Niklas Reiser: Portrait of Mary of Burgundy (1500)

(Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria)

A painting by the Austrian artist Niklas Reiser (active 1498-1512). Mary of Burgundy (1457-1482) was the only child of duke of Charles the Bold of Burgundy and his wife Isabella of Bourbon. The warlike and centralist policies of her father had made a lot of enemies (external and internal) and when he suddenly was killed at the battle of Nancy on 5 January 1477, Mary became the duchess of Burgundy at the age of 20 - plunging the duchy into chaos. King Louis XI of France (1423-1483), long time enemy of Burgundy, promptly invaded the duchy and seized various territories. Other Burgundian territories declared their independence and various cities demanded a review of regulations which had been imposed by Charles the Bold. In order to save the duchy from total collapse she signed a treaty in 1477, "The Great Privilege" with the States General of the Netherlands under which the provinces and towns of Flanders, Brabant, Hainaut, and Holland recovered all the local and communal rights which had been abolished by the decrees of the preceding dukes of Burgundy. Mary of Burgundy felt she was forced to sign this treaty and when her political position was strengthened she ignored many aspects of the treaty. The treaty was eventually abolished in 1482 by her husband holy roman emperor Maximilian I. The Great Privilege would play an important role a century later during the Dutch war of independence (1568-1648). As Mary wasn't married, she attracted a lot a suitors (her nickname was Mary the Rich, a reference to the great prosperity of many of her territories). She made her choice in 1477 by selecting Archduke Maximilian of Austria, the future Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I, who became her co-ruler. This marriage started centuries of contention between France and the Habsburgs (France regarded all Burgundian lands as a part of France and claimed that as the male Burgundian dukes had died out, these Burgundian lands would fall back to the kings of France (the Salic law). The marriage itself wouldn't last long as Mary died after falling from a horse on 27 March 1482. Her husband Maximilian loved Mary and had various portraits such as this one made in her honour after her death. Portraits from 1500.