There were also other great changes nearly coinciding with the fall of
Olivares that increased the hopefulness of Spaniards for the future.
Richelieu died some months before, and the personal rivalry between the
two ministers, which had done so much to embitter the war, disappeared.
Then, in May 1643, the King of France, Louis XIII., died, and Philip's
sister, Anna of Austria, became Queen-regent of France for her
five-year-old son, Louis XIV. Anna had always been a true daughter of
Spain, and deplored the war between the land of her birth and that of
her adoption; and it was hoped that she would find a means to end the
differences. Another event had occurred at the end of 1641, which,
whilst adding to Philip's gloom, made the continuance of the war in the
Netherlands more hopeless than ever. The Cardinal Infante Fernando,
his frail physique worn out by constant campaigning and enfeebled by
fever, died at Brussels;[1] and Philip had no relative now to {378}
stand for Spain in the ancient patrimony of Burgundy.
With all these changes in the space of two years, the spring of 1643
seemed to blossom with hopes of peace once more, humiliating as the
terms might be. But again Spanish pride stood in the way, and after
long discussion Philip's new councillors determined that honour
demanded the expulsion of the French from Spanish soil before any
negotiations for peace with them were undertaken. With infinite
difficulty money and men were got together somehow[2] for Philip to
take the field again in Aragon, where the French had arrived within a
few miles of Saragossa. Before he could start on his way thither,
there came from Flanders news of a crushing defeat sustained by General
Melo, who had replaced the Cardinal Infante in the command. Melo at
first had done well; for he was skilled and bold, and had more than
held his own against the allies. But on the 18th May 1643 the terrible
battle of Rocroy was fought, in which Melo himself was captured, Count
de Fuentes was killed, and the Spanish army of 20,000 men, the tried
veterans who were the last remnant of the once invincible _tercios_,
whose fame was world-wide, were put to utter rout by the genius of the
youthful Enghien (Prince of Condé). The Spanish infantry never
regained the prestige they lost at Rocroy, which was to the army of
Spain what the defeat of the Armada was to her {379} navy;[3] and with
the knowledge that disaster was pursuing him on all sides, for the
Portuguese were raiding far into Castile and the French were
threatening the capital of Aragon, Philip left Madrid, his heart
well-nigh breaking, early in June 1643.
[Sidenote: The nun of Agreda]