Margaret of Austria

Timeline

1. 1480–1507Brussels · BrusselsOrphaned young, she was married off by her grandfather Maximilian first to the French dauphin Charles VIII and then to the Spanish prince Ferdinand; twice widowed, she returned to the Netherlands, accumulating courtly and diplomatic experience.
2. 1507–1519Mechelen · MechelenFrom 1507 she served as governor of the Low Countries, holding court at Mechelen, reforming finances and relations with the provincial estates, mediating between cities and nobles, and raising her nephew Charles and other Habsburg heirs.
3. 1519–1530Mechelen · MechelenShe continued as regent after Charles V's accession, arranging diplomatic settlements such as the reconciliation of Charles with England, and her court became a gathering place for humanists and artists; she died at Mechelen in 1530.