French Aristocracy. Charles the Bold. Born Charles de Bourgogne at Dijon, the son of Philippe III ‘the Good' de Bourgogne, Duc de Bourgogne and Isabel de Aviz. He was styled Count of Charolais while still an infant. During his youth, the Dauphin, later Louis XI, was a refugee at his father's court Burgundy, this early exposure to a less ambitious ruler seemed to form a character that was reluctant to consider himself a subject of the king of France. He often followed an independent diplomatic course in his relations with England and Paris. He married for the first time in 1440 to Catherine de Valois, daughter of Charles VII of France. She died childless some six years later. He married a second time to Isabel de Bourbon, daughter of Charles I de Bourbon, Duc de Bourbon in October 1454. They had one daughter before her death on 1465. Charles often interfered between Louis XI and his nobles, most notably during the rebellion known as the League of the Public Weal in 1465 and 1466. He succeeded to the title of Duc de Bourgogne in 1467, and married for the third time to Margaret Plantagenet, daughter of Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York and Lady Cecily Neville, in July 1468. Louis XI secretly fomented rebellion in the Duke's territories and the duke retaliated by invading France, taking possession of Nesle and massacring its inhabitants. He continually extended his power and influence; in 1469 the Archduke of Austria, Sigismund, sold him the county of Ferrette, and the landgraviate of Alsace, In 1472 he bought the duchy of Gelderland from its old duke. He then attempted to separate Burgundy from France by negotiating with the emperor Frederick III to make Burgundy an independent kingdom with himself as sovereign. His plan never succeeded as his many enemies began allying themselves with Louis against him. Even his brother-in-law, Edward IV of England, signed the treaty of Picquigny in August 1475 with Louis, ending the Hundred Years War. Charles then launched punitive attacks against the duchy of Lorraine and seized Nance in November 1475. In February 1476 he attacked Morat, but was defeated. In October he lost Nance; he then rallied and besieged the town with an army decimated by winter conditions. With a few thousand men, he met the opposition in January 1477. He was killed in the battle and his abused body was discovered days later. He was occasionally known by the nickname Charles the Rash.