french history as burgundian historiography in the 'histoires' of thomas basin

Offprint from: Jurdjevic, Mark and Rolf Strøm-Olsen (eds.). Rituals of Politics and Culture in Early Modern Europe: Essays in Honour of Edward Muir. Essays and Studies, 39. Toronto: Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies, 2016.

361

French History as Burgundian Historiography in the Histoires

of Thomas Basin

Rolf Strøm-Olsen

As a political entity, Burgundy, a kingdom in all but name by the later fifteenth century, persisted as a plethora of individual titles. While the duke of Burgun-dy enjoyed enormous political and military power, belying the modesty of his main ducal title, he could not assert the sovereignty of his dynastic house over all his subjects through a single crown. Instead, the most important territorial possessions of the Burgundian Valois dukes were, as a function of the Caro-lingian legacy, subordinate to the French crown, while the Valois Burgundian dukes were themselves a cadet branch of the French royal family and thus bound to the French king as ‘princes of the blood.’ Starting roughly with the signing of the Treaty of Arras in 1435 and gathering pace over the next dec-ades, the Burgundian Valois and later Habsburg dukes adopted a variety of arguments to advance their autonomy. The lavish ritual, for instance, linked to the Burgundian court offers a clear example of how Burgundian political aspirations found expression in terms of stand-alone ceremonial moments and in the fusion of court with civic rituals.1 As a result, the analytical and explanatory power of Edward Muir’s Civic Ritual in Renaissance Venice has found fertile ground in the field of Burgundian history. After Italy, the Low Countries were the most urbanised corner of late medieval and early modern Europe, and the importance and impact of civic ritual and ceremony was as central to Burgundian political life as it was in the Italian city-states. The publication of Muir’s work, along with Richard Trexler’s important study, has inspired a raft of publications on aspects of Burgundian ritual life.2 Unlike Venice and Florence, however, the civic ritual of the Burgundian Low Coun-tries was not only about negotiating complex internal power arrangements

1 See, generally, Muir, Ritual in Early Modern Europe, esp. chapt. 7; Arnade, “City, State, and Public Ritual.”

2 Muir, Civic Ritual in Renaissance Venice. Trexler, Public Life in Renaissance Flor-ence. The outstanding example in the Burgundian context remains Peter Arnade, Realms of Ritual. Also, Lecuppre-Desjardin, La ville des cérémonies.

Rituals of Politics and Culture in Early Modern Europe362

across the urban social structure, but also served as points of contestation or accommodation with the external authority represented by the Burgundian Valois dukes and their court. Moreover, the Burgundian court developed its own complex form of ritual, designed in large measure to advance arguments of political and dynastic legitimacy. This was especially the case in moments when court and city came together, enshrined within a shared ceremonial moment, whether traditional such as the Blijde Inkomst, or circumstantial such as baptismal and marriage celebrations. The extensive use by both city and court of ritual and ceremony to negotiate the complex power arrange-ments within the Low Countries resulted in what has been termed a Burgun-dian theatre state.3

The Burgundian theatre state was characterized by the constant adapta-tion and even invention of ritual and ceremonial to allow the court to make public the narrative of power that it was constructing for itself. That narrative of power had different authorships, one of which was the Burgundian court’s direct and indirect sponsorship of a host of literary works designed to make historical, juridico-theological, dynastic, and other such arguments for a Maison de Bourgogne that could be conceived politically outside of the feudal obligations owed to the Île de France. These textual arguments were eventu-ally buttressed by an official account of the Burgundian court, starting with the 1455 appointment of George Chastelain to the position of historiograffe (a title later changed to indiciare).4 With Chastelain’s appointment, a more systematic language for Burgundian legitimacy emerged, one that stressed Burgundian loyalty to the French crown while launching at the same time increasingly pointed critiques of the French monarchs, especially after the ac-cession of Louis XI to the French throne in 1461.5 In this article, I wish to con-sider how the French prelate Thomas Basin’s (1412–1490) histories of Charles VII and Louis XI reflected this emerging late fifteenth-century Burgundian

3 For a general discussion, Muir, Ritual in Early Modern Europe, 4–5 and chapt. 7. The idea of a Burgundian theatre state was first made, briefly, by Blockmans & Prevenier, The Burgundian Netherlands, 223, and expanded on importantly by Arnade, Realms of Ritual. See also Nicholas, “In the Pit of the Burgundian Theatre State”; Kipling, Enter the King, esp. 48–53.

4 Following Graeme Small, I have opted to use Chastelain’s own spelling of his name (although he was not always consistent). Small, George Chastelain and the Shaping of Va-lois Burgundy, 3n16.

5 Small, George Chastelain; Strøm-Olsen, “George Chastelain.”

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historiographical viewpoint, one that intended to serve the specific political interests of the Valois, and later Habsburg Burgundian dynasties.6

The substance of efforts from within the court to separate Burgundian power from its French and Imperial neighbours revolved around a develop-ing language of the common weal and public good.7 Considered generally, I see this process as constituting the articulation of a distinctly Burgundian reason of state (ratio status) that was grounded outside of the feudal basis for hierarchical authority and that sidestepped the sacerdotal and corpus mysticum tradition of the French monarchy to instead engage the question of authority by other means. The effort to derive a Burgundian ratio status, although never formally declared as such, explains the court’s interest in historical, genealogical and ceremonial forms, as well as institutional, juridi-cal and constitutional arrangements that could compete with the traditional medieval conception of power that informed the legitimacy of the French throne (and to a lesser extent Imperial title).8

Although Thomas Basin’s Histories were not officially commissioned by the Burgundian court as part of this effort, they nevertheless reflect the larger ‘turn’ toward a specifically Burgundian historiography during the second half of the fifteenth century that framed and narrated events according to this Burgundian political agenda. This ‘turn’ was especially pronounced in the fluid climate during and after the reign of the last Valois duke of Burgundy, Charles the Bold (1467–1477), whose ambition and untimely death unsettled the cohesion of the Burgundian patrimony brought together by the highly successful policies of his father, Philip the Good. This larger historiographical environment thus helped frame Basin’s way of thinking about politics, events and personalities.

The extent to which Burgundian efforts to reshape the language of authority entered into a larger intellectual consciousness can be seen in the works of Basin, since he was not an official Burgundian courtier, nor were his works ostensibly about the Burgundian dukes. Unlike Chastelain and his

6 The two main works are Basin, Charles VII and Louis XI. In addition, he also wrote a shorter autobiographical sketch, Apologie.

7 Vanderjagt, Qui Sa Vertu Anoblist; Devaux, “L’Identité bourguignonne”; Dumolyn and Lecuppre-Desjardin, “Le Bien Commun;” see also the various essays collected in Boulton and Veenstra, The Ideology of Burgundy.

8 For a general discussion of ratio status as a medieval legal concept, see Post, Studies in Medieval Legal Thought, chapt. 5. See also Münkler, Im Namen des Staates; Blockmans, “De Bourgondische Nederlanden.”


successor Jean Molinet, Thomas Basin was not a paid encomiast for the Va-lois–Burgundian regime, nor its Habsburg successor. And in contrast to texts produced from within the Burgundian court, such as the memoirs of Olivier de la Marche or Jacques du Clercq, Basin was an outsider who adopted a more critical perspective on events and ambitions. At times, he rejects the larger contours of the Burgundian historical narrative that chroniclers and court insiders were helping to establish (notably in his frank criticism and harsh evaluation of Charles the Bold). For the most part, however, Basin’s Histories offer a pointed, detailed and often aggressive critique of the Burgundians’ primary adversaries, Charles VII and Louis XI, that reflect larger Burgundian themes of political legitimacy and authority. Working from outside the court, but from within an emerging political culture that accompanied the growth of Burgundian power, Basin tends toward a historical reading that complements the official chronicle accounts. As an intimate of the Burgundian aristocratic and intellectual elite, he supported the evolving Burgundian view of state that was made possible thanks to the striking political successes of Philip the Good, who comes through in his Histories as the archetypal “good prince.” In historiographical terms, Basin anchors his work in the larger understanding of how the principles of justice and the common weal (chose publique) could be reframed to serve Burgundian political ends. Thus, in their political (as well as their personal) context, Basin’s histories of Charles VII and Louis XI are also implicitly histories of Philip the Good and Charles the Bold.

In Bernard Guenée’s unstinting description, Basin “bungled his life [and] used his full talent to provide […] a partial account of himself and his time.”9 Born in Normandy, Basin studied civil law, first in Louvain and later in Pavia, becoming a masters of arts and a licentiate in both canon and civil law by 1437. He received a minor benefice in his native Normandy, but a defer-ment of Holy Orders allowed him to travel as both a minor functionary and a continuing student to Ferrara, the Papal court, Florence, Bologna, and Hun-gary. By 1441, he had returned to a canonical office in the cathedral chapter in Rouen and would eventually become Bishop of the Norman diocese of Lisieux. Basin remained in Normandy for the turbulent decade of the 1440s, during which period Anglo-French conflict rendered the province’s future uncertain. After Charles VII managed to restore Normandy to the French crown in 1450, Basin became part of the Gallican Church, governed accord-ing to the terms of the Pragmatic Sanction of 1438. Thereafter, he served both

9 Guenée, Between Church and State, 268


his church, his patrie, and his king as bishop, jurist, and counsellor, working to restore the Norman Charter governing the rights of the church in that province and coming into close contact with several leading figures at the French royal court, including Pierre de Brézé (whose patronage had given an important boost to George de Chastelain’s career).

With the accession of Louis XI in 1461, however, Basin’s career as a ris-ing French jurist and prelate came to an abrupt end. The tumult and betrayal that followed the civil unrest provoked by the League of the Public Weal (1461–1466) centred around Basin’s native Normandy. Basin himself was uncomfortably enmeshed in the internecine struggle for political supremacy waged by Louis XI on one side and Charles the Bold (then heir-presumptive to the Burgundian titles), Duke John of Bourbon, and Duke François of Brittany on the other. At the conclusion of the war, the Breton allies of the recently-invested Norman Duke Charles suddenly betrayed him by switching their allegiance to the French crown. Looking for military support against Louis XI, Duke Charles sent Basin on a diplomatic mission to the Burgun-dian heir, Count Charles (i.e. of Charolais), in December of 1465. Sensing the tide turning against continued Norman independence, Basin chose not to return. Instead he sought refuge in the Flemish town of Louvain, where he had first studied law. It may have appeared a prudent move, since Louis XI’s forces captured Rouen the next month and at first meted out punish-ment against Duke Charles’ allies and supporters. But Louis swiftly moved to consolidate his position by issuing sweeping pardons to many of his former adversaries (including Basin’s brother). Thomas Basin, in self-imposed refuge in Louvain, was not among them. For the remainder of his life, he was an exile from his native province, his prebend, his episcopacy, and his profession. He eventually settled, first in Trier and later in Utrecht where, embittered and professionally frustrated (although quite comfortably off), he penned his histories of Charles VII and Louis XI.10

Basin and his writings have remained at the periphery of historians’ interest, used mostly for its value as an eyewitness account of the depriva-tions suffered in Normandy during the French reconquest. Even Charles Samaran’s republication (including an adept French translation) of his two

10 I have adapted this from Guenée, Between Church and State, 259–375. Quicherat provides both a biography and additional documentary and textual sources pertaining to the prelate’s life in Basin, Histoires, 1:iii–lxxxviii. The literature on Basin remains slight. The only full scale study is by Spencer, Thomas Basin, about which more below. Additional studies include de Groer, “La formation de Thomas Basin” and van Vliet, “Thomas Basin.”


histories and autobiography has done little to improve his standing, either as a historian or even as a witness to his time. This neglect is for a number of reasons. Since Basin’s work generally covers the same time period as that of Froissart, Chastelain, Monstrelet, Commynes, de la Marche, Molinet, du Clercq, d’Escouchy, and Chartier among others, the historian has little need for Basin’s account as a mainstream textual source except in specific circum-stances.11 Moreover, he wrote in Latin and is therefore excluded from the rich scholarly tradition devoted to the language and poetics of fifteenth-century French vernacular writers.12 And despite their titles, the Histories tilt heavily toward events in Basin’s own life and travels, especially those of his native Normandy and his later experiences in Utrecht. That does not reduce the value of his witness to the larger events he describes, but it does mean that frequently Basin’s Histories read more like cloaked memoirs. Finally, by the time he undertook to write his two histories in the 1470s and 1480s, Basin was embittered and angry. His intense hatred of Louis XI, whom he blamed for the loss of his home, his income and his livelihood, blinkers his work. Basin’s prose is lively for its invective, but the programmatic tendentiousness with which he shapes and slants his historical view has undermined his status as a reliable witness to the politics of fifteenth-century France and Burgundy.

In his monograph on Basin, Mark Spencer portrays him as “the Leon-ardo Bruni of the North” and finds in Basin a precursor to eighteenth-century republican revolutionaries.13 Basin vilifies the French royals, especially Louis XI, for their failure to uphold the common good and provides abundant ex-amples: inhumane and unjust taxation; an untrammelled, standing military that oppresses the local population; corruption and venality; sexual licen-tiousness; inability to accept wise counsel, and the auctioning off of public

11 Thus, for example, in addition to his value as an eyewitness to Norman history, Basin has long been used by Low Countries historians for his detailed description of the rebellion of Utrecht which he witnessed personally. He was also involved in the commis-sion to review the charges of heresy against Joan of Arc. See Spencer, Thomas Basin, 57–71.

12 Basin’s choice of Latin places his works outside the larger Burgundian chronicling and historiographical tradition, since by the early fifteenth century the vernacular had become entrenched as the predominant language of expression. On the establishment of a vernacular (French) prose tradition, see Spiegel, Romancing the Past, 2–3. Basin’s choice of Latin over French also presumably reflects his humanist background.

13 Spencer, Thomas Basin, 73. The larger problems with Spencer’s reading of Basin’s work are laid out most clearly by Edward Benson, “Review,” 575–577. Also, Spufford, “Re-view,” 580–581 and Cauchies, “Compte Rendu,” 756–757.


offices. And it is certainly true that Basin, in his denunciation of the hated French monarch’s perceived tyranny, stumbles occasionally into language and sentiment that read to modern eyes as remarkably progressive. However, Spencer attributes to Basin a historical consciousness that is anachronistic at best and simple wish-fulfillment at worst.14 Basin’s proto-modern and at times jarringly egalitarian utterances are far more the product of his envenomed view of both his French royal subjects than they are reflections of republican ideology.

When considering the merits of Thomas Basin as a historian, therefore, it is important to recall the single-minded determination of the author and his coloured worldview in which the villains are clearly distinguishable. Basin himself announces this prejudice at the outset of his history of Louis XI:

Upon the death of the Charles VII, king of France, Louis […] succeeded to the throne. He inherited his lands and estates, but alas he did not also inherit prudence, faith, justice and the other paternal virtues.15

A few lines later, he frets that his readers may not believe his exposure of the litany of Louis’ shortcomings, to wit his “tricks, malice, perfidy, foolishness, pernicious and cruel deeds.”16 That such prejudice should drive the ecclesiast to language that would not be out of place in a Thomas Paine pamphlet is more a reminder of the lengths to which philippic and polemic can sometimes take us than the reflection of a proto-revolutionary historical consciousness at work.

14 Spencer, Thomas Basin, 250–254. In addition to the problems that arise from his at-tempt to excuse Basin from his prejudices by treating them as a cogently articulated theory against the tyranny of unjust rule, Spencer also makes a number of interpretative errors, most of which emanate from his failure to consider how Basin’s writings were influenced by the Burgundian sphere within which they were designed and written. Spencer sug-gests, for example, that Basin “loses his way in several long digressions” (10). All of these “digressions,” however, involve major events in fifteenth-century Burgundian history: civic rebellions in Liège, Ghent and Utrecht. To dismiss these as somehow secondary to his narrative is to miss the point entirely.

15 Basin, Louis XI, 1:2: “Mortuo Karolo septimo Francorum rege illustri, Ludovicus […] in regno successit, heres quidem terrarum et patrimonii, sed exsors longe nimium (proch dolor) et alienus prudencia, fide, justicia ceterisque paternis virtutibus.” Unless otherwise indicated, all translations are mine.

16 Basin, Louis XI, 1:2: “vaffre, callide, perfide, stulte, perniciose ac crudeleter facta.”


So, caveat lector. Still, despite his animus Basin’s work deserves seri-ous attention in the context of larger fifteenth-century Burgundian historio-graphical efforts. He was steeped in the scholastic tradition. Familiar with the standard patristic literature, he also knew Cicero, Virgil, Sallust, Suetonius and Seneca and was familiar with at least some of the works of Bruni (he owned a copy of De bello italico adversus Gothos gesto) and other Florentine humanists such as Poggio.17 Indeed, he was exceptionally well educated, hav-ing spent more than a decade at the leading universities of Europe, including Paris, Louvain, Pavia and Bologna. It is possible — probable even, given his background — that the relatively simple language of his Histories and the Apology reflects a deliberate attempt to make his works accessible, which, in turn, provides a clue as to their intended audience. This almost certainly included the younger son of Philip the Good, David, Bishop of Utrecht, a leading political figure in both Valois and Habsburg Burgundy whom Basin knew from their days at the university in Louvain together.18 The readership extended to various cognoscenti both in David’s court and in the city of Utre-cht, many or most of whom would have been Dutch speaking. No textual, archival, epistolary or other evidence exists to determine the degree to which Basin’s text circulated among such circles, although it is fairly certain that the text was written, in part at least, at David of Burgundy’s behest.19 Basin’s milieu in Utrecht certainly helps explain the strongly pro-Burgundian tone of the work, and may also explain why Basin wrote in a simplified Latin as the literary lingua franca of David’s bilingual court and the Dutch-speaking city where he lived.20

There is also evidence that Basin was familiar with Burgundian chronicles. In noting the celebrated marriage between Charles the Bold and

17 Guenée, p. 267. See also de Groer, “La formation de Thomas Basin” for a fuller account of Basin’s contacts with Italian humanists.

18 Zilverberg, David van Bourgondië, 110: “Er onstond een vriendenkring, waarvan ook de Domdeken Ludolf van den Veen en de wijbisschop Thomas Basin deel uitmaakten.”

19 See Quicherat, vol. 4, passim, in Basin, Histoires, and Guénée, Between Church and State, 259–375 for the various sources pertinent to Basin’s life. Charles Samaran in his Introduction to Basin’s Apologie, viii, lays out the evidence for Basin’s relationship to David of Utrecht and the argument for his probable patronage.

20 For a brief overview of David of Burgundy’s intellectual and cultural milieu, see Zilverberg, David van Bourgondië, 101-110. For a discussion of Basin’s time in Utrecht and his relationship with both David and the city (including its political life), see Vliet, “Thomas Basin.”


Margaret of York, he observes “the variety of the spectacle, the richness of the costumes, the abundance of gold and silver vessels, the luxury of the dishes, the delicacy and abundance of the wine and drink were such that never had been seen such a magnificent ceremony in France, Germany or England.” Having noted these details, he adds “but it is outside the scope of our under-taking to recount all the details of such a splendid ceremony. We shall leave it to others, for whom such things are of concern, to narrate the event.”21 This is almost certainly a reference to Olivier de la Marche’s famous account that circulated widely in the Burgundian sphere, although it is possible Basin had access to other sources as well.22

This passage prompted Spencer to suggest that “Thomas had little pa-tience for the chivalric chronicles that were so popular in fifteenth-century France and Burgundy. […] The sumptuous marriage of Charles the Bold to Margaret of York is dismissed in a single sentence.’ ”23 This posture is hardly credible, however. It is not surprising that Basin, who had not attended the ceremony, would skip the intricate details given the existence of de la Marche’s extensive and quasi-official description. It would, however, be surprising for Basin to adopt the dismissive tone ascribed to him by Spencer since his patron, David of Burgundy, had been a leading participant at the event.24 Instead, an attentive reading of Basin’s work shows that, far from dismissing the chivalric models and ideals that were embedded within the Burgundian court’s form of self-representation, he is keenly aware of them and their importance in shaping political arguments about authority and legitimacy.

Indeed, for his portraiture of authority, Basin’s palette is dominated by the components that defined the medieval view of good governance: chivalry, justice, honour, honesty, valour and humility, as well as the prince’s ability to seek out and accept wise counsel, all of which became mainstays of a Bur-gundian Valois political vocabulary. For instance, at the outset of his History of Charles VII, in detailing the Norman experience under English rule Basin succinctly outlines the basic traits of a good prince. The duchy, writes Basin,

21 Basin, Louis XI, 1:294: “Sed quia extra nostrum propositum est velle singulas illius splendidissime festivitatis partes exequi, ipsis ab aliis, talium rerum studiosis, enarrandis derelectis.”

22 This lengthy text is included in de la Marche, Mémoires, 3:101–201.23 Mark Spencer, Thomas Basin, 100–101.24 De la Marche, Mémoires, 3:112.


was ruled with great energy and skill by the Duke of Bedford, uncle of [the English King] Henry VI. Bedford was courageous, compassionate and just. He had great affection for the French lords, who obeyed him and he took pains to honour them ac-cording to their merits. During his life, French and Norman in this corner of the Kingdom held him in high esteem.25

Although short, this description embeds many of the basic qualities and con-sequences of good rule: energy, ability, courage, compassion, honour, affec-tion and justice, which in turn produce loyalty and admiration — and thus peace. Basin’s emphasis on these qualities reflect a larger Burgundian empha-sis on chivalric virtues as a source of political legitimacy and reciprocity.26

As Huizinga pointed out, Burgundian sensibilities about the importance of chivalrous qualities in establishing models of authority were complement-ed by the importance of display; the intersection of physical splendour with chivalric ideals became an important part of Burgundian courtly representa-tion.27 An excellent example of this fusion comes from Basin’s description of the famous Congress of Arras in 1435. Writing about the celebrated meeting between Philip the Good and Charles VII at the peace negotiations, Basin notes “Philip was present in person, with a brilliant group of prelates, princes, and noble and powerful people, making felt in his generosity, his spending and his diverse luxury the power and glory of a magnificent prince.”28 The em-phasis on physical demonstrations of both wealth and generosity was a core Burgundian theme that frequently found expression in courtly ceremonies and processions, such as the Joyous Entries. While such descriptions appear infrequently across Basin’s writings, in this instance they serve his larger goal to portray Philip as the embodiment, indeed archetype, of princely virtue. This is partly achieved by underlining the physical magnificence of the prince himself.

The other part is Basin’s description of how Philip’s conduct at the ne-gotiations connected honour and chivalry with the notions of the common

25 Basin, Charles VII, 1:89.26 See, for instance, Ghillebert de Lannoy’s Instructions d’un jeune prince, which sets

out how the skills of rule (gouverner) are acquired through an understanding of the prin-ciples of chivalry. De Lannoy, Oeuvres, esp. 403–404.

27 Huizinga, Autumn of the Middle Ages, esp. chapt. 7. 28 Basin, Charles VII, 1:186.


good and Christian duty. This was an important point to emphasise, since un-der the terms of the Treaty, Philip was forced to violate the oath of allegiance he had sworn with the English, an act of unchivalrous perfidy if ever there was one!29 Basin acknowledges the betrayal directly: “the duke of Burgundy was prevented from coming to an agreement with the king of France because of the solemn and strict oath of alliance that he had concluded with the king of England.” Philip’s efforts to reconcile the English and French antagonists, and thus honour the obligations of his oath, were, in Basin’s description, thwarted by the “great and many sacrifices” demanded by the “obdurate and stubborn” English: “many very reasonable offers made by the French, out of their devotion to peace, were scornfully rejected by the English.”30 In Basin’s reading, extreme English partisanship justified Philip’s eventual betrayal of his erstwhile allies. Indeed, the betrayal is not only fully consistent with, but indeed compelled by, his duty to the chose publique. Basin continues,

In the end, on the advice and according to the authority of the most reverend legates, Philip received for himself, his domains and his subjects the reward of peace with the king of France. The conditions offered by Charles VII were, in effect, so honest that to have refused them could have been seen by all as against not only the principles of justice, but even humanity itself (quod eas recusasse non modo injustum, verum eciam inhumanum a cunctis merito cesneri potuisset).31

In other words, Philip was bound by the principles of the common weal and duty towards his subjects to abrogate his alliance with the English and ac-cept the terms of peace offered by the French — noblesse oblige. Given Basin’s personal history, his praise of Philip’s decision to betray his erstwhile allies to bring about a lasting peace was probably more than just posturing, since the memory of the repression in Normandy wrought by Anglo-French conflict remained vivid.32

29 On the Congress of Arras, see Vaughan, Philip the Good, 98-107; Dickinson, The Congress of Arras, 1435.

30 Basin, Charles VII, 1:188.31 Basin, Charles VII, 1:188.32 Cf. Daly, “Villains into Heroes,” 195–196.


Aware that Philip’s actions in betraying his erstwhile allies might lead history to unfavourable judgment, Basin also stresses that, in signing the treaty of Arras, Philip was acting in the interests of Christianity, recalling similar themes found in other Burgundian works:

Like a tender mother (Ut pia mater), the Holy Roman Univer-sal Church deplored the misery and desolation in this Most Christian Kingdom, formerly so noble and powerful, and with so many Christian inhabitants who, in the past, more than all others, had been traditionally the shield and bulwark of all Chris-tianity against the enemies of the Christian religion. So putting into practice the logical requirements of his [Philip the Good’s] position, he sent the aforementioned most reverend prelates [to the Pope] to achieve and have sanctioned and confirmed such a holy undertaking (tam sanctum opus), from which so much solace and profit for all Christianity would be forthcoming.33

It may be tempting to read such outsized rhetoric as a demonstration that redemption for dishonourable acts requires hefty counterweights — and the good of humanity and Christianity serve nicely, of course. But it goes farther than that. Basin’s sentiment reflects a clear Burgundian model of political as-sertion and legitimacy. Beyond the intersection of chivalric with Christian duty, it stressed a political duty which had, since at least the 1440s, been in-flected with the idea that the Burgundian dukes were at the forefront of efforts to bolster the Church and the faith. This message, for example, was central to the court’s planned (but never launched) crusade to recapture Constantino-ple, a venture which also drew upon the idea of a Burgundian buttress to the “Most Christian Kingdom,” and placed it at the heart of a European venture to rescue the Eastern Church.34 Basin’s arguments for the ducal imperative to make peace with Charles thus fall within this larger trope of Burgundian po-litical expression, found, for instance, in the writings of Chastelain, Molinet, and de la Marche, among others.35

33 Basin, Charles VII, 1:188–190.34 Paviot, Les ducs de Bourgogne, 133; Müller, Kreuzzugspläne und Kreuzzugspolitik.

Strøm-Olsen, “Political Narrative and Symbolism.”35 In addition to stressing the Burgundian dukes’ Christian devotion, the chroniclers

also sought to qualify the Christian virtue of the French monarchs. See, for example, de la Marche’s ‘Burgundianisation’ of the conversion of Clovis (Marche, Mémoires, 1:56) and


The 1435 Treaty signed between Philip and Charles as a result of the Congress of Arras has often been described as a watershed moment in the his-tory of Burgundy.36 By securing peace with France, freeing himself from his obligations as a vassal to the French king and allying with her against further English encroachment, Philip strengthened his geopolitical position which in turn allowed him to consolidate his power over the disparate provinces that made up the Valois-Burgundian patrimony. That Philip exploited the weakness of the French crown in negotiating highly favourable terms in the treaty is beyond doubt. Basin himself notes this, although his position leans supportively to the Burgundian view of events. Charles VII, writes Basin,

was full of remorse and unhappiness to see the duke take such a nice [i.e. lucrative] part of his kingdom as reward for the chican-ery and conflict that he had plotted against him. For such action, thought the king, as a vassal against his sovereign, for the treaties signed with the ancient enemies of the king and kingdom, the duke more justly deserved punishment than to be rewarded with gains and benefices. The king however, kept his promise and his word and preferred to keep rather than infringe the terms of the treaty […] Nonetheless, many advised or suggested to him that he contrive some occasion to break the treaty and he is supposed to have looked for friendships and allegiances everywhere with this intention.37

Basin’s reckoning here echoes many of the themes that permeate the Burgun-dian chroniclers’ efforts to promote a Valois-Burgundian political primacy over their domains. Philip’s motivations in signing the Treaty of Arras were firmly in the realm of realpolitik. But the gloss, promoting the duke’s role as a defender of Christianity in restoring the health of the French kingdom, echoes directly language used by other figures within the Burgundian court, including the chroniclers Chastelain and Molinet.

Molinet’s sarcastic denunciation of ‘the most Christian King’ Louis XI (Molinet, Chro-niques, 1:213–214).

36 E.g. Vaughan, Philip the Good, 113–114.37 Basin, Charles VII, 1:194: “licet sepe a multis ut occasiones rupture perquireret sibi

suggestum consilioque datum fuisset et ad eos fines multas et varias, undecumque poterat, amicicias et federa expeciisse sit putatus, quemadmodum postea suis locis oportunius an-nectemus.”


Another, more pervasive element of the Burgundian historiographical turn in Basin’s Histories can be found in the way he draws upon late-medieval understandings of kingship derived from the speculum principis literature.38 The language of good rule developed in the medieval mirrors was of particu-lar importance to the assertion of a Burgundian political authority that had to remain circumscribed by the feudal obligations that the dukes, as princes of the blood, owed to the French crown.39 The ducal library housed a number of works within the genre, including Giles of Rome’s De regimine principum and the anonymous Liber de informatione principum, in French translation by Jean Golein. Burgundian authors also contributed to the genre, including, notably, Chastelain’s Le Miroer des nobles hommes de France. And texts like Salisbury’s Policraticus, which situated its understanding of kingship out-side the kinds of hieratic and mystical traditions of the French crown, were also part of the evolving Burgundian political vocabulary.40 Basin draws on themes from the mirrors frequently, as the passage cited above shows clearly. On the one hand, Charles VII remains true to his promise, despite his mis-givings. But his probity is undermined by the bad advice of those around him, his counsellors who urge the king to “break the treaty.” The portrait of Charles VII frequently influenced by bad advisors is a recurring motif, culminating with Basin’s conclusion that those around the king were “court dogs” who “rarely allowed the truth to reach the prince’s ears and still more rarely offered counsel inspired by the public good.”41 The emphasis in Basin’s Histories on the importance of counsel is suggestive of the degree to which this particular theme, drawn from the mirror literature, had become part of a larger Burgundian political strategy. Just as the political authority of the Burgundian dukes is enhanced and legitimated by their willingness to listen to — indeed seek out — wise counsel, stressed in Chastelain, Molinet and de la Marche, so too does the absence of good (or presence of actively bad) counsel undermine the legitimacy of authority. It was a powerful argument because it implicated at once the pillars of good governance, justice, peace, and the common good.42

38 Berges, Die Fürstenspiegel; Jónsson, ‘Les “Miroirs aux princes,”‘ 153–166.39 Strøm-Olsen, “George Chastelain,” esp. 7–8.40 See, for example, Emerson, Olivier de la Marche, 140–143. 41 Basin, Charles VII, 2:306. See also Guenée, Between Church and State, 324. 42 This could cut both ways, of course. Commines, also well versed in the Burgundian

mode of political expression having been an intimate at the court of Charles the Bold, wrote of Charles in his Memoirs: “Et depuis que ledict conte de Charolois eut esté une


If the role of bad counsel is one prominent theme in Basin that reflects the mirror tradition, another is the subversion of the common weal, the cor-ruption of power and the promotion of tyranny. As we shall see shortly, Basin considered Louis XI to be, straightforwardly, tyrannical. With Charles VII, his critique is more attenuated. Charles himself may not have been, by char-acter, a tyrant (unlike his son), but his actions nonetheless produce tyrannical outcomes. A good example is Basin’s focus on the deprivations caused by the military. Discussing the continued military presence under Charles VII in his home duchy of Normandy, Basin observes that this is enim pergrata tyrannis, “agreeable to tyrants who only see and desire power and who care little for the common people, nor for justice, nor for the peace of their subjects.”43 The havoc wrought by French troops in Normandy was something Basin had experienced firsthand and it certainly colours his account. But even if modu-lated by his personal prejudices, the theme of a standing force acting against the common good plays into his larger view of the contrast between a French and Burgundian philosophy of rule. “I admit,” he continues,

that an army is sometimes required in a state. But there are those states that only form one when it is absolutely necessary, and then only through the willing recruitment from their own citizens, who keep arms in their own homes at the ready. If it is absolutely necessary, they may hire mercenaries, but do so ac-cording to their means. Once the need has gone, they pay and disband them and send them home.44

This is a clear contrast between Philip the Good and the French crown, whose military presence expanded considerably in the latter stages of the Hundred Years War. Philip the Good generally maintained no such standing force, but made effective use, as needed, of specific levies. Moreover, the Burgundian lands themselves had been ravaged by marauding disbanded soldiery after the Treaty of Arras. The écorcheurs, as these soldiers were known, continued

piece duc de Bourgongne, et que la fortune l’ eut mis plus hault que ne fut jamais homme de sa maison, et si grant qu’il ne, craignoit nul prince pareil de luy, Dieu le souffrit cheoir en ceste gloire; et tant luy diminua du sens, qu’il mesprisoit tout aultre conseil du monde, sauf le sien seul; et aussi tost apres fina sa vie douloureusement, avec grant nombre de gens et de ses subgectz, et desola sa maison, comme vous voyez.” Commines, Mémoires, 1:96.

43 Basin, Charles VII, 2:26. 44 Basin, Charles VII, 2:26.


to destabilize the countryside in the Duchy of Burgundy and other south-ern possessions of the duke until the early 1440s, when order was finally restored.45

For Basin, the perils of a permanent military force are clear: burden-some taxation, the constant fear of violence, and the disruption of the com-mon good.46 “Each will think what they will,” he concludes,

our opinion is such as we have expressed it. But it is the [main-tenance of a permanent military force] that pleases tyrants and conforms to their desires. Further, as we have said, such counsel is constantly being whispered into their ear by those (and they are great in number) who gain from this public misery.47

By the time Basin wrote these thoughts, the relatively skilful methods of ter-ritorial defense and consolidation practiced by Philip the Good had given way to the onerous and heavy-handed military practices of his successor, Charles the Bold. It is surely that turn toward tyranny that prompts Basin to remind his Burgundian readership, themselves victims of the collapse of Burgundian–Valois power,

do we not hope to see over our lives the kingdom freed from this unhappiness? To the contrary, the misery will only increase with the passing of time. […] And it is not only France that will suffer this misfortune. The contagion will spread insidiously to her neighbours, unless God Himself prevents it. Already we have seen the harm accomplished in lands which had for a long time not been freed from such misery.48

45 On the écorcheurs, so-called because they stripped inhabitants of everything they owned except their clothes, see Vaughan, Philip the Good, 94–97.

46 Guenée suggests that Basin, influenced by Bruni’s De Militia, may have supported a “natural army constituted by the nobility of the realm.” Guenée, Between Church and State, 304.

47 Basin, Charles VII, 2:36: “consilium ab hiis [iis] qui ex hac publica calamitate compendia accipiunt (qui magno nimis numero sunt), jugiter eorum auribus instiletur, ut diximus.”

48 Basin, Charles VII, 2:36–38.


Those lands remain unnamed in Basin’s account, but there can be little doubt that the prelate had in mind the ill-fated military adventurism that cut short the life of Charles the Bold.

His object lessons for the Burgundian polity notwithstanding, at heart Basin’s primary interest is in laying out the betrayal of the principles of the common weal directly attributable to infelicitous decisions taken by the French crown in the aftermath of the Hundred Years War. In the fluid politi-cal climate of the 1470s and 80s, his reading of history has clear implications:

Free men, we obey of our own will and our own good grace those who lead us legitimately and justly for good cause, as their subjects. But to those who lead without good reason, not for the common good (utilitatis communis causa), but to sacrifice the state as a whole to the service of their own particular and unjust desires, and who seek to reduce us to servitude, to them we refuse to submit.49

Tempting as it may be to read into this kind of language a forward-thinking model of freedom and, indeed, a proto-modern concept of the individual, Basin is really making appeal to a long-established font of principle in the Low Countries that was long associated with a discourse of power and privilege of citizenship, which stressed on the one hand the dignified conduct of the ruler with, on the other, the willingness to accept royal authority.50 When filtered through his historical account of French treachery, Basin’s harangue surely struck a familiar chord by speaking to the very rectitude of lordship and sovereignty. As Jeroen Deploige has observed, regarding the exercise of sovereignty in medieval Bruges, “royal dignity […] [would] become a very pivotal concept in the development of the idea of royal transcendence.”51 And so it had. In Basin’s formulation, it is not only the French royals’ pattern of sacrificing the common good to individual interest that degrades the dignity of the crown; it is, additionally, the omnipresent bad counsel and self-interested advisers who reinforce the betrayal of the common good. Its seemingly modern tone aside, Basin’s point again draws directly from the core principles articulated in the medieval corpus of the

49 Basin, Charles VII, 2:42.50 Deploige, “Political Assassination,” especially 44–48.51 Deploige, “Political Assassination,” 44.


speculum literature that was a mainspring of the evolving Burgundian model of legitimate authority.

This notion of political authority here, one that invites loyalty by exer-cising power “legitimately and justly for good cause,” embraces the principles upon which Burgundian Valois legitimacy was asserting itself. In the Histo-ries, Basin devotes long sections to a detailed discussion of the Burgundian suppression of urban rebellion — notably the difficult campaigns against Ghent (1449–53) and later Liège (1465) and Utrecht (1481). For Basin, these uprisings were unjustified and treasonous because of the legitimate political prerogative held by Philip the Good as a just ruler; to possess (embody) the ideal qualities of the prince is synonymous with a right to rule. Thus to rise up against the authority of Philip the Good, as an ideal prince embodying justice, courage, compassion, honour and a desire to uphold the common good, is inherently an unjust act.

Basin’s description of Philip’s defeat of the Gentenaars in 1453 is exem-plary of both the implicit Burgundian model of political authority and the explicit historiographical vocabulary that had been adduced to decry resist-ance to ducal prerogative in other, official Burgundian chronicling accounts.52 In other words, it unites the ideal-prince of the speculum principis tradition with a distinctly Burgundian reading of recent history. The rebellion (as Basin observes rather fairly) was based on a disagreement over taxation issues and, more fundamentally, certain longstanding privileges enjoyed by the city.53 In his account of the dispute, Basin shows rather more equanimity than other chroniclers (such as Matthieu d’Escouchy, who dismisses the rebellion as “against God, truth and reason”), although he stresses Philip the Good’s conciliatory efforts to avoid conflict with the obstreperous city.54 Historians now generally see the 1450s’ revolt as the last and most concerted effort by the city’s population to resist the encroachment of ducal authority, especially in fiscal and judicial matters.55 There may be, however, something to Basin’s

52 On the Ghent rebellion, Basin, Charles VII, 2:202–222. 53 Basin, Charles VII, 2:202. On the Ghent War, see Boone, Gent en de Bourgondische

hertogen, especially 220–235.54 Escouchy, Chronique, 1:369: “Et lesquelles choses lui sambloient contre Dieu, verité

et raison.”55 Dumolyn and Haemers, “Patterns of Urban Rebellion,” 369–393. “The duke’s

programme for centralisation included the construction and strengthening of central judicial institutions, particularly the Council of Flanders as an appeal court for the lo-cal city aldermen, and the undermining of the power of the ‘Four Members of Flanders’


reckoning, which hints at a city divided, since urban privileges worked to the advantage of some but against the interests of others: “Philip sought to reform or repress certain privileges of which the Gentenaars were very proud, but which infringed against the common good.”56 This is consistent (perhaps inadvertently) with socio-political change in fifteenth-century Ghent in which expanding ducal control provoked shifts that redrew power-relations in the city.57 At any event, Basin’s pro-Burgundian perspective can be clearly discerned in his discussion of Ghent’s eventual defeat at the hands of the Bur-gundian army. In victory, Basin underlines Philip’s mercy and judgment, re-calling his earlier description of the duke as “very capable in conducting and governing his affairs, in war as well as peace.”58 Philip, writes Basin, “thought it more prudent and wise not to destroy this most eminent, most magnificent city, famous throughout Christendom. […] His anger tempered by mercy, [Philip] generously forgave them of their crimes.”59 As part of the agreement following his defeat of the rebellious city, Philip

suspended or restrained privileges which Ghent claimed from antiquity, but which had been taken by force or by fear from his predecessors rather than freely awarded by them, and under the cover of which they had committed many iniquitous and nefari-ous acts, both amongst themselves and against their neighbours.60

as a representative institution with the power to approve taxation. The Burgundian state gradually concentrated coercive power by skimming off more and more of the financial means of its subjects and through growing co-option of pro-ducal social and political networks among the urban political elites. […] the growing ambitions of the ducal state increasingly came into open conflict with parts of the elites and with the urban guilds […] clearly shown during the bitter but ultimately failed revolts of Bruges in 1436–1438 and Ghent in 1449–1453,” 379–380.

56 Basin, Charles VII, 2:204: “vel tanquam racioni atque utilitati publice contraria infringere inchoavit.”

57 Dumolyn and Haemers, “Patterns of Urban Rebellion,” 380.58 Basin, Charles VII, 1:75.59 Basin, Charles VII, 2:218. Basin expands here upon Philip’s motives. Advised to

destroy the town, Philip is supposed to have asked what would have taken the place of such an important part of his estates were he to raze the city. See Vaughan, Philip the Good, 332 and Gachard, Études et notices historiques, 2:407.

60 Basin, Charles VII, 2:218–220. Vaughan has a lengthy discussion of the events of the “Ghent War” in Philip the Good, 303–333, although his consideration of its aftermath is abbreviated. See Arnade, Realms of Ritual, 108–129 for a detailed discussion of the


Philip the Good’s “prudence, wisdom, mercy, grace, benevolence and clem-ency” contrast with the “iniquitous, nefarious, injurious (noxius), insolent, rash, and arrogant” behaviour and actions of the Gentenaars.61 The implied pairings between the two adversaries reflect a deeper literary trope: that of pride as the enemy of the common good, justice, and peace. Indeed, they recall lines penned by Chastelain, writing of the kingdom of France:

For by my pride I roust Peace and Justice from my house. 62

Similarly, in Basin’s reckoning Ghent’s defeat was divine punishment (castiga-cionem superbia Gandavi divinitus) for the surfeit of pride that had provoked Ghent into disobedience toward its prince.63 Philip the Good’s clemency, of course, recalls divine mercy and further underscores the principal qualities of the ideal prince as the arbiter and protector of the common good, in this case against the “iniquities” provoked by urban particularism.

Basin’s devotes considerable space in the Histories to the urban par-ticularism that spawned resistance to Burgundian ducal authority, in large measure because such civic revolts served as proxies for larger Franco–Bur-gundian tensions. In describing French support for the rebellious citizens of Liège, Basin indicts Charles VII directly, noting he “concluded agreements with […] above all those who he knew bore hatred for the duke of Burgundy […] which is why he allied himself even with the people of Liège, then very powerful, for he knew the Burgundian duke had long pursued them with single-minded acerbity (quod eos acerbissimio ac sevissimo odio insectari Bur-gundiones ab antiquo sciret).” The king’s tactic brought a metaphor to mind:

When we desire to fell a very old tree with its stout trunk and bound to the earth by roots both long and deep, we begin by dig-ging a large ditch around it. We are then able, having brought several men or heads of oxen to assist, to pull it down by ropes

meaning of Ghent’s defeat, and especially the stripping of various ritual and other customs. Dumolyn and Haemers consider the wider ramifications and cite relevant literature in “Patterns of Urban Rebellion in Medieval Flanders.”

61 Basin, Charles VII, 2:218–220.62 “Car j’ay mis hors de ma maison, / Par mon orgueil, Paix et Justice.” Chastelain,

Oeuvres, 6:11.63 Basin, Charles VII, 2:220–222.


since it has become isolated and is tethered to the ground only by a few remaining roots. Thus, to bring down and humiliate the House of Burgundy (domum Burgundie) (the most flourishing and richest in all of France or Germany), Charles, king of France, mined and sapped as if to dig around as far as possible its roots, by allying himself where he could with princes and people [op-posed to Philip the Good].64

This passage recapitulates Basin’s earlier portrait of Charles VII.65 Echoing an arboreal metaphor (the tree that springs back to life) used to describe the French kingdom itself, Basin characterises Charles’ actions to isolate Philip as provoking a further florescence of the Burgundian house, while diminishing his own position.66 Basin tells the history briskly: the efforts to isolate Philip fail and the duke emerges yet more resplendent than before.67 The period cul-minates in the power struggle between Charles and his son (the future Louis XI). The dauphin is eventually forced to flee to the Burgundian court, where he remained in exile for almost five years (1456–1461).68 The episode offers Basin another opportunity to stress the differences between the two princes. “King Charles, knowing the honour and magnificence with which his son had found refuge in the Burgundian house revealed his mistrust of both the duke and his own son,” by placing military garrisons at several border loca-tions. “However,” writes Basin,

Duke Philip was a prudent and magnanimous man, and he re-fused the advice of many around him who urged him to do like-wise in his own cities and places. He had the wisdom to know that if he did such a thing his subjects, who lived in peaceful freedom which he wished to endure, would be subject to the two onerous things that ruin such freedom completely, the need to impose taxes and to live with a standing military (miliciam tolerare).69

64 Basin, Charles VII, 2:246. Cf. Vaughan, Philip the Good, 346–347, who provides a slightly less literal translation of this remarkable passage.

65 Above, at note 41.66 Beaune, The Birth of an Ideology, 297, for her discussion of arboreal metaphors for

the French kingdom.67 Basin, Charles VII, 2:248–262.68 On these events, see Vaughan, Philip the Good, 353–355.69 Charles VII, 2:262.


This sentiment, though relatively brief, reveals the full extent to which Basin viewed events through a Burgundian lens and his enthusiastic sanction of Philip the Good. The chose publique here takes full form, assuming a meta-phorical, historical and narrative shape. The metaphorical — the tree as a representation of the kingdom/state — is taken up by Basin who not only transposes the image from France to Burgundy, but further reinforces the idea of political/dynastic strength (vetustissime arboris molem truncique robur ingens) and continuity with the past (altis et extensis longe radicibus he-rens solo) that similarly animated the retelling of post-Roman “Burgundian” history. Getting the geopolitical advantage on France fulfils a historical prom-ise, expressed in the active separation of Burgundian from French fortunes and the invention of a historical tradition that stressed dynastic triumph.70 The narrative — themes of advice, justice and compassion familiar within the medieval literary tradition — is perhaps the most interesting. Duke Philip, though pressed by the actions of his enemy and the advice of his council-lors, chooses the peace and freedom (tranquilla libertate) of his subjects. The ability to act justly and wisely, to eschew bad advice and not succumb to the temptations of power — these are the archetypal qualities of the good ruler, stressed repeatedly in the mirror-for-princes genre. In so doing, Philip de-livers his subjects from the two great evils that frame Basin’s narrative as a whole: unjust taxation and the violent imposition of a standing military force. He upholds, in other words, the common weal.

When he turns his attention to Louis XI, Basin’s criticisms become much more direct and pointed. The diffidence and sybaritic indolence of Charles VII — bad enough — pale in comparison with the portrayal of Louis as simply tyrannical and unjust. Like other Burgundian chroniclers, Basin traces the breakdown of relations between Louis XI and the Burgundian dukes to a set of failures in Louis’ character. In tracing the origins of the dis-pute between Charles and Louis, Basin notes that Louis is convinced by “the duke of Bourbon and several other bad advisors” that he deserves to rule in place of his father, and is convinced by them that he will be able to “restore in short order through his vigilance and skill the common weal, which was completely despoiled and close to lost, and expel [France’s] enemies and

70 An example of this is the remarkable retelling of Burgundian history found in the “Chronique des Royz,” British Library Yates Thompson MS 32, which is set completely outside of the French dynastic tradition. On this work, see Small, “Of Burgundian dukes,” 151–187.


restore the former honour, dignity, glory and wealth to the kingdom.”71 While the future king’s susceptibility to flattery from “bad advisors” clearly refer-ences the mirror theme discussed above, Basin’s denunciation of Louis goes much further.

By the time Basin turned his attention to the reign of Louis XI, his work had become as much about Burgundy as France. The incorporation of Bur-gundian history was an inevitable consequence of the intertwined histories of Louis XI and his rival Charles the Bold — but only in part. For Basin also uses the Burgundian lands as a counter-example to the experiences of the French kingdom. After Louis XI was crowned at Reims, Basin personally asked the king to rectify the burdens he had identified under Charles VII as detrimental to the common good. Louis “thanked the supplicant,” notes Basin,

for having brought this to his attention, which concerned him more than any other worldly matter. He wanted nothing more than to free his subjects and his kingdom from the burdensome and cruel taxes that were destroying them and to restore ancient freedoms. He had lived almost five years in the lands of the duke of Burgundy. The magnificent and wealthy towns and villages, full of goods, houses well-furnished and well-built, the inhabitants prospering from great freedom, honestly dressed, everything one saw there was the image of happiness and liberty. And as soon as he had entered this kingdom he saw ruins and half-started build-ings, dry or fallow fields, and as for the people, their wan mien, the poverty of their dress which barely covered them, it seemed they were coming from the cruellest sort of captivity rather than living as a free people. […] He promised to restore their ancient dignity and liberty after having alleviated the evils around them and freed them from the fiscal burden that overwhelmed them. He repeated these fine words and many believed him […] But those who knew of his earlier behaviour were not fooled.72

71 Basin, Charles VII, 1:256.72 Basin, Louis XI, 1:18–20. The last line implies that Basin was drawing on sources

from within the Burgundian court, since the prelate himself had no prior knowledge of the king. In his autobiography, Basin acknowledges that he left Lisieux to attend Louis’ coronation in order to meet him since “up until then I knew of him by reputation only.” Basin, Apologie, 18.


Basin’s personal rancour aside, this passage demonstrates the Burgundian inflection in his historical reckoning through the contrast between a Burgun-dian estate characterized by freedom and happiness and a French kingdom reduced to ruination by war and greed. The Burgundian perspective is more than circumstantial: Basin suggests that under Charles VII the French throne has lost the knowledge of how to govern justly. Louis, however, having lived in the Burgundy of Philip the Good thereby had the opportunity to learn the art of good governance. In his Apologia, Basin makes the mirror-for-princes motif explicitly clear:

For a number of years he had lived in the illustrious house and in the flourishing lands of Philip, duke of Burgundy, of happy memory, as if in a school or apprenticeship about how to exercise good government (rei publice) and practise heroic virtue.73 [em-phasis added]

Needless to say, Louis did not benefit from the experiences. Basin even claims that Philip the Good attempted to convince Louis to alleviate the kingdom of its heavy military and fiscal burdens. In light of Basin’s own intercession, Louis’ rebuff can be seen clearly in the light of the chose publique.74 Basin shortly thereafter recounts, as a full measure of Louis’ perfidious nature, his almost immediate betrayal of his erstwhile ally Philip the Good by forming an alliance with the anti-Burgundian faction in Liège.75

Basin’s hostility to Louis XI pervades his account and its litany of ac-cusations of Louis’ betrayal of the chose publique, especially since the period between Louis XI’s coronation (1461) and the Treaty of Conflans (1465) marks the end of Basin’s own career as a servant both to the Norman church and French crown. The peace accord reached by Louis with his rebellious subjects in the fall of 1465 that ended the so-called War of the League of the Public Weal is, in Basin’s account, a wholesale abandonment of the principles of the chose publique. “De bono publico,” he seethes,

73 Basin, Apologie, 18: “quadam velut in scola et disciplina moderande rei publice omniumque heroiicarum virtutaum alitis et confotus.”

74 Basin, Louis XI, 1:46: “Inter cetera fama percrebruit quod, pro sullevando regnum onere milicie et tributorum, ei preces affectuosissime fecisset.”

75 Basin, Louis XI, 1:46–50.


of the public good […] only sterile and empty sermons were pronounced. To safeguard the public good (bono publico) and restore the common weal (re publica) power was granted to a unique body that could revive the moribund state. But without these princes [i.e. of the League of the Public Weal], what could one expect from the arbitrary rule of one yet more ambitious and proud than ever before?76

Not much, apparently. In Basin’s estimation, Louis’ abandonment of the principles of the common weal drives events during the last two decades of his history. The stakes were high for the Burgundian patrimony during this period, which explains why so much of his History of Louis XI focuses on the Burgundian experience. He acknowledges the flaws of Charles the Bold in promulgating a political agenda through conflict, but ultimately the greater villainy here is French. Louis XI, with his “tricks, malice, perfidy, foolishness, pernicious and cruel deeds,” is simply unfit to reign.

In the fifteenth century, “l’histoire s’est faite bourguignonne” as Molinier put it over a century ago.77 For Basin this was certainly the case. His studies of the French kings not only intertwine closely with the lives of Philip the Good and Charles the Bold, but the Burgundian dukes become protagonists in a historical drama in which an incompetent and venal king (Charles VII) and then a villainous and perfidious one (Louis XI) threaten the kingdom with tyranny and ruin. Absolved from their obligations as a vassal after 1435, the Burgundian dukes undertook an ambitious plan to establish dynastic founda-tions in their territories and elevate an indivisible Maison de Bourgogne that belied their nominal feudal subordination to the crown. New approaches to writing history were a critical part of that undertaking, a history that wove together the strands of self-representation that permeated Burgundian court culture and ritual. Chivalric and Christian codes intersected to form a po-litical language of justice and injustice, good rule and tyranny, from which a Burgundian reason of state could be made intelligible. Basin’s retelling of the history he witnessed is suffused with, even inseparable from, this Burgundian historiographical effort. As such, he was part of the larger Burgundian literary tradition of the later fifteenth century that sought to re-imagine the founda-

76 Basin, Louis XI, 1:224. Cf. Champion, Louis XI, 2:65–82 for an amusingly national-ist, pro-Louis XI version of events (largely following Commynes).

77 Molinier, Les Sources de l’histoire de France, 4:186.


tions of the state and recast the legitimacy of rule outside of the traditional mystical basis for French regal authority. Although he was writing from the periphery, Basin’s historical perspective reflects a Burgundian centre.

IE University

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french history as burgundian historiography in the 'histoires' of thomas basin

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