The Great Privilege granted, the States willingly raised a force of 34,000 men to resist the French invasion, and adequate means for carrying on the war.  But the troubles of the youthful Mary were not yet over.  The hand of the heiress of so many rich domains was eagerly sought for (1) by Louis of France for the dauphin, a youth of 17 years; (2) by Maximilian of Austria to whom she had been promised in marriage; (3) by Adolf, Duke of Gelderland, who was favoured by the States-General.  Adolf, however, was killed in battle.  In Flanders there was a party who favoured the French and actually engaged in intrigues with Louis, but the mass of the people were intensely averse to French domination.  To such an extent was this the case that two influential officials, the lords Hugonet and Humbercourt, on whom suspicion fell of treacherous correspondence with the French king, were seized, tried by a special tribunal, and, despite the tears and entreaties of the duchess, were condemned and beheaded in the market-place of Ghent.  Maximilian became therefore the accepted suitor; and on August 19, 1477, his marriage with Mary took place at Bruges.  This marriage was to have momentous consequences, not only for the Netherlands, but for Europe.  The union was a happy one, but, unfortunately, of brief duration.  On March 29, 1482, Mary died from the effects of a fall from her horse, leaving two children, Philip and Margaret.

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CHAPTER II

HABSBURG RULE IN THE NETHERLANDS

Maximilian, on the death of Mary, found himself in a very difficult position.  The archduke was a man of high-soaring ideas, chivalrous, brave even to the point of audacity, full of expedients and never daunted by failure, but he was deficient in stability of character, and always hampered throughout his life by lack of funds.  He had in 1477 set himself to the task of defending Flanders and the southern provinces of the Netherlands against French attack, and not without considerable success.  In 1482, as guardian of his four-year old son Philip, the heir to the domains of the house of Burgundy, he became regent of the Netherlands.  His authority however was little recognised.  Gelderland and Utrecht fell away altogether.  Liege acknowledged William de la Marck as its ruler.  Holland and Zeeland were torn by contending factions.  Flanders, the centre of the Burgundian power, was specially hostile to its new governor.  The burghers of Ghent refused to surrender to him his children, Philip and Margaret, who were held as hostages to secure themselves against any attempted infringement of their liberties.  The Flemings even entered into negotiations with Louis XI; and the archduke found himself compelled to sign a treaty with France (December 23, 1482), one of the conditions being the betrothal of his infant daughter to the dauphin.  Maximilian, however, found that