Margaret Of Austria, daughter of Maximilian I., emperor of Germany, and of Mary of Burgundy, born in the Low Countries, Jan. 10, 1480, died there, Dec. 1, 1530. Before she was three years old she was, by the treaty of Arras, concluded between her father and Louis XL of France, affianced to the dauphin, with a large territorial dowry. To prepare her for her future station, she was educated at the French court; but Charles VIII. broke the contract, and returned her to her father, in order that he might wed Anne of Brittany, whom Maximilian himself was seeking in marriage. This gross insult, which happened in 1491, was never forgiven by the house of Austria. In 1495 a treaty of alliance was made between Maximilian and Ferdinand and Isabella, one of the terms of which was that John, prince of the Asturias, and heir apparent of the Spanish sovereigns, should marry Margaret. Sailing for Spain in winter, the weather was so stormy that many of the vessels composing the fleet were wrecked, and that which bore the princess was in great danger of being lost; but she was so cool that she wrote her own epitaph:

"Ci gist Marpot. la gentil' damoiselle Qu'a deux maris, et encore est pucelle".

Landing in Spain in March, 1497, Margaret was married to Prince John on April 3. Their union was of brief endurance, as John died of fever on Oct. 4. In a few months Margaret gave birth to a still-born child, and in 1499 she returned to the Netherlands.. In 1501 she married Philibert the Fair, duke of Savoy, who died without issue in 1504. On the death of her brother Philip in 1506, she was made regent of the Netherlands by her father, and superintendent of the education of her nephew, the future emperor Charles V., and his sister Mary. She was an able ruler, and was concerned in some of the principal negotiations of that time, proving herself a vindictive enemy of France, and a zealous servant of the house of Austria. In connection with Louis of Savoy, mother of the king of France, she negotiated the treaty of Cambray, in 1529, be-tween Francis I. and Charles V., which was called the "ladies' peace," the terms of which were most humiliating to the French. Throughout her life she showed a fondness for literary pursuits, and wrote well in prose and verse.