Regent of the Netherlands; married Alessandro de Medici, duke of Florence (1536—1537), and Ottavio Farnese (1538—1586), duke of Parma and Piacenza
Margaret of Parma was born in Oudernaarde, Flanders, the natural daughter of Charles V, Holy Roman emperor and king of Spain (1519—1556), and Johanna von der Gheenst, a servant. Like her bastard half brother John of Austria, Margaret was legitimized by her father. Her childhood was spent at the Habsburg
Margaret of Parma, daughter of Emperor Charles V and regent of the Netherlands. Portrait by unknown artist. (Library of Congress)
Court in Mechelen under the supervision of her namesake, Charles’s aunt Margaret of Austria, regent of the Netherlands (1507—1515 and 1518—1530). With Margaret’s death, she came under the care of her aunt, Mary of Hungary, who succeeded her guardian as regent of the Netherlands (1531—1555).
In 1530 Charles V helped Pope Clement VII restore the Medici family at Florence, naming Alessandro de’ Medici (b. 1510/ 1511—1537) the first hereditary duke of the city (1532—1537). Alessandro, an illegitimate child himself, was betrothed to Margaret, then only eight years of age. They were married in 1536, when Margaret was fourteen, but Alessandro was murdered a year later. In 1538 she married again, this time to Ottavio Farnese (1521—1586), then duke of Camerino. He was the son of Pier Luigi Farnese and Girolama Orsini, and a grandson of Pope Paul III. In 1546 Pier Luigi became duke of Parma and Piacenza but was murdered the following year. Ottavio claimed his father’s inheritance, obtaining the restitution of the duchy of Parma from Giulio III in 1550 and that of Piacenza from Margaret’s half brother, Philip II of Spain (1556—1598), in 1556, thanks to the intervention of Henry II of France.
In 1556 Margaret and Ottavio returned to the Netherlands. Here, like her aunt and great-aunt before her, she was made regent (or “governess”). She served from 1559 to 1567, but Philip II reserved most of the executive power for himself. At this time the Spanish empire, over which “the sun never set,” included Spain and its American colonies, Portugal and its colonies, the duchy of Milan, the kingdoms of Naples and Sicily, the Netherlands, the Franche-Comte, and the Philippines. As regent, Margaret was supported by three institutions created in 1531: a council of state (for foreign and domestic policy), a council of finance (for economic affairs), and a privy council (for judicial matters); she also counted on the advice of the respected if unpopular Bishop Antoine Perrenot of Arras (later Cardinal Granvelle) and several close Spanish advisors.
The regency of the Netherlands was to prove a most difficult task because of growing discontent with Spanish rule. Many Dutch were opposed to the prospect of the Low Countries becoming a mere Spanish colony, and linked to this was the growing popularity of Calvinism, which set large sectors of the local population against the Catholicism of their ruler, Philip II. Hence, between 1565 and 1568 Margaret was confronted with the beginning of the Dutch Revolt for Independence, which would in time become a key factor in the collapse of Spain as a global power. Several problems contributed to make Margaret’s task of governing difficult: the proposal to augment the number of bishoprics in the Netherlands from four to fourteen and to establish the archbishop of Mechelen as primate, the project to introduce an Inquisition to combat Protestantism, and the presence of Spanish troops, who being irregularly paid were prone to bouts of mutinous looting. Most serious, an increasingly active struggle for independence pitted Dutch nobles, like William of Nassau, prince of Orange, the count of Egmont, and the duke of Aerschot, against Philip II and his representatives.
In the summer of 1556 Margaret was confronted by a revolt of the lower nobility, which was accompanied by rioting in the streets. In an attempt to settle the situation, in 1567 Philip II decided to act against those responsible and sent an army under the command of his most reputable general, Fernando Alvarez de Toledo, duke of Alba, who was appointed captain-general of the Netherlands. Margaret opposed the duke’s aggressively repressive policies, which included the implementation of the Inquisition and the establishment of a Council of Troubles (known to the Dutch as the Council of Blood) to restore order. But, unable to restrain the captain, Margaret resigned her position as regent and returned to Italy that same year, leaving the duke of Alba as her successor.
Margaret’s role in the Netherlands provides a further example of the participation of women in formal politics during the Renaissance. The ultimate failure of her mission was due to the difficulty of the assignment and the nature of the Spanish empire and the crises it faced, rather than any lack of ability on her part. Margaret had one son, Alessandro Far-nese, who was raised at the court of Philip II and went on to become a well-reputed soldier before being appointed regent of the Netherlands (1578—1592) in a subsequent period of the Dutch Revolt. At this time Margaret returned to the Netherlands to assist her son for a short while until, because of their differences of opinion, she returned to Italy in 1583. Margaret died at Ortona in 1586.
Nuria Silleras-Fernandez
See also Forteguerri, Laudomia; Power, Politics, and Women.
Bibliography
Primary Work
Thiessen, J. S., and Enno van Gelder, H. A., eds.
Correspondence franyaise de Marguerite d’Austriche, duchesse de Parme, avec Philipe II. 3 vols. Utrech: 1925-1942.
Secondary Works
Dumont, Georges Henri. Marguerite de Parme: Ba-tarde de Charles Quint (1522—1586). Brussels:
Le Cri Editions, 1999.
Lefevre, Renato. “Madama” Margarita d’Austria (1522—1586). Rome: Newton Compton,
1986.
Martini, Silvia, ed. Margherita d’Austria
(1522—1586): costruzioni politiche e diplomazia, tra corte Farnese e monarchia spagnola. Rome: Bulzoni, 2003.
Parker, Geoffrey. The Dutch Revolt. New York and London: Penguin, 1990.
Puaux, Anne. Madama, fille de Charles Quint: regente des Pays-Bas. Paris: Payot, 1987.
World History
