The Court of Cambrai, the "Eton of the renaissance"

After the death of her husband Charles the Bold in 1477, Margaret of York
settled her court in Mechelen. Mechelen was the richest city of her widowhood.
Later the palace was called the Imperial Court because princes and
princesses stayed here, as well as the later Emperor Charles V.

👀  Margaret of York

Edward IV, King of England, married his sister Margaret to Charles the Bold,
Duke of Burgundy. That's a good thing, because he just became a widower. 

👉 She also was the sister of King Richard III of England.

Eduard also sees value in it, because he has a rich ally against France.
Charles has a daughter from his previous marriage: Mary of Burgundy.
She was just eleven years old when Margareta became her stepmother.
The two get along well.

Margaret of York

Source picture: Wikipedia

💥 More history 💥

In 1477, the city of Mechelen bought a patrician house along the
Keizerstraat from John of Burgundy, Bishop of Kamerijk and
prepared the site for expansion by purchasing eight houses in
the Keizerstraat, which were demolished. 

The purchase was registered in the Goedenisboek on November 14.
The city did not acquire only a plot between Keizerstraat, Blokstraat,
Voldersheergracht and the city wall, owned by the Sint-Jansparochie. 

Margaretha had the bishop's existing home expanded considerably.
Antoon I Keldermans, master mason of the city, supervised the site. 

The palace included a courtyard of honour, a garden, a council chamber
that she had built parallel to Keizerstraat, stables, a handball court,
a shooting range and a bathing facility.

After the death of Mary of Burgundy during a falcon hunt in 1482,
daughter of Charles the Bold and stepdaughter of Margaret of York,
her son Philip the Fair grew up here. He also stayed here for a short
time after his marriage to Johanna the Mad.

After the death of Margaret of York in 1503, the court moved to Leuven.
They moved into an old castle on the Keizersberg, which in 2015
was a Benedictine monastery. 

When Philip and Johanna sailed from Middelburg to Spain in 1505,
the children were allowed to return to the Keizershof in Mechelen.

At the royal court in Mechelen

source picture: Wikipedia

💥 Royal children in Mechelen 💥

Philip and Johanna also chose this place for their children Eleonora,
Charles, Isabella and Maria. Mechelen was a quieter city than Bruges
and Ghent, far from the affairs of state in Brussels. 

The children had a court of forty people, including nurses and cradles
who played a major role in their early years. 

Charles maintained a bond with one of them, Barbara Servels,
throughout her life. The purchase of ABC books for the children
is noted on invoices. 

Charles and Eleonara received a clavichord and Isabella a doll's bed.
After the death of Margaret of York, Margaret of Austria took over
the care of the children. 

Emperor Charles V grew up in Mechelen
Source picture: Wikipedia

She took the children to all kinds of activities in the city such as fairs,
processions, maypole plantings and competitions of the shooting guilds. 

In August 1510, a deer hunt was organized for them on the Grote Markt,
where they could watch from a window of the De Zwaan guesthouse,
now known as Café Royal.

However the future English queen, Anna Boleyn, also enjoyed her
education in Mechelen but in the palaceof Margaret of Austria, Duchess
of Savoy. 

The Court of Cambrai was to Europe what the English
Eton College is to the British upper class.

👉 The children of King Christian II of Denmark who was married to
Isabella of Austria were sent to Mechelen too. So Prince John, Princess
Dorothea and Princess Christina were raised by their great-aunt
Margaret of Austria. 

Nowadays

Now, the Court of Cambrai, became the city theater of Mechelen.
Although part of the great palace is gone. The city theater only
was the reception room of the palace. It must have 
been huge. 

I took these pictures from the Court of Cambrai in Mechelen in 2016