Mary of Burgundy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mary (February 13, 1457 – March 27, 1482), duchess of Burgundy, was the only child of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, and his wife Isabella of Bourbon.
As the only child of Charles, the Valois heiress of the rich Burgundian domains, her hand was eagerly sought by a number of princes. When her father fell upon the field at the siege of Nancy, on January 5, 1477, Mary was not yet twenty years of age. Louis XI of France seized the opportunity afforded by his rival's defeat and death to take possession of the duchy of Burgundy as a fief lapsed to the French crown, and also of Franche Comté, Picardy and Artois.
He was anxious that Mary should marry the Dauphin Charles and thus secure the inheritance of the Low Countries for his descendants, by force of arms if necessary. Mary, however, distrusted Louis; declined the French alliance, and turned to her Netherland subjects for help. She obtained the help only at the price of great concessions. On February 10, 1477 at Ghent she was compelled to sign a charter of rights, known as "the Great Privilege," by which the provinces and towns of Flanders, Brabant, Hainaut, and Holland recovered all the local and communal rights which had been abolished by the arbitrary decrees of the dukes of Burgundy in their efforts to create in the Low Countries a centralized state on the French model. Mary had to undertake not to declare war, make peace, or raise taxes without the consent of the States, and not to employ any but natives in official posts.
Such was the hatred of the people to the old regime that two influential councilors of Charles the Bold, the Chancellor Hugonet and the Sire d'Humbercourt, having been discovered in correspondence with the French king, were executed at Ghent despite the tears and entreaties of the youthful duchess. Mary now made her choice among the many suitors for her hand, and selected the Archduke Maximilian of Austria, after-wards the emperor Maximilian I, and the marriage took place at Ghent on August 18, 1477. In this way the Low Countries came to the Hapsburg's, initiating the long period of contention between France and Austria for their possession, which climaxed in the War of the Spanish Succession, 1701–1714.
So what if Louis XI had succeeded, and In 1477, at the age of 17, the Dauphin Charles VIII Marries the 19 year old Mary, And a Year Later Louis XII is born, Heir to both France & the Low Countries.