18 September – Plain yet powerful

Maria of Hungary was born on 18 (though some sources give the 17th or 15th) September 1505. She was the daughter of Philip the Handsome and Joanna of Castile, and the younger sister of Emperor Charles V and Ferdinand I. Philip died only a year later, and as Joanna’s mental state was under constant question, Maria and most of her siblings were raised by their paternal aunt, Margaret, Governess of the Netherlands. The children received a brilliant humanist education.

While still underage, Maria was married to Louis (Lajos) II of Hungary, from whom she later received the epithet of Hungary by which she is known in history. The marriage ended abruptly with Louis’s death at the Battle of Mohács in 1526. Childless, Maria remained in her new country to support her brother Ferdinand’s claim to the Hungarian throne and his struggle against the Ottomans. She proved a capable and talented regent, so much so that in 1530, after Aunt Margaret’s death, Charles V invited her to take over the governance of the Netherlands — a post she held with distinction for the next twenty-five years.

Contemporaries described Maria as neither pretty nor conventionally feminine, but nevertheless charming and pleasant thanks to her common sense and keen instinct for justice. Some labelled her “mannish” for her logical mind and direct manner of speech, perhaps also for her refusal to exploit traditional feminine graces. Her portraits reveal a strong, determined personality, well-versed — if at times disillusioned — in the Realpolitik of her age.