The Burgundians

A Vanished Empire: A History of 1111 Years and One Day

De: Bart van Loo, Nancy Forest-Flier - translator

Narrado por: Nigel Patterson

At the end of the fifteenth century, Burgundy was extinguished as an independent state. It had been a fabulously wealthy, turbulent region situated between France and Germany, with close links to the English kingdom. Torn apart by the dynastic struggles of early modern Europe, this extraordinary realm vanished from the map. But it became the cradle of what we now know as the Low Countries, modern Belgium and the Netherlands.

This is the story of a thousand years, a must-listen narrative history of ambitious aristocrats, family dysfunction, treachery, savage battles, luxury, and madness. It is about the decline of knightly ideals and the awakening of individualism and of cities, the struggle for dominance in the heart of northern Europe, bloody military campaigns, and fatally bad marriages. It is also a remarkable cultural history, of great art and architecture and music emerging despite the violence and the chaos of the tension between rival dynasties.

©2019 Bart Van Loo (P)2023 Tantor

a fascinating look at an overlooked area of Europe

I've never read anything quite like this. The author is not only a great historian but a great writer. very enjoyable, even for someone who had scant knowledge of burgundian history.

Good flow

I enjoyed the flow of the book focusing on people and connectivity of events vs traditional chronological.

Joan of arc story was a fun addition I wasn’t expecting.

Role of Burgundian in history of the Netherlands

I liked the rich descriptions of the characters and interaction between France and Burgundians and the tug of war between France and England for control of the Netherlands

Great book but really needs a PDF companion

This is a great book but it really needs a PDF companion with maps and artwork to reference while listening. That one piece would make all the difference in making this a much richer experience.

Excellent.

As a history reader, I enjoyed this book very much for the meandering and side stories. Refreshing that religion was not a main focus as in most historical books.

Excellent Forgotten Piece of History

As a history major in college, I tried to study a lot of different areas. As time would have it, most of my studies focused on European history and the colonization of the Americas. While I knew some names in this, I was completely unaware of the far reaches and impact this people would have across Europe. Amazing read/listen. Highly recommend.

Excellent pacing!

Fantastic, truly engrossing audio. Well researched and witty book that leaves you with no choice but to purchase a plane ticket and see the history for yourself

Extraordinary story, expertly told and skillfully narrated

I bought this book because there are no good English books on the Armagnac-Burgundian civil war, so I thought a book that would have to focus a quarter of its material on John the Fearless would be a good source. In the end, this was much more fascinating and enthralling than that.
My only interaction with anything Dutch has been to pedantically correct people who refer to the Netherlands as “Holland,” and to marvel at their inability to ever win the World Cup even when they are undoubtedly the best team. Now I know how they came to be, how their identity was forged, and the accidents of history that led them to that identity.

Another commenter on this audiobook said van Loo’s personal anecdotes were unprofessional and uninteresting. That is absolute nonsense. Only in the introduction does he mention something personal, and it’s quite germane (his childhood books tell us of how long he’s been fascinated with this subject, his young daughter’s ability to identify a Burgundian Duke’s painting speaks to how this subject is more than merely academic to him, and the brief mention of his French wife tells us of his connection to France, the country the Dukes came from and the country where Burgundy lies today.) Additionally, all these comments take up about 45 seconds of your time. A chill pill for the humorless Audible commentator is in order here.

The one area where the audiobook suffers is in the discussions of art, not because the subject shouldn’t be broached, but because the names of the artists and their work (impeccably pronounced by the very skillful narrator, or so I assume, since they sound very authentic) are impossible to understand for those of us who are not of a Northern European persuasion. Who the hell is Ho-ho Vanderhose? Well, it turned out it’s Hugo van der Goes, but I had to do my own sleuthing to figure it out. Of course, this is a problem without a solution (short of me learning Dutch) since it’s not the writer or the narrator’s fault that I couldn’t figure out what that name was.
One more thing: the narration is excellent. The French is flawless, and I can vouch that the few Spanish words are also flawlessly rendered (that’s my first language.) The narrator also has a perfect tone, which doesn’t dip up or down, so you can hear everything at your preferred volume. This might seem like an obvious thing all narrators should do but, good god, it’s less obvious than you think.
Now that the ending of this book has whet my Charles V appetite, I am moving on to Geoffrey Parker’s biography of him and (happy days!) its read by this very same narrator.

Great book

Being a Fleming I loved hearing about my forefathers and the history of my fathers

Excellent Listen! Long yet concise, full of important history and very enjoyable.

The history of France, Europe, the Low Countries, it’s all so complicated and this ties so much together. I wish I had access to this in college. I listen to audibles for books that seem too long and this one was the best, I will have to read it too to retain more. The reader was great. Bart Van Loo is excellent - I’ve got so many great quotes jotted down. Worth it!!!