Today is the birthday of Margaret of Austria, born in 1480. She was the second child and only daughter of Maximilian of Austria and Mary of Burgundy, co-sovereigns of the Low Countries. In 1482 she was betrothed to Louis XI of France’s son, Charles, and was raised in France. But Charles broke the engagement in 1491, and spurned Margaret. She then became the wife of Prince John, the only son of Ferdinand and Isabella (so she was Katherine of Aragon’s sister in law for a time). He died shortly into the marriage, and she gave birth to a stillborn daughter after his death. In 1501 she married again, to the Duke of Savoy. He also died after three years, and she vowed to never marry again. But she is most famous as the Regent for the Hapsburg Netherlands, where she ruled successfully for twenty years. Her court was a perfect glittering Renaissance court, and is where Anne Boleyn spent her formative childhood years.
Margaret was intelligent, and witty. On the way to Spain there was a terrible storm, and in the midst of being seasick and thinking she was going to drown, she wrote her own epitaph:
“Here lies Margaret, the willing bride. Twice married, but a virgin when she died.”
That’s just an example of her wit and sense of humor. She also negotiated the so called Ladies Peace with Louise of Savoy in which the women tried to get the men out of things, and just talk, and make peace. She died in 1530, when one of her maids broke a glass goblet, and a splinter of glass went into her foot and became gangrenous. She agreed to have her foot amputated, and but died before the operation, apparently from an overdose of opium that the doctors gave her in preparation for the amputation.
That’s your Tudor Minute for today. Remember you can dive deeper into life in 16th century England through the Renaissance English History Podcast at englandcast.com.
Suggested link:
Episode 060: Sarah Gristwood on Game of Queens
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Kickass Tudor Women Portrait Collection
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Heather Teysko is the creator, writer, and producer of The Renaissance English History Podcast, the original Tudor history podcast, started in 2009. She's been writing about history online for over 25 years, since her first site on Colonial American history became number one in history on Yahoo in 1998. In 2019 she created Tudorcon, which is now a yearly event, in addition to writing books, and running TudorFair.com - a whimsical Tudor Merch shop.
She has been passionate about Tudor England since she first read Alison Weir's The Six Wives of Henry VIII 30 years ago, and subsequently moved to London after college to spend her time immersed in Tudor history (how exciting when she got to interview Alison for the first time!). In addition to history, she is passionate about travel, and has lived in 3 countries and 4 states (not counting her perpetual state of confusion), and her family (who help her host her YouTube channel occasionally).
