A former duchy in south-central France. The Burgundii, a Germanic tribe, settled there in the 5th century. It was under Merovingian control and then absorbed into the Carolingian empire. Thereafter it was divided between France and the Holy Roman Empire, with the ‘duchy of Burgundy’ being confined to the part under French rule. From the late 14th century French and imperial Burgundy (Franche-Comté) were reunited under a series of strong dukes. Philip the Bold also acquired Flanders and Philip the Good the Netherlands. Geographically the separation of these territories made government difficult and Charles the Bold tried, but failed, to unite his northern and southern lands by annexing Lorraine. He was killed in 1477, leaving no son to succeed. Louis XI of France seized the duchy of Burgundy and Picardy, but Franche-Comté, Flanders, and the Netherlands passed by marriage to the Habsburg Maximilian I. The final subjection of Burgundy to France occurred when Louis XIV seized Franche-Comté in 1674.

During its history the duchy had achieved great power and influence, its court in the 15th century being the most splendid in Europe. Certainly some of its dukes were more powerful than many kings of France and when they allied themselves with the English, as they did during the Hundred Years War, they posed a real threat to the security of the French monarch. The court of the dukes of Burgundy was renowned for its artistic patronage; the name Burgundian School is applied to a group of Flemish panel painters and miniaturists working for them between 1390 and 1420.