Kinlight · The House of Habsburg

Mary of Hungary

1505 – 1558 · Generation IX · Governor of the Habsburg Netherlands (r. 1531–1555) · The marriage empire · Spanish Habsburgs

Portrait of Mary of Hungary

Mary (1505 – 1558). Governor of the Habsburg Netherlands (r. 1531–1555). Married Louis in 1515. The other half of the 1515 Vienna double marriage, wed to Louis II of Hungary; widowed at Mohács, then Regent of the Netherlands. After Mohács she governed Hungary as regent and worked to secure her brother Ferdinand's election as its king, refusing every suggestion of remarriage and wearing to the end the heart-shaped medallion Louis had carried into his last battle. Summoned by Charles V to run the Netherlands after their aunt Margaret's death, she proved a natural administrator with a taste for the practical business of government and even military affairs. Her tenure brought riots, friction with the Emperor, and constant efforts to keep peace between him and France; though she disliked governing and repeatedly asked leave to resign, she forged a real unity among the provinces and won them a measure of independence. Frail after her final resignation, she retired to Castile and died there.

One of 9 people of The marriage empire (1440–1578) in this archive. The generations in which Habsburg marriages gathered Burgundy, Spain and Bohemia-Hungary into a single inheritance.

One of 7 people of Spanish Habsburgs (1500–1700) in this archive. The Madrid line, from the division of Charles V’s inheritance to the childless Charles II.

Line of descent: Rudolf I of Germany → Albert I of Germany → Albert II, Duke of Austria → Leopold III, Duke of Austria → Ernest, Duke of Austria → Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor → Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor → Philip I of Castile → Mary of Hungary.

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Life

  • 1505 — Born
  • 1515 — Married Louis
  • 1558 — Died

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