Philip the Good

Philip III became Duke of Burgundy in 1419, a member of the Valois cadet line that also gave France its 15th-century kings. Under his rule the Burgundian State hit its peak - a patchwork stretching from Flanders and Brabant down through Holland, Zeeland, and Namur - and he turned it into a leading center of the arts, backing Flemish painters like Jan van Eyck and Franco-Flemish composers like Binchois. His administrative reforms tightened the machinery of power. In diplomacy he played both sides, toggling alliances between England and France to lift his dynasty's position. He married three times; only one legitimate son survived to adulthood, though he fathered at least 18 others with two dozen documented mistresses. He died in 1467 after nearly half a century as duke, leaving behind a state at the height of its prestige.