Archduchess Mary of Austria, becomes queen of…

Archduchess Mary of Austria, becomes queen of Hungary and Bohemia on the death of her father-in-law in 1516.

Born in Brussels on September 15, 1505, between ten and eleven in the morning, Mary was the fifth child of King Philip I and Queen Joanna of Castile.

Her birth was very difficult; the Queen's life was in danger and it took her a month to recover.

On September 20, she was baptized by Nicolas Le Ruistre, Bishop of Arras, and named after her paternal grandmother, Mary of Burgundy, who had died in 1482.

Her godfather is her paternal grandfather, Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I, who had promised, on March 17, 1506, to marry her to the first son born to King Vladislaus II of Hungary.

At the same time, the two monarchs decided that a brother of Mary would marry Vladislaus' daughter Anne.

Three months later, Vladislaus' wife, Anne of Foix-Candale, gave birth to a son, Louis Jagiellon.

Queen Anne died in childbirth and the royal physicians made great efforts to keep the sickly Louis alive.

After the death of Mary's father in September 1506, her mother's mental health had begun to deteriorate.

Mary, along with her brother, Archduke Charles, and her sisters, Archduchesses Eleanor and Isabella, had been put into the care of her paternal aunt, Archduchess Margaret, while two other siblings, Archduke Ferdinand and posthumously born Archduchess Catherine, remained in Castile.

Mary, Isabella, and Eleanor had been educated together at their aunt's court in Mechelen.

Their music teacher was Henry Bredemers.

Mary had been summoned to the court of her grandfather Maximilian in 1514.

On July 22, 1515, Mary and Louis had been married in St. Stephen's Cathedral, Vienna.

At the same time, Louis' sister Anne had been betrothed to an as yet unspecified brother of Mary, with Emperor Maximilian acting as proxy.

Due to their age, it was decided that the newly married couple would not live together for a few more years.

Anne had eventually married Mary's brother Ferdinand and had come to Vienna, where the double sisters-in-law are educated together until 1516, when the death of Mary's father-in-law makes Louis and Mary king and queen of Hungary and Bohemia.

Mary moves to Innsbruck, where she will be educated until 1521.

Maximilian encourages her interest in hunting, while childhood lessons prompt an interest in music.

This passion will later be demonstrated during her tenure as governor of the Netherlands.