General Notes

Mary, b. Feb. 13, 1457, d. Mar. 27, 1482, was duchess of Burgundy and wife of
the Austrian archduke Maximilian (later Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor).
After the death of her father, Charles the Bold, in January 1477, Mary was
threatened by Louis XI of France's seizure of Burgundy and Picardy and his
imminent invasion of the Low Countries and the rest of her inheritance. In the
same year she concluded her previously arranged marriage to the Habsburg heir,
Maximilian, who helped her defeat Louis in 1479. The marriage ultimately gave
the Habsburgs control of the Burgundian territories, including the
Netherlands.