Tapestry with the Coat of Arms of Margaret of Austria

Two years before her death, in 1528, Margaret of Austria (1480–1530), regent of The Netherlands of the time, had a tapestry set made, originally consisting of six pieces. According to her will the set was safeguarded in Brou, at the funeral chapel of the dukes of Burgundy, until the first decade of the twentieth century. Today, only two pieces of this set are known, both of them are in the possession of the Museum of Applied Arts of Budapest. In terms of size, composition and ornaments the two works are almost identical; there is a difference in the coat of arms and in the inscriptions. The pieces commemorate the first and the second marriage of the regent, as it is confirmed by the paired coats of arms placed in the middle of the tapestries. These unified coats of arms are framed by a Latin inscription of the same text: FORTUNE INFORTUNE FORT UNE. The third word of this text somewhat differs from a frequently used motto of the era, the meaning of which – with the correction of the third letter of the mentioned word (FONT, instead of FORT) – is the following: “Fortune and misfortune are inseparable from each other”. On the upper-middle parts of both tapestries a “hand of God” can be seen, circled with rays and cloud trusses, with the relevant inscription: MANUS D(OMI)NI PROTEGAT ME(The hand of the Lord protects me). The right-hand side of the central, combined coat of arms is identical: it is the coat of arms of Margaret of Austria repeated here. On the left-hand side of the first one, the coat of arms of her first husband, John, prince infant of Castile and Aragon (†1498); the other one at the same location features the coat of arms of Philippe II the Fair, prince of Savoy (1504). The upper and lower parts of the tapestries are decorated with matching coats of arms on the two sides (and inscriptions recording the name of the owner): on the first one, to the top-left: the coat of arms of Ferdinand I (1503–1564), King of Hungary and Bohemia, later Holy Roman Emperor; next to it, on the top-right side: coat of arms of his wife, Anne of Jagellon (1503–1546). To the bottom-left: the coat of arms of Louis II. (Jagellon) (1506–1526); to the bottom-right: the coat of arms of his wife, Mary of Habsburg (1505–1558). It must be noted that the inscriptions name the two queens as Anna of Hungary (Anna de Onguerie) and as Mary of Burgundy (Marie de Boug[ogne]). On the second piece, to the top-left: the coat of arms of Charles the Bold, prince of Burgundy (†1477), on the right the coat of arms of his wife, Isabelle de Bourbon (†1465). To the bottom left Maximilian I. (Habsburg), opposite to it, on the right the coat of arms of Mary, prince of Burgundy (†1482). At the bottom of the tapestry, carrying heraldic references and allegories four animal figures are placed: a peacock and an ostrich to the left, a lion and a griffin to the right.