Mary of Burgundy

Duchess of Burgundy (r. 1477-1482)

• Born: February 13, 1457
• Birthplace: Brussels, duchy of Brabant (now in Belgium)
• Died: March 27, 1482
• Place of death: Brugge, Flanders (now in Belgium)

Mary of Burgundy granted the Great Privilege, which restored local rule to the provinces and towns of Burgundy. Her marriage to Maximilian I meant Spanish and Habsburg control of the Netherlands and formed the basis of the worldwide Habsburg Empire.

Early Life

Born the only child of Charles the Bold and Isabel of Bourbon, Mary of Burgundy grew up in a wealthy but troubled environment. Mary’s great-grandfather, John the Fearless, and her grandfather, Philip the Good, had enlarged Burgundy’s power by conquest, heritage, and purchase. Burgundy reached its greatest extent under Charles the Bold, who aimed to concentrate power in his hands, which weakened the states general, the representation of the provincial estates. Mary’s godfather, King Louis XI of France, proved to be an enemy who strived to seize Burgundian estates and insisted that the duchy had once been a fief of the French crown.

Mary had a solid education: Having French as her mother tongue, she studied Flemish, the duchy’s second language, and Latin, the language of science and diplomacy. She was interested in history and had artistic abilities. Mary combined her sense of aesthetics with Christian education in the books of hours she used, one of which has been preserved in Austria (Codex Vindobonensis, 1857). The princess’s favorite hobby was falconry.

Mary’s mother died early, but Mary found a friend for life in Margaret of York, who married Charles in 1468 and became a caring duchess. Monarchs from all over Europe courted Mary, yet Charles was mostly interested in the Habsburg proposals, hoping to be crowned king by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III for giving Mary in marriage to Maximilian, the successor to the throne. Marriage negotiations at Trier (1473) came to an abrupt end, since Frederick was not willing to accept Charles’s conditions. Nevertheless, the engagement was announced in 1476, when Charles was already troubled by the Swiss. He died at Nancy in 1477, leaving Mary an unstable throne.

Life’s Work

After the death of Charles the Bold, the French invaded the south of Burgundy. Louis XI reclaimed the duchy as a fief of France through the doctrine of strict male primogeniture, and he urged Mary to marry his son. Finding herself between threats of war and a marriage proposal to six-year-old Charles, and realizing that by such a marriage Burgundy would be swallowed up by France, Mary took up negotiations with the states general.

Burgundy was on the verge of revolt, since the large cities were demanding autonomy and some groups were even likely to ally with Louis. After making financial concessions, Mary realized that she could hold Burgundy together only by abolishing the unifying and centralizing reforms that had been undertaken mainly by her father. In February, 1477, she agreed to the Great Privilege, a treaty that made a federation out of the Burgundian estates and granted Mary the title of general princess. Shortly afterward, she was sworn in as countess of Flanders. The condition of Burgundy remained a critical concern.

Two of Mary’s counselors were decapitated a sign of continuing protest to centralized ruling powers and Louis XI continued stirring up the provinces. Mary felt spied on and, firmly determined not to yield Burgundy to Louis, she appealed to her fiancé for help. Maximilian was willing to come to her aid immediately, but displaying the lack of money typical of the Habsburgs, he still had to raise money for undertaking an impressive journey. Nevertheless, a preliminary marriage was performed, assisted by imperial officials and dukes. This marriage, per procurationem (by power of attorney or by agent), which took place in Brugge without Maximilian in April, 1477, and later was repeated in Ghent, increased Mary’s authority.

Yet the marriage was not accepted by Louis XI, who continued to cause disturbances, conquering Picardy as well. He tried to block Maximilian on his bridal journey, the adventures of which are described in two autobiographical epic poems by Maximilian: Theuerdank (1517; The Theuerdank of 1517 , 2003) and Weisskunig (c. 1515; the white king). The obstacles to the wedding, which was solemnized in August, 1477, are worth mentioning, since it was Mary’s determination to fulfill her father’s wedding plans that kept Burgundy from falling apart or being annexed by France. Saving her inheritance by marrying Maximilian meant giving up Burgundy’s independence, however. Mary’s descendants devolved the rights of the House of Burgundy to the House of Habsburg, and so the conflicts between Burgundy and France were transferred to the war between the House of Austria and the Kingdom of France.

Still, and importantly, this marriage founded the basis for a global Habsburg Empire, as Mary’s and Maximilian’s children ultimately were given in marriage to members of the House of Aragón. Because of this rise of a worldwide empire, the marriage of Mary of Burgundy and the later Maximilian I achieved mythical status, intensified by the couple’s legendary deep love. Mary, the archduchess of Austria and duchess of Burgundy, died at the age of twenty-five from internal injuries sustained in a riding accident during falconry. Although Maximilian married again and had many affairs later on, he is said to have never loved again.

Mary and Maximilian’s son, Philip, became famous as Philip I, king of Castile and regent of the Netherlands. Their daughter, Margaret of Austria , became a conscientious governor of the Netherlands after her brother’s death. Initially, Margaret had been married to among others John, the heir to the Castilian throne, who died young. Mary’s third child, Francis, died shortly after his birth in 1481. Maximilian grew to appreciate his wife’s authority posthumously. He had become a member of the prestigious Burgundian Order of the Golden Fleece in 1478. He was a grand master and was followed by his son in 1482. Moreover, he was installed, through Mary’s will, as the regent of the provinces during the minority of Philip. Nonetheless, it took him more than a decade to get his status as legitimate ruler accepted. The Treaty of Senlis (1493) finally restored Franche-Comté and the Netherlands to the House of Habsburg (Burgundy and Picardy remained French). That same year Maximilian became Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I.

Significance

After the death of her father, the harsh ruler Charles the Bold, Mary of Burgundy’s diplomatic negotiations with the states general of the Netherlands led to the formation of a surprisingly modern federal governmental system in the duchy of Burgundy, still under the unifying figure of the duchess. This system developed through Mary’s granting of the Great Privilege.

By carrying out the marriage planned by her father, Mary transferred Burgundy to the House of Habsburg, so the duchy depended on a foreign ruler. Its largest province remained autonomous yet still a fundamental part of the Habsburg Empire. Parts of Mary’s heritage were lost to France after the marriage of Mary and Maximilian, yet their children not only would be regents of the Netherlands, but they also connected the Habsburgs to Spain.

Mary gained the image of a decisive and graceful duchess because of her diplomacy, beauty, and early death, and also through her contribution to the foundation of an empire in which the sun never set.

Bibliography

Blockmans, Wim, and Walter Prevenier. The Promised Lands: The Low Countries Under Burgundian Rule, 1369-1530. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999. Part of the Middle Ages series, this work includes an analysis of how the fief of Burgundy turned into a ruling power over other estates.

Bruges à Beaune: Marie, l’héritage de Bourgogne. Edited by the Hospices Civils de Beaune. Paris: Somogy, 2000. Illustrations of the legendarily graceful duchess, and other informative items.

Grössling, Sigrid-Maria. Maximilian I: Kaiser, Künstler, Kämpfer. Vienna, Austria: Amalthea, 2002. Written from the Habsburgs’ point of view, rich in descriptions of Mary’s and Maximilian’s administrative achievements.

Tanner, Marie. The Last Descendant of Aeneas: The Hapsburgs and the Mythic Image of the Emperor. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1993. Explains why the wedding of Mary and Maximilian became mythical.

Vaughan, Richard. Charles the Bold: The Last Valois Duke of Burgundy. 4th rev. ed. Woodbridge, Suffolk, England: Boydell Press, 2004. Points out the critical condition of Burgundy in 1477, and useful for understanding Mary’s political background.

Vossen, Carl. Maria von Burgund: Des Hauses Habsburg Kronjuwel. Stuttgart, Germany: Seewald, 1982. Though rich in romanticizing anecdotes, important as one of the very few biographies of Mary.

Wellens, Robert. Les États Généraux des Pays-Bas, des origines à la fin du règne de Philippe le Beau (1464-1506). In Anciens Pays 64 (1974). Illustrates why the states general could exert surprising power on Mary’s father, herself, and Maximilian.

Wheatcroft, Andrew. The Habsburgs: Embodying Empire. 2d ed. New York: Penguin Books, 1997. Study of the Habsburgs’ imperial ideology, useful for reflecting on Mary’s inheritance within a broader context.