The Duchy of Burgundy emerged in the 9th century as one of the successors of the ancient Kingdom of the Burgundians, which after its conquest in 532 had formed a constituent part of the Frankish Empire. Upon the 9th-century partitions, the French remnants of the Burgundian kingdom were reduced to a ducal rank by King Robert II of France in 1004. Robert II's son and heir, King Henry I of France, inherited the duchy but ceded it to his younger brother Robert in 1032.
Philip the Good presented with a Chronicles of Hainaut, flanked by his son Charles and his chancellor Nicolas Rolin c. 1447–8
Robert II, called the Pious or the Wise, was King of the Franks from 996 to 1031, the second from the Capetian dynasty. Crowned Junior King in 987, he assisted his father on military matters. His solid education, provided by Gerbert of Aurillac in Reims, allowed him to deal with religious questions of which he quickly became the guarantor. Continuing the political work of his father, after becoming sole ruler in 996, he managed to maintain the alliance with the Duchy of Normandy and the County of Anjou and thus was able to contain the ambitions of Count Odo II of Blois.
Seal of King Robert II
Denier of Robert II the Pious, struck at Soissons.
Rozala (renamed Susanna) of Italy, as Countess of Flanders (late years of 15th century).
Bertha of Burgundy, detail from a genealogical chart of the Ottonian dynasty in a manuscript of the 2nd half of 12th century.
