Charles the Bold in five castles: from Charolles to Murten, the fall of Burgundy’s last great duke

1433-1477

On 10 November 1433, a son is born in Dijon to Philip the Good and Isabella of Portugal. Forty-three years later, his body is found trapped in the ice of a pond beneath the walls of Nancy. Between these two dates, Charles the Bold sought to forge a kingdom from his lands—from Flanders to Burgundy—straddling France and the Holy Roman Empire. He ultimately lost everything in less than a year to the Swiss pikemen and the Duke of Lorraine. The year 2026 marked the 550th anniversaries of his defeats at Grandson and Murten, and the one at Nancy falls on 5 January. Five castles, from Saône-et-Loire to Lake Murten, allow us to follow this trajectory. Each preserves the memory of a defining moment: the title he bore as a child, a princely reception, a betrayal, a sacking, a rout.