The Kingdom of Burgundy, also known as the Kingdom of Arles from the 12th century, was a medieval state established during the dissolution of the Carolingian Empire. In 1032, King Rudolph III died without an heir, and the kingdom was inherited by Emperor Conrad II of the Holy Roman Empire.
It became one of the three major constituent realms of the empire, along with Germany and Italy. The region is deeply tied to the legendary Nibelungenlied (The Song of the Nibelungs), a famous Germanic epic poem.
Although the epic is set in the earlier 5th-century Burgundian Kingdom based in Worms, the name of Burgundy itself carries the mythical legacy of those legendary warriors and the tragic fall of King Gunther and his court.