It is evident that being on such excellent terms with the chief sovereigns in Europe gave Margaret some advantage where negotiations and treaties were concerned. In fact she intervened as arbitrator or negotiator in most of the political events of this time. Her experience and knowledge of different countries made her old for her years. 'Madame Margaret,' says Jean le Maire, 'has seen and experienced more at her youthful age ... than any lady on record, however long her life.'
It is, therefore, not surprising that Margaret was deputed by Maximilian and Ferdinand to act as their representative at the forthcoming Congress. Hostilities had continued more actively than ever between the Duke of Gueldres and the provinces of the Netherlands. At last a truce of forty days was declared during which time Margaret went to Cambray to meet the Cardinal of Amboise, and to confer with him with a view to concluding a final peace. She arrived at Cambray in November 1508 with an escort of a hundred horsemen and a company of archers. Half the town was reserved for her and her suite; the other half had been placed at the disposal of the Cardinal of Amboise, who was acting on behalf of the Pope and Louis XII., and was accompanied by Étienne de Poncher, Bishop of Paris, and Alberto Pio, Count of Carpi.
Margaret, invested with full powers by Maximilian, was escorted by Mathieu Lang, Bishop of Gurk, the emperor's confidant and secretary; Mercurin de Gattinare, President of the Burgundian Parliament; Jean Peters, President of the Council of Malines; Jean Gooselet, Abbot of Maroilles; and Jean Caulier, President of the Privy Council. She was also instructed to admit Jacques de Croy, Bishop of Cambray, and Edmund Wingfield, the English ambassador, to the negotiations, as well as King Ferdinand's envoy, if he should send one.
The Sieur de Chièvres (de Croy) and other members of the Burgundian Council accompanied the princess as far as Valenciennes, and remained there to receive daily reports of the proceedings at Cambray, and to give their help if necessary. Maximilian stayed at Malines to transact the business of the Netherlands during his daughter's absence. Du Bos, speaking of the part that Margaret played in the League of Cambray, says: 'This princess had a man's talent for managing business, in fact she was more capable than most men, for she added to her talents the fascination of her sex; brought up as she had been to hide her own feelings, conciliate her opponents, and persuade all parties that she was acting blindly in their interests.'
Another contemporary writer says: 'This princess received the Cardinal with great honour, captivated him by her courteous, insinuating, and caressing manners, and was so successful in charming him, that he could refuse her nothing.'
Margaret and the Cardinal began by fixing the laws of the dependence of the principal provinces of the Netherlands with regard to France. Louis XII. did not wish to cede what he called the rights of his crown, and Margaret would not yield any of the prerogatives obtained by the last Dukes of Burgundy. She and the Cardinal had many hot disputes, and several times were on the point of separating. Margaret argued until she often had a headache, and we are told they 'cuydoient se prendre au poil.' Finally they agreed to leave the most difficult questions until the archduke should come of age. It was decided that Charles Egmont should have (provisionally) the duchy of Gueldres and the county of Zutphen, but that he should restore three or four places which he had taken in Holland to Charles, who, on his part, should give up certain castles which he still held in the duchy of Gueldres; that things should remain thus until the respective commissioners nominated by the Emperor Maximilian and the King of England on one side, and by the Kings of France and Scotland on the other, had examined the rights of both sides and given their decision.
With regard to the second part of this treaty, which was to be kept secret until it was executed, no difficulty was raised. It was to share the spoils of the Venetians, and this sharing was done in advance.
Maximilian and Ferdinand agreed to postpone their differences concerning the regency of Castile until this division was successfully accomplished. At last, on December the 10th, 1508, the League of Cambray was signed by Margaret of Austria and the Cardinal of Amboise, 'pour faire cesser les dommages, injures, rapines, et maux que les Vénitiens ont faits tant au Saint-Siège apostolique qu'au Saint Empire Romain, à la Maison d'Autriche, aux Ducs de Milan, aux Rois de Naples, etc.' Immediately after the treaty was signed, Margaret, the Cardinal, and King Ferdinand's ambassador took a solemn oath in the cathedral of Cambray to observe the treaty which they had just concluded. 'This League was the result of a new political system which was beginning to prevail in Europe: a coalition was formed between powers having different interests against a single state whose ruin they desired.'
Besides the Emperor Maximilian and Louis XII., Ferdinand of Aragon and Pope Julius II. were included in the treaty and 'whoso else should claim that the Venetians were occupying any of his territory.' A pious preamble set forth the common desire of these princes to begin the crusade against the enemies of the name of Christ, and the obstacles that the Venetians offered to this holy purpose by ambitiously occupying cities that belonged to the Church; these obstacles the allies proposed to remove, in order afterwards to proceed unitedly to such a holy and necessary expedition. 'In the division of the spoils the Pope was to have Faenza, Rimini, Ravenna, and Cervia, which no doubt did belong to the Holy See, in the same way as the rest of Romagna might be said to belong to the Papal States; Maximilian was to have Padua, Vicenza, and Verona, as belonging to him in the name of the Empire, and Friuli and Treviso as pertaining to the House of Austria; the King of France, Cremona, the Ghiradadda, Brescia, Bergamo, and Crema; the King of Spain to have back Trani, Brindisi, Otranto, and the other ports on the Neapolitan coast which had been given in pledge to Venice for sums of money advanced to the late King Ferdinand II. of Naples. The Pope hesitated and temporised, although he had been the original instigator of the League. It was only after he had attempted to make terms on his own account that he ratified the League at the end of the year.'[36]
'It is therefore solely jealousy and cupidity which united so many hostile powers against a state that some had good reason to uphold and others no reason to fear.'[37]