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On September 26, 1272, Duke Hugues IV of Burgundy dictated his last will and testament, naming his third son, Robert, as successor to the dukedom. The death of his first two sons, in 1266 and 1267, had put him in a difficult situation: certain Burgundian customs designated his granddaughter Yolande as heir to the ducal title, according to the principle of representation. Unwilling to resign himself to this scenario, Hugues IV chose to bypass these customs and appointed the eldest of his surviving sons, Robert, to succeed him. When he died in October 1272, a legal dispute arose between the new duke, Robert II, and his niece, Yolande. Each of the parties then defended itself by claiming the rights that should accrue to the primogenitus: those of the surviving male primogenitus and those of the eldest daughter of the biological primogenitus. By tracing the preparations for this succession and the resolution of the ensuing conflict, the present study aims to grasp the issues at stake in the transmission of the ducal title and the role of primogeniture in the succession to the duchy of Burgundy at the end of the thirteenth century.