The First Governess of the Netherlands, Margaret of AustriaTremayne, Eleanor E.
History
The First Governess of the Netherlands, Margaret of Austria
Tremayne, Eleanor E.
Margaret, of Austria, Regent of the Netherlands, 1480-1530; Netherlands -- History -- Charles V, 1506-1555
The next day Margaret writes to say that Charles danced too much at
his sister's wedding, and made himself ill. 'Monseigneur,' she says,
'showed himself such a good brother, and carried out everything, even
to the dances in which he accompanied the said lady, his sister, to
perfection... and a little more perhaps than his constitution could
bear, for the day after the said espousals he was attacked by
fever....' A fortnight later Margaret writes thankfully to tell her
father that Charles is convalescent.
As the Princess Isabel was barely thirteen, it was arranged that owing
to her youth she should remain at home for another year. When the
marriage at last took place it was not a happy one, the king being a
notorious libertine, who was later known as 'the Nero of the North,'
and after a few years of misery the poor little princess died, leaving
her children to Margaret's care.
Isabel's younger sister, Mary, was sent this year on a visit to the
Court of Hungary, possibly with a view to her future marriage.
Margaret mentions her journey in several letters. In April she wrote
from Malines: 'Touching the departure of Madame Mary, all is ready;
and she will start from here without fail on the 2nd of May... and
will go by Grave as you advised.'
On the 5th of May Florent of Egmond writes to Margaret from
Maestricht: 'Madame, Madame Mary arrived here this evening in very
good disposition, without having met any danger on the road to her
person or otherwise; to-morrow we pass from here to Aix-la-Chapelle.'
The princess accomplished her journey safely, but her marriage to
Louis of Hungary did not take place until seven years later.
In 1507 Henry VIII.'s sister, Princess Mary, had been betrothed to
Prince Charles of Austria, and the marriage contract signed at Calais
between her father, Henry VII.'s, and Maximilian's ambassadors. It had
been arranged that the betrothal should take place in London before
the following Easter; but the King of England's illness and the
emperor's engagements had delayed the ceremony until the 17th of
December 1508. It was agreed to wait for the completion of the
marriage until Charles had attained his fourteenth year in February
1514.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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