Chales the VII (the Bold) was never King of Burgundy, indeed the title of King of Burgundy had lapsed when the territory had been incorporated into the Kingdom of France. Charles was actually the Duke of Burgundy a member of a cadet branch of the French Royal House of Valois but although ostensibly a vassal of King Louis XI of France the two states were rivals and had been for some time. It was in 1004ad when the lands that would become the Duchy of Burgundy were incorporated into France by the Capetian Kings. Robert II awarded it to his second son Robert (the Old) as a peace settlement when he contested the throne with his elder brother Henry and lost. There followed a long line of Capet Dukes untill John II (the second Valois King) claimed the Duchy as John I by right of being the closest male heir of the last Capet Duke Philip I who had died without male issue in 1350ad (here I must claim ignorance of the next decade as John was invested only in 1361ad) I do know that Johns claim was weak, he claimed that on the death of Philip I of Rouvres without male issue the Duchy of Burgundy lying within France escheated to the French Crown this was simply untrue, if proper inheritance law had been applied he would never have inherted! However he did recieve the Duchy and was accepted by the Burgundian nobility but he patently failed to grasp the realites of the political situation within the Duchy and though he made several attempts too merge the Duchy into an inalienable element of the French Crown this was resisted and finally he quietly gave up and began to look for other options. His youngest son Philip was also his favourite, the young Philip had distinguished himself at the battle of Poitiers fighting alongside his father to the bitter end at the tender age of 14,he was charming, amiable, and valorous and to honour both the angry Burgundians and his prestigious offspring he decided to create him Duke of Burgundy. In 1363ad John invested his youngest son with the Duchy as an appanage his father had also negotiated with his brother in law Charles V the Holy Roman Emperor to secure the County of Burgundy for his son (the County being an Imperial Fief)and so the two Burgundies were united again under one overlord who assumed his inheritance as Philp II (the Bold)on the 6th of September 1363. Burgundy flourished under the House of Valois Dukes eventually growing to rival and in most cases surpass the power and prestige of their nominal Lieges the Kings of France. John II (the Fearless) succeeded his father and by his accession Flanders, Rethel, Nevers and Artois had become part of the much wider collection of domains they customarily refered to as Burgundy (the Duchy of). Phiip II had none of his fathers tact and used his Duchies increasing power in rivalries with the House of Orleans and by his death in 1419 the Dukes were treatedn with suspicion and outright hostility by King Charles VII of France and his successor Louis XI. Under Philip the Good and Charles the Bold the last two Valois Dukes Burgundy was the most resplendent court in Europe ruling completely independantly of their nominal overlords the Kings of France and indeed often warring with the French and even going as far as allying with the English. Their domains included most of modern day Belgium and the Netherlands as well as the two Burgundies and at times Luxembourg, Alsace, Lorraine and other assorted fiefs and demesnes with the constant theme of attempting to unite their Northern and Southern holdings and demonstrating their independance as a sovereign nation. This is where the confusion about Charles the Bolds Kinghead may be found! He actually got the Holy Roman Emporer Frederick to agree to Crown him King of Burgundy(or possibly Arles I am not sure of the exact title decided on)the ceremony that was to have taken place at Trier was aborted by the precipitate departure of the Emporer in the middle of the night, as he had been offended by the condescdending attitude of the Grand Duke of the West (another title of the Dukes of Burgundy). Charles was finally mkilled at the battle of Nancy when a combined Lorrainer/Swiss army attempted to raise his siege of the city. This was (althuogh mostly unrecognised) a pivotal moment in the history of Europe.Charles left his unmarried 19yr old daughter Mary as his heir, her marriage would have huge implications for European polotics, prior to his death Charles had made some progress t6owards arranging a match between Mary and Maximillian the son of the Holy Roman Enperor, negotiations that had stalled with the Emperors flight from Trier, the King of Ftrance tooo had an unmarried eldest nson but rathern than attempt a maatch the French King concentrated on militarily securing the Duchy of Burgundy (a French fief) which obviously made marriage negotiations difficult (the French King later admitted to his chief minister Philippe de Commynes this was the greatest blunder of his reign!)Maximillian of Habsburg married the heiress Mary which initiated 200yrs of contention between the French and the Habsburgs which would culminate in 1701-1714ad in the war of the Spanish Succession. Maximillian ArchDukeof Austria would become after Marys death Maximillian I Holy Roman Emperor. They had 3 children the eldest of which Philip the Handsome succeeded his mother (under his fathers guardianship) as Philip IV of Burgundy (though Burgundy itself had irretrievably been lost to the French Crown who had finally succeeded in absorbing the Duchy into the Royal demesne)whose actual domain included Franche Comte,and the Low Countries (a vastly wealthy medieval industrial powerhouse)to which he added the Kingdom of Castile by marriage to Joanna of Castile between them they sired two Holy Roman Emperors, and Queens of France, Denmark, Portugal and Bohemia. I hope that goes some way to answering your question. Yee Haa

Charles the VII (the Bold) was never King of Burgundy, indeed the title of King of Burgundy had lapsed when the territory had been incorporated into the Kingdom of France. Charles was actually the Duke of Burgundy a member of a cadet branch of the French Royal House of Valois but although ostensibly a vassal of King Louis XI of France the two states were rivals and had been for some time. It was in 1004ad when the lands that would become the Duchy of Burgundy were incorporated into France by the Capetian Kings. Robert II awarded it to his second son Robert (the Old) as a peace settlement when he contested the throne with his elder brother Henry and lost. There followed a long line of Capet Dukes untill John II (the second Valois King) claimed the Duchy as John I by right of being the closest male heir of the last Capet Duke Philip I who had died without male issue in 1350ad (here I must claim ignorance of the next decade as John was invested only in 1361ad) I do know that Johns claim was weak, he claimed that on the death of Philip I of Rouvres without male issue the Duchy of Burgundy lying within France escheated to the French Crown this was simply untrue, if proper inheritance law had been applied he would never have inherted! However he did recieve the Duchy and was accepted by the Burgundian nobility but he patently failed to grasp the realites of the political situation within the Duchy and though he made several attempts too merge the Duchy into an inalienable element of the French Crown this was resisted and finally he quietly gave up and began to look for other options. His youngest son Philip was also his favourite, the young Philip had distinguished himself at the battle of Poitiers fighting alongside his father to the bitter end at the tender age of 14,he was charming, amiable, and valorous and to honour both the angry Burgundians and his prestigious offspring he decided to create him Duke of Burgundy. In 1363ad John invested his youngest son with the Duchy as an appanage his father had also negotiated with his brother in law Charles V the Holy Roman Emperor to secure the County of Burgundy for his son (the County being an Imperial Fief)and so the two Burgundies were united again under one overlord who assumed his inheritance as Philp II (the Bold)on the 6th of September 1363. Burgundy flourished under the House of Valois Dukes eventually growing to rival and in most cases surpass the power and prestige of their nominal Lieges the Kings of France. John II (the Fearless) succeeded his father and by his accession Flanders, Rethel, Nevers and Artois had become part of the much wider collection of domains they customarily refered to as Burgundy (the Duchy of). Phiip II had none of his fathers tact and used his Duchies increasing power in rivalries with the House of Orleans and by his death in 1419 the Dukes were treatedn with suspicion and outright hostility by King Charles VII of France and his successor Louis XI. Under Philip the Good and Charles the Bold the last two Valois Dukes Burgundy was the most resplendent court in Europe ruling completely independantly of their nominal overlords the Kings of France and indeed often warring with the French and even going as far as allying with the English. Their domains included most of modern day Belgium and the Netherlands as well as the two Burgundies and at times Luxembourg, Alsace, Lorraine and other assorted fiefs and demesnes with the constant theme of attempting to unite their Northern and Southern holdings and demonstrating their independance as a sovereign nation. This is where the confusion about Charles the Bolds Kinghead may be found! He actually got the Holy Roman Emporer Frederick to agree to Crown him King of Burgundy(or possibly Arles I am not sure of the exact title decided on)the ceremony that was to have taken place at Trier was aborted by the precipitate departure of the Emporer in the middle of the night, as he had been offended by the condescdending attitude of the Grand Duke of the West (another title of the Dukes of Burgundy). Charles was finally mkilled at the battle of Nancy when a combined Lorrainer/Swiss army attempted to raise his siege of the city. This was (althuogh mostly unrecognised) a pivotal moment in the history of Europe.Charles left his unmarried 19yr old daughter Mary as his heir, her marriage would have huge implications for European polotics, prior to his death Charles had made some progress t6owards arranging a match between Mary and Maximillian the son of the Holy Roman Enperor, negotiations that had stalled with the Emperors flight from Trier, the King of Ftrance tooo had an unmarried eldest nson but rathern than attempt a maatch the French King concentrated on militarily securing the Duchy of Burgundy (a French fief) which obviously made marriage negotiations difficult (the French King later admitted to his chief minister Philippe de Commynes this was the greatest blunder of his reign!)Maximillian of Habsburg married the heiress Mary which initiated 200yrs of contention between the French and the Habsburgs which would culminate in 1701-1714ad in the war of the Spanish Succession. Maximillian ArchDukeof Austria would become after Marys death Maximillian I Holy Roman Emperor. They had 3 children the eldest of which Philip the Handsome succeeded his mother (under his fathers guardianship) as Philip IV of Burgundy (though Burgundy itself had irretrievably been lost to the French Crown who had finally succeeded in absorbing the Duchy into the Royal demesne)whose actual domain included Franche Comte,and the Low Countries (a vastly wealthy medieval industrial powerhouse)to which he added the Kingdom of Castile by marriage to Joanna of Castile between them they sired two Holy Roman Emperors, and Queens of France, Denmark, Portugal and Bohemia. I hope that goes some way to answering your question. Yee Haa