Mary of Burgundy – Bruges, Belgium
Posted by: 
dtrebilc
N 51° 12.538 E 003° 13.265
31U E 515443 N 5673086
This nicely carved statue of Mary, Duchess of Burgundy is situated in a quiet square away from the busy tourist areas of Bruges.
Waymark Code: WMFHVG
Location: West-Vlaanderen, Belgium
Date Posted: 10/23/2012
Views: 19
Mary of Burgundy
Mary was born on 13th February 1457 in Brussels and died aged only 25 on 27th March 1482 at Wijnendale Castle and was buried in Bruges. She was heiress presumptive to a vast and wealthy domain, made up of the Duchy of Burgundy, the Free County of Burgundy, and the majority of the Low Countries. As such many princes aspired to marry her, both as wealthy partner, but also as a way of expanding their territory.
After her father died in the Battle of Nancy on 5th January 1477, King Louis XI of France was especially keen for his son Charles to marry her, but she preferred remain part of the Netherlands. In order to do this she restored various rights and privileges to the towns of Flanders, Brabant,Hainaut, and Holland that had been abolished by the Dukes of Burgundy in 1470.
She married the Archduke Maximilian of Austria at Ghent on 18th August 1477. During their reign together there was a period of peace with no French aggression. They both liked to hunt but whilst out falconing her horse tripped, threw her off and then fell on her and broke her back, an injury she did not survive.
After this untimely death only 5 years since they were married, King Louis forced Maximilian to agree to the treaty of Arras and Franche-Comte and Artois passed to French Rule. See this
Wikipedia site for further details.
The Statue
This smaller than life size bronze sculpture was sculpted by the Belgian sculptor Jules Lagae in 1901. It is titled ‘Flandria Nostra’ and was unveiled on this site on 8th July 1987 by Frank Van Acker, Mayor and Minister of State.
It is located in Muntplein a small tree lined peaceful square, in front of the Stedelijk music conservatory.
She is portrayed wearing her Duchess’s robes and on one side she has a shield bearing a lion. Mary had a total of 14 separate titles and a number of them had coats of arms bearing lions. I suspect this lion is taken from her title of
Countess of Flanders.