Burgundy

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Burgundy
Bourgogne
—  Region of France  —

Flag
Logo
Country  France
Prefecture Dijon
Departments
4
Government
 • President François Patriat (PS)
Area
 • Total 31,582 km2 (12,194 sq mi)
Population (2008-01-01)
 • Total 1,631,000
 • Density Bad rounding here52/km2 (Bad rounding here130/sq mi)
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
GDP/ Nominal € 40 billion (2006)[1]
GDP per capita € 24,800 (2006)[1]
NUTS Region FR2
Website cr-bourgogne.fr
Map of the Burgundy region.
Map of the Burgundy region.

Burgundy (French: Bourgogne, IPA: [buʁ.ɡɔɲ] ( listen)) is a region of central France. Burgundy includes the following four departements: Côte-d'Or, Saône-et-Loire, Yonne and Nièvre

Contents

Name [edit]

The name comes from the Burgundians, an ancient Germanic people originating in Bornholm who settled in the area during the early Middle Ages. The Old Norse name for Bornholm was Burgundaholmr. An example of an equivalent name in present-day Scandinavia is Borgund in Norway.

Geography [edit]

The region of Burgundy is both larger than the old Duchy of Burgundy and smaller than the area ruled by the Dukes of Burgundy, from the modern Netherlands to the border of Auvergne. Today, Burgundy is made up of the following old provinces:

Major communities [edit]

Climate [edit]

The climate of this region is essentially oceanic (Cfb in Köppen classification), with a continental influence (sometimes called a "half-continental climate").

History [edit]

Main article: History of Burgundy
Coat of arms of the second Duchy of Burgundy and later of the French province of Burgundy
Genesis of Burgundy-The region in general consisted throughout most of its history in the area shown as Bourgogne and Provence abutting Lombardy in northern Italy on the west. However, the Burgundy possessions at the time the male line died out, included many lands in the Frankish region shown as Neustria—after this passed to Phillip II of Spain, the area became known as the Spanish Netherlands, giving rise to the Dutch Revolt during the Protestant Reformation.

Burgundy was inhabited in turn by Celts, Romans (Gallo-Romans), and in the 4th century, the Roman who were then allied with the Burgundians, a Germanic people possibly originating in Bornholm (Baltic Sea), who settled there and established their own kingdom. However, Agathias identifies Burgunds (Βουρουγουνδοι) and Ultizurs as Bulgaric people of Hunnic circle tribes, near relatives of Turkic Cotrigurs and Utigurs.[2][3] This Burgundian kingdom was conquered in the 6th century by another Germanic tribe, the Franks who continued the kingdom of Burgundy under their own rule.

Later, the region was divided between the Duchy of Burgundy (to the west) and the County of Burgundy (to the east). The Duchy of Burgundy is the better-known of the two, later becoming the French province of Burgundy, while the County of Burgundy became the French province of Franche-Comté, literally meaning free county.

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. In A.D. 411, they crossed the Rhine and established a kingdom at Worms. Amidst repeated clashes between the Romans and Huns, the Burgundian kingdom eventually occupied what is today the borderlands between Switzerland, France, and Italy. In 534, the Franks defeated Godomar, the last Burgundian king, and absorbed the territory into their growing empire.

Burgundy's modern existence is rooted in the dissolution of the Frankish Empire. 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,
  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. The Duchy of Burgundy was annexed by the French throne in 1004. 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.

During the Middle Ages, Burgundy was the seat of some of the most important Western churches and monasteries, among them Cluny, Cîteaux, and Vézelay.

Burgundy within 14th century France, map by William R. Shepherd.
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 youngest son, Philip the Bold, rather than leaving it for his successor on the French throne. The duchy soon became a major rival to the throne, because the Dukes of Burgundy succeeded in assembling an empire stretching from Switzerland to the North Sea, in large part by marriage. The Burgundian territories 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. Its economic heartland was in the Low Countries, particularly Flanders and Brabant. The court in Dijon outshone the French court both economically and culturally. In Belgium and in the south of the Netherlands, a 'Burgundian lifestyle' still means 'enjoyment of life, good food, and extravagant spectacle'.

In 1477, at the battle of Nancy during the Burgundian Wars, the last duke Charles the Bold was killed in battle, and the Duchy itself was annexed by France. In the late 15th and early 16th centuries, the other Burgundian territories provided a power base for the rise of the Habsburgs, after Maximilian of Austria married the surviving daughter of the ducal family, Mary. After her death, her husband moved his 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. The latter territory was ceded to France in the Treaty of Nijmegen of 1678.

With the French Revolution in the end of the 18th century, the administrative units of the regions disappeared, but were reconstituted during the Fifth Republic in the 1970s. The modern-day administrative région comprises most of the former duchy.

Culture [edit]

Wine [edit]

Chardonnay vineyards in the south of the Côte de Beaune surrounding the town of Meursault.
Main article: Burgundy wine

Burgundy is one of France's main wine producing areas. It is well known for both its red and white wines, mostly made from Pinot noir and Chardonnay grapes, respectively, although other grape varieties can be found, including Gamay, Aligote, Pinot blanc, and Sauvignon blanc. The region is divided into the Côte-d'Or, where the most expensive and prized Burgundies are found, and Beaujolais, Chablis, the Côte Chalonnaise and Mâcon.

The reputation and quality of the top wines, together with the fact that they are often produced in small quantities, has led to high demand and high prices, with some Burgundies ranking among the most expensive wines in the world.

Marc de Bourgogne (Tres Vieux), an aged pomace brandy from Burgundy

Cuisine [edit]

Famous Burgundian dishes include coq au vin, beef bourguignon, and Époisses de Bourgogne cheese.

References [edit]

  1. ^ a b "GDP per inhabitant in 2006 ranged from 25% of the EU27 average in Nord-Est in Romania to 336% in Inner London". Eurostat. 
  2. ^ Agathias, Histiriae, V,11,3-4
  3. ^ Runciman S., A history of the First Bulgarian empire, London, G.Bell & Sons, 1930, p.7, & notes

Further reading [edit]

  • Burgundy, What a Story! by Bernard Lecomte and Jean-Louis Thouart (Ed. de Bourogne, 2004) ISBN 978-2-902650-02-6

External links [edit]

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Burgundy.
Look up burgundy in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Provinces of France before the revolution

Coordinates: 47°00′N 4°30′E / 47.000°N 4.500°E / 47.000; 4.500

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