Charles the Bold

CARLO il TEMERARIO. — Duke of Burgundy, born in Dijon on 10 November 1433, died in battle against the duke of Lorraine beneath the walls of Nancy on 5 January 1477. He succeeded his father Filippo il Buono in 1467. He opposed Luigi XI in every way, supporting the Yorkists against the Lancastrians in the Wars of the Roses, the latter being supported by the king of France; he allied himself with Giovanni II d’Aragona, and successfully opposed French influence in Italy. At the conference of Trier (1473), he expressed to the emperor Federico III his intention of assuming the title of king of Burgundy and Frisia. In 1476 he found himself at war with the Swiss, but was defeated at Grandson and Murten: on 6 May of that same year, he celebrated the betrothal of his daughter Maria to the archduke Massimiliano d’Asburgo, son of the emperor. A contemporary (Olivier de la Marche) relates that C. confided to him that the ultimate aim of his policy was war against the infidels; in fact, however, C. paid no heed to the appeal for the Crusade launched by Sisto IV in 1472.