MARGARET OFAUSTRIA (SAVOY)

(1480–1530)

After the death of her second husband Philibert of Savoy in 1504, Margaret returned to the Low Countries where her father, Holy Roman emperor Max imilian I, installed her as governor in 1507. Margaret was a shrewd politician and diplomat who succeeded in extending Habsburg pos sessions in the Low Countries in the interest of the new emperor, her nephew Charles V. The seat of the government was in the city of Malines, near Brussels, where the highest court was also established, the Great Council of Malines.