Lecture 1 - Dynastic Manoeuvres: Burgundy & Spain fall into Habsburg Hands

A dynasty of Alpine feudal Counts, the Habsburgs played a long and canny game, increasing their territorial reach through a series of dynastic marriages, not least that arranged between Maximillian of Habsburg and Mary, the heiress to Charles, Duke of Burgundy (his portrait seen above). When the Burgundian male line failed, it was this marriage which gave the Habsburgs eventual control of the so-called "Low Countries". Even more spectacular was the marriage arranged between their son, Philip the Handsome and Joanna, daughter of Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon. Their son, Charles, would not only inherit Austria and Burgundy, but also Spain and various Italian territories, while he would also succeed his grandfather, Maximillian, as the elected Holy Roman Emperor - all within three generations!

This dizzying series of alliances is best introduced against the spectacular cultural achievements of Flanders in the fifteenth century. Bruges and Brussels were the great centres of power, the one based on trade, the other as the governing seat of the Dukes of Burgundy. Flemish painting of the time was dominated by the parallel careers of the Van Eyck family workshop and the more austere style of Rogier van der Weyden, their different approaches to the presentation of sacred narrative hugely influential as far away as Italy and Spain. Equally influential was the ultimate luxury craft of the age, tapestry weaving, the 'must have' interior decorative treatment of early modern Europe.