Charles the Bold in the context of "Isabella of Bourbon"

Mary of Burgundy (French: Marie de Bourgogne; Dutch: Maria van Bourgondië; 13 February 1457 – 27 March 1482), nicknamed the Rich, was a member of the House of Valois-Burgundy, and ruler in her own right (sui iuris) over much of the Valois-Burgundian lands, from 1477 to 1482. Her effective rule extended over major part of the Burgundian Netherlands, while she also claimed the rest of the Burgundian inheritance, including domains that were seized by her cousin, the French king Louis XI in 1477, such as the Duchy of Burgundy, the Free County of Burgundy and several other lands, both within the Kingdom of France and the Holy Roman Empire.

As the only child of Charles the Bold, ruler of the Valois-Burgundian State, and his wife Isabella of Bourbon, Mary became the heiress of Valois-Burgundian lands, and at the age of 19, upon the death of her father in the Battle of Nancy on 5 January 1477, she claimed the entire inheritance, being accepted as the new ruler in several domains. Her claims were not recognized by the French king Louis XI, who quickly seized various Valois-Burgundian domains, not only those that belonged to the French realm (such as the Duchy of Burgundy), but also some that belonged to the Holy Roman Empire (such as the Free County of Burgundy). Those disputes led to the War of the Burgundian Succession.

The Burgundian State (French: État bourguignon [eta buʁɡiɲɔ̃]; Dutch: Bourgondische Rijk [burˈɣɔndisə ˈrɛik]) was a composite monarchy ruled by the Dukes of Burgundy from the late 14th to the late 15th centuries, and which ultimately comprised not only the Duchy and County of Burgundy but also the Burgundian Netherlands. The latter, acquired piecemeal over time and largely through inheritance, was, in fact, their principal source of wealth and prestige. The Dukes were members of the House of Valois-Burgundy, a cadet branch of the French royal House of Valois, and the complex of territories they ruled is sometimes referred to as Valois Burgundy. The term "Burgundian State" was coined by historians and was not in contemporary use; the polity remained a collection of separate duchies and counties in personal union under the Duke of Burgundy.

It is regarded as one of the major powers in Europe of the 15th century. The Dukes of Burgundy were among the wealthiest and the most powerful princes in Europe and were sometimes called "Grand Dukes of the West". Including the thriving regions of Flanders and Brabant, the Burgundian State was a major centre of trade and commerce and a focal point of courtly culture that set the fashion for European royal houses and their courts. It nearly turned into a kingdom in its own right, but Charles the Bold's early death at the Battle of Nancy put an end to his Lotharingian dream and his legacy passed to the House of Habsburg through the marriage of his daughter Mary to Maximilian of Austria. Meanwhile Picardy and the Duchy of Burgundy were conquered by the King of France.

Isabella of Portugal (Portuguese: Isabel de Portugal; 21 February 1397 – 17 December 1471) was Duchess of Burgundy from 1430 to 1467 as the third wife of Duke Philip the Good. Their son was Charles the Bold, the last Valois Duke of Burgundy.

Born a Portuguese infanta of the House of Aviz, Isabella was the only surviving daughter of King John I of Portugal and his wife Philippa of Lancaster. She served as the regent of the Burgundian Low Countries during the absence of her spouse in 1432 and in 1441–1443. Isabella served as her husband's representative in negotiations with England regarding trade relations in 1439 and those with the rebellious cities of Holland in 1444.

Brussels tapestry workshops produced tapestry from at least the 15th century, but the city's early production in the Late Gothic International style was eclipsed by the more prominent tapestry-weaving workshops based in Arras and Tournai. In 1477 Brussels, capital of the Duchy of Brabant, was inherited by the house of Habsburg; and in the same year Arras, the prominent center of tapestry-weaving in the Low Countries, was sacked and its tapestry manufacture never recovered, and Tournai and Brussels seem to have increased in importance.

The only millefleur tapestry to survive together with a record of its payment was a large heraldic millefleur carpet of very high quality made for Duke Charles the Bold of Burgundy in Brussels, of which part is now in the Bern Historical Museum. Sophie Schneebalg-Perelman's attribution to Brussels of The Lady and the Unicorn at the Musée de Cluny may well be correct.

The tomb of Philippe Pot is a funerary monument in the Louvre in Paris. It was commissioned by the military leader and diplomat Philippe Pot around the year 1480 to be used for his burial at the chapel of Saint-Jean-Baptiste in Cîteaux Abbey, Dijon, France. His effigy shows him recumbent on a slab, his hands raised in prayer, and wearing armour and a heraldic tunic. The eight mourners (pleurants) are dressed in black hoods and act as pallbearers carrying him towards his grave. Pot commissioned the tomb when he was around 52 years old, 13 years before he died in 1493. The detailed inscriptions on the slab's sides emphasise his achievements and social standing.

Pot was a godson of Philip the Good and became a knight of the Golden Fleece. He served under two of the last Valois Dukes of Burgundy, Philip the Good and Charles the Bold. After the latter's defeat by René II, Duke of Lorraine at the Battle of Nancy in 1477, Pot switched allegiance to the French king, Louis XI, who appointed him grand seneschal of Burgundy. After the king died in 1483, Pot served under Louis's son, Charles VIII.