Heir to an important group of principalities, the new duke of Burgundy also took charge of the administrative and judicial institutions upon which ducal government relied. Seen in the context of the entire ducal dominion, these institutions were neither united nor centralised. Their structures and functions differed in the two Burgundies and in the principalities of the north, although there already existed some ‘central’ institutions which bore the marks of belonging to a truly ‘Burgundian state’.
Since the duke visited Burgundian lands but rarely and then only briefly, it became necessary for him to be represented either by his duchess (this was very much the case under John the Fearless, much of Margaret of Bavaria’s time being spent in Dijon) or by a governor to whom were delegated powers of administration and justice such as the duke would have exercised. Along with this ducal representative, the essential agent of government in the two Burgundies was the ducal council which met at Dijon. Since 1386 this body had acted, above all, as a court of justice hearing appeals from within the duchy. Parallel to it were other courts of appeal, the most important being the Grands Jours held in Beaune which drew appeals from both the duchy and from the county of Charolais. This court heard only cases which came before it from that part of the duchy which lay within the kingdom of France and which, having been considered in Beaune, could still be heard before the king’s parlement sitting in Paris. Since most of the duchy was a fief of the French crown, the duke’s subjects could always appeal, in last resort, from ducal courts to Paris. This ‘appeal to France’, as it was called, was the most tangible evidence of royal sovereignty over Burgundy: the situation would not change until Charles the Bold became duke.
The administration of justice within the county of Burgundy (which was imperial territory) was very different. Here, justice was dispensed by aparlement whose seat was at Dole, and which acted as a sovereign court hearing appeals in last resort. In spite of this, the justice of the two Burgundies differed but little, if at all. The result was that efforts to achieve institutional unification worked well, the president of the Grands Jours of Beaune fulfilling the same function in the parlement at Dole.
In the principalities of the north, the administrative and judicial organisations differed, but the practices followed by the dukes meant that, although they lacked uniformity, they none the less moved more closely together. Thus, since 1386, there had existed in Lille a council which, acting as a judicial body, was broadly similar to that functioning in Dijon. The authority of the court of appeal extended over Flanders, to the lordship of Malines, even as far as Antwerp. The dukes’ Flemish subjects complained of the institutions’ markedly ‘French’ character, and when John the Fearless became count of Flanders he recognised the legitimacy of such complaints by transferring the council first to Oudenaarde (1405) and then to Ghent (1407), ordering that henceforth the Flemish language should have its proper place in its procedures. Those living in the kingdom of France, yet subject to the court, could appeal from its decisions to the parlement in Paris.
At the summit of the Burgundian system of administration and justice there existed institutions which can be called ‘central’, through which, in a certain sense, the unity of the government responsible for the different Burgundian principalities expressed itself. The ducal council (grand conseil), for instance, accompanied the duke on his travels, and included among its members relatives, political allies and great officers of state; it was a body to which all who bore the title ‘ducal councillor’ (conseiller de monseigneur le duc) could be summoned. This council, centred on the court, differed from those which sat in Dijon and Lille; as the main organ of government, although one lacking specialised competence or powers, it could discuss all and any matters concerning the duke. At its head was the ducal chancellor, de facto head of all Burgundian justice and administration. Between 1405 and 1422 the position was in the hands of Jean de Saulx, lord of Courtivron, who was replaced by Jean de Thoisy, bishop of Tournai. In 1422,Thoisy gave way to Nicolas Rolin, a figure of great importance who was to be retained in this post for almost forty years.
The tendency towards ‘bi-polarity’, with two capitals, one in Dijon, the other in Lille, which affected both administration and justice, could also be observed in the organisation of ducal financial affairs. Since 1386, as the result of a conscious decision taken by Philip the Bold, the two ducal institutions had worked in strict symmetry. For both groups of principalities which formed the Burgundian state there were created, in addition to local institutions, two regional receivers’ offices, one for the counties of Flanders and Artois, the other for the duchy and county of Burgundy. Similarly, there also existed two chambres des comptes, one, sitting in Lille, exercising control over the northern principalities, the other in Dijon, having jurisdiction over the two Burgundies and Charolais. At a regional level, the authority of these institutions extended over the accounts of all receivers, over the management of all ducal estates and over the preservation of all financial and estate records. In addition, each had other rights of jurisdiction, just as, at a higher level, the king’s chambre des comptes in Paris exercised such rights.
Parallel to this regional organisation there existed financial bodies which followed the dukes on their travels. The general office for ducal receipts (recette generale de toutes les finances) which, in spite of its name, also concerned itself with expenditure and was far from exercising control over the entire ducal system of finances, and the chambre aux deniers, which was more particularly concerned with the expenses of the household, were two such. The accounts of these ‘central’ bodies were first overseen by the chambre des comptes at Dijon and later, after 1420, by that at Lille.
The various outlets drew funds from a variety of forms of revenue. In addition to revenues from their lands, which were particularly profitable in Flanders, the dukes of Burgundy benefited from a complex system of taxation. In Burgundy, the late fourteenth century had witnessed the creation of an elaborate system which consisted of three kinds of indirect taxation (a tax of one twentieth, or twelve deniers in the livre, on all transactions; an eighth, or thirty deniers in the livre, raised on wine; and the gabelle, or salt tax, raised as in France) in addition to a direct hearth tax (fouage). This last was voted by the estates of Burgundy, and had to be specially requested by the duke. In Artois taxes (aides) were agreed by the estates, and in Flanders by the ‘Four Members’, Ghent, Bruges, Ypres and the ‘Franc’ of Bruges. The raising of taxes was thus preceded by negotiation between the duke and the representative institutions of his principalities. How much taxes produced depended on the level of persuasion which could be achieved by those acting on behalf of the duke, as well as on his own popularity and the level of prosperity enjoyed by those who paid. During the rule of John the Fearless (1404—19) the known total paid in taxes by his northern principalities (Flanders, Artois, Lille, Douai and Orchies) amounted to more than 1,092,000 livres tournois, to which Flanders alone contributed 1,029,000 livres. In the same period the two Burgundies collected only 129,500 livres between them.
The existence of such institutions, judicial, financial as well as fiscal, often reflections of royal institutions, sometimes provoked opposition, even rebellion. If the two Burgundies never witnessed revolt during this century, the same could not be said of the principalities in the north. In Flanders, in particular, the dukes met considerable, even violent, opposition from the towns. John the Fearless did not have to make war in the same way as his father had done against Ghent and its allies between 1382 and 1385, and he tried to meet the demands made by the ‘Four Members’ on behalf of his Flemish subjects; none the less, Duke John had to make serious efforts to persuade the towns of Flanders not to rise in revolt. This aspect of his work cannot be ignored, in particular the intervention against Liege in 1408. In this case, the duke’s first aim (shared with his brother-in-law, William of Bavaria, count of Hainault) was to bring help to the prince-bishop, John of Bavaria, William’s brother, who was resisting a revolt in Liege. For the duke of Burgundy, it was a matter of preserving a valuable piece in a network of regional alliances, and of making a show of force which would stifle any inclination to rebellion among his own subjects. Such an episode must not be seen in a single perspective. Yet, to understand its significance more fully, it must be observed in a much wider context.