The First Governess of the Netherlands, Margaret of Austria

Name: The First Governess of the Netherlands, Margaret of Austria
Author: Tremayne, Eleanor E.

Tremayne, Eleanor E.

Margaret, of Austria, Regent of the Netherlands, 1480-1530; Netherlands -- History -- Charles V, 1506-1555

But Margaret did not live long enough to carry out this interesting
negotiation which would have worthily crowned her political career. As
it was, the Peace of Cambray was her last great diplomatic triumph,
but she lived just long enough to see her nephew Charles attain the
zenith of his power, and receive the double crowns of Lombardy and the
empire from the hands of the Pope, an honour for which her father,
Maximilian, had sighed in vain.




CHAPTER XIV

THE MISSION ENDED


Before Charles left Spain for Italy he had concluded a separate treaty
with the Pope at Barcelona, the terms of which were more advantageous
to the Holy See than Clement VII. could have expected, considering the
emperor's recent successes. But Charles was anxious to atone for the
insults and outrages committed during the siege of Rome, and if
possible win the Pope as an ally, and get him to oppose his aunt
Katharine's divorce. Amongst other articles he promised to restore all
property belonging to the ecclesiastical state, reestablish the Medici
in Florence, and marry his natural daughter, Margaret, to the head of
that powerful house; allow the Pope to decide the fate of the Sforza
and the possession of the Milanese. In return Clement was to grant the
emperor the investiture of Naples, absolve all who had been implicated
in the plundering of Rome, and allow Charles and his brother to levy a
fourth of the ecclesiastical revenues throughout their dominions.

On October the 2nd, 1529, Margaret wrote a long letter to the emperor
from Brussels, in which she plainly expressed her opinion of the
Treaty of Barcelona and its probable results:--'I do not pretend to
say,' she says, 'that the alliance with the Pope is not a good and
desirable thing; but your Majesty must bear in mind the character of
his Holiness, his inconstant humour and fickle disposition; and that
he must be greatly changed in temper and general condition if he does
not try now, as he did last time, to expel you from Italy after he has
got all he wants from you.... Respecting Milan, my opinion is that,
considering the expense hitherto incurred, your Majesty ought by all
means to endeavour to remain master of it by investing your son with
it, and treating with Massimiliano Sforza.... The king, your brother,
in the meanwhile, must be fully provided with the means of defence,
and money procured for him to carry on a good enterprise against the
Turk....

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

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

But Margaret did not live long enough to carry out this interesting
negotiation which would have worthily crowned her political career. As
it was, the Peace of Cambray was her last great diplomatic triumph,
but she lived just long enough to see her nephew Charles attain the
zenith of his power, and receive the double crowns of Lombardy and the
empire from the hands of the Pope, an honour for which her father,
Maximilian, had sighed in vain.




CHAPTER XIV

THE MISSION ENDED


Before Charles left Spain for Italy he had concluded a separate treaty
with the Pope at Barcelona, the terms of which were more advantageous
to the Holy See than Clement VII. could have expected, considering the
emperor's recent successes. But Charles was anxious to atone for the
insults and outrages committed during the siege of Rome, and if
possible win the Pope as an ally, and get him to oppose his aunt
Katharine's divorce. Amongst other articles he promised to restore all
property belonging to the ecclesiastical state, reestablish the Medici
in Florence, and marry his natural daughter, Margaret, to the head of
that powerful house; allow the Pope to decide the fate of the Sforza
and the possession of the Milanese. In return Clement was to grant the
emperor the investiture of Naples, absolve all who had been implicated
in the plundering of Rome, and allow Charles and his brother to levy a
fourth of the ecclesiastical revenues throughout their dominions.

On October the 2nd, 1529, Margaret wrote a long letter to the emperor
from Brussels, in which she plainly expressed her opinion of the
Treaty of Barcelona and its probable results:--'I do not pretend to
say,' she says, 'that the alliance with the Pope is not a good and
desirable thing; but your Majesty must bear in mind the character of
his Holiness, his inconstant humour and fickle disposition; and that
he must be greatly changed in temper and general condition if he does
not try now, as he did last time, to expel you from Italy after he has
got all he wants from you.... Respecting Milan, my opinion is that,
considering the expense hitherto incurred, your Majesty ought by all
means to endeavour to remain master of it by investing your son with
it, and treating with Massimiliano Sforza.... The king, your brother,
in the meanwhile, must be fully provided with the means of defence,
and money procured for him to carry on a good enterprise against the
Turk....

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

The First Governess of the Netherlands, Margaret of Austria

The First Governess of the Netherlands, Margaret of Austria

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