A magnificent throne was erected in the cathedral at Treves,
and preparations were making on the grandest scale for the coronation
solemnities, when Frederic, who did not like to tell the duke plumply to
his face that he was fearful of being cheated, extricated himself from
his embarrassment by feigning important business which called him
suddenly to Cologne. A scene of petty and disgraceful intrigues ensued
between the exasperated duke and emperor, and there were the marching
and the countermarching of hostile bands and the usual miseries of war,
until the death of Duke Charles at the battle of Nancy on the 5th of
January, 1477.
The King of France now made a desperate endeavor to obtain the hand of
Mary for his son. One of the novel acts of this imperial courtship, was
to send an army into Burgundy, which wrested a large portion of Mary's
dominions from her, which the king, Louis XI., refused to surrender
unless Mary would marry his son. Many of her nobles urged the claims of
France. But love in the heart of Mary was stronger than political
expediency, and more persuasive than the entreaties of her nobles. To
relieve herself from importunity, she was hurriedly married, three
months after the death of her father, by proxy to Maximilian.
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