about to become Habsburg property. The Ghenters reject the pretensions
of the dauphin, and select for husband of their duchess the very man whom
her father had so stupidly rejected. It had been a wiser choice for
Charles the Bold than for the Netherlanders. The marriage takes place on
the 18th of August, 1477. Mary of Burgundy passes from the guardianship
of Ghent burghers into that of the emperor's son. The crafty husband
allies himself with the city party, feeling where the strength lies.
He knows that the voracious Kabbeljaws have at last swallowed the Hooks,
and run away with them. Promising himself future rights of
reconsideration, he is liberal in promises to the municipal party.
In the mean time he is governor and guardian of his wife and her
provinces. His children are to inherit the Netherlands and all that
therein is. What can be more consistent than laws of descent,
regulated by right divine? At the beginning of the century, good Philip
dispossesses Jacqueline, because females can not inherit. At its close,
his granddaughter succeeds to the property, and transmits it to her
children. Pope and emperor maintain both positions with equal logic.
The policy and promptness of Maximilian are as effective as the force and
fraud of Philip. The Lady Mary falls from her horse and dies. Her son,
Philip, four years of age, is recognized as successor. Thus the house of
Burgundy is followed by that of Austria, the fifth and last family which
governed Holland, previously to the erection of the republic. Maximilian
is recognized by the provinces as governor and guardian, during the
minority of his children. Flanders alone refuses. The burghers, ever
prompt in action, take personal possession of the child Philip, and carry
on the government in his name. A commission of citizens and nobles thus
maintain their authority against Maximilian for several years. In 1488,
the archduke, now King of the Romans, with a small force of cavalry,
attempts to take the city of Bruges, but the result is a mortifying one
to the Roman king. The citizens of Bruges take him. Maximilian, with