Maria of Austria, Holy Roman Empress (1528-1603): Dynastic Networker

Maria of Austria was one of the longest surviving Renaissance Empresses but until now has received little attention by biographers. This book explores her life, actions, and management of domestic affairs, which became a feared example of how an Empress could control alternative spheres of power.

The volume traces the path of a Castilian orphan infanta, raised among her mother’s Portuguese ladies-in-waiting and who spent thirty years of marriage between the imperial courts of Prague and Vien...