Duchess Mary of Burgundy (1457–1482) can rightly be called a princess in the shadow. Only very few authentic images of her survive and little research has been undertaken so far to shed light on this important historical figure. This edited volume with its twenty-four individual contributions aims at filling this deplorable gap. The only daughter of Charles the Bold (1433–1477), she was heir to the powerful conglomerate of territories called Burgundy. Mary died at the age of only twenty-five, leaving her little time to develop a public image. She thus left few traces as an active patron of the arts. Several representations of the young duchess can be found in contemporary manuscripts, the window miniature in the Vienna Book of Hours being the most famous. However, no mention is made here of the duchess’s portrait in the Berlin Book of Hours; this manuscript was passed by her husband, Emperor Maximilian I to their daughter, Margaret of Austria, in 1483. In Part One, the emphasis is on the authority of Mary of Burgundy as a legitimate heir to Burgundy, being a princesse naturelle. Several suitors tried to incorporate the rich Netherlands into their territory by securing a union with the young sovereign. Inherent legal issues are discussed from different angles by Jonathan Dumont, Élodie Lecuppre-Desjardin, and Kathleen Daly; meanwhile, iconographic models such as the concept of a ‘City Maiden’ are studied by Lisa Demets in contemporary texts. The 1477 Bruges tableau vivant with Queen Penthesilea demonstrates for Olga Karaskova the difficulty of finding suitable symbols to represent a young female sovereign. The discussion of how to visualize the power of a female head of state is discussed further in Andrea Pearson’s close analysis of Mary’s equestrian seals. Part Two is concerned with Mary’s household, her councillors, the court as an institution, and the economic situation. In this context, Federica Veratelli investigates the presence of Italian administrators at the Burgundian court and the significance of Italian luxury goods. In Part Three, five essays discuss the afterlife of Mary of Burgundy as a historical figure in later centuries, from the funerary rites in 1482 up to the twentieth century. Pierre-Gilles Girault argues that Margaret of Austria’s response to the premature death of her mother was to play an active political role as Countess of Bresse and regent of the Netherlands, instrumentalizing the Brou Church to express her aspirations. Dominique Le Page studies the ways in which Mary was viewed in the old Duchy of Burgundy across four centuries. To balance the emphasis on French and Netherlandish history, an essay on the visual and textual examples of sixteenth-century Habsburg propaganda (Der Weißkunig, Theuerdank, and The Triumphal Procession) would have been worthwhile. In the conclusions by Éric Bousmar and Jelle Haemers, a brief reference is made to Maximilian’s use of art for the purpose of propaganda. In all, this is a high-calibre collection of essays that critically investigate Mary of Burgundy and provide numerous new insights into her life and her reputation through the centuries.
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Jul 1, 2024
Mariah (Mo) Horner 
Open Access