[MR] Wikipedia: Hours of Mary of Burgundy

[Garth Groff and Sally Sanford]

Noble Friends,

Today's featured article on Wikipedia is "Hours of Mary of Burgundy".
"Hours" were popular devotional literature with prayers and meditations for
various Catholic observations throughout the day. Because these were
hand-written and illuminated, they were very expensive books indeed, and
most were one-offs prepared for the rich and famous.

Mary's "Hours" is among the most lavish to survive, and contains miniatures
by some of the finest artists of the Flemish/Burgundian school. It is
thought that it began as a mourning piece in remembrance of Charles the
Bold, Duke of Burgundy (killed 5 January 1477 at the Battle of Nancy).
Charles was Mary's father, and she his sole heir. The work shifts to a more
upbeat appearance, which might indicate it was recast to celebrate Mary's
marriage to Maximilan I, the future Holy Roman Emperor:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hours_of_Mary_of_Burgundy .

During the 15th century, Burgundy rose from being a duchy within France, to
a European super-power, largely thanks to personal control of Flanders by
its successive Dukes. Burgundy reached its peak of influence under Philip
the Good (reigned 1419-1467). Flanders was where the money was, thanks to
its control over the wool trade, which made Philip one of the richest men
in the world. Philip also had personal control of large parts of France
besides the Duchy of Burgundy, and significant holdings within the Holy
Roman Empire. He toyed with the idea of making Burgundy an independent
Kingdom. His son, Charles the Bold, was a conquer monkey, and instead of
consolidating his power, attempted to expand his holdings through war. His
nose was badly bloodied in wars against Switzerland and Lorraine (the
latter, sitting between two Burgundian territories, was both a strategic
problem and a personal irritation to Charles). This map shows Charles'
holdings at the time of his death:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duchy_of_Burgundy#/media/File:Karte_Haus_Burgund_4_EN.png
.

Mary's holdings were vastly reduced after her father's death. Louis XI
sucked up all of her French lands as soon as he learned of Charles' death. Mary
was still the wealthiest woman in Europe, and was often known as "Mary the
Rich". Despite being betrothed to the Habsburg prince Maximilian I, Mary
was sought after by rulers across Europe. Her brief marriage to Maximilian
brought some stability to Europe, but set the stage for later trouble in
the Low Countries, with a long struggle pitting Catholic Habsburg Spain
against the emerging Protestant Holland backed by England.

You can read more about Mary of Burgundy and her sad fate at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_of_Burgundy .

Yours Aye,

Mungo Napier, Laird of Mallard Lodge  🦆