Then King William died (1702,—Mary, his queen and consort, being dead these eight years), and Anne became queen. It was a year of climax in the public affairs of Europe. In 1701, Louis XIV. had put his grandson, Philip of Anjou, on the throne of Spain, in direct violation of his treaty obligations to England, and to the manifest upsetting of the balance of power in Europe, openly rejoicing that there were no longer any Pyrenees, but only a single, undivided Bourbon power from Flanders to the Straits of Gibraltar; and had defied England, despite his promises made at Ryswick, by declaring James’s son the rightful heir to the English throne. Instantly England, Holland, and Austria drew together in grand alliance against the French aggression, and for eleven years Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands rang with the War of the Spanish Succession. The storm had already broken when Anne became queen. [Illustration: JOHN CHURCHILL, DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH] England signalized the war by giving a great general to the world. It was the day of John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, of whose genius soldiers gossiped to their neighbors and their children for half a century after the great struggle was over. The English took Gibraltar (1704). Prince Eugene of Savoy helped great Marlborough to the famous victory of Blenheim (1705),—and Virginians were not likely to forget that it was Colonel Parke, of Virginia, who took the news of that field to the Queen. Marlborough won at Ramillies and Eugene at Turin (1706). The two great captains triumphed together at Oudenarde (1708) and at Malplaquet (1709). The crowns of France and Spain were separated, and France was lightened of her overwhelming weight in the balance of power. [Illustration: PRINCE EUGENE]