William Hugonet (French : Guillaume Hugonet, Dutch : Willem Hugonet, died April 1477) was chancellor of Charles the Bold, the Duke of Burgundy. After the death of Charles the Bold, he was imprisoned and executed by citizens of Ghent, who blamed him for policies undermining the position of the urban elites during his time as chancellor.
Hugonet came from a non-noble family from Mâcon, and was educated in law at the university. In 1455 he entered the service of Philip the Good. In 1467 he married Louise de Layé, who came from an aristocratic family in Beaujolais. After the death of Philip the Good, his son Charles the Bold became Duke of Burgundy. During his reign, the career of Hugonet was further advanced and in 1471 he was ennobled and promoted to chancellor, or head of the administration, of Burgundy. He acquired several titles and the lordship of Middelburg, as well as houses in Mechelen, Brussels and Bruges. Following the death of the Duke at the Battle of Nancy, Hugonet was imprisoned, and in April 1477 executed, by the citizens of Ghent, who blamed him for having reduced the independence and power of the urban elites during the reign of Charles the Bold. [1]
Year 1477 (MCDLXXVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar.
Philip II the Bold was Duke of Burgundy and jure uxoris Count of Flanders, Artois and Burgundy. He was the fourth and youngest son of King John II of France and Bonne of Luxembourg.
Louis XI, called "Louis the Prudent", was King of France from 1461 to 1483. He succeeded his father, Charles VII. Louis entered into open rebellion against his father in a short-lived revolt known as the Praguerie in 1440. The king forgave his rebellious vassals, including Louis, to whom he entrusted the management of the Dauphiné, then a province in southeastern France. Louis's ceaseless intrigues, however, led his father to banish him from court. From the Dauphiné, Louis led his own political establishment and married Charlotte of Savoy, daughter of Louis, Duke of Savoy, against the will of his father. Charles VII sent an army to compel his son to his will, but Louis fled to Burgundy, where he was hosted by Philip the Good, the Duke of Burgundy, Charles' greatest enemy.
Margaret of York, also known by marriage as Margaret of Burgundy, was Duchess of Burgundy from 1468 to 1477 as the third wife of Charles the Bold, and after his death (1477) acted as a protector of the Burgundian State. She was a daughter of Richard, 3rd Duke of York, and of Cecily Neville, and the sister of two kings of England, Edward IV and Richard III. Born at Fotheringhay Castle, Northamptonshire, in the Kingdom of England, she died at Mechelen in the Low Countries.
Charles Martin, called the Bold, was the last duke of Burgundy from the House of Valois-Burgundy, ruling from 1467 to 1477. He was the only legitimate son of Philip the Good and his third wife, Isabella of Portugal. As heir and as ruler, Charles vied for power and influence with rivals such as his overlord, King Louis XI of France. In 1465 Charles led a successful revolt of Louis's vassals in the War of the Public Weal.
Mary of Burgundy, nicknamed the Rich, was a member of the House of Valois-Burgundy who ruled the Burgundian lands, comprising the Duchy and County of Burgundy and the Burgundian Netherlands, from 1477 to her death.
Philip III the Good ruled as Duke of Burgundy from 1419 until his death in 1467. He was a member of a cadet line of the Valois dynasty, to which all 15th-century kings of France belonged. During his reign, the Burgundian State reached the apex of its prosperity and prestige, and became a leading centre of the arts.
The Burgundian Netherlands were those parts of the Low Countries ruled by the Dukes of Burgundy during the Burgundian Age between 1384 and 1482. Within their Burgundian State, which itself belonged partly to the Holy Roman Empire and partly to the Kingdom of France, the dukes united these lowlands into a political union that went beyond a personal union as it gained central institutions for the first time.
Louis de Bruges, Lord of Gruuthuse, Prince of Steenhuijs, Earl of Winchester, was a Flemish courtier, bibliophile, soldier and nobleman. He was awarded the title of Earl of Winchester by King Edward IV of England in 1472, and was Stadtholder of Holland and Zeeland 1462–77.
The House of Valois-Burgundy, or the Younger House of Burgundy, was a noble French family deriving from the royal House of Valois. The Valois-Burgundy family ruled the Duchy of Burgundy from 1363 to 1482 and eventually came to rule vast lands including Artois, Flanders, Luxembourg, Hainault, the county palatine of Burgundy (Franche-Comté), and other lands through marriage, forming what is now known as the Burgundian State.
Philippe Pot (1428–1493) was a Burgundian nobleman, military leader, and diplomat. He was the seigneur of La Roche and Thorey-sur-Ouche, a Knight of the Golden Fleece, and the Grand Seneschal of Burgundy.
Adolph of Cleves, Lord of Ravenstein (1425–1492) was the youngest son of Adolph I, Duke of Cleves, and of his wife Marie of Burgundy, a sister of Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy.
Adolf of Egmond was a Duke of Guelders, Count of Zutphen from 1465 to 1471 and in 1477.
Philibert Hugonet was a French Roman Catholic bishop and cardinal.
In the period 1482–1492, the cities of the County of Flanders revolted twice against Maximilian of Austria, who ruled the county as regent for his son, Philip the Handsome. Both revolts were ultimately unsuccessful.
Guy de Brimeu known as the great or Gwijde of Brimeu, was a knight of the Golden Fleece, he was beheaded in Ghent on 3 April 1477.
Pieter Bladelin was an important financial advisor and civil servant to the Burgundian State. He was lord of Middelburg and built the Hof Bladelin in Bruges.
Middelburg is a village and a district in the municipality of Maldegem, in East Flanders, Belgium. Founded as a town by Pieter Bladelin in the 15th century, it still contains the medieval church with the tomb of Bladelin and his wife.
The Burgundian State was a polity ruled by the Dukes of Burgundy from the late 14th to the late 15th centuries, and which ultimately comprised not only the Duchy and County of Burgundy but also the Burgundian Netherlands. The latter, acquired piecemeal over time and largely through inheritance, was, in fact, their principal source of wealth and prestige. The Dukes were members of the House of Valois-Burgundy, a cadet branch of the French royal House of Valois, and the complex of territories they ruled is sometimes referred to as Valois Burgundy. The term "Burgundian State" was coined by historians and was not in contemporary use; the polity remained a collection of separate duchies and counties in personal union under the Duke of Burgundy.
The Revolt of Ghent (1379-1385) was an uprising by the city of Ghent against the count of Flanders and the king of France. Under the leadership of successively Jan Hyoens, Philip van Artevelde and Frans Ackerman, Ghent rebelled against Count Louis II of Flanders, Duke Philip the Bold of Burgundy and King Charles VI of France. It was an expression of the growing power of the Third Estate and of economic ties with England that had been strained by the Hundred Years' War. After six years of war, Ghent submitted to the ducal authority while avoiding further punishment. The dream of an autonomous city-state failed, and the era of royal centralization continued.