ABSTRACT
So long as we are inside the Valois Tapestries, we are living in a hope, in a vision of what might have been. Anjou as a popular Valois-Burgundian rules as benign protector over the southern provinces of the Netherlands, tolerating both religions. His forthcoming marriage to Elizabeth of England ensures the English alliance. His brother, the King of France, and his mother, look favourably upon him, and the French alliance is safe. In short, a powerful coalition against Spain has been formed, under the protection of which the southern provinces maintain their break away from Philip of Spain, and the way is kept open for their eventual reunion with the northern provinces and the creation of a united Netherlands. These were the hopes which induced Orange to put Anjou into his position, the hopes which the Anjou of the tapestries is to fulfil.
