150 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [chap. Marlborough won the great victory of Ramilies in the Netherlands, and nearly all the Netherlands were won for Charles the Third. But in the meanwhile Philip was restored at Madrid, as Castile would not accept a king from Aragon, and in the next year the battle of Abnanza settled the fate of the Peninsula. Here the French were commanded by the Duke of Berwick, and the English by Rtivigny, Earl of Galway, a French refugee. The Cami- sards who had now been driven out of France were also on the side of the allies. The allies were completely de- feated, and it is remarkable that in this the greatest defeat which the English ever met with from the French, the French were commanded by an Englishman and the English by a Frenchman. Aragon and Catalonia were now won for Philip, and the great question of the war as far as Spain itself was really decided. About this time Lewis offered terms of peace, trying to patch up matters with the aUies separately. At this moment Charles the Twelfth of Sweden had just appeared in the affairs of Europe, and it was thought that he might play the part of Gustavus Adolphus, and that there might again be an alliance between Sweden and France. But Charles took no part in the war in Western Europe, and in 1708 the war in the Netherlands turned still more strongly against France. Eugene joined Marlborough, and on the nth of July they encountered Vendome, with the king's eldest grandson, the Duke of Burgundy, near Oiidenarde, and the French, again defeated, had to retreat on Ghent. The lilies then besieged Lille, which was now within the French border, and which was most ably and bravely de- fended by Marshal Boitfflers. Vendome was forbidden to hazard a battle to relieve him, and Bouftlers was forced to surrender, having gained great respect from his generous enemies. L^ wis now again offered terms of peace, but he could not bring himself to do all that the allies demanded, as they wished him to help in driving his grandson out of Spain ; so the war went on. Villars was now sent to take the command in the Netherlands, and the battle which he lost at Malplaquct in 1709 was the best contested of any of those during this war. In 17 10 Charles was again successful in Spain and again entered Madrid, but he was driven out and his English allies were defeated by Vendome at Villaz/iciosa. Several other things now turned in Lewis' favour. The Emperor Leopold, under whom the war began, had died in 1705, and was succeeded by
