Burgundian Wars The Burgundian Wars ( 1474 – 1477 ) were a conflict between the Dukes of Burgundy and the Kings of France , later involving the Old Swiss Confederacy , which would play a decisive role . Open war broke out in 1474 , and in the following years the Duke of Burgundy , Charles the Bold , was defeated three times on the battlefield and killed in the Battle of Nancy in 1477 . The Duchy of Burgundy and several other Burgundian lands then became part of France , while the Burgundian Netherlands and the Franche - Comté were inherited by Charles ' s daughter Mary of Burgundy , and eventually passed to the House of Habsburg upon her death because of her marriage to Maximilian I , Holy Roman Emperor . The general situation . The dukes of Burgundy had succeeded , over a period of about 100 years , in establishing their rule as a strong force between the Holy Roman Empire and France . Their possessions included , besides their original territories of the Franche - Comté and the Duchy of Burgundy , the economically strong regions of Flanders and Brabant as well as Luxembourg . The dukes of Burgundy generally pursued an aggressive expansionist politics , especially in Alsace and Lorraine , seeking to geographically unite their northern and southern possessions . Having already been in conflict with the French king ( Burgundy had sided with the English in the Hundred Years ' War ) , Charles ' advances along the Rhine brought him in conflict with the Habsburgs and especially emperor Frederick III . The conflict . Initially in 1469 , Duke Sigismund of Habsburg of Austria assigned his possessions in the Alsace as a fiefdom to the Duke of Burgundy , Charles the Bold , to have them protected better against the expansion of the " Eidgenossen " ( or Old Swiss Confederacy ) . Charles ' involvement west of the Rhine gave him no reason to attack the confederates as Sigismund had wanted , but his embargo politics against the cities of Basel , Strasbourg , and Mulhouse , directed by his reeve Peter von Hagenbach , prompted these to turn to Bern for help . Charles ' expansionist strategy suffered a first setback in his politics when his attack on the Archbishopric of Cologne failed after the unsuccessful Siege of Neuss ( 1473 – 1474 ) . In a second phase , Sigismund sought to achieve a peace agreement with the Swiss confederates , which eventually was concluded in Konstanz in 1474 ( later called the " Ewige Richtung " ) . He wanted to buy back his Alsace possessions from Charles , which the latter refused . Shortly afterwards , von Hagenbach was captured and executed by decapitation in Alsace , and the Swiss , united with the Alsace cities and Sigismund of Habsburg in an " anti - Burgundian league " , conquered part of the Burgundian Jura ( Franche - Comté ) when they won the Battle of Héricourt in November 1474 . The next year , Bernese forces conquered and ravaged Vaud , which belonged to the Duchy of Savoy , who was allied with Charles the Bold . In the Valais , the independent republics of the " Sieben Zenden " , with the help of Bernese and other confederate forces , drove the Savoyards out of the lower Valais after a victory in the Battle on the Planta in November 1475 . In 1476 Charles retaliated and marched to Grandson , which belonged to Pierre de Romont of Savoy , but which had recently been taken by the Swiss , where he had the garrison hanged or drowned in the lake despite their capitulation . When the Swiss confederate forces arrived a few days later , he was defeated in the Battle of Grandson , and he was forced to flee the battlefield , leaving behind his artillery and many provisions and valuables . Having rallied a new army , he was dealt a devastating blow by the confederates in the Battle of Morat . Charles the Bold fell in the Battle of Nancy in 1477 , where the Swiss fought alongside an army of René II , Duke of Lorraine . Effects . With the death of Charles the Bold , the dynasty of the dukes of Burgundy died out . The Flemish territories of the Dukes of Burgundy subsequently became a possession of the Habsburgs , when Archduke Maximilian of Austria , who would later become Holy Roman Emperor , married Charles ' only daughter Mary of Burgundy . The duchy proper reverted to the crown of France under king Louis XI . The Franche - Comté initially also became French , but was ceded to Maximilian ' s son Philip in 1493 by the French king Charles VIII in the treaty of Senlis , in an attempt to bribe the Emperor to remain neutral during Charles ' s planned invasion of Italy . The victories of the " Eidgenossen " ( Swiss Confederation ) over one of the most powerful military forces in Europe at the time gained them a reputation of near invincibility , and the Burgundian Wars marked the beginning of the rise of Swiss mercenaries on the battlefields of Europe . Inside the Confederacy itself , however , the outcome of the war did lead to internal conflict when the city cantons insisted on having the lion ' s share of the proceeds since they had supplied the most troops . The country cantons resented this and the Dreizehn Orte disputes almost led to war . They were settled by the Stanser Verkommnis of 1481 .