Margaret of Austria (1480–1530)

Regent and governor of the Netherlands for Charles V from 1507–15 and from 1519–30. She was the daughter of Maximilian I and Mary of Burgundy. She extended Habsburg domination in the Netherlands and pursued a foreign policy favourable to England and hostile to France. She negotiated the Peace of Cambrai in 1529 with Louise of Savoy (who represented Francis I of France), known as the Paix des Dames (‘Ladies' Peace’).

She was also a noted patron of the arts. She employed the sculptor Konrad Meit of Worms and the painter Bernard van Orley and encouraged writers and scholars. The palace built for her at Malines (1507–26) combined Renaissance decoration with a basically Gothic structure.