How did the marriage of Philip the Bold and Margaret of Flanders help unite the Low Countries?

The marriage of Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, to Margaret of Flanders in 1369 served as the foundational catalyst for the political unification of the Low Countries.12

Upon the death of his father-in-law, Louis II, in 1384, Philip inherited the counties of Flanders, Artois, Rethel, Nevers, and the free county of Burgundy. This acquisition provided the Burgundian dukes with a powerful territorial base, initiating a period of "Burgundian infiltration" characterized by further expansion through marriage, inheritance, purchase, and war.1

By securing these lands, the dukes of Burgundy—who were princes of the French royal house of Valois—began to consolidate various independent principalities into a single, powerful domain. While this structure was initially a personal union rather than a unified state, it set the stage for later efforts to centralize administration, judicial systems, and political control across the region, ultimately paving the way for the broader unification of the Low Countries under the Burgundian dynasty and their successors.123