Mary of Burgundy, Duchess of Burgundy

Wikipedia:

• English: Mary of Burgundy
• Deutsch: Maria von Burgund
• Francais: Marie de Bourgogne

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Mary, called Mary the Rich (13 February 1457 – 27 March 1482), was suo jure Duchess of Burgundy from 1477 – 1482. As the only child of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, and his wife Isabella of Bourbon, she was the heiress to the vast Burgundian domains in France and the Low Countries upon her father's sudden death on 5 January 1477. Her mother had died in 1465, but Mary was on very good terms with her stepmother Margaret of York, whom Charles married in 1468.

Mary of Burgundy was born in Brussels, at the Ducal castle of Coudenberg. Her birth, according to the court chronicler, Georges Chastellain, was attended by a clap of thunder ringing from the otherwise clear twilit sky. Her godfather was Louis the Dauphin, in exile in Burgundy at that time; he named her for his mother, Marie of Anjou. Reactions to the child were mixed: the baby's grandfather, Philip the Good, was unimpressed, and "chose not to attend the [Baptism] as it was only for a girl"; his wife, Isabel, was simply delighted at the birth of a granddaughter.[1]

As the only child of Charles the Bold, Mary was heiress to a vast and wealthy domain, made up of the Duchy of Burgundy, the Free County of Burgundy, and the majority of the Low Countries, and her hand was eagerly sought by a number of princes. The first proposal was received by her father when she was only five years old, to marry the future Ferdinand II of Aragon. Later the younger brother of Louis XI, Charles de Valois, Duc de Berry made an approach, to the intense annoyance of his brother the King, who attempted to prevent the necessary Papal dispensation for consanguinity.

As soon as Louis produced a male heir who survived infancy, the future Charles VIII of France, Louis wanted his son to be the one to marry Mary, despite his son being thirteen years younger than Mary. Nicholas I, Duke of Lorraine was a few years older than Mary, and his Duchy lay alongside Burgundian territory, but his plan to combine his territory with hers was frustrated by his death in battle in 1473.

When her father fell upon the field at the siege of Nancy, on 5 January 1477, Mary was only nineteen years old. Louis XI of France seized the opportunity afforded by his rival's defeat and death to attempt take possession of the Duchy of Burgundy proper, and also of Franche Comté, Picardy and Artois.

Louis was anxious that Mary should marry Charles, the Dauphin of France, and thus secure the inheritance of the Low Countries for his descendants, by force of arms if necessary. Mary, advised by Margaret, distrusted Louis, declined the French alliance, and turned to her Netherland subjects for help. Sensing her weakness, she obtained their help only at the price of great concessions.

On 10 February 1477 at Ghent on the occasion of her formal recognition, known as the Joyous Entry, as Charles' heir, she was compelled to sign a charter of rights, called the Great Privilege. Under this agreement, the provinces and towns of Flanders, Brabant, Hainaut, and Holland recovered all the local and communal rights which had been abolished by the decrees of the dukes of Burgundy in their efforts to create a centralized state on the French model out of their separate holdings in the Low Countries. In particular, the Parliament of Mechelen (established formally by Charles the Bold in 1470) was abolished and replaced with the pre-existing authority of the Parlement de Paris, which was considered an amenable counterweight to the encroaching, if informal, centralisation undertaken by both Charles and Philip the Good. Mary also had to undertake not to declare war, make peace, or raise taxes without the consent of the States, and to employ only native residents in official posts.

Such was the hatred of the people for the old regime that two of her father's influential councillors, the Chancellor Hugonet and the Sire d'Humbercourt, having been discovered in correspondence with the French king, were executed at Ghent despite the tears and entreaties of the youthful duchess.

Mary of Burdundy (right) with her husband and childrenMary now made her choice among the many suitors for her hand, selecting the Duke Maximilian of Austria (after her death the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I). The marriage took place at Ghent on 18 August 1477. By marrying Duke Maximilian of Austria, son of the Duke of Austria, she became Duchess Mary of Austria. In this way the Low Countries came to the Habsburgs, initiating two centuries of contention between France and the Habsburgs, later of Spain, then of Austria, for their possession, which climaxed in the War of the Spanish Succession, 1701–1714.

In the Netherlands, affairs now went more smoothly, the French aggression was temporarily checked, and internal peace was in a large measure restored.

Five years later, the 25-year-old Duchess met her death by a fall from her horse on 27 March 1482 near the Castle of Wijnendale. She loved riding, and was falconing with Maximilian when her horse tripped, threw her, and then landed on top of her, breaking her back. She died several days later, having made a detailed will. She is buried in Bruges.

Wikipedia:

• English: Mary of Burgundy
• Deutsch: Maria von Burgund
• Francais: Marie de Bourgogne

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María de Borgoña (Bruselas, Bélgica, 1457 - Brujas, 1482) fue la esposa de Maximiliano I, emperador de Sacro Imperio Romano y madre de Felipe el Hermoso.

Como hija única del último duque de Borgoña, Carlos el Temerario y de su segunda esposa Isabel de Borbón, heredó el ducado de su padre, a los 20 años, tras la muerte de éste en la batalla de Nancy. La pretensión francesa por los territorios de los Países Bajos hizo al rey Luis XI ocupar algunas plazas como el Franco Condado o la propia región de Borgoña lo que impidió a María ejercer su título en los que habían sido sus territorios.

Con la finalidad de expulsar a los franceses, promulgó una carta que se conoce como El Gran Privilegio y por la que quedaba garantizado el gobierno propio de los Países Bajos.

Se casó en 1477 con el archiduque austríaco Maximiliano, hijo del emperador Federico III y después emperador del Sacro Imperio Romano Germánico, con el que tendría por hijos a Margarita de Austria y a Felipe el Hermoso que introduciría, por su matrimonio con Juana I de Castilla, la estirpe de los Austria en España.

María de Borgoña murió en Brujas después de una caída de caballo en 1482.

Maria van Bourgondië (Brussel, 13 februari 1457 – Wijnendale, 27 maart 1482) was hertogin van Bourgondië, Brabant, Limburg, Luxemburg en Gelre, gravin van Vlaanderen, Artesië, Holland, Zeeland, Henegouwen, Namen en Franche-Comté, en vrouwe van Mechelen. Door al deze titels was zij samenvattend vorstin van de Nederlanden. (nl. Wikipedia)

De oorsprong van het volkse spotliedje "Mie Katoen" wordt door sommigen aan haar toegeschreven. Het werd eeuwenlang enkel uitgevoerd in het hertogdom Brabant op de plaatselijke ommegangen.

Maria overleed op 25-jarige leeftijd aan de gevolgen van een val van haar paard in het bos bij het kasteel van Wijnendale nabij Torhout. Haar vierjarige zoontje Filips de Schone volgde haar op, onder het regentschap van zijn vader Maximiliaan. Zij werd begraven in de Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk te Brugge, waar haar grafmonument zich bevindt, vlak naast het praalgraf van haar vader Karel de Stoute. Tijdens archeologisch onderzoek in 1979 werd haar stoffelijk overschot geïdentificeerd. (nl.wikipedia)