Hello and welcome back to the Renaissance English History Podcast, a part of the Agora Podcast Network and the original Tudor History Podcast.

I am your host, Heather, and I'm a storyteller who

makes history accessible because I believe it's a pathway to understanding who we are,

our place in the universe, and being much more deeply in touch with our own humanity.

This is episode 265, I think, and we are going to talk about Margaret of Austria, a woman who ruled on her own,

who was an inspiration for other queens, even for Anne Boleyn. So we are going to talk about her.

Just a quick reminder that Yuletide with the Tudors is coming up starting on Sunday, December the 1st.

It's a beautiful digital advent calendar. Every day opens up to a new video with information on

tutor holiday celebrations. We're going to talk about it all. We're going to talk about the Lord

of Miss Rule and we're going to talk about recipes and we're going to talk about all kinds of fun

stuff. And then there is a live online Christmas party chat as well, midway through. We go all the

way through to January 6th. So we keep all 12 days of Christmas as well. So you can learn more about

that on my website. There is a big link right at the top that says

Shul Tied with the Tudors, a big, big button when you go to Englandcast.com, Englandcast.com, to learn more

about that. And you can get $5 off right now. I am extending the early bird because there was a lot of

interest, and it's Black Friday week anyway. So, you know, I would have had to have done it. So the coupon code

early bird yule tide will save you five bucks off. So I hope to see you in there. I'm really excited

as I've been putting it together. Learning so much about Tudor Christmas, it's going to be very

festive and historic, historically festive.

All right, let's get into Margaret of Austria. Her life reads like a Renaissance epic, a story

filled with triumph, tragedy, and extraordinary influence. She was born into one of the most powerful families in Europe.

She was thrust into the stage of international politics at an early age, betrothed as a toddler

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