Christina of Denmark, Duchess and Regent of Lorraine

Christina of Denmark, regent of Lorraine (died 10 December 1590)

Those obsessed with all things Tudor might have come across a reference to Christina of Denmark in their reading--before Henry VIII's "great matter" erupted, the young Danish princess was considered (by Thomas Wolsey, at any rate) as a possible match for Henry's illegitimate son, Henry Fitzroy. But there was no reason why the girl's uncle, the Emperor Charles V, would find such a match acceptable, and no match was made.

Years later, after the death of his third queen, Jane Seymour, Henry VIII again considered Christina of Denmark, this time deciding that she might make an excellent wife for himself. Rather than being flattered by the English king's interest, the young woman is said to have responded, "If I had two heads, one should be at the King of England's disposal." Henry persisted for over a year until he was convinced by his ambassador that he should "fix his most noble stomach in some other place." (In this case, "stomach" meant "desire," but given Henry's eventual girth, it's an especially funny comment.)

Christina of Denmark,
portrait by Hans Holbein

It's interesting to think about what might have been if the young woman had become Henry's fourth queen.

In 1521, Christina of Denmark was born into a family of politically astute women--she was the great granddaughter of Isabella of Castile and the granddaughter of Juana of Castile. Christina's mother, Isabel of Austria (Juana's daughter) was married to King Christian II of Denmark and Norway--and during the king's absence (he briefly held the throne of Sweden), Queen Isabel served as regent of Denmark.

Christian II never quite gained control in Sweden, and he soon lost Denmark as well. When he was forced off the throne and into exile in 1523, the king, his wife, and his family took refuge in the Netherlands with Margaret of Austria, who was Isabel of Austria's aunt. The young Christina of Denmark thus came under the influence of apolitically experienced woman who governed the Netherlands as regent for twenty years.

After Isabel of Austria's death in 1526, the Danish king eventually made an ill-fated attempt to retake his throne. Christian was "persuaded" to leave his children behind, in Margaret of Austria's care, by the regent's offer of a generous annual payment.*

Under the influence of Margaret of Austria, Christina of Denmark was educated with a generation of women who learned much about politics and power from the Habsburg regent. (Among these young women was, interestingly, Anne Boleyn, who arrived at Margaret's court in 1513 and spent at least a year there.)

After the regent's death in 1530, she was followed by yet another Habsburg regent, Mary of Austria, Christina of Denmark's aunt (her mother Isabel's sister). But Christina's period of tuition was brief--by the time she was twelve years old, she became one more useful pawn in the Habsburg game of using marriage as a way to increase influence.

On 23 September 1533, Christina of Denmark was married in Brussels by proxy to Francesco II Sforza, duke of Milan (he was the son of Beatrice d'Este). When she arrived in Milan in May 1534, a second marriage ceremony was celebrated. By October 1535, her husband was dead, leaving Christina of Denmark, duchess of Milan, a widow at the age of thirteen.

Christina of Denmark returned to the Netherlands and Mary of Austria's court in 1537. A few months after her return, Hans Holbein was in Brussels, painting Christina's portrait for Henry VIII. Now all of sixteen, the young widow was sought by many--among those who hoped to arrange a match (aside from the English king), was William of Cleves, the brother of the woman who would become Henry VIII's fourth wife, Anne. (Another fix for the Tudor fan!)

Christina had her own views--having made a political match, she preferred a love match and wished to marry René of Chalon, Prince of Orange. While her aunt raised no objections, the Habsburg emperor had his own plans, and in 1540 he insisted that René marry Anne of Lorraine and that Christina marry the brother of the woman who married the man she loved--got that? 

On 10 July 1541, Christina of Denmark married Francis, duke of Bar. In 1544, Francis succeeded his father as duke of Lorraine. Despite her hope to marry René of Chalon, Christina found happiness in her marriage to Francis.

But the marriage was not a long one--by 1545, she was a widow again. During the brief years of her second marriage, she had given birth to two children (Charles, in 1543; Renata, in 1544). A third child, a daughter named Dorothea, was born after her husband's death.

Francis of Lorraine left his wife, Christina, as regent for his son and heir. She remained as regent until 1552--despite her efforts to secure assistance from the emperor, Lorraine was invaded by the French king, who took custody of Charles and relieved her of her duties. 

She was eventually exiled from Lorraine and made her way to the court of her aunt, Mary of Austria, regent of the Netherlands. 

Christina of Denmark, duchess (and regent) of Lorraine, remained a very desirable marriage prospect, though she never married again. She was eventually reunited with her son, and in 1560 she once again stepped in as regent of Lorraine, this time for her son. 

After the death of her father in 1559, Christina's childless sister ceded her claim to the Danish throne to her younger sister, and Christina styled herself as "Christina, by the grace of God Queen of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway." She also thought to arrange the marriage of her daughter, Renata, to Frederick II of Denmark (despite Christina's claims to be the rightful queen, he was the reigning monarch of Denmark). 

But none of these plans were to succeed. In 1578, Christina of Denmark left Lorraine for Tortona, a small territory in the duchy of Milan where she had been granted sovereign rights by her first husband, Francesco Sforza. There she "ruled" until 1584, when the Spanish decided she could stay but her role as "sovereign" had to go. 

Christina of Denmark, regent of Lorraine (among many other titles), died in Tortona on 10 December 1590. 

It's hard to believe that there is not a recent biography of Christina of Denmark, but Julia Cartwright's massive 1913 Christina of Denmark, Duchess of Milan and Lorraine, 1522-1590 is available from Internet Archive (click here).

*Christian II of Denmark's efforts failed; he surrendered to his uncle and rival in 1531 and was held in captivity until his death twenty-seven years later, in 1559. Christina and her older sister, Dorotea, petitioned their uncle, Charles V, to negotiate their father's release, but the emperor declined.

Juana of Castile: Not Her Mother's Daughter

Juana of Castile, queen of Castile and Léon, queen of Aragon (born 6 November 1479)

The third child--and second daughter--of the Spanish monarchs Isabella of Castile and Léon and Ferdinand of Aragon, Juana was born in Toledo and received an education that reflected the best of Renaissance humanist training.

Having herself had relatively little opportunities for education, Isabella made sure that, as Giles Tremlett writes, "the education of [her] daughters was taken with an unusual and remarkable degree of seriousness." (The education of the Spanish princesses was undertaken by the remarkable scholar Beatriz Galindo, "la Latina.")

Juana of Castile,
about 1495-96,
the time of her marriage

Juana proved to be an adept scholar, a good student of Latin and contemporary languages, of classical authors as well as of Christian writers, of typically "female" accomplishments like needlework as well as of aristocratic pastimes like hunting, and of music. She was also taught law and trained carefully for her political duties, as a woman: marriage. 

In 1495, the Catholic monarchs signed a treaty with Henry VII of England and with the Holy Roman emperor Maximilian aimed at limiting the power of France.*

Thus, Juana of Castile was married to Philip of Austria, and Catalina of Aragon to Prince Arthur of England. Catalina was transformed into Catherine, and her life was to be spent in England where, after Arthur's death, she married his brother, becoming the first of King Henry VIII's six wives. 

Juana's reputation in history is as notorious as her name--she is Juana la Loca, or "Juana the Mad." As it is generally told, the narrative of Juana's life is fairly simple, a kind of fairytale turned horror story. Married to a handsome prince who is as unfaithful as he is charming, the beautiful princess is tormented by her uncontrollable jealousy. Inheriting a strain of madness from her maternal grandmother (Isabella of Portugal), she descends into madness herself. 

As this fairytale/horror story continues, when Isabella of Castile and Léon dies, Juana becomes queen regnant of Castile and Léon, but she is unable even to care for herself, much less for her country and her people. Her husband, then her father, and finally her son undertake to act for her as regents. The madwoman is locked away, kept company by her youngest daughter (Catherine of Spain) and visited faithfully by her oldest son. In her death, she triumphs--her sons become emperors and her daughters all become queens.  

Juana may well have been mad, or she may have become mad, but her story is at once more complicated and more tragic. Certain elements of her tragedy are clear. Her marriage to Philip of Austria, duke of Burgundy, Philip "the Handsome," was arranged in 1496, and she left Spain in August of that year. When she finally met the waiting Philip on 18 October, he was so struck by her beauty that he demanded they be married that very day so they could consummate their union without delay. The birth of their first child, Eleanor, in 1498 was followed quickly by the birth of Charles, a son and heir, born in the city of Ghent on 25 February 1500.

Despite the initial attraction between the two, their relationship deteriorated quickly. In some accounts, Philip is depicted as a kind of sexual psychopath, a ruthless sadist who "held Juana in a vicious cycle of affection, abuse, and intimidation from which she was constitutionally unable to escape," while Juana is portrayed as a woman so "madly in love" that "she allowed herself to be psychologically abused," unable to free herself from her husband's "domination and sexual magnetism." 

In other versions of their relationship, Juana is a beautiful but fragile hysteric: "a mercurial temperament subject to soaring changes of disposition, scaling the heights of joy one moment and groveling in a bottomless well of self-pity the next." Modern historians thus differ in their views, but their contradictory assessments of the couple are no more incompatible than the views of Philip and Juana's contemporaries.

Those who actually met the pair recorded equally inconsistent views: In 1499, for example, a Spanish priest observed that Juana was "so frightened that she could not hold up her head," while in 1500 the Spanish ambassador judged that "in a person so young I do not think one has seen such prudence."

After the deaths, in rapid succession, of Juana's elder siblings, Prince Juan of Castile in 1497 and Isabel in 1498, and of Juan's infant son, Prince Miguel, in 1500, the crowns of Castile and Aragon fell to Juana as her parents' heir. Isabella and Ferdinand summoned their daughter and her husband to Spain. 

Philip ignored their urgent request and put off the journey at first, preferring to send a representative to Spain to act on his behalf, but Juana refused to sign the document appointing Philip's choice of an ambassador. By 1501 Juana was pregnant for a third time, delaying the trip still longer. The archduchess gave birth to another daughter in July, naming the baby Isabel after her Castilian grandmother. 

When Juana was finally able to travel, she and Philip began their trip to Spain, not by ship, as Ferdinand and Isabella planned, but through France, as Philip preferred. In France, Philip swore fealty as Louis XII's "good neighbor, humble servant, and obedient vassal," but Juana was determined to assert herself as the Infanta of Castile rather than as Philip's archduchess and a vassal of France. 

She refused to kneel to the French king, but she was maneuvered onto her knees forcibly in a gesture of submission by two formidable women: as Juana approached Anne of Brittany, queen of France, she was either shoved or tripped by Anne of France. 

Later, when she found herself in yet another "compromising position," Juana responded proudly by refusing to accept an offering of gold coins from the French queen. Her refusal earned the hostility of Anne of Brittany and the anger of her husband.

Juana of Castile in 1500,
portrait by Juan de Flandres

By the end of January 1502, Juana and Philip arrived in Castile. On 22 May the couple were formally designated Isabella's heirs in Castile, and in September they traveled to Aragon to be recognized as Ferdinand's.

The Aragonese Cortes recognized Juana as primogenita succesora, heir presumptive to the crown, declaring her the "true and lawful heir to the crown, to whom, in default of male heirs, the usage and law of the land require the oath of allegiance." 

Philip was recognized only as her king-consort. But, if Isabella were to predecease Ferdinand, the Aragonese parliament declared that any male child Ferdinand might have in a subsequent marriage would take precedence over Juana. On 27 October Juana became the first woman to whom the Aragonese Cortes swore an oath of fealty.

By 19 December Philip was gone, leaving Juana--pregnant again--behind with her parents. His departure was followed almost immediately by his betrayal of Juana and los Reyes Catolicos. On 5 April 1503 Philip concluded the treaty of Lyon with France; it provided for the marriage of his son and heir to Louis' daughter and agreed to Ferdinand's renunciation of the kingdom of Naples, which he had just conquered. In 1504 Philip joined his father Maximilian and the French king in yet another treaty against Aragonese interests.

Before Juana rejoined her husband, she gave birth to her fourth child, another son, named Ferdinand after her father, on 10 March 1503. When she finally left Spain in May of 1504, she left this child behind, to be raised by his grandparents. In the meantime, Juana's increasingly erratic behavior, Philip's perfidy, and Queen Isabella's failing health led to a reeevaluation of the Castilian succession. 

When she drew her will in October, Isabella named Juana as her successor: the crown of Castile would be inherited by her "dearly beloved daughter" as "universal heiress of all . . . said kingdoms and lands and lordships . . . , proprietress . . . conformable with what I owe and am obliged by law." Juana and Philip--"as her husband"--were to receive "obedience from her subjects." 

But to exclude Philip from power, Isabella stipulated that Juana appoint no foreigners to office and that she consult the Cortes on all decisions. She further ordered, in the event that Juana as queen "does not desire or is not able to engage in government," the regency of Castile fall not to Philip but to Ferdinand. If Juana were incapacitated by absence or illness, her father was to function as her regent until Juana's son and heir, Charles, "shall be at least twenty."

Isabella died on 26 November 1504, and Juana was immediately proclaimed her successor: "Castile, Castile for our sovereign lady, Queen Juana." But in Brussels, Philip had himself proclaimed "King of Castile, Léon, Granada, archduke of Austria, prince of Aragon and Sicily, duke of Burgundy, [and] count of Flanders." 

What followed was not a smooth succession but a succession crisis. In the new queen's absence, Ferdinand assumed the role of regent of Castile, but his position was vigorously opposed by Juana's husband. Ferdinand convened the Cortes in January 1505, and Juana was recognized as "legitimate and proprietary ruler" of Castile and Philip as her husband and consort. But Ferdinand claimed that, by the terms of Isabella's will, Juana had to return to Castile and prove herself capable of rule. 

In a letter he declared Juana had shown "illness and emotional upheaval" and "disorder" during her previous trip to Castile and that, out of "prudence" and because of "great sorrow," Isabella "did not wish to declare what the impediment was." "Because of the gravity of the situation," he wrote, "it is better that you comprehend the reasons that moved the queen, her mother, to word her will as she did." 

Since the matter "touches the royal person of Queen Juana, you must all swear a solemn oath to keep this matter secret." The Cortes ultimately decided to acknowledge Ferdinand as regent "owing to the incapacity" of Juana. A letter announcing the decision was sent to Philip in Flanders.

In pursuit of his wife's interests, Philip insisted that Juana was capable of ruling and that, as her husband, he had the right to the regency. He was supported by a significant number of the Castilian grandees, who were suspicious of the Aragonese king. 

For his part, Ferdinand solicited a letter from Juana approving of her father's assumption of the regency. But Juana was betrayed by one of her Castilian servants, who turned the document over to Philip. The new Castilian "queen" was forced to substitute a letter in support of Philip. Ferdinand received the letter, along with reports that indicated Juana's signature on it was either forged or coerced.

It may well be that, at this point, Ferdinand decided on another tack to maintain power in Castile; some reports indicate that he sent an emissary to Portugal to negotiate a marriage with his wife Isabella's old rival, Juana la Beltraneja. Through her he could oppose Philip and Juana and claim the crown of Castile for himself. If he did make such an overture, nothing came of it. 

He did, however, sign a treaty with France; instead of a marriage with Isabella's niece and rival for the throne of Castile, he married the French king's niece, Germaine of Foix. In response, Philip attempted to force Juana to sign a denunciation of her father, but once again she refused. Ferdinand's ambassadors at Philip's court objected to the conditions under which Juana was forced to live; they were finally allowed to see her but not to speak with her.

After Juana gave birth on 13 September 1505 to another daughter, named Mary, Philip decided to travel to Castile to claim the throne. Ferdinand, meanwhile, declared that Juana was sane but a prisoner, publishing a proposal to rescue her. He also prepared for a compromise with Philip that would exclude Juana but benefit both of them. 

Philip and Juana arrived in Castile on 26 April 1506; as they traveled toward a meeting with Ferdinand, Philip kept his wife in the background, Philip presenting himself as the king and Juana merely as his consort. Juana resented her husband's efforts, however, and refused to sign documents that Philip prepared for her. The Castilian grandees who supported Philip against Ferdinand were increasingly unhappy with Juana's husband and her position as well, noting her isolation and his disregard for their interests.

Philip and Ferdinand finally met in June. Philip was deeply suspicious of his wife and of his father-in-law; he refused to allow Ferdinand to meet with, or even to see, Juana. But on 27 June the two men finally agreed to a treaty of peace, a "hellish compact" that "sealed the fate" of Juana. The agreement stated that the queen "on no account wishes to have anything to do with any affair of government or other things." 

After this categorical statement, it continued: "and, even if she did wish it, it would cause the total loss and destruction of these realms, having regard to her infirmities and passions which are not described here for decency's sake." Juana, therefore, was excluded from governing, and if she should "of her own accord or at the instance of others . . . attempt to interfere in the government or disturbed the arrangement made between the two kings, they will join forces to prevent it." Ferdinand was willing to declare Juana's unfitness, even though it had been over two years since he had seen her. 

After signing the document, Ferdinand turned around immediately and denounced it, swearing that he had been coerced and that Juana was, after all, quite fit to rule. He swore to "liberate" Juana from her imprisonment and to return to her the government of Castile. Juana managed to assert herself again in July, when she and Philip were in Valladolid. She refused to enter the city following two banners, insisting that she alone was queen and that one of the banners should be removed. 

The Admiral of Castile finally forced Philip to grant him an interview with Juana, and after a two-day meeting with her he reported that "she never gave a random answer." He saw no sign of the insanity that both her father and her husband had, at various times, asserted. On 11 July, under the influence of the Admiral of Castile, the Cortes swore allegiance to her as queen of Castile and to Philip only as her consort. Juana appeared in person on 12 July to receive their oath of allegiance.

In the meantime Ferdinand was forced to withdraw from the struggle with Philip. Facing increased opposition in Castile and having his own interests in Naples to pursue, he retreated to Aragon. But Philip's ascendancy in Castile did not last long. By September he was dead. Although Juana declined any role in the government after her husband's death, Ferdinand, on his way to Naples, would not have her declared incompetent, instead issuing orders that she was to be recognized as obeyed as queen regnant.

Juana refused to assume her role as queen, indicating that her father should act in her stead. In this situation, reports about her mental state vary. According to Ferdinand's secretary, "there is no one, big or little, who any longer denies that she is out of her mind, except Juan Lopez, who says that she is as sane as her mother was."

Another account attributes her withdrawal from the world not as madness but as an almost stoic resignation; she is "a woman to suffer and behold all the things of this world . . . without change of heart or courage." Sane or insane, competent or incompetent, she was watched carefully by her father's supporters; Ferdinand was now as interested in having her confined as Philip had been.

On 17 January 1507, Queen Juana gave birth to her last child, another daughter, who was named Catalina. When Ferdinand finally arrived in Castile at the end of the year, he assumed the regency for Juana. Her father continued as regent of Castile until his death in 1516. He was followed as regent by Juana's son Charles.

It is impossible now to determine with certainty whether Juana was, indeed, mad, but there is no question that she was la Loca. Most scholars assume without question her incapacity and the necessity of husband, father, and son to rule Castile in her stead. 

But not all scholars assume Juana la Loca's madness. The historian S. B. Chrimes, for example, has considered the claims of Juana's discreditors carefully. He notes that in 1507, Henry VII, the widowed king of England, had entered into serious negotiations with Ferdinand for a marriage with Juana. A treaty for the match was signed in 1508, though the marriage never took place.

About the failure of the alliance, Chrimes writes, "the project faded away, not surprisingly because in fact [Juana] was being kept in close confinement, first by Ferdinand and then by [her son Charles], in harsh and sometimes brutal conditions." He continues, "the story of her 'madness' was never, until perhaps towards the end of her long life, more than very successful propaganda put out by her ruthless and unscrupulous father and son."

The royal convent of Santa Clara in Tordesillas

Chrimes indicates that Henry VII, who had met Juana as recently as 1506, "knew or suspected the truth, which oddly enough appears largely to have evaded the serious consideration of modern historians." That Juana was not mad, Chrimes notes, is clear from the "overwhelming weight" of contemporary evidence, which "compels such conclusions."

I will add that the fortress of Tordesillas, with its "royal convent," had been used before to imprison "inconvenient" queens, including Maria of Portugal, queen of Castile; Leonor Teles, queen of Portugal; and Blanche of Bourbon, queen of Castile.

Whether she was mad or not, Juana remained la Loca. For nearly fifty years, from 1507 until her death in 1555, Queen Juana of Castile was confined--as prisoner, as recluse, or as madwoman--in the fortress of Tordesillas.

On a happier note, Juana's daughters (unlike her son, they did not imprison her) included Eleanor of Austria, married first to King Manuel of Portugal and then, as part of the "Ladies' Peace," to the French king, Francis I; Isabel of Austria, queen and regent of Denmark; Mary of Austria, queen of Hungary and regent of the Netherlands; and Catherine of Spain, queen and regent of Portugal. 

If you are interested in reading a careful and thoughtful biography, I recommend Bethany Aram's Juana the Mad: Sovereignty & Dynasty in Renaissance Europe. You may also like a dual biography by Julia Fox, Sister Queens: The Noble, Tragic Lives of Katherine of Aragon and Juana, Queen of Castile.

On the education of the Spanish princesses, I have quoted from Giles Tremlett's Catherine of Aragon: The Spanish Queen of Henry VIII.

The British Library owns a beautiful Book of Hours created for and owned by Juana of Castile--you can view the entire manuscript, which has been digitized, by clicking here.**

There are quite a few historical novels about Juana--please skip them.

*Portions of this post have been adapted from The Monstrous Regiment of Women: Female Rulers in Early Modern Europe (Palgrave Macmillan).

**As a result of a cyberattack, much of the British Library online collection is unavailable, supposedly temporarily. I've kept this link here, just in case . . . 

Margaret of Parma, Governor of the Netherlands

Margaret of Parma, regent of the Netherlands (13 September 1598)

First, a bit about why I'm posting about Margaret of Parma today. 

On 13 September 1598, Margaret of Parma's half-brother, Philip II of Spain, died--and in the interests of working in as many of my favorite historical figures as possible, I'm writing about Margaret of Parma today.

Margaret of Parma,
regent of the Netherlands, c. 1570

The link isn't entirely haphazard, however, since--like so many Habsburg sisters, daughters, and aunts, including Philip II's daughter Isabel Clara Eugenia, about whom I posted yesterday--Margaret of Parma was a useful tool in the administration of the vast territories of the Holy Roman Empire.

After the resignation of Mary of Austria as governor of the Netherlands (1530-55), Philip II appointed Margaret of Parma to replace her when he returned to Spain in 1559.*

Margaret was the illegitimate daughter of Charles V, born on 28 December 1522 to Charles's mistress, Johanna Maria van der Gheynst, a servant. The emperor recognized Margaret, then known as Margaret of Austria, as his daughter, and her upbringing, at least in her earliest years, was supervised by her great aunt, Margaret of Austria, regent of the Netherlands for Charles V (1507-30)--a woman we have encountered many times in this blog--and her aunt Mary of Austria

In 1527, when she was five years old, she was betrothed to Alessandro de' Medici, duke of Florence, and after the negotiations were finished and the contracts signed in 1529, she was sent to Italy; the two were married in 1536, but Alessandro was assassinated the next year, leaving Margaret a widow. 

The fifteen-year-old Margaret was married  for a second time, on 4 November 1538, to Ottavio Farnese, duke of Parma, and she is traditionally known as Margaret of Parma. (Otherwise there are just too many confusing "Margaret of Austria" references!!) 

The marriage was not a happy one, at least in part because Margaret herself would have preferred to marry another member of the Medici family. She gave birth to twin sons on 27 August 1545, Charles and Alexander, but only one survived. 

At the time she assumed the regency of the Netherlands for her half-brother, she was thirty-seven years old, and, as Henry Kamen, Philip II's biographer, describes her, she was "thoroughly Italianised," and "almost masculine" in appearance: "She walked like a man and her enemies made unkind remarks about the thick growth of hair on her upper lip."

More important than her physical appearance, however, she had been born in the Netherlands and proved a successful regent: "Duchess Margaret of Parma was . . . an excellent choice to govern the provinces which traditionally had thrived under princesses of the ruling house." 

Margaret left Italy to serve her half-brother in that capacity until 1567, during an extraordinary period of political and religious turmoil. Upon her retirement, she returned to Italy, where she became the governor of Abruzzo. When her son, Alessandro Farnese, was appointed in 1579 to serve as Philip's representative in the Netherlands, Margaret of Parma once more returned to her political role, in aid of her son. She functioned as head of civil administration while he assumed command of the military. 

In 1583 Philip II once more granted her permission to retire. She once again returned to Italy and died in Abruzzo, in the city of Ortona, in 1586. 

*This post has been adapted from The Monstrous Regiment of Women: Female Rulers in Early Modern Europe (Palgrave Macmillan).

Mary of Austria: "The Heart To Do Anything"

Mary of Austria, queen and of Hungary and Bohemia, regent of Hungary, and governor of the Netherlands (crowned queen of Hungary and Bohemia, 22 July 1515)

Born in 1505, Mary of Austria was the third daughter born to Juana of Castile and Philip of Austria--and thus a niece of the formidable Margaret of Austria, whom we have met before, on multiple occasions. Mary would find in her aunt a role model, but she would also experience the very real personal costs of following the model her aunt had set.*

Mary of Austria, c. 1519

When she was just six months old, on 17 March 1506, the infant Mary's grandfather, the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian concluded an agreement for her marriage to an as-yet unborn heir to the throne of Hungary and Bohemia. In September, after the death of Philip of Austria, Mary and her siblings (including Isabel of Austria) were transferred to the care of her aunt. 

The marriage alliance was confirmed in 1507 after the birth of Louis of Hungary, and in 1514, when she was eight years old, Mary left Margaret of Austria's court at Mechelen and traveled to Maximilian's court in Vienna in preparation for the conclusion of his proposed alliance. 

To that end, in the summer of 1515, Mary of Austria was betrothed to Louis. Maximilian, who had proposed a double alliance, originally planned that one of his grandsons (that is, one of Mary of Austria's siblings)--either Charles or Ferdinand--would marry Louis' sister, Anne of Bohemia, but instead he decided to marry the twelve-year-old princess himself. 

After the formal betrothal ceremonies, the two "little queens" remained together in Vienna. In 1516 Maximilian changed his mind about Anne and secured a papal dispensation that would allow his grandson Ferdinand to marry her instead. On 24 July 1516 the fourteen-year-old Anne knelt next to Maximilian, renounced her title as "empress," and was married by proxy to Maximilan's grandson. Following this ceremony, the "little queens," now sisters-in-law, were sent to Innsbruck.

Mary of Austria's marriage to Louis of Hungary and Bohemia was celebrated on 11 December 1520, and the following May, not yet sixteen years old, she left for Hungary along with her sister-in-law Anne. By 1524, the strong wife of a weak man, the new queen had negotiated considerable influence and authority for herself, and by 1525, in a "spectacular coup," she gained even more when she assumed control of one powerful political faction and put down the threat, for the moment, of another. A friend wrote to the humanist scholar Erasmus expressing the hope and regret of many: "If she could only be changed into a king, our affairs would be in better shape." 

 The Venetian ambassador at the Hungary court recorded a description of Mary: 

The most serene queen is about twenty-two years old, of diminutive stature, long and narrow face, rather comely, very spare, with a slight color, black eyes, her under lip rather thick, lively, never quiet either at home or abroad. Rides admirably, and manages a horse with as much address as the best horseman. She is a good shot with the crossbow, is intellectual, and has the heart to do anything.

But her active and intellectual nature seemed to endanger her "natural" role as a woman, however: "It is generally supposed that by reason of her natural volatility and from too much exercise and motion she will have no posterity." And despite a "heart" which promised she could "do anything," Mary could not unite the country, and when the Turks invaded, Louis of Hungary was killed. 

Mary of Austria, queen of Hungary
and Bohemia, 1520

On 30 August 1526, the day after her husband's death, Mary wrote to her brother Ferdinand, notifying him of the Hungarian defeat and sending him a warning: "I fear the Turk will not stop at my lord brother's borders." Shortly thereafter, an urgent message was sent to the archduke, asking that he come immediately to Hungary's aid--until he could arrive, troops were sought to support Mary "so that the kingdom does not fall away from us entirely and Your Serene Highness can the better come into Hungary with her help."

But Ferdinand was concerned with what was going on in Bohemia, where he had been elected king, and instead of coming himself he named Mary as his regent of Hungary. Throughout 1526 she worked to secure her brother Ferdinand's election to the crown of Hungary.

On 14 February 1527 she asked him to allow her to resign from her regency, but he preferred her to remain. She continued until the summer of 1527 when Ferdinand finally arrived in Hungary. On 29 October he was crowned king. 

Relieved of the responsibility of her position, what followed were years "of aimless wandering, of financial worries, ill health, and loneliness." In 1528 she rejected her aunt's proposal for a marriage to James V of Scotland, writing to the regent and to her brother Ferdinand that, having loved her husband, she did not wish another marriage; in 1530 she rejected another proposed husband, Frederick of Bavaria. 

In 1528 she also rejected Ferdinand's request that she resume her regency in Hungary: "such affairs need a person wiser and older than I am," she wrote. Drawn into Ferdinand's affairs in 1529, she still demurred, noting that she did not wish to act "like those women who interfere in many things which are not demanded of them."

But in 1530, after her aunt Margaret of Austria's death, Mary received yet another letter from her brother: "I advise you that it has pleased God to take to himself madam, our aunt, the first day of this month, God rest her soul." He concluded on a rather ominous note of warning: "And I think this might perchance cause your affairs to take a different course." 

Ferdinand's letter was quickly followed by a letter dated 3 January 1531 from her brother Charles, now the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V; the emperor requested that she assume the regency of the Netherlands. As her biographer Jane de Iongh states Mary's dilemma, on the one hand she could remain a queen "without a country, without a crown, without money," but with some measure of independence. On the other she could assume the regency of the Netherlands which offered action, responsibilities, and power--but no independence. 

In her response of 29 January, Mary agreed to take over the regency for Charles. In October she was invested with the power to uphold the law, to receive petitions, to supervise legislation and finances, to command the army, and to head the various governors of the provinces: "In short, she received the right to perform everything that could serve to maintain the sovereign's authority and the welfare of the country."

She was also to help the emperor in arranging the marriages of her nieces, for Charles, like his Habsburg grandfather, decided to follow the course of "happy Austria" in using marriage to effect in arranging political alliances. His sister Isabel's two daughters, Dorotea and Christina, had been at Margaret of Austria's court when the old regent died, and Mary, in turn, became their guardian. In 1532 an envoy from the duke of Milan arrived to arrange a marriage with Dorotea, but Charles tried again to form an alliance with James V of Scotland. Since his sister Mary had refused the king, Charles hoped James could be persuaded to accept his niece instead, but the king refused, preferring an alliance with France. 

The duke of Milan, meanwhile, changed his mind about Dorotea and proposed a marriage with the younger Christina, then eleven years old. Charles agreed not only to a marriage by proxy but to an immediate consummation once Christina could travel to Milan. At this, Mary of Austria responded, for once, as her biographer notes, abandoning "the humble attitude of modest pupil" which she had adopted with her brother and speaking with "a conviction and a confidence in her own judgment that cannot have escaped Charles despite the careful terms in which her letter was couched": 

I reply to Your Majesty . . . only to unburden my conscience . . . and to warn you of the difficulties I think I discern. . . . I am of the opinion that it contravenes the law of God and all reason to have her marry so young, before she is twelve years old. . . . I hold it not only contrary to God's command, but I am moreover convinced that you may endanger her life, should she become pregnant before she is altogether a woman. It has often happened that in such cases neither the mother nor the child has survived the birth.

Monseigneur, I am aware that I have said more about this matter, and that I express myself more clumsily, than is desirable. I beg you to forgive me, for my conscience and the love I bear the child compel me to it.

Charles refused to consider his sister's objections to the marriage, but Mary managed to delay. She put off the marriage by proxy first by telling the Milanese envoy that Christina was ill, and then by leaving for "serious affairs" in another part of the Netherlands. The ceremony was finally celebrated on 28 September 1532, but Mary postponed the girl's departure. In early 1533, after Christina's twelfth birthday, the regent could delay no longer, and she was forced to send her niece to Milan on 11 March. The regent immediately fell ill and requested that she be relieved of her position, but Charles refused. 

A more sober Mary of Austria,
minus a jaunty hat!

A little more than a year later, Dorotea was married to Elector Palatine Frederick and left her aunt, but Mary was not to remain alone for long. Within a few months, Christina, a widow at the age of fourteen, returned to her aunt. Henry VIII immediately sought her hand in marriage, but once again Mary objected to the proposed alliance.

This time her delaying tactics were more effective; although her brother urged her to negotiate with the English king, by 1539 Henry had been excommunicated, ending any chance that Christina of Denmark would become Henry VIII's fourth wife.

Until 1555 Mary of Austria served her brother Charles as regent, determined "to centralize the government of the provinces," and she succeeded in achieving among them a greater internal unity and for them some measure of independence from France and the empire. 

Throughout her tenure she also struggled "with the military threats and financial burdens laid on the Netherlands by the European politics of Charles V." In 1535 she and her sister Eleanor, who had been married to Francis I of France, attempted another "ladies' peace" of the sort negotiated by their aunt and Francis's mother, Louise of Savoy, in 1529. To end the on-going war between their brother and Eleanor's husband, they met at Cambrai, but unlike their predecessors, they could find no solutions. 

Like her aunt, Mary of Austria sought peace for the Netherlands, but, in de Iongh's words, as "representative of the Emperor, who paid scarcely any attention to her problems," as "regent versus her subjects, who refused to keep the treasury filled and instead threatened revolt," and as "a woman versus her generals, who did not wish to take notice of her commands," she struggled, forced into war in 1537 against the French and from 1538 to 1540 facing a revolt in Ghent. On 14 October 1540, after he subdued the rebellion, Charles renewed Mary's appointment as his regent. 

In 1543, war with France began again, with further recurrences in 1551, 1552, and 1553. Mary was also forced to mediate between her brothers when Ferdinand objected to Charles's intention to resign as emperor and place the government of the Netherlands in the hands of his son Philip II. When she learned of her brother's intentions, Mary let him know that she, too, would resign her role, sending him a thoughtful analysis of her reasons for her decision and, more generally, of the difficulties faced by women in power: 

I . . . have sufficient experience (beside the fact that the books, Holy Scripture as well as others, are full of it) to know that it is impossible for a woman in peacetime, and even more in time of war, to do her duty as regent towards God, her sovereign, and her own sense of honor. For in peacetime it is unavoidable, in addition to all the meetings and cares of daily affairs which any government brings with it, that whoever guides the government of these provinces must mix with as many people as possible, in order to win the sympathy of both nobility and middle classes. . . . For a woman, especially if she is a widow, it is not feasible to mix thus freely with people. Of necessity I myself have had to do more in this respect than I really wanted. Moreover, a woman is never so much respected and feared as a man, whatever her position.

If one is conducting the government of these countries in time of war, and one cannot in person enter the battle, one is faced with an insoluble problem. One receives all the blows and is blamed for all mistakes made by others, and is reproached if one does not carry out what everyone thinks he can demand. All the complainants can be heard throughout the entire country. But the accused stands alone and cannot answer for herself everywhere at once. And if things then do not go as expected, it is not difficult to make the people believe that the woman who heads the government is to blame for everything, and for this reason she is hated and held in contempt by the people.

But the emperor and his son both urged her to continue as regent despite her determined and well-considered decision. Once more she wrote about her role as a woman in power. "I regard my release . . . as an unalterable fact," she began, continuing: 

My conscience is troubled by carrying on this function without satisfying all its demands. The more experience I have of it, the more I have realized that I am unable to accomplish my task properly

I am of the opinion that whoever acts as regent for a ruler must have more understanding of affairs than the person who governs on his own account and is therefore only responsible to God. If he does whatever lies within his power, he has done his duty. But a regent has to account not only to God, but also to his sovereign and his sovereign's subjects.

And even if I possessed all the aptitudes necessary to govern well, and I am far from doing so, experience has taught me that a woman is not suited to the purpose, neither in peacetime nor in time of war. . . . I have often done more than was fitting for my position and vocation as a woman, out of eagerness to serve you and accomplish my task as well as possible. Your Majesty also knows what insurmountable difficulties we would have met with if you had not been in the country yourself during the last war. Difficulties which I could not have removed, because as a woman I was compelled to leave the conduct of war to others.

Beyond the difficulties and uncertainties, Mary also appealed to her age. She loved her nephew Philip, she wrote, but would hate to start over by trying to serve a new "master"; "it is difficult for someone like me, who has served you till the end, to have to think in my old age of learning my ABC all over again." She continued, "It is suitable that a woman of fifty who has served for at least twenty-four years," should be "content" with having served "one God and one master." She couldn't face the prospect of "a young generation" to whose "ways I cannot and would not wish to accommodate myself."

Continuing, she appealed to her brother for permission "to arrange my life as a private person." Her sister Eleanor, the queen of France, had again been widowed, and Mary wanted to retire with her to Spain, near her brother, where she would be able to "withdraw from all affairs of government"--if she stayed in the Netherlands, she feared she would be once more "drawn into" politics "more than I wish."

She expressed fear about leaving the Low Countries, however; although she was the daughter of Juana of Castile, who had just died at Tordesillas, Mary had never lived in Spain. If her Eleanor were to die, she wrote, "I would be all alone in a country where I know nobody, where the way of life is different from what I am used to, and where I might feel a stranger." Nevertheless, "the advantages are greater than the drawbacks," and in the event that she could not adjust to the country "and its ways," she would still "have the time . . . to be able to go back to the Netherlands."

Charles V finally agreed to his sister's resignation of the post she had held so long. She announced her decision on 24 September 1555, dismissing her household on 1 October. On 25 October, authority was transferred to her nephew Philip. Her departure for Spain finally took place a nearly a year later; with Charles and her sister Eleanor, she sailed from Ghent on 15 September 1556. 

Her happy retirement did not last long. Her sister Eleanor died early in 1558. Mary was "so much affected," wrote one observer, "that it is a heart-rending sight." In her grief she travelled to her brother Charles, apparently to ask his advice about how she should arrange her life after her sister's death. Charles had one answer: he wanted her to return to the Netherlands to resume her role as regent. He promised her a home and a sizable income, but she refused. From the Netherlands, her nephew Philip sent a memorandum to an advisor urging him to convince his aunt to return: "Explain to her how great the necessity is. Remind her of the love and devotion she has always shown. . . . Explain to her what a support her presence will mean. . . ." 

And the bottom line: "Finally offer her a large income and great authority and give her hope that there will be peace and that this will last a long time, as the rulers are all exhausted." Her brother added his urging to his son's request and, when he became ill in August, she finally relented. She would assume the regency once more.

But Charles died on 21 September. His death affected Mary profoundly. She died within a few weeks, on 18 October 1555. 

*This post has been adapted from The Monstrous Regiment of Women: Female Rulers in Early Modern Europe (Palgrave Macmillan).