60 - The Working Mum

In March, 1507, Margaret of Austria was appointed by her father Maximilian as his procureur-général in the Low Countries, meaning she essentially took the reigns of power in those lands over from him. This marked the beginning of her first period of regency for her nephew, Charles, the 7 year old son of her recently deceased brother Philip the Handsome and Joanna of Castile. On top of this, she was also given the responsibility of looking after Philip and Joanna’s children, the aforementioned Charles, as well as his older sister Eleonor and his younger sisters Isabella and Mary. Upon returning to the Low Countries, Margaret would set up her court in the town of Mechelen, where she would be responsible for guiding these four through the remainder of their childhoods and education. Margaret of Austria faced challenges personally and politically on all fronts, but her first forays into international diplomacy would need to focus on the English King Henry VII. She would rely on all the diplomatic skills she had garnered over her tumultuous life so far to extricate herself from (yet another) a marriage proposal and her lands from the disastrous intercursus malus trade deal. Thanks to our Patreon supporters Vincent Vecchione, Glenn Hoffman and AColdPotato. SHOW NOTES: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.republicofamsterdamradio.com/episodes/historyofthenetherlands/episode-60-the-working-mum PATREON: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/historyofthenetherlands⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ BLUESKY: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://historyofnl.bsky.social/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices