A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Margaret, Duchess of Parma
MARGARET, DUCHESS OF PARMA,
Was the natural daughter of Charles the Fifth of Germany, and Margaret of Gest. She was born in 1522, and married, first, Alexander de Medici, and afterwards Octavio Farnese, Duke of Parma and Piacenza. Her half-brother, Philip the Second of Spain, appointed her, in 1559, to the government of the Netherlands, where she endeavoured to restore tranquility; and she might have succeeded, if the Duke of Alva had not been sent with such great power that nothing was left to her but the title. Indignant at this, Margaret returned to her husband in Italy, and died at Ortona, 1686. She left one son, Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma.