Margaret of Austria: Governor of the Netherlands and Early 16th-Century Europe's Greatest Diplomat

For fans of ALISON WEIR and PHILIPPA GREGORY◆ FIRST PLACE WINNER - 2023 CHAUCER Book Awards - Early Historical Fiction◆ WINNER - 2023 READERS' FAVORITE Awards - Fiction-Historical-Personage◆ Royalty ◆ Power ◆ Politics ◆ Love ◆ StruggleBestselling biographer and historian Sarah Gristwood, author ofGame of QueensandThe Tudors in Love, calls this tale of early 16th-century Europe's most brilliant power broker “Compelling and wholly convincing—at once a vividly readable novel and a long-overdue presentation of Europe's unsung heroine to the broad audience she deserves.”Margaret of Austriawas the most significant political negotiator of early 16th-century Europe. About as Austrian as French fries are French, she was born in Brussels in 1480, raised in France, married and widowed in Spain, then married and widowed again in Savoy by age twenty-four.In 1506 Margaret’s life turned upside down when her brotherPhilip of Burgundyunexpectedly died in Spain. With their motherJuana of Castileinsane, four children, heirs to the Habsburg empire, were left behind in the Burgundian-Habsburg Netherlands.Margaret stepped in and took the reins.Appointed by her father,Maximilian I, Margaret became governor of the Netherlands, then widened her role to broker the 1508 Treaty of Cambrai where Europe’s princes united against Venice.Ferdinand of Spain, Henry TudorthenHenry VIII of England, Louis XII of France, andLouise of SavoyforFrancis Iall came to Margaret’s negotiation table. Under her deft diplomacy princes saw reason and wars were averted.Enjoying political power, Margaret avoided remarriage. Then Henry VIII's right-hand manCharles Brandonturned her world upside down.Margaret's court attracted Europe's brightest, including the youngAnne Boleyn. Yet halfway through her rule Margaret was ousted by enemies. She won back her position with a comeback strategy as astute today as it was in 1517.Click the READ NOW buttonto journey to the Renaissance with Margaret of Austria, who shot the fortunes of the House of Habsburg to the stars while s