Coat of arms of the second Duchy of Burgundy and later of the French province of Burgundy

Burgundy (French: Bourgogne; German: Burgund) is a region historically situated in modern-day France and Switzerland, originally inhabited in turn by Celts (Gauls), Romans (Gallo-Romans), and in the 4th century assigned by Romans to the Germanic people of the Burgundians, who settled there in their own kingdom. French ( français,) is a Romance language spoken around the world by 118 million people as a native language and by about 180 to 260 million people The German language (de ''Deutsch'') is a West Germanic language and one of the world's major languages. This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. Switzerland (English pronunciation; Schweiz Swiss German: Schwyz or Schwiiz Suisse Svizzera Svizra officially the Swiss Confederation Celts (ˈkɛlts or /ˈsɛlts/, see Names of the Celts Gaul (Gallia was the Roman name for the region of Western Europe comprising present day northern Italy, France, Belgium, western Ancient Rome was a Civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC This article covers the culture of Romanized areas of Gaul. For the political history of the brief "Gallic Empire" of the 3rd century see Gallic Empire The Burgundians or Burgundes were an East Germanic tribe which may have emigrated from mainland Scandinavia to the island of Bornholm, whose This Burgundian kingdom was conquered in the 6th century by Franks who continued this kingdom under their own rule. The Franks or Frankish people (Franci or gens Francorum) were West Germanic tribes first identified in the 3rd century as an Ethnic group

Later in time, the region was divided between the Duchy of Burgundy (west of Burgundy) and the County of Burgundy (east of Burgundy). The Duchy of Burgundy was a feudal territory once existing within the Kingdom of France. The Free County of Burgundy, in German Freigrafschaft Burgund, was a Medieval County (from 867 to 1678 AD within the traditional province and modern French The Duchy of Burgundy is the more famous of the two, and the one which reached historical fame. Later, the Duchy of Burgundy became the French province of Burgundy, while the County of Burgundy became the French province of Franche-Comté, literally meaning free county. Franche-Comté ( Franc-Comtois: Fràntche-Comté; Franco-Provençal: Franche-Comtât) the former "Free County" of Burgundy

The modern-day administrative région of Bourgogne comprises most of the former Duchy of Burgundy. Bourgogne ( English: Burgundy is one of the 26 regions of France.

History

See also: History of the Franche-Comté

Further information: Duke of Burgundy and Counts of Burgundy

Burgundy within 12th century France, map by William R. Shepherd. Franche-Comté ( Franc-Comtois: Fràntche-Comté; Franco-Provençal: Franche-Comtât) the former "Free County" of Burgundy Duke of Burgundy was a title borne by the rulers of the Duchy of Burgundy, a small portion of traditional lands of Burgundians west of river Saône which This is a list of the counts of Burgundy, ie of the region known as Franche-Comté not to be confused with the Duchy of Burgundy, from 867 to 1678 For a collection of maps by Shepherd see:CategoryHistorical maps by William R

The Burgundians were one of the Germanic peoples who filled the power vacuum left by the collapse of the western half of the Roman Empire. The Burgundians or Burgundes were an East Germanic tribe which may have emigrated from mainland Scandinavia to the island of Bornholm, whose The Germanic peoples are a historical group of Indo-European -speaking peoples originating in Northern Europe and identified by their use of the Germanic The Decline of the Roman Empire, leading to the Fall of the Roman Empire, or the Fall of Rome, was the end of the Western Roman Empire. The Roman Empire was the post-Republican phase of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial In 411, they crossed the Rhine and established a kingdom at Worms. The Rhine (Rhein Rijn Rhin Reno Rain Rhenus is one of the longest and most important Rivers in Europe at 1320 kilometres (820 mi with an average discharge Worms (voɐms is a City in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the Rhine River Amidst repeated clashes between the Romans and Huns, the Burgundian kingdom eventually occupied what is today the borderlands between Switzerland, France, and Italy. The Huns were an early confederation of Central Asian equestrian nomads or semi-nomads with a Turkic core of aristocracy Switzerland (English pronunciation; Schweiz Swiss German: Schwyz or Schwiiz Suisse Svizzera Svizra officially the Swiss Confederation Italy (Italia officially the Italian Republic, (Repubblica Italiana is located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, and on the two largest In 534, the Franks defeated Godomar, the last Burgundian king, and absorbed the territory into their growing empire. The Franks or Frankish people (Franci or gens Francorum) were West Germanic tribes first identified in the 3rd century as an Ethnic group Godomar (or Gundomar) son of king Gundobad, was king of Burgundy.

Burgundy's modern existence is rooted in the dissolution of the Frankish Empire. Francia or Frankia, later also called the Frankish Empire (imperium Francorum Frankish Kingdom (Latin regnum Francorum, "Kingdom of the When the dynastic succession was settled in the 880s, there were four Burgundies:

1. the Kingdom of Upper (Transjurane) Burgundy around Lake Geneva,
2. the Kingdom of Lower Burgundy in Provence, and
3. the Duchy of Burgundy west of the Saône
4. the County of Burgundy east of the Saône

The two kingdoms of Upper and Lower Burgundy were reunited in 937 and absorbed into the Holy Roman Empire under Conrad II in 1032, as the Kingdom of Arles. Upper Burgundy (also Transjurane Burgundy fr Bourgogne transjurane, also Transjurania) is the part of Burgundy west of the Jura mountains Lake Geneva or Lake Léman (Lac Léman Léman Lac de Genève is the second largest freshwater Lake in Central Europe in terms of surface area (after Lower Burgundy was a historical kingdom in Provence, in southeastern France. Provence ( Provençal Occitan: Provença in classical norm or Prouvènço in Mistralian norm is a region of southeastern France The Duchy of Burgundy was a feudal territory once existing within the Kingdom of France. The Saône (son ( Sona in Arpitan) is a River of eastern France. The Free County of Burgundy, in German Freigrafschaft Burgund, was a Medieval County (from 867 to 1678 AD within the traditional province and modern French The Holy Roman Empire ( HRE; German Heiliges Römisches Reich (HRR, Latin Sacrum Romanum Imperium (SRI was a union of territories in Conrad II (c 990&ndash June 4, 1039) was the son of a mid-level nobleman in Franconia, Count Henry of Speyer and Adelaide of Alsace who inherited The Kingdom of Arles ( Arelat) was a Frankish dominion surrounding Arles, established in 933 by combining Upper and Lower Burgundy The Duchy of Burgundy was annexed by the French throne in 1477. The County of Burgundy remained loosely associated with the Holy Roman Empire (intermittently independent, whence the name "Franche-Comté"), and finally incorporated into France in 1678, with the Treaties of Nijmegen. The Holy Roman Empire ( HRE; German Heiliges Römisches Reich (HRR, Latin Sacrum Romanum Imperium (SRI was a union of territories in Franche-Comté ( Franc-Comtois: Fràntche-Comté; Franco-Provençal: Franche-Comtât) the former "Free County" of Burgundy The Treaties of Peace of Nijmegen ( Négotiations de Nimegue or Négotiations de la Paix de Nimègue) were a series of treaties signed in the Dutch city

During the Middle Ages, Burgundy was the seat of some of the most important Western churches and monasteries, among them Cluny, Citeaux, and Vézelay. This article concerns the buildings occupied by monastics. For the life inside monasteries and its historical roots see Monasticism. The town and commune of Cluny or Clugny lies in the modern-day département of Saône-et-Loire in the région Cîteaux Abbey (French Abbaye de Cîteaux) is a Roman Catholic Abbey located in Saint-Nicolas-lès-Cîteaux, south of Dijon, Vézelay is a commune in the Yonne département in the Bourgogne région of France.

Burgundy within 14th century France, map by William R. Shepherd. For a collection of maps by Shepherd see:CategoryHistorical maps by William R

Territory of the Duchy of Burgundy (Bourgogne) in 1477 marked in yellow.

During the Hundred Years' War, King John II of France gave the duchy to his younger son, rather than leaving it to his successor on the throne. The Hundred Years' War (Guerre de Cent Ans was a prolonged conflict lasting from 1337 to 1453 between two royal houses for the French throne vacant with the extinction of the senior John II (16 April 1319 &ndash 8 April 1364 called John the Good (Jean le Bon was Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, and Duke of Normandy The duchy soon became a major rival to the French throne, because the Dukes of Burgundy succeeded in assembling an empire stretching from Switzerland to the North Sea, mostly by marriage. Switzerland (English pronunciation; Schweiz Swiss German: Schwyz or Schwiiz Suisse Svizzera Svizra officially the Swiss Confederation The North Sea is a marginal, Epeiric sea of the Atlantic Ocean on the European Continental shelf. The Burgundian Empire consisted of a number of fiefdoms on both sides of the (then largely symbolic) border between the Kingdom of France and the Holy Roman Empire. The Holy Roman Empire ( HRE; German Heiliges Römisches Reich (HRR, Latin Sacrum Romanum Imperium (SRI was a union of territories in Its economic heartland was in the Low Countries, particularly Flanders and Brabant. The Low Countries, the historical region of de Nederlanden, are the countries on low-lying land around the delta of the Rhine, Scheldt Flanders (Vlaanderen Flandre Flandern is a geographical region located in parts of present day Belgium, France, and the Netherlands. The Duchy of Brabant was a historical region in the Low Countries. The court in Dijon outshone the French court by far, both economically and culturally. Dijon ( diʒɔ̃ is a city in eastern France, the capital of the Côte-d'Or departement and of the Bourgogne region In Belgium and in the south of the Netherlands, a 'Burgundian lifestyle' still means 'enjoyment of life, good food, and extravagant spectacle'. The Kingdom of Belgium is a Country in northwest Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts its headquarters as well as those The Netherlands ( Dutch:, ˈnedərlɑnt is the European part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which consists of the Netherlands the Netherlands

In the late 15th and early 16th centuries, Burgundy provided a power base for the rise of the Habsburgs, after Maximilian of Austria had married into the ducal family. In 1477 the last duke Charles the Bold was killed in battle and Burgundy itself taken back by France. Charles the Bold or Charles the Rash (Charles le Téméraire ( 21 November 1433 &ndash 5 January 1477) baptised Charles Martin After the death of his daughter Mary her husband Maximilian moved the court first to Mechelen and later to the palace at Coudenberg, Brussels, and from there ruled the remnants of the empire, the Low Countries (Burgundian Netherlands) and Franche-Comté, then still an imperial fief. Mary, called Mary the Rich ( 13 February, 1457 &ndash Coudenberg or Koudenberg (older Dutch for cold hill) is a small hill in Brussels where the Palace of Coudenberg was built Brussels (Bruxelles pronounced; Brussel pronounced) officially the Brussels Capital-Region, is In the history of the Low Countries, the Burgundian Netherlands refers to the period when the dukes of Burgundy ruled the area as well as Luxembourg and parts of Franche-Comté ( Franc-Comtois: Fràntche-Comté; Franco-Provençal: Franche-Comtât) the former "Free County" of Burgundy The latter territory was ceded to France in the Treaty of Nijmegen of 1678. The Treaties of Peace of Nijmegen ( Négotiations de Nimegue or Négotiations de la Paix de Nimègue) were a series of treaties signed in the Dutch city

Wine

Chardonnay vineyards in the south of the Côte de Beaune surrounding the town of Meursault. Chardonnay is a green-skinned Grape variety used to make white Wine. The Côte de Beaune area is the southern part of the Côte d'Or, the limestone ridge that is home to the great names of Burgundy wine. Meursault is also the name of the main character in Albert Camus ' novel The Stranger Meursault is a commune in the

Main article: Burgundy wine

Burgundy produces wines of the same name. Burgundy wine ( is wine made in the Burgundy region in eastern France. Although "Burgundy" means red, the Burgundy region produces both white wines and red wines. According to the AOC's regulations, they must only be made of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Gamay or Pinot Blanc grapes to be considered true Burgundy wines. Appellation d’origine contrôlée ( AOC) which translates as "controlled term of origin" is the French certification granted to certain French Chardonnay is a green-skinned Grape variety used to make white Wine. Pinot noir ('pino nwar is a red Wine Grape variety of the species Vitis vinifera. Gamay is a purple-colored Grape variety used to make Red wines most notably grown in Beaujolais and in the Loire Valley around Tours Pinot blanc is a white Wine Grape. It is a Genetic mutation of Pinot gris, which is itself a mutation of Pinot noir. The best-known wines are made from Chardonnay and Pinot Noir varietals, and come from the Côte-d'Or, although also viticulturally part of Burgundy are Beaujolais, Chablis, Côte Chalonnaise, and Mâcon. Chardonnay is a green-skinned Grape variety used to make white Wine. Pinot noir ('pino nwar is a red Wine Grape variety of the species Vitis vinifera. Côte-d'Or is a department in the eastern part of France. History Côte-d'Or is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Beaujolais is a French Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée (AOC Wine generally made of the Gamay Grape which has a thin Chablis is a town and commune of the Yonne département in France. Côte Chalonnaise is a subregion of the Burgundy wine region of France. Mâcon is a commune of France, préfecture (capital of the Saône-et-Loire département, in the Bourgogne

Burgundy wines can be described as varied, complex, human, and sophisticatedly homely. They are highly regarded because of historical tradition, and arguably because they transmit well the flavour of the land, what the French call terroir. The reputation, quality, and small numbers of production of the top wines mean high demand and high prices: Burgundy wines are among the most expensive wines in the world. Some consumers buy the high-end wines of this region purely for speculative purposes, as they are often regarded as Veblen goods. In Economics, Veblen goods are a theoretical group of commodities for which peoples' preference for buying them increases as a direct function of their

Geography

Highest point: Haut-Folin (901m) in the Morvan. Haut-Folin in the Saône-et-Loire département is at 901m the highest point in the region of Burgundy on France. Morvan was also the legendary chief of Léon in Breton folktales.

The Canal of Burgundy joins the Rivers Yonne and Saône, allowing barges to navigate from the north to south of France. The Canal of Burgundy (Canal de Bourgogne is a Canal in Burgundy in central eastern France. The Yonne is a River in France, left Tributary of the Seine. It is 292 km long The Saône (son ( Sona in Arpitan) is a River of eastern France. Construction began in 1765 and was completed in 1832. At the summit there is a tunnel 3. 333 kilometers long in a straight line. The canal is 242 kilometers long, with a total 209 locks and crosses two counties of Burgundy, the Yonne and Cote d'Or. The canal is now mostly used for riverboat tourism; Dijon, the most important city along the canal, has a harbor for leisure boats. A riverboat is Ship designed for Inland navigation. These vessels are usually less sturdy than ships built for the open seas with limited navigational and Dijon ( diʒɔ̃ is a city in eastern France, the capital of the Côte-d'Or departement and of the Bourgogne region

Culture

Famous Burgundian dishes include coq au vin and beef bourguignon. Coq au vin ( French: "rooster in wine" is a French Fricassee of Rooster cooked with Wine, Lardons Beef Bourguignon (Bœuf bourguignon is a well-known traditional French recipe.

See also

• French wine
• Kingdom of Burgundy
• King of Burgundy
• Duchy of Burgundy
• Duke of Burgundy
• County of Burgundy
• Count of Burgundy
• Burgundian Netherlands

External links

• (English) Burgundy at the Open Directory Project
• (English) (French) Seurre and the river Saone - Tourism and local life
• Départements, arrondissements & cantons of Burgundy (INSEE site)
• Burgundy in the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia at BibleWiki
• Burgundy in the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia at NewAdvent.org
• Burgundy Tourism site in French and English