Chapter 9 / 11 · 1477

The inheritance changes dynasty

Burgundy: the kingdom that never was

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Mary of Burgundy marries Maximilian of Habsburg. Their marriage preserves much of the Burgundian Netherlands and turns a succession crisis into the starting point of the great rivalry between France and the Habsburgs.

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Mary of Burgundy

Only daughter and heir of Charles the Bold. After her father’s death in 1477, she defended a disputed inheritance. Her marriage to Maximilian of Habsburg linked much of the Burgundian Netherlands to the Habsburg dynasty.

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Maximilian I

Habsburg ruler whose marriage to Mary of Burgundy brought a major Burgundian inheritance into his family’s political network. His descendants connected that inheritance with the Iberian crowns and the wider monarchy of Charles V.

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