Philip had left a son, Charles II.

of Spain; but as the queen of France was of a former marriage, she laid claim to a considerable province of the Spanish monarchy, even to the exclusion of her brother.

By the customs of some parts of Brabant, a female of a first marriage was preferred to a male of a second, in the succession to private inheritances; and Lewis thence inferred, that his queen had acquired a right to the dominion of that important duchy.
A claim of this nature was more properly supported by military force than by argument and reasoning.

Lewis appeared on the frontiers of the Netherlands with an army of forty thousand men, commanded by the best generals of the age, and provided with every thing necessary for action.
The Spaniards, though they might have foreseen this measure, were totally unprepared.

Their towns, without magazines, fortifications or garrisons, fell into the hands of the French king, as soon as he presented himself before them.