Mary of Hungary, Patron of Music

The music had a relevant position in the courtly life of Mary of Hungary, in the Coudenberg palace in Brussels, in her residences in Binche, Mariemont and in Spain. Mary danced, played the harpsichord and had at her services a personal chapel with a consistent number of singers –which was quite unique for a woman of power in those years–, as well as a little number of excellent instrumentalists. The inventories of her books after her death are impressive. Among them, it is possible to distinguish 58 books of masses, 20 of motets, 15 of other sacred music (magnificats, hymns, etc.), 4 books of plainchant, 3 treatises and some liturgical books. As for her musical instruments – which were moved from Brussels to Spain in 1555 – the inventories reveal that she had one of the most remarkable collection of the first half of the sixteenth-century. This article pinpoints the international relevance of her musical patronage and shed new light on her collection of books and instruments.