Marguerite of Austria (1480-1530) lived a sad life, by the time she was thirty she was berieved of her child, family and a future on the French throne. Nevertheless, Marguerite was artistically gifted and enjoyed the comforting company of writers, musicians and composers at her court in Mechelen. Her library is a ‘mer à boire’ of exceptional musical manuscripts. Musical works reflecting the grief and unhappiness of the narrator fill the greater part of a splendid manuscript housed nowadays in the Bibliothèque Royale in Brussels; it was undoubtedly prepared for Marguerite between 1508 and 1516 in full awareness of her musical tastes and her predilection for mournful subjects.