Another competitor for the government was Anthony of Bourbon, first prince of the blood. He traced his descent from Louis IX., who left two sons, Philip III. and Robert: from the former descended the house of Valois, from the latter the house of Bourbon. Of this there were two branches--Vendome and Montpensier. Anthony was the head of the elder branch, but his younger brother, Louis of Condé, was its most distinguished member. The family had lost much of its wealth and influence--especially among the populace, who are always the first to take up and the last to discard a personal prejudice--in consequence of the treason of the Constable of Bourbon in the reign of Francis I., but they were still powerful enough to venture to aspire to the crown. Anthony, Duke of Vendome, as he was generally styled before his marriage with Joan of Navarre,[98] was frank and affable, but irresolute and deficient in moral courage; he was of noble presence, fond of dress, and the “mirror of fashion” among the courtiers. Brave in the field, he wanted energy in the council-chamber; he was vacillating in religious principles, and of loose private morals. Thus he became a mere tool in the hands of others, and though trusted by no one, was courted for the splendor and prestige of his name. His only aim in life seemed to be to exchange his petty nominal sovereignty of Navarre for a real kingdom no matter where. Louis, Prince of Condé, now in his twenty-ninth year, and the youngest of the family, was the reverse of his brother Anthony. High-shouldered, short, ungraceful, and at first sight ill-adapted either for court or camp, he shone in both. He had shared with the Duke of Guise the honor of defending Metz, and had rallied the flying troops after the defeat at St. Quentin. From policy he seems early to have adopted the Reformed religion, though he took no pains to live up to its principles. The great Reformed party was to him a means of power and advancement. By his marriage with Eleanor de Roye, the richest heiress in France, he united against the Guises the powerful houses of Montmorency, Chatillon, and Rochefoucault--the latter being connected with the royal line of Navarre. A third brother of this family was Charles, Archbishop of Rouen and Cardinal of Bourbon, a weak man, not overburdened with sense, who adhered to the Church of Rome. To the younger branch of the same house belonged two brothers, the Duke of Montpensier and the Prince of Roche-sur-Yon, both inclined to the Reform. [Illustration: GASPARD DE COLIGNY, ADMIRAL OF FRANCE.]