In the following January, Margaret of Austria left for Spain, accompanied by her old nurse Le Veau de Bouzanton, as she had done when she left to become the Dauphine of France. Within the year her bridegroom was dead and she returned home in April 1499. Two years later, in 1501, the twenty-four year old Margaret set off for her third marriage, to Philibert of Savoy. This was to be marginally more successful than her earlier betrothals since it at least lasted for three years before he too died.
During the two periods while Margaret of Austria was in the Low Countries, between 1493 and 1497 and again between 1499 and 1501, she passed much of her time in the company of the Dowager. The two women were seen together at state occasions and on each of her departures Margaret of Austria was seen off by the Dowager. In 1501, the Dowager accompanied her granddaughter to Halle where they made a pilgrimage to the shrine of the Virgin. They then went on to Mons, where Philip came to bid his sister farewell.22 When Margaret of Austria finally returned from Savoy, the Dowager was dead.
Margaret of Austria inherited much from her step-grandmother, acquiring both her personal treasures and her public servants. Guy de Baume, from the same family as the Dowager’s chevalier d’honour, became the chevalier of the young Margaret. But the young woman seems to have inherited much more than material goods and servants from her namesake. After the death of her brother Philip, Margaret of Austria became a most successful governess of the Low Countries. Her court at Malines was modelled on the Dowager’s example and her pragmatic and patient approach won her great popularity. Perhaps it was also her respect for the Dowager which made her so resolute in her refusals when Henry VII put himself forward as a candidate for her hand.23 It is through Margaret of Austria that an interesting link exists between Margaret of York and her most illustrious great-grand-niece, Queen Elizabeth I. Before her presentation to Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn passed two years at Malines learning courtly manners under the eye of Margaret of Austria.24 While she was there she would have been surrounded by all the books, pictures and tapestries inherited by Margaret of Austria from Margaret of York.
Before the arrival of the new Spanish Archduchess Joanna, the Dowager Margaret moved out of the Malines palace into a suite of rooms on the first floor of the building opposite. This house was divided from the Church of St Peter and St Paul by a narrow street, and the corporation of Malines built a gallery so that she could reach the church directly from her rooms on the first floor.25 This does not mean that Margaret had retired from court life, as she continued to play a large role, especially as the poor Archduchess was perpetually pregnant and ill.
Philip and Joanna’s first child Eleanor was born at Brussels in November 1498 (she would later marry King Francis I of France). Margaret was one of her godmothers and carried the baby to her christening at the Church of St Gudule.26 The godfather was Emperor Maximilian, represented at the christening by Prince Christopher of Baden. In the Emperor’s absence it was Margaret who took the most prominent place in the processions. The hilly walk, from the palace on the Coudenberg to the church on the Treurenberg, must have been too much for the ageing Dowager, especially on a cold November evening. During the torch-lit return, Margaret and the baby were carried in a litter.
Thirteen months later in 1500, a second child was born at Ghent and there was great delight when the new heir was presented to the people. This child was surely named after his great-grandfather, Duke Charles, although Molinet thought he had been named in honour of one of his godfathers, Charles, Count of Chimay. Once more it was Margaret who carried the child to the font, and the crystal cup encrusted with precious stones which she gave was a measure of her pride. Even if Margaret had no children of her own, she never lacked family connections. Apart from her close relations with the ducal family, she was often sought as a godmother by the nobility of the Low Countries and, in the same year as Charles was born, she attended the christening of Philip de Croy. He was baptised by her old friend the Bishop of Cambrai and her present to the child was a fine crystal and gold cross.
Another ceremony in which the Dowager played a leading role was when the infant Charles was presented to the Order of the Golden Fleece. The chapter met in the church of the Carmelites in Brussels in January 1501 and the Dowager was chosen to present the heir to his father the Archduke.27 The church had been splendidly decorated for the occasion with the Troy tapestries being brought from the Coudenberg palace to hang on the walls. Before all the Knights of the Golden Fleece, in their cloaks of crimson cloth of gold and amid all the trappings of chivalry and hierarchy, Margaret bore the child to his father who placed the chain of the order around his son’s neck and promised that Charles would take the oaths when he came of age.
This celebration typified the traditionalist and conservative attitudes with which Margaret should be identified. The Order of the Golden Fleece expressed the chivalric aspirations of the feudal monarchies and duchies which existed, in theory, entirely for the service of God. Yet its very existence mirrored the ambiguities of the fifteenth century. It was the creation of Philip the Good, who had used it to unite his widely spread possessions and to assert his own considerable sovereignty. The Knights were drawn from the greatest noble families of the whole duchy but their number had been severely depleted after the death of Charles by defections to France. It was gradually transformed into a Habsburg institution which would survive even beyond the end of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918. Though the order had a clear political purpose, the Knights were drawn together in a semi-religious and heroic brotherhood, like the Argonauts or the Knights of the Arthurian Round Table. In her attendance at the chapter of 1501, Margaret showed her indivisible devotion to her service to God and to her Sovereign.
There can be no doubt that Margaret was personally, deeply and seriously religious and was an important patron of the Church.28 She lived in an age of religious excess and controversy. Savanorola, one of the most extreme examples of religious dogmatism, was burnt at the stake in Florence in 1498. A few years after Margaret’s death, William Tyndale was burnt at Vilvoorde near Brussels, and Erasmus would seek in vain for the patronage of the Archduke Philip. Stirred by the fierce puritanism of zealots like Savanorola, the unorthodoxy of reformers like Tyndale and the intellectual debate of the neo-classicists like Erasmus, conscientious and pious lay people searched for a way of reconciling new ideas within the framework of the established Church. They sought to reconcile a devout and pious religious life with their secular responsibilities and to do this they adopted various religious systems and regimes.
Margaret, like her mother and many other devout men and women in northern Europe, followed the way known as the devotio moderna. This regime had its origins in the teachings of Gerard de Groot of Flanders.29 It had been popularised by the Brethren of the Common Life and by the canons of the congregation of Windesheim near Zwolle. Two of the greatest theological teachers of the fourteenth century, Jan van Ruysbroeck, a brother at the Abbey of Groenendael near Brussels, and St Thomas à Kempis were sympathetic to the movement. The lay practitioners of the devotio moderna built their lives around a pattern of worship, prayer, study and contemplation. Through private study, they were led towards self-education and their piety involved them in religious reform. Their devotions were encouraged by many of the established religious orders, especially by the Augustinian Canons, the Observant Friars and the Poor Clares.
Margaret’s dedication to the devotio moderna was both personal and public. In her earliest years as Duchess of Burgundy, she made contact with Denis van Rijkel, a Carthusian scholar and teacher, one of the leading theologians of the Low Countries.30 Later she had other friends among the more pious and reforming clergy. She consulted the Prior of Groenendael over the reorganisation of the Victorine convent at Blydenberg near Malines and she turned to Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa, the leading Papal Reformer in the Low Countries, when she was trying to promote reform in religious houses at Louvain and Binche. Her chaplains and confessors were all well educated and devo
ut priests. Among her confessors was the worthy and pious Henri de Berghes, the Bishop of Cambrai, who was one of Erasmus’ earliest patrons. His sister Elizabeth de Berghes was the supervisor of the training school at the convent of Bethany at Malines, and a close friend of the Dowager.
The reform movement within the Church of the Low Countries concentrated chiefly on restoring the purity of the religious life within convents and monasteries. The reformers also tried to see that only conscientious and well-educated priests and bishops were appointed to benefices and to ensure that all religious services were properly performed. Even the worldly David of Burgundy, Bishop of Utrecht, supported this type of reform.31 He was particularly keen to improve the educational standards of the clergy within his bishopric. He supported poor scholars and introduced the printing press into his diocese. Erasmus was ordained by Bishop David.
As Duchess of Burgundy, Margaret was expected to set a high standard in religious observance, but her interest went much deeper than the conventions of the court. Religious devotion might be expected from the daughter of the pious Cecily Neville, though it should also be noted that neither of her sisters, Anne or Elizabeth, were known for their piety and charity.32 Margaret’s interest in religious matters was stimulated not only by her mother but also by her husband who was strictly pious. He shunned oaths, abhored blasphemies and punctiliously attended religious services. She was also influenced by her acquaintance with theologians such as the Carthusian Denis van Rijkel who had been closely involved with the rulers of Burgundy for many years. He had encouraged Duke Philip the Good to undertake a crusade and he had intervened in the conflict with Guelders. He provided Margaret with a very severe model to follow, for he disapproved of all worldly vanities amongst which he included polyphonic music, curled hair and pleated clothes.33 Fortunately, his strictures against music were not closely observed at the Burgundian court. John of Burgundy the worldly bishop who preceded Henri de Berghes at Cambrai was the patron of Guillaume Dufay, whose paean to female beauty beginning with the words, ‘that noble brow carries my soul to paradise’ would certainly not have pleased van Rijkel.34
For thirty-five years Margaret was actively involved in the reform of the Church, founding and refounding convents, building churches and monasteries and giving generously to the Church. Her influence was felt throughout the Low Countries, from Brielle in the north, to Mons and Binche in the south. At Brielle she gave one of her estates, lying just outside the city walls, for the foundation of a new Augustinian convent, ‘to which order she bears a singular affection’.35 Margaret’s preference for the Augustinians may have been due to the influence of Denis van Rijkel, who had drawn many of his ideas from the teachings of St Augustine. This ‘singular affection’ was also apparent at Binche, where she established a convent of Black Sisters (as the Augustinian nuns were known) near to St James’ Gate.36
Margaret was very practical in her various foundations and seemed to prefer working orders. At Binche, the convent provided a hospital, an orphanage and a school for girls. She appointed Lawrence Couvreur as the first superior and he was still associated with the convent as late as 1525. Margaret founded several other hospitals, orphanages and hostels at Mons, Louvain, Ghent and Binche. At Mons she also founded a house for reformed prostitutes, known as the daughters of Magdalen. The rules for this house were drawn up with the Dowager’s approval and permitted girls to leave and marry if the opportunity arose. Meantime they were to wear white habits and pass their time in prayer and in caring for the sick.
When she was personally involved in the reformation of convents and monasteries, Margaret favoured the Augustinian rule, even to the extent of forcing it on the reluctant nuns of the Victorine convent of Blydenberg near Malines.37 Sometimes she encountered strong resistance to her ideas. There were powerful opponents to reform among the local nobility who regarded the abbeys and convents as an extension of their own estates and resented any interference in them. She faced considerable local opposition at the hospital of Louvain when she intervened to establish the Augustinian rule there. The old Abbess, Mathilde Lobs, would not surrender her authority without a fight and called on local patrons to support her.38 After a struggle lasting three years, Margaret’s will prevailed. A new reforming Abbess was appointed and Mathilde ended her days as a simple nun in the Carmelite order. The other sisters who had supported Mathilde were also moved out and placed in other convents.
A major influence on the reforms of the religious orders in the Low Countries was St Colette of Corbie who had been active in the early fifteenth century.39 She had worked chiefly within the convents and monasteries of northern France in the orders of the Poor Clares and the Franciscans. Earlier Duchesses of Burgundy, including the wife of the second Duke, had supported St Colette and the Duchess Mary was particularly devoted to her cult, urging successive Popes to agree to her canonisation, which did not take place until 1807. Margaret was the patron of the Poor Clares at Melaan, near Malines and in 1501 she led the procession back into their newly rebuilt convent. For this occasion she dressed in the novice’s habit of the order.
Margaret had already donated a lavishly illustrated Vie de Sainte Colette to the convent of the Poor Clares at Ghent.40 This was written by Pierre de Vaux, a Franciscan who had known the saint and who was closely associated with her work. The copy was made during the lifetime of Duke Charles and one of the miniatures depicted Margaret and Charles kneeling with St Colette before an apparition of St Anne. The book was decorated with the arms of the Duke and the Duchess, with their interlaced initials and the Duchess’ device: ‘bien en aviengne’. On the final page, in her own bold and untidy hand, Margaret inscribed the gift from ‘votre loyale fylle Margarete Dangleterre pryez pour elle et pour son salut’ (your faithful daughter Margaret of England pray for her and for her salvation). The book remains today one of the treasures of the convent for which it was made.
It was through her devotion to St Colette that Margaret also became involved with the reform of the Franciscan orders, particularly with the Recollects, or the Observant Friars as they were called in England. She persuaded the Beghards of Malines to adopt this rule, and in 1497 after a fire at their monastery she paid for the rebuilding of both the library and the dormitory. It was in the church of this order that she eventually chose to be buried.41 The foundation of the house of the Observant Friars at Greenwich was also largely due to her influence on Edward IV. Margaret frequently encouraged and supported others in their work for the Church. She laid the foundation stone for a new charterhouse at Louvain, leaving a gold coin for the master mason and paying for the cell of the Father Procureur.42 The founder of this charterhouse was one of her husband’s chaplains, Walter Waterleet. He was a canon of St Peter’s at Louvain and of St Gudule’s at Brussels, and also a friend of Gillis de Platea, an outstanding scholar and teacher at Louvain University. In 1521 the Louvain Charterhouse became a part of the University of Louvain. Margaret was a keen patron of the Carthusians and she also paid for the reconstruction of the Prior’s house at the Charterhouse of Scheut near Brussels. At one time she must have considered being buried at the Louvain charterhouse, for a decorated niche was prepared for her there but it was never used.
Gillis de Platea, known also as Egidius, was appointed as one of Margaret’s confessors and through him the Dowager became a patron of St Agatha’s Convent at Ghent.43 There she paid for the building of the church and provided the convent with a valuable source of income. One of her wards was Jeanne, the orphaned daughter of the Count of St Pol, and in 1478 the little girl was sent to the convent for her education. Eventually Jeanne entered the order and the convent benefited from her rich inheritance. Margaret’s many gifts to the Church included the financing of major building works and the donation of occasional presents such as sacks of silks which she sent to St Brigitte’s at Dendermonde and an altar which she gave to St Waudrin’s at Mons.44
St Ursmer’s at Binche was specially favoured. All her income from Le Perrière and Ch
aussin went to this church to provide daily masses for her husband’s soul and to support the necessary clergy including a deacon, a sub-deacon, a canon and an organist.45 This chantry was still in existence a hundred years later, when King Philip II was asked to provide the money to continue the masses for his great-great-grandfather. Margaret lavished gifts on St Ursmer’s including a rich chasuble, a gold brocade cope, two tunics, several song-books (one of which bears her autograph) and the most valuable of all, a golden reliquary. This beautiful piece of goldsmiths’ work escaped the religious iconoclasts and survived the French revolution. It is in the form of a calvary with the enamelled figures of Jesus, Mary and John against a green enamelled hillside. Inlaid with pearls and jewels, the work is of such high quality that it has been identified with the workshops of Gerard Loyet, the goldsmith who made the famous reliquary that Charles gave to St Lambert’s at Liège. The St Ursmer calvary originally contained two relics: a piece of the Holy Cross and a Thorn. This is not the only instance of Margaret’s devotion to the cult of the Holy Cross. As early as 1470 she supported the nuns at Boneffe who were hoping to take over the chapel of the Holy Cross at Malines. She wrote to the Malines magistrates asking them to help the nuns and to obey the commands of the Dowager Isabelle who was a patron of the convent.46
Another church which benefited from Margaret’s special attentions was St Rombout’s at Malines. In 1480 she attended the exhumation of the saint’s remains, when the coffin was opened in the presence of many eminent witnesses including eight abbots. The body was in a poor state and the odour was classified as ‘redolentia’ which can hardly have been pleasant. The occasion was, however, very important in the eyes of the church and all the witnesses signed a document to indicate their participation.47 The saint’s shrine was being moved during a massive rebuilding programme. The chief architect for these works, Anthony Keldermans, had worked for Margaret at Malines when she rebuilt the house of the Bishop of Cambrai, and he may also have been involved with her works at Binche. Her principal gift to the enlarged church was one of the great transept windows. In this, Margaret and Charles were portrayed kneeling at prayer, attended by their patron saints.48 The Dowager gave windows to other churches at Malines, Dendermonde, Alost and Bruges, but they have since been almost totally destroyed leaving only a few fragments of the ducal arms.
Margaret of York: The Diabolical Duchess Page 28