A new chapter had just begun in the history of West Flanders when
the Dutchmen and the Spaniards thus met to slaughter each other
amongst the sand and rushes of the dunes. Philip II. had offered to
cede the Spanish Netherlands to his daughter, the Infanta Isabella,
on condition that a marriage was arranged between her and the Archduke
Albert of Austria. After the death of Philip II. this offer was
confirmed by his successor, Philip III., and the wedding took place
in April, 1599.
[Illustration: NIEUPORT. A Fair Parishioner.]
Albert and Isabella were both entering on the prime of life, the
Archduke being forty and the Infanta thirty-two at the time of
their marriage, and were both of a character admirably fitted for
the lofty station to which they had been called. In their portraits,
which hang, very often frayed and tarnished, on the walls of the
Hotel de Ville of many a Flemish town, there is nothing very royal
or very attractive; but, even after making every allowance for the
flattery of contemporary historians, there can be little doubt
that their popularity was well deserved--well deserved if even a
part of what has been said about them is true. The Archduke is
always said to have taken Philip II.
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