The negotiations petered out, however, due to power struggles in England, and the preference of Charles's father, Philip the Good, for a French alliance.

Because of this, Charles sent his close advisor, Guillaume de Clugny, to London weeks after the death of his wife, to propose to Edward IV a marriage between himself and Margaret.

Negotiations between the Duke's mother, Isabella, and the King of England's in-laws, Lord Scales and Earl Rivers, then proceeded between December 1467 and June 1468.

During this time, Louis XI did all he could to prevent the marriage, demanding that the Pope refuse to give a dispensation for the marriage (the pair were cousins in the fourth degree), promising trade favours to the English, undermining Edward's credit with the international bankers to prevent him being able to pay for Margaret's dowry, encouraging a Lancastrian invasion of Wales, and slandering Margaret, claiming that she was not a virgin and had borne a bastard son.

A complex agreement was drawn up between England and Burgundy, covering mutual defence, trade, currency exchange, fishing rights and freedom of travel, all based on the marriage between the Duke and Margaret.

The following day, she met with her bridegroom's mother, Isabella, and daughter, Mary; the meeting was a success, and the three of them would remain close friends for the rest of their lives.

In the city itself, wine spurted freely from sculpted archers and artificial pelicans in artificial trees; the canals were decorated with torches, and the bridges decked with flowers; the arms of the happy couple were displayed everywhere, accompanied by the mottoes of the pair: Charles's Je l'ay emprins ("I have undertaken it") and Margaret's Bien en aviengne ("May good come of it").

Margaret's crown was adorned with pearls, and with enamelled white roses for the House of York set between red, green and white enamelled letters of the Latinization of her name ("Margarita de York", m ar ga ri ta de yo rk), with gold Cs and Ms, entwined with lovers' knots.

[citation needed] Charles wore an equally splendid but no doubt larger crown, accompanied by a golden gown encrusted with diamonds, pearls and great jewels.

The parades, the streets lined with tapestry hung from houses, the feasting, the masques and allegorical entertainments, the jewels, impressed all observers as "the marriage of the century".

Immediately after her wedding, she journeyed with her step-daughter Mary through Flanders, Brabant and Hainaut, visiting the great towns: Ursel, Ghent, Dendermonde, Asse, Brussels, Oudenaarde and Kortrijk were all impressed by her intelligence and capability.

In August 1469, Edward IV temporarily lost power, when his brother the Duke of Clarence and the Earl of Warwick rebelled and took the King into custody; Charles was forced to intercede on the part of his brother-in-law, ordering the London merchants to swear loyalty to Edward under threat of losing their trading rights in Burgundy, a threat that proved successful.

But the next year, Margaret was left despairing when Clarence and Warwick supported a French-backed Lancastrian invasion of England: although she, together with her mother Cecily, Dowager Duchess of York, attempted to reconcile Clarence and Edward IV, the rebellion continued, and on 2 October 1470 the Lancastrians were returned to power and Edward had fled to Margaret and Charles in Burgundy.

By 1477, Margaret's position as Duchess of Burgundy was no longer as brilliant as it had been: after Isabella's death in 1471, Charles had become increasingly tyrannical and grandiose, dreaming of assembling a new Kingdom of Lotharingia from the North Sea to the Mediterranean; to accomplish this, he warred continuously with his neighbours, who responded by allying against him.

By 1476, the Duke was regarded as a tyrant by his people, who were suffering from the French refusal to export their wine and bread to Burgundy, and who dreaded his terrible reprisals against rebels being unleashed on them.

To her step-daughter, Mary, now Duchess of Burgundy, she gave guidance and help using her own experiences in the court of Edward IV, where she had largely avoided being used as a pawn and contributed to the arrangement of her own marriage; against the wave of marriage offers that flooded to the two duchesses in Ghent (from the recently widowed Duke of Clarence, from Charles, the 7-year-old Dauphin of France, and from a brother of Edward IV's wife, Elizabeth Woodville) she stood firm and advised Mary to marry Maximilian of Austria.

He met Mary there—they were both "pale as death", but found each other to their mutual liking—and Margaret took part in the traditional courtly games of love, telling Maximilian before the assembled nobility that his bride "had about her a carnation it behoved him to discover."

Louis XI, recognising the danger Margaret posed to him, attempted to buy her off with a French pension and a promise of personally protecting her; she contemptuously refused, and instead sailed in summer 1480 to London, where she was again attended by Richard Boyville[5] and negotiated a resumption of the Anglo-Burgundian alliance and renewed trade.

Margaret was however dealt a devastating blow in 1482: her much-loved step-daughter, Mary, fell from her horse whilst hunting, and broke her back.

The Burgundians were now sick of war, and unwilling to accept the rule of Maximilian as regent for his son, the 4-year-old Duke Philip, or even as guardian of the children.

Margaret was unable to secure assistance from Edward IV, who had made a truce with France; consequently, she and Maximilian were forced to accept the fait accompli.

The next year, he was summoned back to Austria by his father, the Emperor; Burgundy was left to be governed by Margaret together with the Burgundian Estates, both of whom also undertook the guardianship of the young Duke Philip.

Margaret of Austria, her godchild, would continue to choose Mechelen as residence (and thus the capital city of the Low Countries) as a widowed governor in 1507.

[7] Another indication of the close relationship between Margaret and Maximilian was a book recounting Macedonian monarchy and the Hellenistic kingdom, written by Justinius, that she gave him, with the inscription "Your loyal mother".

The sign that showed this book was intended for Maximilian was the imperial coat of arms, which he could not have carried before his father's death in 1493, as well as the codex style, the subject, the language.

William Caxton, who introduced the new art of printing into the Kingdom of England and was a staunch Yorkist supporter, counted Margaret as one of his patrons.

[9] Of the many illuminated manuscripts commissioned by Margaret when she was Duchess of Burgundy, one of the most celebrated is The Visions of Tondal, illustrated by Simon Marmion and currently in the Getty Museum (a facsimile has been published).

In appearance, she was utterly unlike the dark and burly Duke Charles the Bold, who was shorter than her: when they met for the first time, she was forced to bend in order to receive his kiss.

She bore no male heir to succeed to Burgundy, but she preserved it from ruin; to her actions can be ascribed the survival of the Burgundian state, and the prevention of French dominance in Europe.

In the video game Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, there is a contract mission in London where Margaret is killed on behalf of Henry VII.