Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor

Maximilian married Mary of Burgundy in 1477 and gained a decisive interest in the Burgundian Netherlands. After Mary’s death he defended the inheritance of their children, Philip and Margaret. His proxy marriage to Anne of Brittany in 1490 was never consummated and was displaced by Anne’s marriage to Charles VIII of France.

He is a central figure in fiction about Habsburg expansion, the French–Breton crisis and the upbringing of Margaret of Austria. His dynastic strategy is often summarised through marriage alliances, although his reign also involved extensive warfare, imperial reform, patronage and financial difficulty.

Rozsa Gaston’s Anne and Charles places Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor within a narrative shaped by court politics and dynastic power, military command and battlefield decision-making, and family, marriage and personal loyalty.