THE FIRST GOVERNESS OF THE NETHERLANDS
Frontispiece
FROM THE WINDOW IN THE CHAPEL OF THE VIRGIN IN THE CHURCH OF BROU (about 1528)
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THE FIRST GOVERNESS OF THE NETHERLANDS MARGARET OF AUSTRIA
BY
ELEANOR E. TREMAYNE
WITH TWENTY ILLUSTRATIONS New York: G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
London: METHUEN & CO.
1908
VI CONTENTS
183
Marguerite D'Autriche, 305
List of Pictures from Margaret's Collection sent to Brou (1533), 328
Catalogue of Manuscripts in Margaret of
Austria's Library at Malines, 330
A Few Letters from Maximilian I. to Margaret, and from Margaret to Various Persons, 335
Index, 343
1
VIII
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
MARGARET OF AUSTRIA, Frontispiece
From the Window in the Chapel of the Virgin in the Church of Brou (about 1528).
PHILIPPE LE BEL AND HIS SISTER MARGARET OF AUSTRIA, To face page 12
Panel in the Imperial Museum, Vienna. (Photograph by J. Lowy.)
TOMB OF DON JOHN, PRINCE OF ASTURIAS, ONLY SON OF FERDINAND AND ISABELLA, AVILA,
29
(Photograph by J. Lacoste.)
GHENT, SHOWING THE OLD BELFRY AND CHURCH OF ST. JOHN, WHERE CHARLES V. WAS BAPTIZED,
32
(Photograph by Deloeul.)
MEDAL STRUCK AT BOURG TO COMMEMORATE MARGARET OF AUSTRIA'S MARRIAGE WITH PHILIBERT, DUKE OF SAVOY, 40
British Museum Collection.
TOMB OF PHILIBERT LE BEAU, DUKE OF SAVOY, 45
In the Church of Brou. (Photograph by Neurdein freres.) PHILIPPE LE BEL, 64
From the Painting in the Louvre (Flemish School) (Photograph by Neurdein freres.)
CHARLES V. AND HIS TWO SISTERS, ELEANOR AND ISABEL, 69
Painted in 1502 (Margaret's Collection), now in the Imperial Museum, Vienna. (Photograph by J. Lowy.) IX
ELEANOR OF AUSTRIA AS A CHILD, 74
From the Painting by Mabuse in the possession of M. Charles Leon Cardou, Brussels. (Photograph by G. Van Oest & Co.)
MARGARET OF AUSTRIA IN WIDOW'S DRESS, 95
From the Painting by Bernard van Orley in the possession of Dr. Carvallo, Paris. (Photograph by the Art Reproduction Co.) CHARLES V., 154
From the Painting in the Louvre (Flemish School). (Photograph by Neurdein freres.)
THE EMPEROR MAXIMILIAN I. AND HIS FAMILY, 165
From the Painting by Bernhard Strigel in the Imperial Museum, Vienna. (Photograph by J. Lowy.)
FRANCIS I., 211
From a Painting in the Louvre (French School). (Photograph by Neurdein freres.)
THE CHILDREN OF CHRISTIAN II. AND ISABEL OF DENMARK--IN MOURNING DRESS FOR THEIR MOTHER,
234
From the Painting by Mabuse at Hampton Court Palace. (Photograph by W. A. Mansell & Co.)
CARVED WOODEN MANTELPIECE IN THE PALAIS DE JUSTICE, BRUGES, ERECTED TO COMMEMORATE THE PEACE OF CAMBRAY, 264
(Photograph by Neurdein freres.)
INTERIOR OF COURTYARD IN MARGARET'S PALACE AT MALINES, NOW THE PALAIS DE JUSTICE,
273
(Photograph by Deloeul.)
JOHN ARNOLFINI OF LUCCA, AND HIS WIFE JOAN, 278
2
From the Painting by John van Eyck in the National Gallery.
LEGEND OF 'NOTRE DAME DU SABLON,' 284
From the Tapestry in the Musee du Cinquantenaire, Brussels.
It contains portraits of Margaret and her Nephews and Nieces. (Photograph by Deloeul.) X
TOMB OF MARGARET OF AUSTRIA, 298
In the Church of Brou. (Photograph by Neurdein freres.)
MARGARET OF AUSTRIA SITTING AT A TABLE WITH AN OPEN BOOK ADORING THE VIRGIN AND CHILD,
317
From a Diptych in the possession of M. Lescarts, Mons (Margaret's Collection).
(Photograph by G. Van Oest & Co.) XII
INTRODUCTION
Three of the craftiest royal rogues in Christendom strove hard to cozen and outwit each other in the last years of the fifteenth and the earlier years of the sixteenth century. No betrayal was too false, no trick too undignified, no hypocrisy too contemptible for Ferdinand of Aragon, Maximilian of Austria, and Henry Tudor if unfair advantage could be gained by them; and the details
of their diplomacy convey to modern students less an impression of serious State negotiations than of the paltry dodges of three hucksters with a strong sense of humour. Of the three, Ferdinand excelled in unscrupulous falsity, Maximilian in bluff effrontery, and Henry VII. in close-fisted cunning: they were all equal in their cynical disregard for the happiness of their own children, whom they sought to use as instruments of their policy, and fate finally overreached them all. And yet by a strange chance, amongst the offspring of these three clever tricksters were some of the noblest characters of the age. John, Prince of Castile, and Arthur, Prince of Wales, both died too young to have proved their full worth, but they were beloved beyond the ordinary run of princes, and were unquestionably gentle, high-minded, and good; Katharine of Aragon stands for ever as an exalted type of steadfast faith and worthy womanhood, unscathed in surroundings and temptations of XIII unequalled difficulty; and Margaret of Austria, as this book will
show, was not only a great ruler but a cultured poet, a patron of art, a lover of children, a faithful wife, a pious widow, and, above all, a woman full of sweet feminine charm.
In an age when princesses of the great royal houses were from their infancy regarded as matrimonial pledges for the maintenance of international treaties, few were promised or sought so frequently as Margaret; for an alliance with her meant the support of the Em-pire and the States of Burgundy, whilst her two rich dowries from earlier marriages made her as desirable from a financial point of view as she was personally and politically. But with her second widowhood in her youthful prime came to her a distaste for further experiments in a field where, as she said, so much unhappiness had befallen her, and of political marriages she would have no more. Her one real love affair, to which reference will be made presently, is pathetic as showing the sad fate of such an exalted princess, who, being a true woman and in love with a gallant man, yet had to stifle the yearnings of her heart for a happy marriage, and fulfil the duty imposed upon her by the grandeur of her destiny.
There was little of love, indeed, in most of the matrimonial proposals made to her, though for two short periods she was an affectionate wife. From the time when as a proud little maiden of twelve, conscious of the slight put upon her, she was repudiated by the man whom she had looked upon as her future husband as long as she could remember, and was sent away from the country of which she had been taught she was to be the Queen, until her body XIV was borne in state to the sumptuous fane which her piety had raised, but which she had never seen, Margaret of Austria knew that a princess of the imperial house must be a statesman first and a woman afterwards, at whatever sacrifice of her personal happiness.
In the great plot of Ferdinand, King of Aragon, to shut France in by a close ring of rivals, and so to stay her march eastward along the Mediterranean to the detriment of the little realm of his fathers,