Philip the Rich would play incredibly cautiously towards the aging Louis XI, the marriage with Anne would not soften the hostile attitude between France and Burgundy, however Philip's ascension as count of Champagne would start a chain reaction in the relationship between Burgundy and France. Philip would pay homage to Louis XI as count of Champagne jure uxrois despite the treaty of Conflans stating that Philip did not have to pay homage and the declaration of Malines declaring all Burgundian fiefs in France to be independent and subject only to the Duchy of Burgundy. The reasons were mere placation as the Burgundians would not risk war neither could they risk their independence so when Philip arrived in Louis' court in 1476, Anne would be first paying homage as Countess of Champagne with Philip following afterwards declaring by the right of his wife, he paid homage to Louis as Count of Champagne.
The show of proclaiming Anne to rule Champagne above Philip would not please Louis in the slightest but any further prodding against the Burgundians would be met with war against France for not respecting the treaty of Beaune. The French would not remain idle in this new power struggle against Burgundy, and relations would return to pre-1471 as the parlament of Paris, royalist officers and the general estates of France began to slowly strip Burgundian sovereignty. Anne and Philip however, much to Louis' anger would severely limit these efforts by returning to old tactics of intimidation throwing out any judgement made by the parlament of Paris or the estates of France, Burgundian diplomats returned to an old tradition of nailing treaties to the doors of the French courts. Throughout the years of 1476 - 1480 various minor conflicts would emerge, the most famous of these would be the seizure of Saint-Pol, in 1478 Louis XI would try to reinstate Peter II, count of Brienne to his titles of count of Saint-Pol, and Ligny. He would argue based on the paying of homage would restore the suzerainty of France over Burgundy.
This affair would nearly bring Burgundy and France to war, as Charles would refuse to reinstate Peter as a the count of Ligny as Burgundy seized the land directly, he also argued in the treaty of Beaune and Senlis, Saint-Pol was given up to Burgundy and Louis had no rights to assert his suzerainty over it. This would go back and forth as both parlaments would continue to press each other to give up Saint-Pol to Peter or to Burgundy. However the secret negotiations between Philip and Peter would turn Peter into a new Burgundian partisan, appointing him as a knight of the Golden Fleece and giving him a pension and the position of governor of Saint-Pol in exchange for him giving up his claims over Ligny and Saint-Pol. Similar instances of Burgundian-French shadow politics would continue throughout Burgundy and France until the death of Charles the Absolute.
Philip the Rich would spend his time in Brabant in 1480, after Charles' death, Philip would send word to Louis that he would not pay homage to him as the new count of Bar, until after the funeral of Charles and this funeral was elaborate and extravagant. Margaret would cry for days with the loss of her husband while Philip and Anne would grieve quietly while slowly taking over the government and strengthening the already strained administration. The estates of Burgundy would recognize Philip as their new duke during the autumn days of 1480, Philip would be proclaimed by the full estates as Philip I of Ponthieu, Lorraine, Guelders, and Zutphen, Philip II of Luxembourg, Hainaut, Auxerre, Holland and Zeeland, Philip III of Brabant, Limburg, and Lothier, Philip IV of Burgundy, Boulogne, and Flanders, Philip V of Namur, Philip VI of the Free County of Burgundy, Macon, and Artois, and finally, Philip VIII of Vermandois. This was considered unprecendented in Burgundian history as the previous four dukes, the Duke of Burgundy would head to the various estates individually and be acknowledged as their new ruler but thanks to Charles and Philip's reforms in terms of administration, the general estates of Burgundy would acknowledge collectively Philip as their new duke. The coronation was elaborate and long, as every day a new coronation for a specific county, or duchy would take place with Anne who at this point did not enjoy the successive coronations and oaths she swore to uphold the existing status quo when they ascended as duke and duchess. John, Philip's little brother would be immediately proclaimed as the new count of Charolais and would ascend as John VI of Charolais and in 1481, Philip would finally arrive in France and would be acknowledged as Philip III of Champagne and Philip I of Bar respectively paying homage to king Louis and kissing his ring.
The amount of time that it took for Philip to arrive in France to pay homage and service to the king would not please Louis but the incredibly old and sick king was more concerned regarding his own succession, his heir Charles VIII was quite sickly and not as energetic as Louis had hoped. The death and collapse of the house of Valois-Anjou has given the King a very strong reason to invade Italy as the near vassalage of Savoy and the alliance with Milan for Burgundy. King Louis would hope the seizure of Naples for himself would balance it out along with his alliance with Florence. More importantly to Louis was the inevitable regency, right now his only option was to appoint his wife Charlotte of Savoy and full regent but her health has not improved since the illness of 1461, Louis was unsure she could continue the regency until Charles came of age. It would be even worse with Charlotte's death as the regency claims would fall upon Orleans in the form of Louis XII who Louis believed was a firm Burgundian ally, and even worse Philip the Rich by the right of his wife would press his regency claim.
Louis XI of France would exercise a huge amount of energy in the security of the house of Valois-Anjou. In 1480, Louis would seize Anjou and Maine from Rene and Charles and would demand that these lands along with their inheritance in exchange for a pension for the two. Charles the Absolute who was convinced by both his heir and Rene II of Lorraine would intervene and force Louis to relent in the Treaty of Angers. The following exchanges between the powerful nobles would be considered by Philip a betrayal of Burgundian chivalric values that Charles had insisted on. The will of Rene of Anjou would be ignored in this case as Louis demanded Rene II of Lorraine to be handed over for treason against the French crown. Philip who personally enjoyed the company of the young and passionate Rene would try to convince his father to refuse but Charles agreed to hand him over. Charles' main logic was the security of his conquest of Bar and Lorraine which would be secured in the treaty of Angers. In fact during these negotiations, Charles forced Louis to agree to Rene's death in order to further secure his conquests from the former duke. Louis would walk away from the treaty securing the inheritance of all of Valois-Anjou except Bar and Lorraine while Charles would gain further security for his conquests and importantly another legal refusal of homage as the new Duke of Bar.
The problem of the regency would take Louis' entire energy and cleverness to set an equilibrium, he would restore the marriage between Peter II of Bourbon with Marie d'Orleans in 1482, finally allowing the marriage to take place, he also took note of John of Bourbon's lack of heirs and rightfully believed his inheritance would fall to Peter thereby uniting the ducal inheritance of Bourbon. He would give the future Louis XII, Normandy as a new appanage in 1482 and would gift his son direct lands of Berry and Aquitaine or Guyenne. This purposeful weakening of the crown was intentional in order to give his heir a strong power base to draw from. He would also strengthen the estates with the estate summoning of 1481, thereby recognizing the scheme, which placed Bourbon, Orleans, and Champagne along with his royal advisors all of equal position in case Charlotte of Savoy died early in the regency. What was even more complete thanks to the coronation of Anne as countess of Champagne he declared that Philip who had no fiefs in France itself could not partake in the regency as he declared that only the immediate family of his heir could partake in the regency and the most prominent nobles of the realm and those whom he trusted.
This was a double edged sword for Philip, as now the King of France renounced his suzerainty of Bar, which immediately swore allegiance to Philip's duchy of Burgundy thereby bringing the small duchy into the general estates of Burgundy further centralizing his realm but it removed Philip any opportunity to even interfere in regency affairs for France. Philip would do his best stopping this agenda arriving at the general estates of France in 1481, arguing that the king can not remove the duchy of Bar voluntarily from the crown to which the marshal of France responded, "And what of the treaty of Beaune or the declaration of Malines?" This rebuttal humilated the young duke and eventually with the estates agreeing to the agenda Philip immediately declared that he was still Count of Champagne jure uxrois to stop the royal guards from unceremoniously removing the young duke. Philip and Anne would still leave with dignity and pride as count and countess but the removal of Bar would still pose a problem to the young duke.
Savoy would prove to be quite difficult in reigning in as a new large de facto vassal of Philip. The death of Yolande de Valois, would remove the regency of Philibert of Savoy and he was still 13 years of age. Charles would claim the regency of the young boy in 1478 with the death of Yolande through a mixture of force of arms and proximity of blood claiming his lineage from his great-aunt Mary of Burgundy. This claim was dubious at best if not downright fabricated at worst as Louis XI was far closer in terms of proximity of blood but with the Savoyard nobles especially in the Vaud region swearing unofficial loyalty to Charles and the Emperor Frederick III recognizing his regency by 1479, Charles de facto assumed the regency although on paper it was a regency of the nobility or an interregnum if you will. Philip's ascension as duke would not change this dynamic but competing interests especially Milan's would prove even more difficult for Philip to rule over the final two months of his regency, with Philibert reaching the age of 15, Philip wisely dissolved the regency and declared Philibert to be capable of rule, unfortunately his death in 1482 would prove to be even more of a pain for Philip as the new heir Charles was still underage with Philip once again forced to quietly influence the regency. This continued meddling in the affairs of Savoy would cement Burgundian influence in the north but the encroaching Burgundian influence would be considered a threat by remaining Italian states.
The sudden death of King Edward IV of England and later afterwards King Louis XI of France would force Philip to completely devoted his time and affairs in Western Europe as England was now under the regency of Richard, Duke of Gloucester a pro-Burgundian ally and Philip would arrive at the general estates with his wife to see her sworn into the regency council of France under Charlotte of Savoy who was leading regent for the time being. The following years of 1483 - 1486 would see Philip relentlessly devote his energies into securing France and England as Burgundian allies/subjects and by the end of this great project Burgundy would finally reach its long dreamt and long awaited golden age.
