ABSTRACT
Until the death of her father-in-law, Ferdinand I, in July 1564, Maria did not play a particularly active role in the diplomatic relations of the imperial court, nor did the ambassadors count her among their primary agents. In the discussions about the upkeep of Maria’s household, a radical disagreement between Maximilian II, on the one hand, and Ferdinand I and Charles V, on the other, began to emerge. The main example of the new order established by Philip II in the dynastic relations after inheriting his father’s throne in 1556 was the creation of an ordinary embassy at the imperial court. The conferment of the Golden Rose preluded a ceremonial period of transition through which Maria and Maximilian symbolically took possession of Ferdinand I’s inheritance.
