Anthony, bastard of Burgundy

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Antoine de Bourgogne
Roman Catholicism

Antoine de Bourgogne (1421 – 5 May 1504), known to his contemporaries as the Bastard of Burgundy or Le grand bâtard ("the Great Bastard"), was the natural son (and second child) of

Philip III, Duke of Burgundy, and one of his mistresses, Jeanne de Presle.[1] He was comte de La Roche (Ardenne), de Grandpré, de Sainte-Menehould et de Guînes, seigneur de Crèvecoeur, Beveren et Tournehem, and chevalier of the Golden Fleece
.

Life

Born in 1421, possibly at

Corneille, bastard of Burgundy
(died 1452), he was the favourite amongst the many natural children of Philip the Good. In 1459, he married Marie de la Viesville by whom he had five children.

Anthony fought for his father on several campaigns, from at least 1451 onwards, and in 1464 left for a

King Edward IV for a stay in England during which he jousted against Anthony Woodville, 2nd Earl Rivers
, the queen's brother, in a famous contest which spread over two days. During this visit, which extended into the summer of 1467, Anthony's father, Philip the Good, died, and Anthony had to hurry back across the channel.

After the death of his father, Anthony participated in nearly every campaign led by the new duke, his half-brother

chaplains
.

Anthony, bastard of Burgundy. Portrait attributed to Hans Memling, 1467–70.

In contrast to his rather ascetic younger half-brother Charles, it seems that Anthony inherited his father's sexual proclivities: at the chapter of the

Louis XI of France
.

At the disastrous siege of Beauvais in 1472, Antoine reportedly lost his best jewels. In 1475, he was again sent as a diplomat to the King of England, the Duke of Brittany, the Kings of Sicily, Portugal, Aragon and Naples, and to Venice and the Pope, who received him with great honour. In the middle of these travels, he managed to find time to call in at the siege of Neuss, and later that year he participated in the conquest of the Duchy of Lorraine.

In 1476–1477, he fought alongside Charles the Bold at the three great battles of

Murten and Nancy, and was taken hostage at the end of the latter by René II, Duke of Lorraine, and delivered to the King of France, who was anxious that Burgundy should never again rebel. But Antoine had no interest in making trouble, and he offered Louis his services to help stabilize the precarious political situation. He was instrumental in arranging the marriage of Duchess Mary, his niece and only child and successor of Charles the Bold, to Maximilian of Austria
.

He was a significant collector of

Froissart in four volumes. Like many other major patrons, Anthony has had an unknown illuminator he commissioned named for him – the "Master of Anthony of Burgundy" was first named in 1921, and worked in Bruges in the 1460s and 1470s for many leading bibliophiles.[3]

The young King

in 1504.

Arms

Notes

  1. ^ Richard Vaughan, Philip the Good: The Apogee of Burgundy, (Boydell Press, 2002), 134–135.
  2. ^ Richard Vaughan, Philip the Good: The Apogee of Burgundy, 386.

References