Arts and legends under the rule of Mary, Maximilian and the Habsburgs • The
Faust legend is strongly based on a legend involving Mary, Maximilian and the priest, abbot and humanist
Johannes Trithemius (1462–1516), who was suspected by many to be a necromancer. Through his 1507 account, Trithemius was the first author who mentioned the historical Doctor Faustus. Being summoned to the emperor's court in 1506 and 1507, he also helped to "prove" Maximilian's Trojan origins. In his 1569 edition of his Tischreden,
Martin Luther writes about a magician and necromancer (understood to be Trithemius) who summoned
Alexander the Great and other ancient heroes, as well as the emperor's deceased wife Mary of Burgundy, to entertain Maximilian. In his 1585 account,
Augustin Lercheimer (1522–1603) writes that after Mary's death, Trithemius was summoned to console a devastated Maximilian. Trithemius conjured a shade of Mary, who looked exactly like her likeness when alive. Maximilian also recognized a birthmark on her neck, that only he knew about. He was distraughted by the experience though, and ordered Trithemius never to do it again. An anonymous account in 1587 modified the story into a less sympathetic version. The emperor became
Charles V, who, despite knowing about the risk of black magic, ordered Faustus to raise Alexander and his wife from death. Charles saw that the woman had a birthmark, that he had heard about. Later, the woman in the
most well-known story became
Helen of Troy. In her lifetime, Mary's preferred symbols, which were often associated with her official image, were the falcon and the horse. Ann M.Roberts notes that the falcon seemed to be a substitute for the sword (which was used by her grandfather and father for their seals), that denoted her status and prowess and also seemingly equated her skills as a huntress with her husband's skills as a military leader. Also according to Roberts, the posthumous portraits produced during her husband's later reign (which were much more numerous) show a completely different image: he tended to utilize the profile portraits that portrayed her as a young (with less personal features and only recognizable by her items, such as the
hennin, the brocaded garment, necklaces and brooches), virtuous, pious, passive bride whose wealth he possessed and could do with as he wanted and for whom he constructed a mythology of romantic love between the two. Olga Karaskova also opines that the manner she was placed in the premier position and her seal superimposed on his in their seals seems to indicate the conception she had of herself and the way she wanted to be seen by her contemporaries. During Maximilian's later reign, he commissioned numerous portrayals of Mary for various purposes. According to Karaskova, the symbol of the falcon did not disappear, but returned as Maximilian needed to assert his and their descendants' right of inheritance. In public portraits, the image of Mary holding a falcon returned once during the inauguration of Charles V. In addition, Maximilian commissioned portraits of Philip the Fair and Charles V holding falcons (thus establishing a connection between them and Mary), so he had to depend on the iconography created by Mary and associated with her, that had not been erased from the memory of their contemporaries. In the
Old Prayer Book of Maximilian of Austria (''l'Ancien livre de prières de Maximilien d'Autriche'', 1486, Vienne, ÖNB, Cod. 1907, f. 61v), there are the depiction of three falcons that seemingly symbolize Mary, Philip the Fair and Maximilian: Mary was with Philip while Maximilian was chasing another bird, symbolically protecting wife and child, next to the German eagle and the combined coat-of-arms of the Houses of Austria and Burgundy. Maximilian also had a tendency to virtually "promote" Mary to the status of Empress in these posthumous portrayals: an image created by Jörg Kölderer in preparation for Mary's statue in Maximilian's cenotaph showed a coat-of-arms that incorporated her husband's symbols as King of the Romans or Holy Roman Emperor (that she could not have used in life).
, from the Book of Hours of Mary and Maximilian'' in Berlin. Two of the men tried to escape while another, likely Maximilian, beckoned her to follow him but she took no notice. There was also a type of iconography created for the emperor's private use (instead of being used as a political declaration to the public), created by Bernhard Strigel: Mary, also presented in the imperial style as his empress, queen Ehrenreich and eternal companion, was shown with falcons outside the window and a hunting scene on her corsage, which seemed to imply courtly love and the days of happiness for the emperor. This iconography also seemed to be connected to the diptych
Portrait of Emperor Maximilian and his family by Bernhard Strigel (mentioned below). In the
Book of Hours of Mary and Maximilian (Berlin, SM, Kupferstichkabinett, Ms. 78 B 12, f. 220v.), the falcon and the hunt scene were shown, not as display of political significance, but only tragedy. Karaskova suggests that the coincidence that combined the Duchess's favourite mode of portrayal and the manner of her death must have had an impact on the illustrator as well as the commissioner, in this case Maximilian. According to the documentary
Der letzte Ritter by
Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF), in his conversations with their daughter Margaret, the emperor associated the call of the falcon with "the blackest day of his life" (he remained a passionate falconer though – In his cenotaph, where there are also Mary's and his statues, the belt of Mary's grandfather, Philip the Good, displays the image of a male falconer and a female falconer). Karaskova comments that the type of profile portraits that Roberts considers to be the products of Maximilian's preferences (which also presented her as youthful and wealthy) seemed to have existed and been copied since her lifetime and connected her to her ancestors, especially Philip the Bold, who also had such profile portraits. After his marriage to Bianca Maria in 1494, Maximilian also presented himself with both of his wives simultaneously. There was a notable tendency, expressed most clearly in the representations of genealogical trees (one commissioned in 1497, and another ten years later): outwardly, the group looked united, but Maximilian turned his back on Bianca to face the mother of his children (Unterholzner also notes that Maximilian always concentrated on the children of his first marriage in terms of succession politics, despite the fact that this was very risky; later, as the mother of his only (legitimate) children, Mary of Burgundy only became more important). Later, her children Philip and Margaret preferred to utilize the images of the undisputed dukes (which were shown in public spaces) instead of those of the disputed duchess to consolidate their rule, but that does not mean they displayed emotional disavowal towards her, as shown by the famous diptych commissioned by Margaret to commemorate her mother and created by Jan Mostaert in 1520. Charles V, however, focused on his paternal ancestors, especially on Maximilian and Mary as true progenitors of his house. The falcon also returned and her role as Duchess of Burgundy was also highlighted. • The massive semi-autobiographical works (commissioned by Maximilian, who was also likely their main author) like the epic poems
Theuerdank and
Freydal, and the chivalric novel
Weisskunig are in parts tribute to their love and marriage. As Queen Ehrenreich (Rich in Honour) in
Theuerdank, Mary urged the knight Theuerdank (Noble Thought, alter ego of Maximilian) to go on a crusade. Even during her lifetime, she became the centre of a cult that associated her with the Virgin Mary. It was not unusual for young women to be associated with the Virgin back then, but the similarity in their name made it easier and more provoking in the case of Mary. After her death, both Maximilian and her Burgundian subjects dedicated much artworks and propaganda to this cult. • In the
Book of Hours of Mary of Burgundy (1477), which was commissioned for her (likely first by Margaret of York and then by Maximilian, who as a new husband or new father, began to celebrate his wife and son as the images of the Virgin and Jesus), the Virgin has a notable role. An image that attracts scholarly debate is the portrayal of Mary sitting at a window-ledge imagining or having a mystical vision in which she herself and her ladies in waiting kneeling before the Virgin and the infant Christ. The Virgin here is the pivot of overlapping devotional function of the Book and the rosary. This is also an early example of the association between Mary of Burgundy and the Virgin Mary. Natalie Harris Bluestone opines that even though this association started during her lifetime, it seemed to be motivated by others. Glenn Burger remarks that, "bringing the bodily Mary of Burgundy alongside her imagined devotional self and her spiritual counterpart, the Virgin Mary, moves us beyond things as they are into a teleological mode of reading that stabilizes temporal and spatial relations in ideologically satisfying ways." The motif of the dog, later seen many times in depictions of Mary and Maximilian (together or separately), for example as part of her sarcophagus or in Maximilian's First Prayer Book, also seemed to first appeared here. Noa Turel argues that Mary and her step-mother Margaret of York did willingly join the courtly "theater of devotion" that cast Margaret as Saint Anne and Mary as the Virgin, which are demonstrated by their actions and their self-insertions in the manuscripts associated with the Baptism of Philip the Fair (whose claims to territories through matrilineal inheritance would be strengthened through this association, which also cast him as the infant Jesus). Turel opines that the reason the chronicler
Olivier de la Marche only offered a brief description of this important event was that as ''Premier maître d'hôtel'', he likely had to accompany Maximilian to the battlefield at the time of the baptism.
, or Dying Mary of Burgundy'', 1518, by
Albrecht Dürer • In
Jean Molinet's
Le naufrage de la Pucelle (1477), the Pucelle was an allegory of both the Virgin Mary and Mary of Burgundy. With the death of her father, the Pucelle was left in charge of their ship, which was attacked by whales and other sea monsters that represented France. Her companion Cœur Leal consoled her by the examples of warrior women like
Semiramis,
Zenobia,
Artemisia or
Joan of Arc. He emphasized, though, the story of the
Manekine by
Jean Wauquelin, who overcame her circumstance by passive resistance to suffering. Here passive resistance was portrayed in a good light, as Molinet linked it to the stable time under Mary's grandfather
Philip the Good, who in Molinet's works was often contrasted with
Charles the Bold, whose reign brought Burgundy to ruin. Finally, an eagle (symbol of Maximilian) appeared and saved the ship. When Molinet depicted them as pagan deities, like in
Bergier sans Soulas (1485), Mary was portrayed as Lune (Moon, Diana), Maximilian was Apollon, Phoebus, Titan or King of Ilion, Philip was Jupiter, Margaret of Austria was Venus, while the King of France was Pan and the King of England was Neptune. The motif of the Virgin and the Eagle would be seen again during Maximilian's "joyous entry" into Antwerp (1478), on one of the tableaux the city presented him. An eagle was shown offering his own blood to the maiden. The symbol for both Antwerp and Burgundy was also a virgin, while the eagle was the symbol of the House of Habsburg. The Antwerp (later, his loyal ally in his later turbulent regency) community seemed to welcome Maximilian as their saviour, but also wanted to subtly remind him of limits to his powers and his responsibilities as ruler together with Mary. • In one of
Albrecht Dürer's most famous works, the
Feast of the Rosary, the Virgin Mary (representation of Mary of Burgundy) was depicted holding the infant Jesus (representation of
Philip the Fair) while placing a rosary on the head of a kneeling Maximilian. When the Fraternity of the Rosary was established in 1475 in Cologne, Maximilian and his father Frederick III were present and among the earliest members. Already in 1478, in
Le chappellet des dames, Molinet, as the Burgundy court chronicler, placed a symbolic rosary on the head of Mary of Burgundy. Similarly, in 1518, one year before the emperor's own death, under the order of
Zlatko, Bishop of Vienna, Dürer painted
The death of the Virgin, which was also the scene of the deathbed of Mary of Burgundy, with Maximilian, Philip of Spain, Zlatko and other notables around the couch. Philip was presented as a young St. John while Maximilian bowed down as one of the Apostles. The work was last seen in the 1822 sale of the Fries collection. • The famous diptych of Maximilian's extended family (after 1515), painted by
Bernhard Strigel, labels Mary of Burgundy as "Mary Cleophas, believed to be sister of the Virgin Mary" while Maximilian was labeled as Cleophas, brother of Joseph. This painting was likely commissioned to commemorate the 1516 double wedding (between House of Habsburg and House of Hungary) and then bequeathed to the scholar
Johannes Cuspinian as a sign of imperial favour (it would become part of his family altar). • The
Alamire manuscript VatS 160, a choir book sent to Pope
Leo X as a gift likely by a member of Burgundian-Habsburg family or a person close to Maximilian, contains numerous references to the connection between the Virgin Mary and Mary of Burgundy. For example, the work
Missa Ave regina celorum by the composer
Jacob Obrecht (d.1505) is a tribute to both the Virgin Mary and Mary of Burgundy. Here, Mary became the deceased heavenly Mother, Friend and Queen of Emperor Maximilian.
Later depictions • Mary was the main character in the 1674 novel
Histoire secrète de Marie de Bourgogne by
Charlotte-Rose de Caumont de La Force. The work was a part of the era's literary fairy tale vogue, which was welcomed enthusiastically by contemporaries. • In the nineteenth century, together with her grandson
Charles V, the painters
Hans Memling and
Jan van Eyck, Mary became a powerful national symbol of Belgium, representing an era in which "the national interest was perceived to have flourish". The depictions had a local dimension as well, showing the particular cities as "receiving the great and the good". A popular trope was the scene of Mary visiting Memling (which Graham and Wintle compare to the relationship between Maximilian I and Dürer in German imagination, or between
the Princess of Orange and Bartholomeus van der Helst as depicted by Dutch artists. The first painter who depicted this scene was
Nicaise de Keyser in 1847, followed by Eduoard Wallays in the 1860s (in both cases, the scene of the visit was the Hospital of Saint John). • Mary was the main character in the 1833 eponymous novel
Mary of Burgundy, or The Revolt of Ghent by
George Payne Rainsford James. In the novel, she was depicted as the representation of maternalistic feudalism that the author espoused. • The German dramatist
Hermann Hersch wrote a one-act comedy in 1853 and a five-act tragedy in 1860 about her life. Other characters include Maximilian, von Ravenstein, Lady Hallwyn, John of Cleves etc. • In
Hieronymus Rides: Episodes in the Life of a Knight and Jester at the Court of Maximilian, King of the Romans, a 1912 novel, written by
Anna Coleman Ladd, Mary was once loved by the jester and knight Hieronymus, who served his half-brother Maximilian. • There are two paintings involving Mary and Maximilian among the principal historical paintings of the painter
Anton Petter (1791 – 1858): one is
Der Einzug Kaiser Maximilians I.in Gent (1822, Belvedere, Wien) in which Mary presented their son to her husband and the other is
Kaiser Maximilian I und Maria von Burgund which describes their meeting.(1813, Joanneum at Graz). • An
equestrian statue of Mary named
Flandria Nostra stands in Golden Fleece Muntplein, created by
Jules Lagae. in Bruges, Belgium. The medallions show Maximilian and Margaret of York. The reliquary in the basilica is crowned with a crown believed to belong to Mary. • In the 1994 historical romance
Marie de Bourgogne: la princesse aux chaînes by
André Besson, Mary loved Philippe de Ravenstein (Philip of Cleves) but had to sacrifice her feelings for
raison d'État. •
Maximilian – Das Spiel von Macht und Liebe ("Maximilian: The Game of Power and Love"), released in the United States as
Maximilian and Marie De Bourgogne or simply
Maximilian, a 2017 German-Austrian three-part historical miniseries directed by
Andreas Prochaska, starring
Jannis Niewöhner as Maximilian I and
Christa Théret as Mary of Burgundy, recounts the story of their marriage and love. •
Maximilian – ein wahrer Ritter is a 2019 musical written by Florian and Irene Scherz about Maximilian and Mary of Burgundy. • In 2021, a
docufiction, entitled
Marie de Bourgogne : seule contre tous ("Mary of Burgundy: alone versus all"), is dedicated to her as part (Season 15) of the program ''
Secrets d'Histoire'' and presented by
Stéphane Bern. , France, renamed in 2001 in homage to the role played by the City of Beaune in the defense of the rights of Duchess Mary. • There is a huge mural (created in 2019) in the centre of Bruges, named
Maria Van Bourgondië (by Jeremiah Persyn), with Mary of Burgundy, still remembered as a strong and gentle ruler, as the central character, depicted as a Jesus-like figure with symbols of great religions, while Maximilian, whose rule coincided (and contributed to) the beginning of the 500-year decline of Bruges, is in the guise of the Brugge Fool (‘’Brugse Zot’’, the symbol of Bruges), riding a swan and holding a
halfmoon. Other symbols of Bruges like the Basilica of Holy Blood and the Church of Our Lady are also featured. • The Austrian artist Wilhelm Koller painted
Hugo van der Goes painting the portrait of Mary of Burgundy. She is shown holding her young son, who was playing with a dog. Eörsi remarks that the painting echoes Saint Luke painting the Virgin. •
Daniel Sternefeld (1905–1986) composed
Zang en dans aan het hof van Maria Van Bourgondië (
Songs and dances at the Court of Mary of Burgundy), for chamber or orchestra. • Miroir de Marie by
Maxime Benoît-Jeannin is a 2021 novel about her life. • In May 2022, a monument in
Jabbeke was erected, created by the sculptor Livia Canestraro, depicting her fall from horse. ==Family==