After the unexpected death of his aunt Margaret in 1530, the Holy Roman Emperor Karl V, as lord of the Low Countries, of course needed to appoint a new governor.
But it doesn't take too much brains, there is a ready-made candidate right now: his third sister Mary.
In 1526, King Lajos II of Bohemia and Hungary was drowned in a heavy armor after falling from his horse while crossing the Celeliu River at the Battle of Mohachi, leaving Queen Mary widowed.
Since Raji had no children, his brother-in-law Ferdinand was chosen to succeed the kings of the two countries, and Ferdinand, who in turn was Mary's second brother and the emperor's only younger brother.
Before Ferdinand went to Hungary to ascend the throne, Mary had been regent for him, and she could be regarded as accumulating work experience, although she repeatedly resigned without success. After Ferdinand arrived in Hungary, Marie returned to her parents' home from her mission. Margaret suggested that she remarry King James V of Scotland, but Mary said that she loved her deceased husband and did not want to marry again. I don't know if Margaret saw her younger self in this niece she had raised. Margaret didn't have children, and neither would Mary.
At that time, Hungary also elected King Janos and did not buy Ferdinand's account. In 1528, Ferdinand called Marie to be his regent, but Mary insisted, saying that she should find another wise and sophisticated person. Later, when Ferdinand told Mary about his aunt's death, he seemed to know that Mary was about to succeed her, and said, "Your path is about to be different."
In 1531, Mary reluctantly accepted her brother's appointment to the Netherlands. Only four months after taking office, she wrote a letter to her second brother: this experience is like a rope tied around her neck.
At the same time, she also has to take over Margaret's other tasks, taking care of the two daughters of her second sister, Dorothea and Christina, the late Queen Isabel of Denmark. The Emperor wanted to arrange suitable marriages for his two nieces, especially the elderly Dorothea, and he hoped to make her Queen of Denmark if she had the opportunity in the future.
In 1532, Francesco II Sforza, Duke of Milan, proposed to Cristina, who was only 11 years old, and Marie felt that such a young child did not need to be in a hurry to marry, but the emperor agreed. Mary did everything she could, but she could only let Christina delay her marriage until the following year.
I don't know if it's angry, Mary is sick, and by the way, I ask for resignation, but the emperor doesn't allow it. Another year later, Dorothea also married Frederick II, Elector of the Imperial Palace. The marquis had previously courted Mary's eldest sister, Leonor, but the emperor wanted Mary to remarry him, but Mary refused. Now Mary became his own aunt.
Another year passed, and Christina was back because she was widowed. King Henry VIII of England extended an olive branch to her, and the emperor asked Mary to facilitate it, but Mary refused. Maybe careful friends have noticed that Hengba is the emperor's little uncle, and this is the emperor's nephew and son-in-law?
The emperor really dared to let his uncle call him uncle, but in 1539 Hengba was broken by the church, so he had to give up. Later, Kritis remarried in 1541, continuing the family bloodline when her sister had no heirs.
Mary was a proponent of religious tolerance, but the emperor said that if anyone converted to Protestant Lutheranism, then his parents, wife, children, and siblings would be his worst enemies.
Mary was forced to carry out her brother's will to suppress the Protestants, while at the same time protecting them in her power. This creates conflict between siblings.
In 1534, Mary complained about financial difficulties in peacetime, and the emperor reassured her, "You have done your best." In the same year, Mary quoted the emperor's words and called for mutual help and joint defense in all parts of her rule. But because the empire and the emperor's new brother-in-law, King François I of France, did not negotiate, it did not work.
Mary often told her brother that the Netherlands needed peace. But the emperor always disagreed, and as a result, Metz was snatched away by France. When Mary was forced to wage war against France in 1537, she complained to her brother that the lowlands were not easy to govern, so you might as well come and do it yourself.
Even though she had in fact solved the problem with a cool head, she signed a treaty with the King of France, who promised not to help her enemies, and she promised to compensate the French nobles who had lost their land in the Lowlands during the Italian War.
Between 1538 and 1540, Marie had to deal with the Ghent Rebellion. After the rebellion was suppressed, the emperor gave Mary a new term.
Margaret is flexible and charismatic, and she doesn't move when she can be peaceful, but young Mary is iron-fisted, rarely forgiving others and forgetting hatred, and knows that she lives like a woman. The Emperor was pleased with her performance, so he let her stay for a few more years, giving her more power than her aunt, but Mary did not enjoy such a role as much as her aunt.
Mary also pressured the creation of a common Dutch fleet against Scottish privateers who were robbing merchants. Together with the Burgundian Admiral Maximilian and the Councillor Cornelius de Schauppe, she professionalized the maritime policy of the Low Countries between 1550 and 1555, and although the two men were close to each other, the trio was able to complete their mission. The world has seen that Mary is energetic and practical.
In 1555, the emperor abdicated the throne to his brother Ferdinand, the Spanish throne to his son Felipe, and the lowlands to Felipe. Ferdinand expressed his displeasure, and Mary also said that she wanted to resign. The old emperor's father and son were retained, but Mary still insisted. She stresses the difficulties she encountered: her gender, which she could not do on her own because of her disagreement with her brother, had been governor for 24 years, was 50 years old (exactly the same age Margaret had died), and was no longer the girl she had been. It was okay to accommodate her brother before, she didn't want to move to her eldest nephew who had already been disagreeable many times in the future. She also asked to leave the Netherlands after her resignation to avoid further involvement in the dispute.
The old emperor finally agreed, and Mary officially announced her departure from office, and disbanded the team, handing over power to Felipe. Although he was dissatisfied with his aunt, Felipe tried to persuade her to stay in office. Later, a dispute broke out between her aunt and nephew, and Marie retired in Tillenhout, Belgium, and spent another year in the Netherlands after leaving office.
Felipe chose Emanuele "Iron Head", Duke of Savoy, son of his aunt and cousin Princess Beatrice of Portugal, his own cousin and nephew of Marguerite's late husband.
In her later years, Mary wanted to spend her retirement in Castile, her mother's house, with her eldest widowed sister and the old emperor, who was also retired. She was afraid that she had never been to the country of Qatar, and in case her eldest sister died, it would be difficult for her to even follow the customs, so she made a plan to return to the Netherlands, and finally took a boat from Gent with her brother and sister.
The year 1555 was a fitting year, as earlier in the year the mother, Queen Juana of Spain, who had in fact been imprisoned in a convent, had just died.
After Felipe ascended the throne as King Felipe II of Spain, he was sometimes regent by his sister, the Portuguese widowed Dauphin Juana. Although Mary repeatedly expressed her lack of interest in state affairs, she offered to share her niece's worries. Unwilling to share power, Juana refused.
In 1558, Mary's fears came true, and the eldest sister died in her arms. She sadly asked her brother what to do in the future, and the old emperor persuaded her to go back to the mountains to be regent of the Netherlands, promising her a large income. Mary refuses, but Fei Er convinces her through her advisor.
After the old emperor became seriously ill, Mary finally agreed to make a comeback and was ready to do so. But her heart was already bad, she had many episodes, and sometimes even suspected by doctors that she had died. With the death of the old emperor, Mary suffered another heart break because of another loss of siblings, and even when her niece Juana visited, she wanted to keep her promise to return to the Netherlands, but her health did not allow it, and she finally died in Cigales.
Originally, Mary was alone, and her will gave everything to the old emperor. Now that the old emperor has taken the first step, Fei Er has inherited everything. On her deathbed, Mary announced that the will would be executed by brother and sister Fei Er and Juana, and that the heart-shaped gold medallion that her deceased husband had once worn would be melted into gold and distributed to the poor.
Mary was first buried in the convent of San Benedict in Valladolid, and 15 years later she was reburied in the monastery of El Escorial.
Like her aunt, Mary was a keen art collector. She has several important masterpieces of early Dutch painting as well as more contemporary works, and also sponsors literature, music, hunting.
History proves that Mary was a strong-willed and skilful politician.
In 1559, due to the peace treaty between Spain and France, Sagong restored the fiefdom that had been taken away by France, and Fei Er also set off from the Netherlands to Spain. Now that Sagong has returned to the fiefdom, the Dutch governor has to rearrange it.
Fei Er learned from the example of his ancestors, and arranged for his own people from the Ha family, even women.
But will each of the female governors of the Ha family be able to complete their tasks successfully?