There was no "eminent head," but the sovereignty in reality, if not in name, was vested during the period with which we have now to deal in this triumvirate.
Circumstances provided a favourable field for the display of the youthful Maurice's military abilities.

In 1589 the assassination of Henry III placed Henry of Navarre on the throne of France.

The accession of the brilliant Huguenot leader led to civil war; and the Catholic opposition was encouraged and supported by Philip II, who regarded Henry IV as a menace and danger to the Spanish power.

Parma, therefore, whose active prosecution of the war against the rebel provinces had been so long hindered by having to hold his army in readiness for the projected invasion of England, found himself, after the failure and destruction of the Armada, in no better position for a campaign in the northern Netherlands.

Disappointment and false charges against him brought on a serious illness, and on his recovery he received orders to conduct an expedition into France.