The Burgundians: A Vanished Empire

"A sumptuous feast of a book." --The Times, 21 Best History Books of 2021

A publishing phenomenon in Europe, where it has sold 230,000 copies in hardback, Bart van Loo's epic history of the dukedom of Burgundy has the grip of a great historical novel and the fascination of a wonderful factual narrative.

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 compulsively readable 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.Rightly compared to great narrative historians like Barbara Tuchman, Bart van Loo has written a popular and scholarly masterpiece.

Author: Bart Van Loo
Publisher: Apollo Publishing International
Published: 08/01/2022
Pages: 624
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 2.20lbs
Size: 9.21h x 6.02w x 1.00d
ISBN: 9781803286969

About the Author

Bart Van Loo has developed a rare twin talent over the years. While drawing big crowds in the theatre, he is also the author of the universally praised France Trilogy and the bestseller Chanson: A sung history of France. The Burgundians is the first of his books to be translated into English.

Nancy Forest-Flier grew up in a Dutch-American milieu in the United States and studied English literature and creative writing at Hope College, Michigan before settling in the Netherlands in 1982. She works as a freelance English-language editor and Dutch-English translator.
Bart Van Loo has developed a rare twin talent over the years. While drawing big crowds in the theatre, he is also the author of the universally praised France Trilogy and the bestseller Chanson: A sung history of France. The Burgundians is the first of his books to be translated into English.

Nancy Forest-Flier grew up in a Dutch-American milieu in the United States and studied English literature and creative writing at Hope College, Michigan before settling in the Netherlands in 1982. She works as a freelance English-language editor and Dutch-English translator.