part III: Joan of Arc, Part IV: France Victorious. Follow Annibale on Twitter. 

Total time: 2:05:10

Direct link to this episode's mp3 here.

Files

Comments

Scorched Earth

Louise’s got a pretty big shnoz going on there. Wherever he goes, it arrives 5 minutes before he does.

Stephen Quinn

Absolutely my favourite series so far. The only introduction I've had to the hundred years war was A Distant Mirror, and that really doesn't cover anywhere near as much of the really interesting stuff that Annibale goes over. I think it would be fantastic if you guys could get someone as knowledgeable as he is to do some other multi-part series on events too complex for single episodes, like the thirty years war.

THEKILLERWHALE

On the subject of the discussion at 18-20 minutes, this obligation to leave your possessions to your children actually continues to this day in France. For example, a friend of mine took over his father's farm and his father had to gift his brother a chunk of money equal to the farm at the same time. Disinheritance is generally pretty difficult. I wonder how much is organic continuation from Frankish law and how much came from Napoleons head or other more modern sources?

xnfec

Fun fact, in the 50's British film comedy, Passport to Pimlico, the residents of the district of Pimlico in London discover they are part of Burgundy and thus independant of of the rest of the UK. It requires some suspension of belief but is quite a famous film and interesting for its views of post-blitz London. Is the League of Public Welfare the first instance of astro-turfing?

Henry

How does one person know so much? Is Annibale just some sort of historical hive mind? We should play a game where in the comments we just throw out Medievalish or Italian topics and see if he could do an episode on it. Round 1: Jan Zizka? 1527 sack of Rome (rather funny book about it by Luigi Guicciardini)? The Northern Crusades? El Cid?

Annibale

Not sure about being the first instance, but yes, it was astro-turfing in the modern sense. When Paris was besieged and Louie XI went to Normandy to raise support, the League sent a parley to the Paris parliament to explain their position and the speech they made was all "we're on the common people side, we will lower the taxes, return to the good 'ole ways, etc". Commynes, who was amazingly cynical on such matters, even if in 1468 was an advisor of Le Temeraire, wrote: "very quickly the public welfare dissolved into the personal gain".

Annibale

This very kind from you, but I just know really well a limited number of topics :) For instance, Sack of Rome and Northern Crusades yes, Hussite revolt and El Cid not so much. And it's when it goes beyond Italian history of the XX century is mostly a personal interest only: a serious historian (I know a few of them) would be horrified by my simplifications.

Avery

Thanks for the details Annibale. It's interesting how very familiar it all sounds, compared to Roman Senate debates which are recognizably human but politically quite alien.

Scorched Earth

Louise XI sounds like what modern psychologists would call an INTJ Sigma-Male. He exhibits all the traits. His ruthless pursuit of efficiency and non-concern for what anyone thought of it are classic traits of this personality type.

Scorched Earth

And that headwear looks like a precursor to the 50’s-60’s fedora.

MS

Good episode. You could probably do a whole episode about early Swiss militarism, from Murten to Marignano. It's an interesting and (outside of Switzerland) not very well known story.

Ellen Harold

I wish you would do a program about the Sack of Rome -- that period is so murky & complex. These shows about Burgundy are wonderful (looking back two months).