Margaret of Austria: Governor of the Netherlands and Early 16th-Century Europe's Greatest Diplomat

𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗴𝗮𝗿𝗲𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗔𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗮 was the most significant political negotiator of early 16th century Europe. About as Austrian as French fries are French, she was born in Brussels in 1480, raised in France, married and widowed in Spain, then married and widowed again in Savoy by age twenty-four. In 1506 Margaret’s life turned upside down when her brother Philip of Burgundy unexpectedly died in Spain. With their mother Juana of Castile insane, four children, heirs to the Habsburg empire, were left behind in the Burgundian-Habsburg Netherlands. Margaret stepped in and took the reins. Appointed by her father, Maximilian I, Margaret became governor of the Netherlands, then widened her role to broker the 1508 Treaty of Cambrai where Europe’s princes united against Venice. Ferdinand of Spain, Henry Tudor then Henry VIII of England, Louis XII of France, and Louise de Savoy for Francis I all came to the negotiation table that Margaret oversaw. Under her deft diplomacy princes saw reason and wars were averted. Enjoying political power, Margaret avoided remarriage. Then Henry VIII's right hand man Charles Brandon turned her world upside down. Margaret's court attracted Europe's brightest, including the young Anne Boleyn. Yet halfway through her rule Margaret was ousted by enemies. She won back her position with a comeback strategy as astute today as it was in 1517. Journey to the Renaissance with Margaret of Austria, who shot the fortunes of the House of Habsburg to the stars while setting a winning precedent for female rule in the Netherlands.