lived with her own court of Milanese people in various castles in Tyrol. On several occasions he left her behind as security when he could not pay for his rooms on trips (although this is disputed by historian Sabine Weiss, according to whom she was only left behind if it was related to her own debt). Maximilian took the title of emperor-elect of the Holy Roman Empire in 1508, making Bianca empress. Recent research though indicates that Bianca was an educated woman who had a political role as a mediator for different kinds of agenda both involving Ludovico Sforza and Maximilian. Unterholzner notes that while the emperor did not love her and sent few letters (an 1499 letter explained the reason Maximilian did not come to the defence of her uncle Ludovico; another, sent in 1504, informed her of his victory against the Kufstein fortress), there was contact between them and he supported her rights in numerous cases, notably concerning her preces primariae. Sometimes, he sent her deceiving words, such as in 1508, when he explained to her that she should not appear at his coronation ceremony because he would bring her along when crowned at Rome next year anyway (The previous year, they marched together to the Reichstag in [Konstanz] to prepare for the 1508 coronation). At this point, the once richest bride of Europe had become an emaciated woman who lost all sense of etiquette and all will to live. When he knew that she was near her death, he sent a medicus who tried to give her a bloodletting but she refused. Maximilian did not try to soothe her with words. Empress Bianca died at Innsbruck on 31 December 1510. She was buried at Stams. Her husband did not attend her funeral or even dedicate a gravestone to her. The official cause of death was given as excessive consumption of snails. Joseph Grünpeck, the court historian of Maximilian, said that she died "dehydrated" (cachexia) and the ultimate blame laid with the husband's neglect of her. Maximilian and his court wore black in commemoration of her death though. They still wore black even at the Battle of the Spurs (1513). In Maximilian's horoscope, the astrologer had predicted that in his third epoch of life, he would meet a very young woman of good faith, "devoted to her husband, decent, and righteous," and who would bring him benefits and