ABSTRACT
On June 22, 1478, Philip the Fair, the only son of Maximilian I and Mary of Burgundy and heir to the Valois Burgundian-Hapsburgian empire, was baptized in Bruges. Moments after the ceremony, Margaret of York, dowager duchess of Burgundy and step-grandmother to Philip, strode toward a teeming crowd of curious onlookers gathered in the marketplace. Hoisting the naked child above her head, she called for the spectators’ attention. An anonymous chronicler recorded what ensued: Margaret, ‘took [the infant’s] testicles in her hands and she spoke, “Children, see here your newly born lord Philip from the Emperor’s side.” The crowd, seeing that it was a son, was overwhelmingly happy, thanking and praising our beloved God for granting them a young prince.’ 1
