Mary | |
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Portrait, accredited to Michael Pacher, c. 1490
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Duchess of Brabant, Limburg, Lothier, Luxemburg and Guelders; Margravine of Namur; Countess Palatine of Burgundy; Countess of Artois, Flanders, Charolais, Hainaut, Holland, Zeeland and Zutphen |
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Reign | 5 January 1477–27 March 1482 |
Predecessor | Charles the Bold |
Successor | Philip the Handsome |
Born | 13 February 1457 Brussels, Brabant, Burgundian Netherlands |
Died | 27 March 1482 Wijnendale Castle, Flanders, Burgundian Netherlands |
(aged 25)
Burial | Bruges, Flanders |
Spouse | Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor |
Issue |
Philip I of Castile Margaret, Duchess of Savoy |
House | Valois-Burgundy |
Father | Charles the Bold |
Mother | Isabella of Bourbon |
Religion | Roman Catholicism |
Mary (French: Marie de Bourgogne; Dutch: Maria van Bourgondië; Luxembourgish: Marie vun der Bourgogne) (13 February 1457 – 27 March 1482), 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. Due 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 of Burgundy was born in Brussels at the ducal castle of Coudenberg, to Charles the Bold, then known as the Count of Charolais, and his wife Isabella of Bourbon. Her birth, according to the court chronicler Georges Chastellain, was attended by a clap of thunder ringing from the otherwise clear twilight sky. Her godfather was Louis, Dauphin of France, in exile in Burgundy at that time; he named her for his mother Marie of Anjou. Reactions to the child were mixed: the baby's grandfather, Duke Philip the Good, was unimpressed, and "chose not to attend the [baptism] as it was only for a girl", whereas her grandmother Isabella of Portugal was delighted at the birth of a granddaughter. She was assigned Anne of Burgundy as her governess.