Mary of Burgundy, Sovereign Duchess regnant of Burgundy, married to Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1482)
Mary of Burgundy (French: Marie de Bourgogne; Dutch: Maria van Bourgondië; 13 February 1457 – 27 March 1482), nicknamed the Rich, titular Duchess of Burgundy, reigned over the Burgundian State, now mainly in France—with the exception of the Duchy of Burgundy returned to the Kingdom of France (1477)—and the Low Countries, from 1477 until her death in a riding accident at the age of 25.
As the only child of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, and his wife Isabella of Bourbon, she inherited the Burgundian lands at the age of 19 upon the death of her father in the Battle of Nancy on 5 January 1477. She spent most of her reign defending her birthright; in order to counter the appetite of the French king Louis XI for her lands, she married Maximilian of Habsburg, who became Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I long after her death. The marriage kept large parts of the Burgundian lands from disintegration, but also a change of dynasty from the Valois to the Habsburg (the Duchy of Burgundy itself became a French possession). This was a turning point in European politics, leading to a French–Habsburg rivalry that would endure for centuries.