[MR] Wikipedia: Death of Mary of Burgundy

[Garth Groff and Sally Sanford]

Noble Friends,

On this date in 1482, Mary of Burgundy (aka "Mary the Rich") died from
injuries suffered in a riding accident some weeks earlier. Mary's back was
broken when crushed under her falling horse during a hunt.

Mary was the only surviving child of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy who
was killed at the Siege of Nancy in 1477. As such, Mary became the reigning
Duchess of Burgundy.

Or rather what was left of Burgundy. Upon learning of Charle's death, his
arch enemy, French King Louis XI ("the Universal Spider"), seized all
Burgundian territory within the French borders as well as Franche-Comté
(the former Free County of Burgundy). Mary was left with Burgundian
territories in what are now Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg.

Despite her reduced lands, Mary was still one of the richest women in
Europe, so she naturally had many suitors. She chose to wed the Habsburg
prince Maximilan, Archduke of Austria (later Maximilian I, Holy Roman
Emperor). Before his death, Charles the Bold had been negotiating for this
match. Mary retained sovereignty over her late father's lands after the
marriage.

Upon Mary's death, her territories passed to Philip the Handsome, her son
by Maximilian (his by-name "the Handsome" is something of a misnomer, if
the accuracy of his portrait is to be believed). Thus the Low
Countries became part of the Hapsburg empire and eventually property of the
family's Spanish branch. This led to years of warfare, as the
increasingly-Protestant Dutch struggled for independence and religious
freedom.

More about Mary of Burgundy is found at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_of_Burgundy .