Archduchess Mary of Austria, becomes queen of Hungary and Bohemia on the death of her father-in-law in 1516.

Born in Brussels on September 15, 1505, between ten and eleven in the morning, Mary was the fifth child of King Philip I and Queen Joanna of Castile.

Her birth was very difficult; the Queen's life was in danger and it took her a month to recover.

On September 20, she was baptized by Nicolas Le Ruistre, Bishop of Arras, and named after her paternal grandmother, Mary of Burgundy, who had died in 1482.

Her godfather is her paternal grandfather, Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I, who had promised, on March 17, 1506, to marry her to the first son born to King Vladislaus II of Hungary.

At the same time, the two monarchs decided that a brother of Mary would marry Vladislaus' daughter Anne.

Three months later, Vladislaus' wife, Anne of Foix-Candale, gave birth to a son, Louis Jagiellon.

Queen Anne died in childbirth and the royal physicians made great efforts to keep the sickly Louis alive.

After the death of Mary's father in September 1506, her mother's mental health had begun to deteriorate.

Mary, along with her brother, Archduke Charles, and her sisters, Archduchesses Eleanor and Isabella, had been put into the care of her paternal aunt, Archduchess Margaret, while two other siblings, Archduke Ferdinand and posthumously born Archduchess Catherine, remained in Castile.

Mary, Isabella, and Eleanor had been educated together at their aunt's court in Mechelen.

Their music teacher was Henry Bredemers.

Mary had been summoned to the court of her grandfather Maximilian in 1514.

On July 22, 1515, Mary and Louis had been married in St. Stephen's Cathedral, Vienna.

At the same time, Louis' sister Anne had been betrothed to an as yet unspecified brother of Mary, with Emperor Maximilian acting as proxy.

Due to their age, it was decided that the newly married couple would not live together for a few more years.

Anne had eventually married Mary's brother Ferdinand and had come to Vienna, where the double sisters-in-law are educated together until 1516, when the death of Mary's father-in-law makes Louis and Mary king and queen of Hungary and Bohemia.

Mary moves to Innsbruck, where she will be educated until 1521.

Maximilian encourages her interest in hunting, while childhood lessons prompt an interest in music.

This passion will later be demonstrated during her tenure as governor of the Netherlands.

Christian II, king of Denmark from 1513, is the son of King John and his wife, Christina of Saxony.

He was born at Nyborg Castle in 1481 and succeeded his father as king of Denmark and Norway.

Christian descends, through Valdemar I of Sweden, from the House of Eric, and from Catherine, daughter of Inge I of Sweden, as well as from Ingrid Ylva, granddaughter of Sverker I of Sweden.

His soon-to-be rival Gustav Vasa descends only from Sverker II of Sweden and the House of Sverker.

Christian, who had taken part in his father's conquest of Sweden in 1497 and in the fighting of 1501 when Sweden revolted, had been appointed viceroy of Norway in 1506, and had succeeded in maintaining control of this country.

Christian's succession to the throne of Denmark and Norway had been confirmed at the Herredag assembly of notables from the three northern kingdoms, which met at Copenhagen in 1513.

The Swedish delegates said, "We have the choice between peace at home and strife here, or peace here and civil war at home, and we prefer the former."

A decision as to the Swedish succession had therefore been postponed.

A peculiarity, more fatal to him in this aristocratic age than any other, is his fondness for the common people, which had been increased by his passion for a pretty Norwegian girl of Dutch heritage, named Dyveke Sigbritsdatter, who had become his mistress in 1507 or 1509.

On August 12, 1515, Christian had married Isabella of Austria, the granddaughter of Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I, but he had not given up his liaison with Dyveke, and it is only her death in 1517, under suspicious circumstances, that prevents serious complications with Charles of Habsburg.

Christian believes that the magnate Torben Oxe is guilty of Sigbritsdatter's death.

Oxe is brought to trial at Solbjerg outside Copenhagen in what amounts to a justice-of-the-peace court on vague offenses against his liege lord, Christian II.

The verdict as directed by the king is guilty and the death sentence imposed with the comment, 'your deeds not your words have condemned you'.

Over the strenuous opposition of Oxe's fellow peers, he is executed in late 1517.

Hereafter, the king will lose no opportunity to suppress the nobility and raise commoners to power.

Christian’s chief counselor is Dyveke's mother Sigbrit Willoms, who excels in administrative and commercial affairs.

Christian had first appointed her controller of the Sound Dues of Øresund, and has ultimately committed to her the whole charge of the finances.

A bourgeois herself, it is Sigbrit's constant policy to elevate and extend the influence of the middle classes.

She had soon formed a middle-class inner council centering on her, which competes for power with Rigsraadet itself.

The patricians naturally resent their supersession and nearly every unpopular measure is attributed to the influence of the Dutch comptroller.

Christian was meanwhile preparing for the inevitable war with Sweden, where …

…the patriotic party, headed by the regent Sten Sture the Younger, stands face to face with the pro-Danish party under Archbishop Gustav Trolle.

Christian, who had already taken measures to isolate Sweden politically, hastens to the relief of the archbishop, who is besieged in his fortress of Stäket, but is defeated by Sture and his peasant levies at Vedila and forced to return to Denmark.