[157] In May, 1598, Philip II. had ceded the Netherlands, the Franche-Comté, and the Charolais to his daughter Isabelle. The Archduke Albert, brother of the Emperor Rudolph, at that time governor of the Netherlands, renounced Holy Orders in order to marry the princess; and the pair had since exercised a sort of vice-regal authority, with very extensive powers. Their contemporaries always called them “the Archdukes.” [158] Éléonore de Bourbon had married Philip William, of Nassau, Prince of Orange, eldest son of William the Silent, in 1606. [159] Spinola, who had come to the Netherlands in 1602, at the head of a force maintained, like the old _condottieri_, at his own expense, had, after the reduction of Ostend, been given the command of all the Spanish and Italian troops in Flanders. [160] Simancas Collection, cited by the Duc d’Aumale, “Histoire des Princes de Condé.” [161] Cardinal Bentivoglio, “Relazioni.” [162] Letter of Jehan Simon, secretary to the Flemish Ambassador in Paris, to Pretorius, Secretary of State at Brussels, cited by Henrard, “Henri IV. et la Princesse de Condé.” [163] Duc d’Aumale, “Histoire des Princes de Condé.” Cardinal Bentivoglio, “Relazioni.” [164] “Henry of Navarre and the Huguenots in France.” [165] Pecquius to the Archduke Albert, 28 April, 1610. It appears to have been on this occasion that Père Cotton begged the Flemish Ambassador to intimate to the Archdukes that, though the solemn promise which they had given Condé might prevent them from surrendering his wife, they might, without any undue strain to their consciences, connive at her escape, since it was undoubtedly their duty to do everything in their power to avert so terrible a calamity as war. But this insidious suggestion their Highnesses very honourably declined to entertain. [166] “L’Estoile.” [167] The regency in France belonged, in theory, to the first Prince of the Blood. As, however, Catherine de’ Medici had created a precedent in the Queen-Mother’s favour, and, as Henri IV. had as good as named her Regent, Marie de’ Medici had seized the office immediately on the late King’s death. But for the circumstance that Condé was in exile at the time, it is open to question whether she would have been permitted to do this. [168] “Journal historique et anecdote de la Cour et de Paris,” MSS. of Conrart, cited by Victor Cousin, “la Jeunesse de Madame de Longueville.” The chronicler speaks frequently of the prince’s ill-treatment of his wife, for which he appears to think there was no justification. [169] “Journal historique et anecdote de la Cour et de Paris.”