The two Burgundian kingdoms and Sapaudia
21 December 2021
The history of the Burgundians is intertwined with that of Switzerland, allowing us to reconstruct an important episode. Between 443 and 1032, the two Burgundian kingdoms were unique among the barbarian kingdoms that emerged in the early Middle Ages after the fall of the Roman Empire.
The Burgundians
Who were the Burgundians? The Roman encyclopaedist Pliny the Elder first named this Germanic people. He places them on the river Oder in present-day Poland. They likely came from the island of Bornholm (now Danish territory) in the Baltic Sea.
In the 2nd century, they were located between the Oder and the Vistula. Over the next century, they moved south-westwards. At the end of the third century, the Burgundians settled on the Main, a tributary of the Rhine. In 359, they allied themselves with the Romans against the Alamanni.
Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld (1794-1872), Nibelungen, 1847, the death of Siegfried. Image: Wikepedia/Nibelungen-Forum
Around 409, the Burgundians entered the Roman Empire in the region of Worms (Germany), where they enjoyed the status of federates (foederatus). The tribe founded its first kingdom at Worms (413-436) but was defeated by the Huns in 436. This battle was the origin of the Nibelungen saga. The Burgundians then moved further south, settling on the southern shores of Lake Geneva, in the Rhône valley and the Saône region.
The first Burgundian kingdom
The Burgundians founded a new kingdom that embraced the regions of Besançon, Geneva, Lake Constance (Bodensee), and Saint-Maurice and extended as far south as Avignon.
Unlike other Germanic tribes, the Burgundians adopted the local language and culture, Gallo-Roman. It is remarkable because, although these newcomers were the new rulers, the Gallo-Roman population was much larger. It was at this time that the French-speaking Switzerland came to the fore.
The Alamanni, another German-speaking tribe, settled in other parts of Switzerland and introduced the Germanic language and culture, which replaced the Gallo-Roman language and culture within a few generations.
The first Burgundian kingdom (443-534). Image: Wikiwand.com
It was during the 500s that Burgundian distinctiveness was forged. The inhabitants began to feel that they were subjects of the same king, living in the same entity and sharing a common destiny, in a complex historical period due to the religious situation (paganism, Arianism, the Church) and the ethnic, political and cultural situation (the bishops, the Franks, the Alamanni, the Ostrogoths, the Visigoths and other peoples and kingdoms).
This situation gave rise to Burgundian particularism and an identity that survived the political entity’s breakup when the Frankish kings annexed the kingdom in 534.
Sapaudia around 475. Image: Marco Zanoli/Wikipedia
Sapaudia (Savoye)
Sapaudia consisted of the territory of Geneva (Genava). Sapaudia means ‘pays des sapins’ (‘land of fir trees) in Celtic. Sapaudia formed the city and diocese of Geneva, adding the territories of Nyon and Avenches (a large part of today’s French-speaking Switzerland), as far as the Rhine and Lake Constance (Bodensee).
The second kingdom and Burgundian distinctiveness
The Burgundian kingdom fell in 534, but the territory retained its identity until the Treaty of Verdun (843). The Burgundians’ first expansion determined the future and shape of the second kingdom (888-1032), an intermediate domain between Gaul and Italy. The Burgundians also took over the Rhône and Saône river basins.
The second Burgundian kingdom (in green). Image: Marco Zanoli/Wikipedia
The second kingdom of Burgundy extended from Basel to the Mediterranean in 1032, when it was incorporated into the Holy Roman Empire. The territory even gave rise to several entities known as Burgundy: the Duchy of Burgundy, the County of Burgundy and the Duchy of Transjurane Burgundy, or Upper Burgundy.
Karl Giradet (1813-1871), 1857. The battle of Murten (1476). Collection: Museum Murten
The third Burgundian kingdom that never came
Burgundy has always remained a prestigious concept. Ironically, the Swiss Confederation prevented the creation of the third kingdom of Burgundy in 1474-1477. Establishing a third Burgundian kingdom was the ambition of the (last) Duke Charles the Bold (1433-1477). He almost achieved his goal, and the powerless kingdom of France could have been consigned to history. In three battles (Grandson, Murten and Nancy), the Confederation defeated the Burgundian army and ended the last duke’s life and ambitions.
But what culture, colour, and lustre did the two Burgundian kingdoms and the Duchy of Burgundy give to Europe and Switzerland? Payerne, Saint-Maurice, and Neuchâtel, are just some of their heritage.
(Bron: J. Favrod, Les Burgondes. Un Royaume oublié au cœur de l’Europe, Lausanne 2011; F. Demotz, L’an 888. Le royaume de Bourgogne. Une puissance européenne au bord du Léman, Lausanne 2012; F. Walter, Une histoire de la Suisse, Neuchâtel, 2016)
Neuchâtel Castle (1011)