biography
| name: |
Philip, Duke of Burgundy
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known as the Good
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| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1396–1467)
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| biography:
| Duke of Burgundy from 1419, the son of John the Fearless. He acquired Namur, Brabant, and Limburg by inheritance through his uncle Antony, and Holland, Zeeland, and Hainault from Jacqueline of Bavaria. He tried to extend his power over Gelre and Friesland, and managed to have his candidates appointed to the bishoprics of Liège and Utrecht. He appointed a central Grand Council and a chancellor, and also stadtholders in the various provinces, and instituted a consultancy body, the States-General, in Brussels. This centralizing tendency was later carried much further by the Emperor Charles V, but Philip the Good is generally regarded as the founder of the unified Netherlands state. In 1430 he founded the Order of the Golden Fleece, and the same year had Joan of Arc, who had been captured by John of Luxemburg, handed over to the English. |
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