85: The Great Privilege: Mary of Burgundy and the Crisis of 1477

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Phillipe de Commynes, Memoirs, c. 1494
“These tumultuous citizens forced the young princess to restore and confirm their ancient privileges, which Duke Philip had taken away in the peace of Gavre, and also those that Duke Charles had deprived them of afterwards. They made no other use of their privileges, but as a cause of quarrel with their prince, and their chief inclination was to encroach upon and weaken him.”



January 5th, 1477. The Battle of Nancy.

Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, dies when his skull is split open by a Swiss halberd. He's trying to rally his troops as the relief army—20,000 strong—overwhelms his exhausted forces outside Nancy's walls. The Burgundian army collapses. Charles, surrounded, goes down fighting.

Two days later, searchers comb the frozen battlefield for their duke's body. They find a naked corpse in a pond, half-eaten by wolves, the face torn beyond recognition. Only the duke's physician and valet can identify him—by scars they'd seen on his living body.

Charles was 43 years old. 

He leaves a 19-year-old daughter named Mary. French King Louis XI orders his armies to invade the Burgundian lands within days. In three weeks, Mary must decide: revolutionary concessions to her people or lose everything.

To understand what Mary inherited—and why it fell apart so fast—we need to understand what the Burgundian state really was.

On June 19, 1369, Philip the Bold married Margaret of Flanders at Ghent. Philip—younger brother of French King Charles V and newly made Duke of Burgundy—had just secured one of Europe's great heiresses.

This wasn't a love match. It was strategic politics. The French crown wanted control of Flanders—one of Europe's most valuable territories. And Margaret was the heiress.

Her contribution to the marriage was exceptional—the County of Flanders and its thriving cloth industry. Key cities like Ghent, with 64,000 inhabitants, and Bruges, with 46,000, are among the largest north of Paris. Plus Artois, Franche-Comté, Antwerp, and Mechelen. Together, these territories created more wealth than Philip's Duchy of Burgundy could ever achieve.

No one expected this to create a state rivaling kingdoms. But that's precisely what occurred.

Louis of Male dies in 1384, and Philip and Margaret inherit Flanders. Over the next eighty years, Burgundian dukes continue to add territories: Brabant in 1404, Namur in 1421, Hainault (hay-naa), Holland, and Zeeland in 1428, and Luxembourg in 1451. By the time of Philip the Good's death in 1467, he governed eighteen principalities forming a territorial complex from the Swiss border to the North Sea.

Contemporaries called these lands les terres de promission—the promised lands. The chronicler Philippe de Commynes wrote that nowhere else on earth offered such wealth.

He wasn't exaggerating. The 2.5 million population was Europe's densest outside northern Italy, with only two farmers per city resident, compared with three or four elsewhere. Bruges had become the hub of international trade between northern and southern Europe. The wealth came from textiles, luxury goods, Baltic trade, and Italian banking. These were the wealthiest regions in northern Europe.

But—and this is crucial—the Burgundian state was split in two.

The northern territories—Holland and Zeeland—were Dutch-speaking, maritime, and fiercely independent. The southern regions of Flanders and Brabant formed the true center of power. Brussels became the capital in 1451. The court, nobility, and cultural patronage all concentrated in the south. French served as the administrative language, which suited Flemings and Brabanters, who had centuries of experience with it, but alienated northerners.

As historian Jonathan Israel notes, the Burgundian Netherlands remained "essentially a duality, with north and south scarcely less fundamentally divided politically and economically than in the past."

So what kept this together?

Not shared identity. People identified with their town or county, not "Burgundy." 

Not unified institutions. Each territory had its own laws, customs, and privileges.

What united them was the duke himself—his personal authority, the splendor of the Burgundian court, and a system of negotiated governance.

The duke's wealth came with conditions. The Estates of each territory had to consent to special taxes called "aids." In return for financial support, those Estates negotiated concessions.

Three territories accounted for three-quarters of all revenue: Flanders, Holland-Zeeland, and Brabant-Limburg. All maritime and heavily urbanized. Their cities—especially Ghent and Bruges—fiercely defended their autonomy.

Constant tension. The cities were strong enough to rebel but not powerful enough to overthrow ducal authority completely.

The system worked through negotiation. As Commynes wrote, subjects lived "in great wealth, thanks to the long peace they had known and to the goodness of their ruler, who imposed few taxes upon them."

Then, in 1467, Charles the Bold inherited the duchy and disrupted the balance.

Charles was excluded from government from the ages of 24 to 40 due to court politics. When he finally seized power, he dreamed of creating a unified, centralized state. His goal: earn a royal crown and build a kingdom.

And he pursued it with deadly seriousness.

He established the Parlement of Mechelen in 1473—a supreme court that superseded local jurisdictions, violating centuries-old privileges. He assembled a modern standing army of 8,000 troops. He moved to standardize administration across all territories.

To pay for it all? He tripled taxes.

In Flanders, taxes rose from 78,500 pounds annually to 223,500, peaking at 443,000 in 1475—almost six times the usual levels. Holland's tax burden tripled. Cities borrowed so heavily they couldn't pay off the debt "until well into the sixteenth century."

Subjects documented specific grievances: which toll collectors demanded excessive fees, which secretaries issued acts for bribes, and which offices were sold for exploitation. Everyone knew exactly who was responsible.

Charles wanted a crown. In 1473, he negotiated with Emperor Frederick III at Trier for coronation as King of Lotharingia. The cathedral was prepared. Charles arrived with 15,000 men, displaying enormous wealth. Frederick fled before dawn on coronation day.

No crown through diplomacy meant Charles turned to conquest.

He besieged the small Rhineland city of Neuss for an entire year—July 1474 to May 1475—achieving nothing. The failure cost him his English alliance and damaged his reputation.

In 1476, obsessed and increasingly erratic, he fought the Swiss. Routed at Grandson in March. Defeated at Murten in June, losing his entire supply train and treasure.

He spent only twenty days with his wife over the past three years. His administrative staff lived in constant fear of his rages. One counselor warned: "All of your past glory may be reversed and return to a dream."

Charles silenced him.

Winter 1476-77 found Charles besieging Nancy in brutal conditions, ignoring warnings of an approaching 20,000-man relief force. The Swiss had a saying: "Charles the Bold lost his goods at Grandson, his bravery at Morat, and his blood at Nancy."

Three weeks after the battle, on January 24th, Charles's death is officially announced to the court at Ghent.

The disaster is comprehensive.

The treasury is empty. The army was destroyed. Experienced commanders were either dead or defected to France. Louis XI claimed the Duchy of Burgundy as a reverted French fief. French forces are invading Picardy and Artois. Liège and Guelders have declared independence.

Mary—19 years old, unmarried, inexperienced—needs the Estates-General to recognize her as successor. She needs money to raise an army. She needs everything.

And she has no leverage at all. The Flemish cities know it.

In late January, Mary calls together the Estates-General in Ghent.

The Estates have demands: a long list of grievances about Charles's policies, his violations of privileges, his corrupt officials, and his excessive taxation. Mary and her counselors have no choice but to negotiate.

After just one week, on February 11th, Mary signs the Great Privilege.

Twenty articles published in Dutch, not French—a symbolic break from Charles's policies. The Great Privilege systematically dismantles everything Charles built.

It abolishes the central institutions at Mechelen—the Parlement and Chambers of Accounts—Charles’s signature achievements.

It creates a new Great Council with representatives from all territories. It gives the Estates-General the right to convene freely without ducal permission. Most crucially, it requires the Estates’ consent before any declaration of war or the imposition of new taxes.

Local languages must be used in administration. Local customs and privileges must be respected. Free trade is guaranteed.

And the most revolutionary clause: "If the duke or officials violated this privilege, subjects are released from all obligation to render service."

A clear right to resist.

Individual territories extract even more. Holland insists on excluding "strangers"—especially Flemings and Brabanters—from administrative offices. They require Dutch, not French, in all administration. As Jonathan Israel notes: "Holland's 1477 revolt was simultaneously a reaction against Burgundian rule AND against Flanders and Brabant."

But the privileges aren't enough for everyone.

Spring 1477 sees riots across the territories despite the Great Privilege. Widespread anger surpasses what the elite negotiators gained. The privileges addressed elite grievances but didn't immediately ease the suffering of ordinary people crushed by Charles's taxes.

And Ghent demands blood.

Ghent was violently suppressed in 1453 and again in 1468-69. Charles dismantled the city's constitutional charter, closed its gates, removed guild banners, and executed or exiled its leaders. The same social networks waited decades for revenge.

On February 15th, despite securing the privilege, the craft guilds strike and occupy Friday Market Square. They publicly destroy the hated documents: the Treaty of Gavere, the Ghent Restriction, and the Abolition.

Days later, new city boards are elected—twenty of the twenty-six aldermen from craft guilds.

The executions begin. From March 13th to 17th, a series of former burgomasters and aldermen are executed for "poor policies carried out in Ghent for many years." Many had helped suppress previous Ghent revolts. Three had personally composed and signed the hated Ghent Restriction.

They're held accountable for Charles's fiscal policies. Ghent is settling scores.

Among those arrested are Guillaume Hugonet, Charles's chancellor, and Guy de Brimeu, governor of Liège and stadtholder of Luxembourg—two of the highest officials in the Burgundian state.

Mary begs for their lives. So does her stepmother, Margaret of York. Ghent refuses. They're executed publicly on April 3rd, Holy Thursday, while the crowd cheers.

Mary has no choice but to legitimize it. She needs Ghent's military support against France. On March 18th and April 4th, she issued letters of remission—pardons—describing the executions as a search for "right and justice."

Meanwhile, Bruges remains more restrained yet revolutionary. The craft guilds strike, forcing their way into the Belfry to inspect the city's privileges. By March 30th, they secured a charter granting them formal political representation.

On May 16th, as the militia prepares to march against France, radicals arrest and torture sixteen former officials.

Jan Barbesaen—former burgomaster—is tortured, confesses to corruption, and is executed that same evening despite protests from Mary's chief advisor and Barbesaen's own daughters.

Three other former leaders are tortured the following day. They can buy their freedom by paying hefty fines, but first must beg forgiveness in their underclothes in the market square before the crowds—public humiliation as revolutionary spectacle.

In Bruges, 69 percent of the new aldermen—eighteen of twenty-six—had never held city office before. Charles's men are entirely excluded.

The revolution is complete.

Seven months after her father's death, Mary married Maximilian of Habsburg at Ghent. For Mary, as one historian puts it, she "had no choice but to accept the deal."

She needs military protection from Louis XI and the legitimacy of the Habsburg connection. The betrothal was negotiated four years earlier, and circumstances now make it a political necessity.

Maximilian is eager, nearly eighteen, and seen as a young warrior ready to defend the wealthy Burgundian territories. This marriage gives the Habsburgs control over northern Europe's most valuable lands—all without Frederick having to grant Charles the imperial crown he wanted.

Incredible luck for the Habsburgs. Charles's military failure transformed a deadlocked diplomatic negotiation into an urgent political necessity. The cost? Simply allowing Maximilian to marry Mary.

Ghent lines the streets, cheering. A sign at the city gate proclaims: "You are our duke, our military strength for battle; all that you tell us, we will do."

The marriage itself will be happy.  Mary would bear three children—Philip, Margaret, and another son who dies in infancy. Mary is well-educated, interested in the arts, personally devout, and an excellent rider. Maximilian is capable, courageous, and a skilled military commander.

But there's a fundamental problem.

Maximilian was raised in the Habsburg imperial court. He has, as one historian describes it, "sovereign contempt for all those outside the nobility and the church." He simply cannot understand urban politics in the Low Countries.

The Habsburg strategy focuses on expanding dynastic power—what they called Hausmacht—through land acquisition and autocratic rule. It's what his father, Frederick, does in Austria. It's what the Habsburgs have always done.

An Austrian prince committed to expanding Habsburg power directly conflicts with a federal state built to restrict sovereign authority.

The Estates who chose him believed that his distance from the Low Countries would mean less interference. They fundamentally misunderstood what they were getting.

The marriage contract tries to protect against this, preventing Maximilian from inheriting Mary's lands if she dies without children. The cities want to "create an independent dynasty whose rule they could control"—not be absorbed into Habsburg domains.

But Maximilian has very different ideas about sovereignty. He cares, as the sources say, "not a fig" for urban privileges.

October 1477—just two months after the wedding—he issues the "New Ordinances for Financial Administration" to bypass privilege restrictions.

Within two years, he's tightening his grip on the bureaucracy, building military power, and removing privilege requirements wherever possible.

He appoints Jean Carandolet as chancellor—a man specifically rejected in 1477 for not speaking Dutch. He uses office appointments to build a loyal faction among the nobles of Bruges. He disregards the Great Privilege, replacing Holland's stadtholder with his own man.

Despite the constitutional reforms, the war with France still requires heavy taxes—far heavier than in Charles's last years.

The cities have exchanged Charles's tyranny for Maximilian's costly wars.

Summer 1481 sees Bruges and Ghent working together to address grain prices and defense, excluding the court entirely. Ghent invites a French representative to negotiate peace. To Maximilian, this is treason.

September brings a complete overhaul of Bruges's city councils. Maximilian's supporters are installed. Willem Moreel—Bruges's superintendent of finances—and two other leaders are imprisoned on Maximilian's orders, charged with corruption and accused of ruling in their personal interest.

October 1481 brings an assassination that ends all hope of reconciliation.

Jan van Dadizeele (DAH-dee-say-luh)—Ghent's bailiff, commander of Flemish troops, popular with the cities for actually consulting them on military strategy—is attacked in Antwerp by hired assassins. He dies on October 20th.

A Brabantine nobleman named Philip of Heurne allegedly paid the assassins. Ghent exiles Philip, despite having no legal authority to do so. 

At year's end, Maximilian requests a significant new aid. Ghent refuses and blocks their entire quarter from attending the meeting.

Maximilian pardons Philip of Heurne (HOORN-uh) in the spring of 1482. The Great Council cancels Ghent's exile order. Ghent responds by distributing a notarial letter throughout the county, condemning the court's blatant violations of its privileges. On March 15th, Ghent doubles down—exiling Philip a second time and adding two more names: ducal officials who helped distribute Philip's defensive pamphlet and carried the duke's seal to nullify Ghent's actions.

Complete deadlock. Maximilian has "lost considerable authority and symbolic capital." Subjects "no longer see him as capable of solving political problems."

Then the unthinkable happens.

Mary goes falcon-hunting near Wijnendaele (Veen-en-dale), outside Bruges. An excellent rider, she's somehow thrown from her horse and crushed beneath it, sustaining internal injuries. She's carried back to Bruges in a litter and lingers for days.

March 27th, 1482. Mary dies at twenty-five.

She leaves behind her four-year-old son, Philip, and Maximilian as regent.

The very next day, a Ghent delegation arrives in Bruges. They promise to be "good and loyal subjects"—but only "if privileges are respected."

Conditional loyalty. The personal tie to Mary is broken.

Moreel and the other imprisoned Bruges leaders are released. Maximilian clears them of all charges, effectively overturning the trial. New city councils are elected in Bruges. The Moreel faction is back in power.

All of Maximilian's political successes from the last six months have been nullified.

Mary of Burgundy reigned for five years.

She created what became the first constitution of the Low Countries, but only because catastrophic weakness forced it. She bought recognition through revolutionary concessions. She watched her father's top officials being executed by angry crowds. She married for military protection—but her husband undermined everything she'd granted.

She died young, leaving her son under a foreign regent who despised her subjects' freedoms.

Yet the Great Privilege endured as a constitutional document.

When Philip II of Spain attempted to centralize control over the Netherlands in the 1560s and 1570s, rebels pointed to Mary's Great Privilege. The Dutch Republic that formed afterward embodied the federal principles established in 1477: consultation, consent, and the right of resistance.

The conflict between central authority and regional autonomy shaped the politics of the Low Countries for centuries.

All because of a frozen corpse outside Nancy in January 1477, and a young woman crushed beneath her horse five years later.

The decade following Mary's death was the Flemish Revolt. Ghent and Bruges formed regency councils excluding Maximilian. In January 1488, Bruges rebels captured Maximilian himself when he tried to seize power, holding him prisoner for months.

He would eventually escape, raise an army, and spend a decade conquering the Flemish cities. Ghent would surrender unconditionally in July 1492.

Our next episode explores Maximilian's struggles and the brief reign of his son, Philip the Handsome.

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