the rulers of Europe could compete. Created for Charlemagne in 800, it carried special responsibility for, and prestige within, the Catholic church; a secular counterpart of the pope’s religious authority. It also, crucially, carried with it not only overlordship of the conglomeration of ecclesiastical and temporal principalities which made up Germany but also an ever-shifting degree of influence in certain other areas, most notably Italy. The Empire was not abolished until the Napoleonic era.
4
âFate is very cruel to womenâ
Spain, Savoy, France, 1493â1505
Margaret of Austria and Louise of Savoy were now young women, looking to find their place in the world. But Margaretâs future was not yet clear. In June 1493, at Cambrai (the scene of several important later encounters) she again met her godmother and step-grandmother Margaret of York, for whom she had been named. The next few years were to be spent in the older Margaretâs company. But another marriage was always going to be on the board.
In 1493, Margaretâs father Maximilian succeeded his father as Holy Roman Emperor. Margaret, like her brother Philip, was to be used to cement his great project: an anti-French alliance. Philip was to marry Juana, daughter of the rulers of Spain, Ferdinand and Isabella; Margaret was to marry Juan, their heir. * The grand scheme comprised plans for the youngest daughter of the Spanish monarchs, Katherine of Aragon, to marry the heir to the English throne, thus cementing another useful alliance.
On 5 November 1495, at Malines, Margaret of Austria underwent a proxy marriage with her Spanish prince. The discussions over whether she should set sail for Spain before Juana arrived in Flanders resemble, in a modern scenario, nothing so much as the exchange of hostages. Nonetheless, in late January 1497 she was under way. The weather was so bad her ship had to take refuge on the English coast, in Southampton, to the delight of the English king Henry VII, who sent letters urging her to lodge in the town long enough for him to visit and for her to avoid the âmovement and roaring of the seaâ. She might have wished she had, for in the Bay of Biscay her ship ran into storms so severe that Margaret composed a rueful epitaph:
Here lies Margot, the willing bride,
Twice married â but a virgin when she died
(Cy-gist Margot la gentilâ damoiselle
Quâha deux marys et encor est pucelle)
Safely landed in Spain, Margaret met her new mother-in-law, Isabella of Castile. It was a chance to witness a woman exerting regal force in the most direct way. Margaret met a woman who, as she advanced in years, was most at ease in the rough habit of a Franciscan monk but who, in public, could appear decked in rubies the size of pigeonsâ eggs. Isabella commissioned a female professor of Latin to remedy the defects in her education but nonetheless, educated her daughters as consorts, not as rulers.
Five years earlier, in 1492, a single triumphant year had seen Isabella of Castile riding into the palace of the Alhambra, victorious at last over the Moors who had long occupied southern Spain, her expulsion of the Jews and the discovery of the New World by her protégé Christopher Columbus. But even more significant, perhaps, would be Isabellaâs work in supporting â but also, crucially, in reforming â the Catholic church in Spain.
In 1478 Isabella had applied to the pope for permission to launch the Inquisition in Spain. Her and Ferdinandâs officers acted so harshly that the pope felt impelled to intervene; they were replaced, ironically, with the now-infamous Tomás de Torquemada, who soon established not only an authoritarian spiritual rule but an efficient network of tribunals across all the territories of the Catholic kings. This impetus fuelled action against Moor and Jew. Isabellaâs Castile had been frontline territory, with Islam on its very boundaries. But her efforts
4
âFate is very cruel to womenâ
Spain, Savoy, France, 1493â1505
Margaret of Austria and Louise of Savoy were now young women, looking to find their place in the world. But Margaretâs future was not yet clear. In June 1493, at Cambrai (the scene of several important later encounters) she again met her godmother and step-grandmother Margaret of York, for whom she had been named. The next few years were to be spent in the older Margaretâs company. But another marriage was always going to be on the board.
In 1493, Margaretâs father Maximilian succeeded his father as Holy Roman Emperor. Margaret, like her brother Philip, was to be used to cement his great project: an anti-French alliance. Philip was to marry Juana, daughter of the rulers of Spain, Ferdinand and Isabella; Margaret was to marry Juan, their heir. * The grand scheme comprised plans for the youngest daughter of the Spanish monarchs, Katherine of Aragon, to marry the heir to the English throne, thus cementing another useful alliance.
On 5 November 1495, at Malines, Margaret of Austria underwent a proxy marriage with her Spanish prince. The discussions over whether she should set sail for Spain before Juana arrived in Flanders resemble, in a modern scenario, nothing so much as the exchange of hostages. Nonetheless, in late January 1497 she was under way. The weather was so bad her ship had to take refuge on the English coast, in Southampton, to the delight of the English king Henry VII, who sent letters urging her to lodge in the town long enough for him to visit and for her to avoid the âmovement and roaring of the seaâ. She might have wished she had, for in the Bay of Biscay her ship ran into storms so severe that Margaret composed a rueful epitaph:
Here lies Margot, the willing bride,
Twice married â but a virgin when she died
(Cy-gist Margot la gentilâ damoiselle
Quâha deux marys et encor est pucelle)
Safely landed in Spain, Margaret met her new mother-in-law, Isabella of Castile. It was a chance to witness a woman exerting regal force in the most direct way. Margaret met a woman who, as she advanced in years, was most at ease in the rough habit of a Franciscan monk but who, in public, could appear decked in rubies the size of pigeonsâ eggs. Isabella commissioned a female professor of Latin to remedy the defects in her education but nonetheless, educated her daughters as consorts, not as rulers.
Five years earlier, in 1492, a single triumphant year had seen Isabella of Castile riding into the palace of the Alhambra, victorious at last over the Moors who had long occupied southern Spain, her expulsion of the Jews and the discovery of the New World by her protégé Christopher Columbus. But even more significant, perhaps, would be Isabellaâs work in supporting â but also, crucially, in reforming â the Catholic church in Spain.
In 1478 Isabella had applied to the pope for permission to launch the Inquisition in Spain. Her and Ferdinandâs officers acted so harshly that the pope felt impelled to intervene; they were replaced, ironically, with the now-infamous Tomás de Torquemada, who soon established not only an authoritarian spiritual rule but an efficient network of tribunals across all the territories of the Catholic kings. This impetus fuelled action against Moor and Jew. Isabellaâs Castile had been frontline territory, with Islam on its very boundaries. But her efforts
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