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Mary (French: Marie; Dutch: Maria), Duchess of Burgundy, reigned over many of the territories of the Duchy of Burgundy, now mainly in France and the Low Countries, from 1477 until her death. As the only child of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, and his wife Isabella of Bourbon, she inherited the duchy upon the death of her father in the Battle of Nancy on 5 January 1477. Owing to the great prosperity of many of the territories that comprised the duchy, Mary was often referred to as Mary the Rich (though this is not usual in English).
Mary made her choice among the many suitors for her hand by selecting Archduke Maximilian of Austria, the future Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I, who became her co-ruler. The marriage took place at Ghent on the evening of 16 August 1477. Mary's marriage into the House of Habsburg initiated two centuries of contention between France and the Habsburgs (later of Kings of Spain as well as Holy Roman Emperors), a struggle that climaxed with the War of the Spanish Succession in the years 1701-1714.
After her death, Mary's son Philip succeeded to her dominions under the guardianship of his father. |
