Reign in Burgundy and the Netherlands: ref
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Maximilian and Mary’s wedding contract stipulated that their children would succeed them but that the couple could not be each other’s heirs. Mary tried to bypass this rule with a promise to transfer territories as a gift in case of her death, but her plans were confounded. After Mary’s death in a riding accident on 27 March 1482 near the [[Wijnendale Castle]], Maximilian’s aim was now to secure the inheritance to his and Mary’s son, [[Philip the Handsome]].<ref name=heimann_maximilian/>
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Maximilian and Mary’s wedding contract stipulated that their children would succeed them but that the couple could not be each other’s heirs. Mary tried to bypass this rule with a promise to transfer territories as a gift in case of her death, but her plans were confounded. After Mary’s death in a riding accident on 27 March 1482 near the [[Wijnendale Castle]], Maximilian’s aim was now to secure the inheritance to his and Mary’s son, [[Philip the Handsome]].<ref name=heimann_maximilian/>
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[[File:Postcard – Bruges Cranenburg (Excelsior Series 11, No. 51, Albert Sugg a Gand; ca. 1905).jpg|thumb|300px|The [[Cranenburg House]] in Bruges, a favorite residence of Mary and Maximilian, near which he usually organized jousting tournaments, and also the place in which he was imprisoned for eleven weeks in 1488.{{
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[[File:Postcard – Bruges Cranenburg (Excelsior Series 11, No. 51, Albert Sugg a Gand; ca. 1905).jpg|thumb|300px|The [[Cranenburg House]] in Bruges, a favorite residence of Mary and Maximilian, near which he usually organized jousting tournaments, and also the place in which he was imprisoned for eleven weeks in 1488.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Vossen |first1=Carl |title=Maria von Burgund: des Hauses Habsburg Kronjuwel |date=1982 |publisher=Seewald |isbn=978-3-512-00636-4 |pages=146,147 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GeobAAAAMAAJ |access-date=12 November 2021 |language=de}}</ref> At first, they talked to each other in Latin.{{sfn|Vossen|1982|p=104}} Ca. 1905]]
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The Guinegate victory made Maximilian popular, but as an inexperienced ruler, he hurt himself politically by trying to centralize authority without respecting traditional rights and consulting relevant political bodies. The Belgian historian Eugène Duchesne comments that these years were among the saddest and most turbulent in the history of the country, and despite his later great imperial career, Maximilian unfortunately could never compensate for the mistakes he made as regent in this period. <ref>{{cite book |last1=Académie royale des sciences, des lettres et des beaux-arts de Belgique |title=Biographie nationale, Volume 14 |date=1897 |publisher=H. Thiry-Van Buggenhoudt |page=161 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fu0bAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA161 |access-date=24 October 2021 |archive-date=24 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211024131650/https://books.google.com/books?id=fu0bAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA161 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Morren |first1=Paul |title=Van Karel de Stoute tot Karel V (1477-1519 |date=2004 |publisher=Garant |isbn=9789044115451 |page=66 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CMxU68_9lJoC&pg=PA57 |access-date=24 October 2021 |archive-date=24 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211024041927/https://books.google.com/books?id=CMxU68_9lJoC&pg=PA57 |url-status=live }}</ref> Some of the Netherlander provinces were hostile to Maximilian, and, in 1482, they signed [[Treaty of Arras (1482)|a treaty]] with Louis XI in [[Arras]] that forced Maximilian to give up [[Franche-Comté]] and [[Artois]] to the French crown.<ref name=”WB1976″ /> They [[Flemish revolts against Maximilian of Austria|openly rebelled]] twice in the period 1482–1492, attempting to regain the [[Great Privilege|autonomy]] they had enjoyed under Mary. Flemish rebels managed to capture Philip and even Maximilian himself, but they released Maximilian when Frederick III intervened.<ref name=”vanleeuwen”>{{Cite encyclopedia |year=2006 |title=Balancing Tradition and Rites of Rebellion: The Ritual Transfer of Power in Bruges on 12 February 1488 |encyclopedia=Symbolic Communication in Late Medieval Towns |publisher=Leuven University Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SEhNBaRxXWAC&pg=PA65 |author=Jacoba Van Leeuwen |isbn=9789058675224 |access-date=25 February 2014 |archive-date=14 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150514171708/https://books.google.com/books?id=SEhNBaRxXWAC&pg=PA65 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=”buylaert”>{{Cite journal |last1=Frederik Buylaert |last2=Jan Van Camp |last3=Bert Verwerft |year=2011 |editor2-last=Adrian R. Bell |title=Urban militias, nobles and mercenaries. The organization of the Antwerp army in the Flemish-Brabantine revolt of the 1480s |journal=Journal of Medieval Military History |volume=IX |editor1=Anne Curry}}</ref> In 1489, as he turned his attention to his hereditary lands, he left the Low Countries in the hands of [[Albert III, Duke of Saxony|Albert of Saxony]], who proved to be an excellent choice, as he was less emotionally committed to the Low Countries and more flexible as a politician than Maximilian, while also being a capable general. <ref>{{cite book |last1=Koenigsberger |first1=H. G. |title=Monarchies, States Generals and Parliaments: The Netherlands in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries |date=22 November 2001 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-80330-4 |page=87 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2V1dbsvEWnkC&pg=PA67 |access-date=26 October 2021 |language=en |archive-date=26 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211026123819/https://books.google.com/books?id=2V1dbsvEWnkC&pg=PA67 |url-status=live }}</ref> By 1492, rebellions were completely suppressed. Maximilian revoked the Great Privilege and established a strong ducal monarchy undisturbed by particularism. But he would not reintroduce Charles the Bold’s centralizing ordinances. Since 1489 (after his departure), the government under Albert of Saxony had made more efforts in consulting representative institutions and showed more restraint in subjugating recalcitrant territories. Notables who had previously supported rebellions returned to city administrations. The Estates General continued to develop as a regular meeting place of the central government.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Tracy |first1=James D. |title=Emperor Charles V, Impresario of War: Campaign Strategy, International Finance, and Domestic Politics |date=14 November 2002 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-81431-7 |page=71 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tXKMvr09dB4C&pg=PA71 |access-date=26 October 2021 |language=en |archive-date=26 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211026123818/https://books.google.com/books?id=tXKMvr09dB4C&pg=PA71 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Blockmans |first1=Willem Pieter |last2=Blockmans |first2=Wim |last3=Prevenier |first3=Walter |title=The Promised Lands: The Low Countries Under Burgundian Rule, 1369-1530 |date=1999 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |isbn=978-0-8122-1382-9 |page=207 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uj9nGDCiW64C&pg=PA207 |access-date=26 October 2021 |language=en |archive-date=26 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211026123823/https://books.google.com/books?id=uj9nGDCiW64C&pg=PA207 |url-status=live }}</ref> The harsh suppression of the rebellions did have an unifying effect, in that provinces stopped behaving like separate entities each supporting a different lord.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ellis |first1=Edward Sylvester |last2=Horne |first2=Charles Francis |title=The Story of the Greatest Nations: A Comprehensive History, Extending from the Earliest Times to the Present, Founded on the Most Modern Authorities, and Including Chronological Summaries and Pronouncing Vocabularies for Each Nation; and the World’s Famous Events, Told in a Series of Brief Sketches Forming a Single Continuous Story of History and Illumined by a Complete Series of Notable Illustrations from the Great Historic Paintings of All Lands |date=1914 |publisher=Niglutsch |page=1904 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y8RLAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA1857 |access-date=26 October 2021 |language=en |archive-date=26 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211026123821/https://books.google.com/books?id=y8RLAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA1857 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Gunn |first1=Steven |last2=Grummitt |first2=David |last3=Cools |first3=Hans |title=War, State, and Society in England and the Netherlands 1477-1559 |date=15 November 2007 |publisher=OUP Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-920750-3 |page=12 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QDpnAAAAMAAJ |access-date=26 October 2021 |language=en |archive-date=26 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211026123814/https://books.google.com/books?id=QDpnAAAAMAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Helmut Koenigsberger]] opines that it was not the erratic leadership of Maximilian, who was brave but hardly understood the Netherlands, but the Estates’ desire for the survival of the country that made the Burgundian monarchy survive.{{sfn|Koenigsberger|2021|p=70}} Jean Berenger and C.A. Simpson argues that Maximilian, as a gifted military champion and organizer, did save the Netherlands from France, although the conflict between the Estates and his personal ambitions caused a catastrophic situation in the short term.{{sfn|Routledge|Berenger|Simpson|2014|pp=194,195}} Peter Spufford opines that the invasion was prevented by a combination of the Estates and Maximilian, although the cost of war, Maximilian’s spendthrift liberality and the interests enforced by his German bankers did cause huge expenditure while income was falling.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Spufford |first1=Peter |title=Monetary Problems and policies in the Burgundian Netherlands, 1433-1496: 1433 – 1496 |date=1970 |publisher=Brill Archive |pages=8,9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ms0UAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA8 |access-date=11 November 2021 |language=en}}</ref> Jelle Haemers comments that the Estates stopped their support towards the young and ambitious ”impresario” (director) of war (who took personal control of both the military and financial details during the war) because they knew that after Guinegate, the nature of the war was not defensive anymore, and opposition towards Maximilian’s autocratic ways, which added to the already existing internal division, continued to build up during the final years of Mary’s reign.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Haemers |first1=Jelle |title=For the Common Good: State Power and Urban Revolts in the Reign of Mary of Burgundy, (1477-1482) |date=2009 |publisher=Isd |isbn=978-2-503-52986-8 |page=23,25,26,38,41,100,266 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-IvrAAAAMAAJ |access-date=9 November 2021 |language=en}} “Internal division, political competition among the representatives in the Estates, the tradition of a strong corps of officials used to governing the state in a centralising manner, and the arrival of a new, ambitious ‘impresario of war’ as the head of state undermined the privileges of 1477.”, pg.100.</ref>
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The Guinegate victory made Maximilian popular, but as an inexperienced ruler, he hurt himself politically by trying to centralize authority without respecting traditional rights and consulting relevant political bodies. The Belgian historian Eugène Duchesne comments that these years were among the saddest and most turbulent in the history of the country, and despite his later great imperial career, Maximilian unfortunately could never compensate for the mistakes he made as regent in this period. <ref>{{cite book |last1=Académie royale des sciences, des lettres et des beaux-arts de Belgique |title=Biographie nationale, Volume 14 |date=1897 |publisher=H. Thiry-Van Buggenhoudt |page=161 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fu0bAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA161 |access-date=24 October 2021 |archive-date=24 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211024131650/https://books.google.com/books?id=fu0bAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA161 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Morren |first1=Paul |title=Van Karel de Stoute tot Karel V (1477-1519 |date=2004 |publisher=Garant |isbn=9789044115451 |page=66 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CMxU68_9lJoC&pg=PA57 |access-date=24 October 2021 |archive-date=24 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211024041927/https://books.google.com/books?id=CMxU68_9lJoC&pg=PA57 |url-status=live }}</ref> Some of the Netherlander provinces were hostile to Maximilian, and, in 1482, they signed [[Treaty of Arras (1482)|a treaty]] with Louis XI in [[Arras]] that forced Maximilian to give up [[Franche-Comté]] and [[Artois]] to the French crown.<ref name=”WB1976″ /> They [[Flemish revolts against Maximilian of Austria|openly rebelled]] twice in the period 1482–1492, attempting to regain the [[Great Privilege|autonomy]] they had enjoyed under Mary. Flemish rebels managed to capture Philip and even Maximilian himself, but they released Maximilian when Frederick III intervened.<ref name=”vanleeuwen”>{{Cite encyclopedia |year=2006 |title=Balancing Tradition and Rites of Rebellion: The Ritual Transfer of Power in Bruges on 12 February 1488 |encyclopedia=Symbolic Communication in Late Medieval Towns |publisher=Leuven University Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SEhNBaRxXWAC&pg=PA65 |author=Jacoba Van Leeuwen |isbn=9789058675224 |access-date=25 February 2014 |archive-date=14 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150514171708/https://books.google.com/books?id=SEhNBaRxXWAC&pg=PA65 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=”buylaert”>{{Cite journal |last1=Frederik Buylaert |last2=Jan Van Camp |last3=Bert Verwerft |year=2011 |editor2-last=Adrian R. Bell |title=Urban militias, nobles and mercenaries. The organization of the Antwerp army in the Flemish-Brabantine revolt of the 1480s |journal=Journal of Medieval Military History |volume=IX |editor1=Anne Curry}}</ref> In 1489, as he turned his attention to his hereditary lands, he left the Low Countries in the hands of [[Albert III, Duke of Saxony|Albert of Saxony]], who proved to be an excellent choice, as he was less emotionally committed to the Low Countries and more flexible as a politician than Maximilian, while also being a capable general. <ref>{{cite book |last1=Koenigsberger |first1=H. G. |title=Monarchies, States Generals and Parliaments: The Netherlands in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries |date=22 November 2001 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-80330-4 |page=87 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2V1dbsvEWnkC&pg=PA67 |access-date=26 October 2021 |language=en |archive-date=26 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211026123819/https://books.google.com/books?id=2V1dbsvEWnkC&pg=PA67 |url-status=live }}</ref> By 1492, rebellions were completely suppressed. Maximilian revoked the Great Privilege and established a strong ducal monarchy undisturbed by particularism. But he would not reintroduce Charles the Bold’s centralizing ordinances. Since 1489 (after his departure), the government under Albert of Saxony had made more efforts in consulting representative institutions and showed more restraint in subjugating recalcitrant territories. Notables who had previously supported rebellions returned to city administrations. The Estates General continued to develop as a regular meeting place of the central government.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Tracy |first1=James D. |title=Emperor Charles V, Impresario of War: Campaign Strategy, International Finance, and Domestic Politics |date=14 November 2002 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-81431-7 |page=71 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tXKMvr09dB4C&pg=PA71 |access-date=26 October 2021 |language=en |archive-date=26 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211026123818/https://books.google.com/books?id=tXKMvr09dB4C&pg=PA71 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Blockmans |first1=Willem Pieter |last2=Blockmans |first2=Wim |last3=Prevenier |first3=Walter |title=The Promised Lands: The Low Countries Under Burgundian Rule, 1369-1530 |date=1999 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |isbn=978-0-8122-1382-9 |page=207 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uj9nGDCiW64C&pg=PA207 |access-date=26 October 2021 |language=en |archive-date=26 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211026123823/https://books.google.com/books?id=uj9nGDCiW64C&pg=PA207 |url-status=live }}</ref> The harsh suppression of the rebellions did have an unifying effect, in that provinces stopped behaving like separate entities each supporting a different lord.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ellis |first1=Edward Sylvester |last2=Horne |first2=Charles Francis |title=The Story of the Greatest Nations: A Comprehensive History, Extending from the Earliest Times to the Present, Founded on the Most Modern Authorities, and Including Chronological Summaries and Pronouncing Vocabularies for Each Nation; and the World’s Famous Events, Told in a Series of Brief Sketches Forming a Single Continuous Story of History and Illumined by a Complete Series of Notable Illustrations from the Great Historic Paintings of All Lands |date=1914 |publisher=Niglutsch |page=1904 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y8RLAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA1857 |access-date=26 October 2021 |language=en |archive-date=26 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211026123821/https://books.google.com/books?id=y8RLAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA1857 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Gunn |first1=Steven |last2=Grummitt |first2=David |last3=Cools |first3=Hans |title=War, State, and Society in England and the Netherlands 1477-1559 |date=15 November 2007 |publisher=OUP Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-920750-3 |page=12 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QDpnAAAAMAAJ |access-date=26 October 2021 |language=en |archive-date=26 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211026123814/https://books.google.com/books?id=QDpnAAAAMAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Helmut Koenigsberger]] opines that it was not the erratic leadership of Maximilian, who was brave but hardly understood the Netherlands, but the Estates’ desire for the survival of the country that made the Burgundian monarchy survive.{{sfn|Koenigsberger|2021|p=70}} Jean Berenger and C.A. Simpson argues that Maximilian, as a gifted military champion and organizer, did save the Netherlands from France, although the conflict between the Estates and his personal ambitions caused a catastrophic situation in the short term.{{sfn|Routledge|Berenger|Simpson|2014|pp=194,195}} Peter Spufford opines that the invasion was prevented by a combination of the Estates and Maximilian, although the cost of war, Maximilian’s spendthrift liberality and the interests enforced by his German bankers did cause huge expenditure while income was falling.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Spufford |first1=Peter |title=Monetary Problems and policies in the Burgundian Netherlands, 1433-1496: 1433 – 1496 |date=1970 |publisher=Brill Archive |pages=8,9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ms0UAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA8 |access-date=11 November 2021 |language=en}}</ref> Jelle Haemers comments that the Estates stopped their support towards the young and ambitious ”impresario” (director) of war (who took personal control of both the military and financial details during the war) because they knew that after Guinegate, the nature of the war was not defensive anymore, and opposition towards Maximilian’s autocratic ways, which added to the already existing internal division, continued to build up during the final years of Mary’s reign.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Haemers |first1=Jelle |title=For the Common Good: State Power and Urban Revolts in the Reign of Mary of Burgundy, (1477-1482) |date=2009 |publisher=Isd |isbn=978-2-503-52986-8 |page=23,25,26,38,41,100,266 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-IvrAAAAMAAJ |access-date=9 November 2021 |language=en}} “Internal division, political competition among the representatives in the Estates, the tradition of a strong corps of officials used to governing the state in a centralising manner, and the arrival of a new, ambitious ‘impresario of war’ as the head of state undermined the privileges of 1477.”, pg.100.</ref>
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