Mary, titular Duchess of Burgundy, reigned over the Burgundian State, now mainly in France—with the exception of the Duchy of Burgundy returned to the Kingdom of France —and the Low Countries, from 1477 until her death in a riding accident at the age of 25.
As the only child of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, and his wife Isabella of Bourbon, she inherited the Burgundian lands at age of 19 upon the death of her father in the Battle of Nancy on 5 January 1477. She spent most of her reign defending her birthright; in order to counter the appetite of the French king Louis XI for her lands, she married Maximilian of Habsburg, who became Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I long after her death. The marriage was a turning point in European politics, leading to a French–Habsburg rivalry that would endure for centuries.