Charles the Absolute was a product of his time, not as famous as his father Philip the Good, but considerably more successful and to many historians, one of the best Burgundian dukes of the era. His mother, Isabella of Portugal would shape Charles considerably, arguably his notions of chivalry, love of war, and his diplomatic skills came from his mother. Isabella of Portugal was one of the most prominent Burgundian Duchesses along side Margaret of York and Anne of Champagne. Her negotiations over the treaty of Arras would be the lynchpin of Burgundian policy towards France for the entirety of Charles' reign. Isabella of Portugal would pursue instead of a policy of withdrawal like her husband would push for a policy of defensive neutrality towards France, fighting tooth and nail to secure all the gains made in the treaty of Arras.
The childhood of Charles the Absolute was well documented in Burgundian manuscripts, he was raised in the ideals of chivalry and was a very passionate warrior and speaker. Philip would continuously display concern over Charles who wished to lead armies and joust himself. His engagement with Catherine of France was considered the first tragedy in his life and arguably one of the reasons he would remain incredibly faithful to his wives, as Charles and Catherine were quite fond of each other, if Catherine lived perhaps Charles would not be as hostile towards Louis and France but it was not meant to be with Catherine dying in 1446. This marriage was part of the Treaty of Arras agreeing to their betrothal in order to solidify peace.
Charles' second marriage however, Isabella would push for the marriage with Anne of York to solidify Burgundy's ties to England. Philip would overrule her and have Charles married to Isabella of Bourbon. Her marriage would be quiet and happy one, Philip who wanted Isabella to solidify Charles' attitude to France would watch this scheme backfire due to both Isabella's agreeing that France under Charles VII and Louis XI would not be friendly towards Burgundy. Isabella of Bourbon could be argued to promote her family of Bourbon's interests who already revolted against Charles VII in the Praguerie, but it was more likely Isabella of Portugal, who was actively caring and raising the boy influenced his interests to a complete anti-French attitude due to years of Charles VII not enforcing the terms of Arras. This divide between Charles and Philip would continue to his son's birth which would fundamentally change Charles' status within court.
The birth of Philip the Rich, would increase Charles' prestige in court and arguably forced Philip to look at Charles' as his heir and a man of his own right, the immediate shift in Charles' running affairs such as giving him the stadholder position and have him negotiate in Paris as Philip's ambassador would no doubt shape the young duke. It would be his time at governing that revealed the mindset of the absolutist duke. His speeches given fervently in Holland, were always with an authoritarian stint and he would be quite easily angered when insults would fly. However, he was fervent and strong willed in terms of governing and yet terribly indecisive, coming up with detailed plans every single day but scrapping them the day after coming up with even more elaborate plans. Philip who at this point was watching over quite attentively in how he governed sought to fix this indecisiveness and Charles would spend his time in Holland learning to govern with conviction. Charles' success in governing Holland was greatly attested to however, because of his increasing absolutist ideas, Holland's government would be simplified, united and streamlined much to the local nobility and merchants' anger. However, the winning over the populace by an increase in overall wealth would keep them Charles' approach happy. The minor revolts that happened in Holland however would also show his diplomatic prowess and approach, he would isolate his enemies from any potential allies and crush them with overwhelming force and friends. This manipulation of the balance of power would be something even Machiavelli would approve of. Charles the Absolute however would always have some hostility and some unpopularity especially amongst the merchants but it was his policies of centralization and united economic planning and growth that would fill the pockets of a new generation of merchants and nobles.
Louis XI of France could be argued as the main rival of Charles the Absolute, arguably that would be false as the majority of Charles' wars were against urban cities not kings. It can not be disputed that Charles imitated Louis' approach to governance. Oliver de La Marche would attest to this, as his chronicles of Louis' time of ruling Dauphiné, Charles would study during his time in Holland. Historians would still debate whether it was Louis himself shaping Charles' into an absolutist mindset from his time spent interacting with the young duke or Charles witnessing the various urban revolts under the reign of Philip the Good that his armies had to crush or even Charles' furthering his beliefs in being a noble duke in which he gained absolute power by God. Charles' would definitely enjoy the fruits and results of his time in governing Holland as during his reign of Burgundy, he would be force of will and arms unite the vast and various domains of the Burgundian dukes. He would see to it to start small and build up, finishing the half-completed projects under Philip the Bold, John the Fearless and Philip the Good in uniting both duchy and county of Burgundy, the border between those two would be practically demolished at this point while his efforts in centralizing the various domains further north would be even further decentralized. He would forcibly weaken the various privileges of the cities to give up further authority to their estates while continuously strengthening the various courts and eventually the parlament of Malines. This would cause various minor rebellions against the duke to arise but would always be put down by Charles' armies.
His financial reforms would be possibly the most successful policies of Charles. His belief in using the general estates of the Burgundian Netherlands and later on Burgundy to discuss and later implement economic policy was quite sound. The majority of his taxes that were raised were quite high but importantly standardized throughout the realm removing the various privileges in shrinking taxes to the duke himself, who would spend these taxes quite wisely in further economic development within Burgundy establishing the Burgundian network, a series of medieval roads that would fuel a population and urban growth. Historians would argue whether or not this Burgundian network was the beginning of the Burgundian Banana, a term describing the population density of the land between the Seine and Rhine rivers of which the majority of land would be part of Burgundy today. However, ironically the majority of the unrest towards the taxation was due to the various indemnities and fines levied against the cities for rebelling. This extraordinary taxation that was justified would further help him in his use of foreign expenses as Burgundy would use their wealth to fund their extravagant court and create various pro-Burgundian factions within the Holy Roman Empire and France.
Was the economic warfare prescribed by Charles to fight the various cities of the Holy Roman Empire successful? Probably not, Charles would seize various French merchant's goods in wars fought against France. Meanwhile, the fight over control of the wine trade in the Rhine region would have no real long term consequences as the following peaces signed between the cities and Burgundy would reopen trade between them keeping a slightly favourable status quo for Burgundy. Modern historians would argue that at the time Burgundy was a net exporter for the cities of the Rhine, and Burgundy would suffer more with the loss of the trade. The return of French goods after the various treaties of Conflans, Beaune, and Senlis would just have the goods returned to the dispossessed French merchants costing Burgundy time and arguably money as French trade under these merchants would decrease over time, and increase in price. These slight failures in economic warfare would not necessarily doom the Burgundian state in terms of being able to gain credit as under Charles credit was just as readily available for the Burgundian state as it was under Philip the Good with especially Florentine bankers provide small but consistent sums of credit to Charles to pay off usually diplomatic expenses.
His relation with the church would be quite difficult to describe as while Charles would consolidate the various churches under his state into one in terms of finance and administration, it would undoubtedly give the local clergy anger towards the energetic duke, but these reforms were already under way in both France and in Burgundy itself. Philip the Good under the guidance of Charles the Absolute would introduce the idea of the church tax for purchases of land for the church. This would take effect during the eve of Charles' ascension to Lorraine but at this point for Burgundy many of the local clergy would reluctantly accept this. The political appointments of bishops, deans, and archbishops would further increase Burgundian influence in both the prince-bishoprics and in the curia itself as Rome under Charles would consistently favour the Burgundians over the French. Interestingly enough Charles would take after Henry V of England in his approach of the church, as he would use the church to paint himself and his state in a positive light, thereby giving much needed popular support to Charles, and importantly to him diplomatic prestige.
His military reforms were both useful but could have been disastrous for Burgundian military strength. Charles would lay the groundwork for a professional military force adopting the popularity of pike warfare and heavily armoured knights of the French, but his increasing reliance of mercenaries especially Italian ones would be concerning especially to Philip. Arguably the lack of discipline and morale would be crush the Burgundian army, by the time of Philip's reign but historians agree that there was very little Charles could do to fix the issue of defence as he was unpopular and the urban centres at the time focused primarily on wealth rather than soldiers. Importantly for Charles the training and reorganization of the Burgundian military apparatus would allow during the later years of his reign, would allow Philip the Rich to reorganize and build up a fully Burgundian army. Were these military reforms effective on the battlefield? Arguably not, Charles' military strategy was he would only enter a battle if the war was already won, the mistake he suffered at Grandson would reflect that in himself nearly being killed. Charles would only fight wars in which his enemy was isolated diplomatically and his focus was not split. The defeat at Grandson would also show for all the splendour of Charles' army it would still fail, the minor victories were all militarily impossible to lose.
The diplomatic maneuvering of Charles the Absolute was on par with Louis XI and every single time, they would play each other Charles would best him. In the war of the Public Weal, Charles was incredibly lucky in blindsiding his opponent and formed a superstate to take down France from both the inside and the outside. If Charles continued this war of the public weal, undoubtedly the French crown would shatter completely. Charles would adopt his mother's stance in terms of diplomatic goals, to completely secure the Burgundian state from threats but to never overextend or overstretch as Philip's policy of withdrawal etched itself into both Charles and Isabella's mind. Arguably the war of the public weal, could be seen through Charles' as the only way to secure the treaty of Arras. However what was consistent with the pattern of Burgundian conquest was influence and isolation, the conquest of Alsace, Guelders, and Lorraine would prove direct proof of this. Sigismund of Austria was isolated of allies and could only turn to Charles for help arguably the attempts to constantly dissolve the coalition of the lower union was the failure of this policy, but it can be argued that it was merely a fault of character specifically Peter von Hagenbach. The conquest of Guelders and Lorraine would be better examples of this, specifically Lorraine as it was part of a three pronged offensive into Burgundy, but Charles' diplomatic acumen would remove both Frederick and Louis from this attack and force Rene out of Lorraine entirely.
Marriage policy under Charles would be entirely focused on diplomatic bargaining as well. His marriage of Margaret of York would be the first sign of this as Charles would seek a realignment and reconciliation with England which would be further strengthened in the betrothal of his second son John to Elizabeth of York. The betrothal of Isabella, youngest child of Charles to Maximilian would be perhaps the genius marriage move by Charles. He would gain in one fellow swoop, the support of the current emperor in exchange for money and soldiers which Charles would happily provide. This move would also make sense politically as Matthias Corvinus was perhaps the only one powerful enough to enter into imperial circles, the papacy was blocked and regelated to regional Italian politics, the Kalmar Union was going through tumult thanks to the nobility while France had a large Burgundy stopping its way. Matthias was already allegedly the king of Bohemia and Burgundy who was the most powerful state in the empire besides the emperor would not allow a foreign power to hold the electoral dignity before itself.
Philip and Anne's marriage however would be both confusing to historians but also the epitome of Charles' diplomatic acumen. The marriage proposal was sent to Charles back in 1463 when Louis wanted to use that marriage to enforce the treaty of Arras as the previous marriage between Catherine and Charles failed, Louis hoped a marriage between Anne and Philip would succeed in bringing Charles to kneel before the king. Arguably it would be the dowry of Champagne that would keep this marriage afloat. It was increasingly confusing in what Louis was trying to do with the marriage, whether it was to not give Champagne but instead bind Philip to Anne who would further French factionalism in Burgundy could be argued but Louis made no effort to pay the 1.2 million crowns needed for the dowry. The independence of Burgundy would not change this fact, and Philip's ascension as Count would perhaps be the best reason for Louis' choice of marrying his daughter off as Philip paid homage to him within days of his ascension. It seemed out of character for Louis to believe that as soon as his death occurred this scheme would fail completely, history would prove true as Champagne would proclaim independence in 1492. The other side of the coin was that Charles would force Louis to give up Champagne, due to the near impossible amount that was originally offered in 1465, Charles would agree to it by a forced treaty in Conflans, and the subsequent treaties of Peronne and Beaune would enforce this. In fact outright in the treaty of Senlis, Charles would cancel the dowry in exchange for Louis granting the county to Anne as soon as her marriage in 1476. A consensus formed that Louis believed this marriage would entrap Burgundy to France and Charles believed that this was a peaceful expansion effort, but this marriage would not provide peace between the two nations.
Charles' advancements towards the court of Burgundy were nothing of particular noteworthiness. In fact, one can describe the adjustments made by Charles as purely militaristic as various chivalric and military style etiquette was introduced. Charles however would strengthen and support any change to the court itself thereby maintaining the rigid etiquette of the Burgundian court. His contributions towards Burgundian manuscripts, patronage and artwork was mostly done through the advice of his wife Margaret of York however, importantly the introduction of various Italian manuscripts, artists and elements into Burgundian patronage would be noteworthy as Charles would rightfully realize the spotlight moving towards Italy in the form of the renaissance. Charles' obsession over chivalric values would also prove to be attractive for people to enter the Burgundian court as Charles was unlike his father remaining faithful throughout his life, his marriage with Catherine was tragic, Isabella was even more so, but his marriage with Margaret would provide him with a form of love but arguably not one that was particularly romantic or passionate.
Charles' raising Philip would perhaps be the best component of his legacy. Margaret of York, is well documented as the primary caretaker of Philip the Rich. Isabella of Bourbon's time raising young Philip would prove to give him his talents in public speaking. Margaret of York would shape the boy into a brilliant administrator, negotiator and court patron. Charles would immediately take the now 16 year old Philip and push him militarily, while Philip would not particularly enjoy his time doing military service he would recognize the value of Burgundian captains and would lead the shift towards rulers not commanding their armies personally and instead agreeing with the advice of military captains. Charles' death would leave Philip a string of nearly completed projects of centralization, an incredibly wealthy state with only a minor war it was about to win anyway. Importantly for Philip, his succession would be secure with the increasingly questioning support of Louis XI, Edward IV and the complete support of Frederick III and Maximilian.
There is a reason why Charles the Absolute was considered one of the most powerful dukes of his time and in historians mind. The financial and judicial reforms conducted under him were rivalling Louis XI and arguably was a lot harder to do since his realm was divided in full independence and nominal rule by the Holy Roman Emperor. His diplomatic acumen was nearly unmatched with the Privilegium Burgundiae would be disputed between Philip the Rich and Charles the Absolute on who got credit for this. The complete conquest of Guelders, Lorraine, Alsace and later on Friesland were completely secure through nominal military means but mostly through diplomatic and administrative reforms. Charles would be the precursor of the Burgundian golden age under Philip and would finally complete the long awaited Burgundian project that was first undertaken by Philip the Bold, which was to unite Burgundy to Flanders geographically. And yet, Charles would fail in his goals such as the imperial vicariate, and the complete neutralization of France as a threat, or even the complete subjugation of the Rhine. Could it be argued that Charles was merely too limited in his ambitions? Yes but Philip would remark in his own manuscripts, "My father would prioritize internal stability over geographic expansion."