History Of The Netherlands

In the final decade of his reign, Philip the Good was obsessed with the idea of a crusade against the Ottoman Turks. The complexities of the diverse state that he had built, however, would never allow him to fulfill this dream, as he would continually be distracted by local issues. Although Philip had been released from his personal vassalage to the French King, France still remained a threat to stability in Burgundy; the two men’s status as ‘frenemies’ was solidified when Charles VII’s son, the dauphin Louis, was given refuge at the Burgundian court. Philip’s heir, Charles, Count of Charolais, had major father issues of his own after their argument which had ended with Philip lost in the forest in Belgium. Despite the birth of his daughter, Mary, Charles became estranged from not only his father, but also the fine-workings of central governance. He retreated to Holland to worry about whether he would ever, indeed, actually receive his inheritance. When the dauphin Louis ascended to the throne in France, a se