Philip the Rich could be described as one of the most important dukes of Burgundy's history, some people would argue that Philip was one of the prime examples of the great man theory of history yet that could not be ever more false as Burgundy while constantly centralized under Philip, it would be lead by a variety of forces guiding it both domestically and internationally. An interesting way to display Philip's reign would be through the women in his life as various important decisions he made was by the guidance of his mother, sister, wife or daughter. It would be reciprocal as well with the argument that Philip drastically affected all of these people more than they affected him. His mother, Isabella of Bourbon who did not portray as strong of an influence especially compared to Margaret of York or Anne of Champagne would start the young duke's journey, learning Dutch and French throughout the boy's time in Holland. This would be one of the many reasons why he would visit Holland frequently and why he was so popular amongst the people there.
His stepmother on the other hand, had a far larger impact on Philip. Margaret of York would arguably be the person who imprinted Philip the most in terms of court, personality, and knowledge. Margaret who at this point was raised in the court of England and of Richard of York, who was the most powerful noble of the English realm was sent into the extravagant court of Burgundy that was maintained by Charles the Absolute. Arguably, Margaret shaped her stepson into a better version of her husband, teaching him English, German, Italian and Latin. The thrust into governance and administrative work would shape the young duke who strengthened the ducal council throughout his reign in terms of advice and scope much to Margaret's delight. Perhaps the most important thing Margaret fostered in Philip was the enjoyment of courtly ritual, life and of the arts. Philip was unlike his father in the sense that he was not an avid hunter, or swordsman. Instead, Philip could be seen as a true renaissance prince, enjoying the arts of falconry, manuscript creation, paintings in the style of Antwerp Mannerism and importantly architecture in particular renaissance-style architecture and late gothic architecture.
Charles the Absolute however would further the development of this renaissance prince but add a far more militaristic attachment to it. Philip would be leading armies with his bastard uncle Anthony in Charles' wars against France and the Swiss in which Anthony was not impressed with Philip's overall performance stating, "This heir would only arrive at the battlefield in the war was already won." Philip's military skill was more dedicated towards belief in his captain's skills and his logistics constantly leading an army that would be far larger than what his opponent expected or would constantly take them by surprise with usually extra reinforcements. He would not take to the sword, or fighting in general. Some records of the time showed that Philip did indeed have some proficiency in combat but Philip distasted personal combat which was unlike both his father and grandfather. The mutual adoration of Italy that Philip and Charles shared would be greatly expressed in the form of sponsorships and requests by the Burgundians. Charles believed in Italian mercenaries and with the side effect of spreading renaissance ideas in the Burgundian court. Philip focused entirely on these side effects granting generous commissions, buying various manuscripts and importantly sponsoring crafts to further improve the Burgundian court.
The extravagance of a permanent court was tested at Reims with Philip and Anne being the ones to truly generate this glittering and golden court for France. This rough draft of a court of the likes of King Arthur or of the Eastern Romans would finally see fruit in the massive construction and completion of the Palace of Colchis. This palace was just outside of the capital of Nancy for Burgundy and would show in full display the experience, and extravagance of the Burgundian court that was flourishing since the days of Philip the Good. Chroniclers would detail in great wealth and pride, the elaborate procedures for every minute detail in Colchis while describing in mouth-watering detail the amount of luxury the Burgundian dukes had in Nancy. The palace would not only be designed for the ducal lifestyle, it would also serve as the place where the majority of Burgundian governance took place and it is due to this richness and investment that the entire palace including the current Burgundian parliament was declared a UNESCO world heritage site due to the vast amounts of art, culture and wealth poured into this palace. Philip the Rich implemented drawing rooms, glittering hallways, libraries, and galleries decorating the entire palace. Other important royalist palace sites were in Malines, Brussels, Dijon, Amsterdam and Bruges. These palaces were officially residences of the various governors or stadholders of Burgundy held and the royal family would move around these palaces in order to better connect their realm and their people.
Philip the Rich was arguably the last ruler to deal with feudalism and would use feudal contracts as a means of expansion but with his centralizing authority, he got rid of any feudal contract he had with his subjects as soon as possible.
The general estates of Burgundy which were already quite established and entrenched in the Burgundian government was almost completely nullified with the agreement of the estates in 1483 with the implementation of regular taxes amongst the nobility and merchants in exchange for various forgivements of fines and special aides. Philip would still levy special aides in order to further Burgundian domination however, due to the now steady and permanent tax revenue those times were few and far in between. Philip dealt with feudal contracts with malevolent force, using the court of Malines, threats and bribes the urban resistance that troubled Charles and Philip the Good would barely exist for Philip the Rich. The stadholder positions were firmly established and made it near impossible for any stadholder to rebel against Burgundy. Some people would argue that Philip was the first "capitalist" monarch with his increasing expenditure to the Burgundian navy and in particular the Burgundian Indies Company. Historians however disagree with the notion that Philip was capitalist as under Philip the Hanseatic strangle hold over trade in the Baltic or North Sea was completely shattered and gave Philip the lion's share of wealth. This could be further proven with the rapid investment in the Burgundian populace and infrastructure for Burgundy allowing greater quantities of goods such as Burgundian wine or glasses of Champagne. Arguably these measures were geopolitical and mercantilistic in nature as Philip saw the devastating economic blockade done by Louis XI against Burgundy and Philip looked to divest his sources of grain.
Philip's marriage to Anne of Champagne was a very happy one between the two, while it was not as openly romantic as the one between Isabella and Maximilian, many chroniclers agree that their marriage was very warm compared to the other arranged marriages of Europe at the time. Anne's enjoyment of court life, patronage and of the arts certainly would have given the couple plenty to bond over while Anne arguably was more Burgundian than French having been born during Louis' exile. Philip would take on the same devoutness towards his wife as his father Charles had but Philip's relationship was well documented with grief and sadness. Philip and Anne would have three children, and a stillborn child that nearly took Anne's life in 1485. It would be for this reason that Anne would not be pregnant until it was absolutely necessary such as 1488 with the sudden death of Charles II of Charolais. His relationship with his children was quite strong as well, Margaret of Burgundy would be the most well documented as Anne and Philip taught her the strict Burgundian etiquette and turned her into a renaissance princess in order to make any man fall for her which would work well in her marriage with Christian II of Denmark. Anne's raising of Maria of Julich-Berg would also be just as well documented as the two women bonded over being heiresses and Maria would grow to be a darling in the Burgundian court.
It would not only be personal and courtly matters that Anne would intervene in Philip's life. The regency of France would be a well documented episode over Anne's influence over her husband. Philip who understood that he would not be seen well in France allowed his wife Anne to take the spotlight which paid off in spades. Her persuasion over marrying Charles II of Charolais to Elizabeth of the Palatine would not be as successful as the French regency. Philip was hesitant on going to war against the emperor and the Bavarians believing rightfully Burgundy would gain nothing from it but Anne convinced him otherwise. Her negotiations at the various peaces signed between Burgundy and France can not be overstated as it would be mostly her that got her brother to sign the treaty of Dijon. The fruitful truces of the Italian wars along with the Treaty of Brussels, Anne had some impact over, however importantly both Philip and Anne's goals aligned near completely the total creation of a Burgundian Kingdom.
If there was a person to summarize Burgundian-Imperial relations, it would be Isabella of Burgundy, Holy Roman Empress. Her strategic marriage with Maximilian of Austria was a golden opportunity for Philip's complete relation with the empire, turning them into a complete ally in the war of Lotharingia and the subsequent privileges of Burgundiae and Lotharingia. Isabella would also finally end the conflict over Further Austria, when Maximilian inherited Tyrol and Isabella's dowry which was a massive cash injection of the war-torn and money strapped Austria, again these negotiations allowed Burgundy to further their ambitions in the Swabian region. Isabella would also be the lynchpin of the great alliance against France in the Italian wars for both Charles' invasion and Louis' great conquest. Yet, her relationship with Philip would slowly deteriorate over the Italianzug, war of Landshut Succession, Bohemia and the imperial diets. Arguably it would be her that pushed Philip to not intervene in the short Bohemian Succession war.
His brother, John II the Fair of England, would dictate Burgundian-English policy as the chaotic process of getting John on the throne would pay off in spades in terms of Burgundian dominance as the Burgundian navy that was built up by Philip and Charles decisively defeated the divided English navy in Dover and Calais respectively which would set the Burgundian Indies Company to a trade war against Iberia and the Hanseatic League. The fruit of this relationship would be the runaway marriage of Francis of Bourbon and Margaret of England. The negotiations with a Burgundian proxy and English princess were quite humiliating in terms of English prestige but for Burgundy it would give further the Burgundian advantage as already with John's ascension, Flemish cloth makers were quite privileged in the trade for English wool, with John's ascension and the marriage of Margaret to Francis would allow Philip to directly monopolize the trade for some time. It would be this new house of Calais that would pull England into an incredibly tight bond with Burgundy until the English Civil War.
Philip's later years of foreign policy would be baffling to contemporaries but praised universally by Philip's successors who argued that his foresight was just beyond what others understood at the time. Philip would reorient Burgundian power and influence northwards which was especially shown with the rejection of the marriage between Margaret of Burgundy to Frederick of Naples, and marrying her off to Christian II of Denmark. This effort would be solely decidated to supplanting the Hanseatic league in terms of naval dominance, chroniclers state that Philip desired a removal from instead France supplying Burgundy with grain and food, instead looking to Poland in particular for food supplies. It would be the start of Burgundian naval dominance and would be used to dominate a war of Portuguese succession to take over the monopolies of the East Indies in particular along with the various colonial wars fought between Burgundy, England, France, Spain and Portugal. To Philip and his contemporaries, they saw this endeavour as necessary but expensive and not worth the cost to maintain mercantilism for Burgundy.
The most controversial decisions with Philip was undoubtedly his relationship with the church. The favouritism the popes displayed upon Burgundy was still present but to a much lesser degree. Philip would spend the majority of his clerical affairs to pardon and remove renaissance artists, and scientists from charges of heresy from the pope. Ironically it would be this heavy level of pressure and funding that would spark the early efforts of mediatisation of the Burgundian state, along with various reformist clerics and scholars. Philip just like his predecessors placed an enormous emphasis on learning, funding universities already in the urbanized areas and implementing various clerical reforms importantly would be the formation of the Burgundian crown-cardinal under pope Leo X in 1516. Erasmus who was a very famous Catholic humanist, was appointed and reluctantly accepted the position of crown-cardinal of Flanders. The reasons for Philip's appointment of Erasmus were vast and complex, arguably it was his belief in the fifth council of the Lateran which Philip looked at quite closely and eagerly would be the main reasons as Erasmus was quite famous amongst the Burgundian universities for his expertise and vast knowledge of theology and science. However, importantly for Philip the goals of strengthening clerical education and cracking down on church extravagances were something they both agreed, Erasmus believing that the church should be more focused on education rather than power and wealth, Philip seeing it as a way to gain even more power. This strengthening of the crown in opposition against the church would be furthered by his successor of Henri I of Burgundy, and his appointment of the leader of the counter-reformation to the position of crown cardinal during the council of Trent: John Calvin. Philip would arguably pursue a balance between Catholicism and religious tolerance which was something that was taught interesting by himself, as he would write in his manuscripts: "The failure of the crusades makes me believe that wars over religion are not what God intended, neither has our saviour called for the killing of people who sinned but merely told us to forgive and let god make that judgement." He would remain an adamant catholic personally however, seeing to a revival of catholic oriented painting and churches although whether there was any political motive behind it was heavily debated.
Philip the Rich could very easily be described as the penultimate Duke of Burgundy. Finishing the centralizing reforms of administration and judicial powers of his father, Charles the Absolute. His complete expansion of the Burgundian court that would be far more extravagant and elaborate than his grandfather, Philip the Good. Importantly his expansion efforts into Vaud, Alsace and Frisia would be considered the end goals of the Burgundian state as they would truly restore the ancient kingdom of Lotharingia. Unlike his father however, Philip was not the diplomatic genius or military genius compared to him. The indecisive wars fought against France would only be won due to internal strife within France, the Italian wars that Philip fought were disastrous for the Burgundian state. Interestingly it would be Philip's overconfidence in the Burgundian military that would cause this loss as Burgundy arguably was the leader in pike warfare and the wars that Philip lost were either the loss of cavalry that was placed in effect by Matthias Corvinus and Maximilian or the replication and expansion shown by Charles VIII and Louis XII. Henri I would however turn the tables by exploiting the usage of German mercenaries Landsknecht that Maximilian revolutionized and the incredible wealth generation from Philip would allow Burgundy to seamlessly transition into the Gunpowder age. His diplomatic skills would be far more complicated, arguably Charles' later foreign policy was in large part due to Philip's advice but his failure to maintain that imperial alliance would doom his imperial policy, his exploitation of France while successful would cost them dearly in the vengeance of 1509 but his diplomacy would secure Burgundy peace internally arguably throughout his entire reign. Perhaps Richard Vaughan described him the best, "He threw a lot more luck into the equation of Burgundian policy than his father, giving him greater success and greater failure."