charles ii of spain death cause

[43], Alignment on reducing the power of France and securing the Protestant succession for the British throne masked differences on how to achieve them. He was impotent and infertile. Its provisions included securing the Dutch Barrier in the Spanish Netherlands, the Protestant succession in England and Scotland and an independent Spain but did not refer to placing Archduke Charles on the Spanish throne. The dauphin was to get all of Spanish Italy except Milan, instead of which he would have Lorraine. This left Galway with only 15,000 men, who were decisively defeated by a Franco-Spanish force commanded by James Fitzjames, duke of Berwick-upon-Tweed, at the Battle of Almansa (April 25, 1707). [107], Wider implications include the rise of Prussia and Savoy while many of the participants were involved in the 17001721 Great Northern War, with Russia becoming a major European power for the first time as a result. The war might have remained a struggle between the king of France and the emperor if Louis had not acted with haughty arrogance and provoked England and the United Provinces to enter the war. In July Eugene attacked south down the left bank of the Adige, once more disregarding Venetian neutrality as he had in 1701. Louis therefore accepted on behalf of his grandson, who was proclaimed Philip V of Spain on 16 November 1700. [22], Maria Antonia (16691692), daughter of Leopold and Margaret, married Maximillian Emanuel of Bavaria in 1685, and on 28 October 1692, they had a son, Joseph Ferdinand. The 1702 campaign on the Rhine opened uneventfully, but the end of the summer saw a development that was in the next year to become one of the most important operations of the war. [34], On 7 September, Leopold, the Dutch Republic and Britain[h] signed the Treaty of The Hague renewing the 1689 Grand Alliance. [98] The shift of Habsburg focus away from Germany and into Southern Europe continued with victory in the Austro-Turkish War of 17161718. [80] At the same time, costs continued to spiral; the Dutch were close to bankruptcy while Austrian troops were almost entirely funded by Britain. In 1704, Franco-Bavarian forces continued their advance with the Austrians struggling to suppress Rkczi's revolt in Hungary. Eugene maintained the initiative and forced the French to retreat westward behind the Mincio River. Philip was given two months to cede his throne to Archduke Charles, while France was required to remove him by force if he did not comply. Charles II of Spain succeeded his father Philip IV at the age of four in 1665. But John continued to placate his murderous son in law- probably because he was fearful Charles would join the English. By this time the elector had been forced to retreat toward Bavaria. The Bourbon claim was similarly dubious, being based on a disregard for the acts of renunciation made by the French queens. The years of his reign are known in English history as the Restoration period. They insisted that Louis XIV should obtain the surrender of the Spanish throne by Philip and that, if Philip refused, Louis should agree to use force to expel him. By the end of 1707, fighting in Italy ceased, apart from small-scale attempts by Victor Amadeus to recover Nice and Savoy. By 1712, the overall position remained largely unchanged from 1706. So, the 17-year-old King of Navarre turned his back on his homeland and set his sights on France. Armies of the 18th century, before the days of national conscription, were too difficult to replace for generals to be eager to risk heavy casualties if these could be avoided. Aragon was divided into the Kingdoms of Aragon, Catalonia, Valencia, Majorca, Naples, Sicily, Malta, and Sardinia. He suffered from rickets, hallucinations, and an oversized head. : r/AskHistorians by Blaskowicz The second was to prevent the Low Countries being controlled by a hostile power or one stronger than Britain; this included both the Spanish Netherlands and the Dutch Republic, whose deep harbours and prevailing winds made her a natural embarkation point for an attack on England, as demonstrated in 1688. TIL that the Habsburg ruler, Charles II of Spain, who had been born the son of an uncle-niece relationship, was described by historians as "short, lame, epileptic, senile and completely bald before 35, always on the verge of death but repeatedly baffling Christendom by continuing to live." : r/todayilearned The war was primarily a struggle to determine whether the vast possessions of the Spanish Empire should pass to the House of Bourbon or to the House of Habsburg, both of which had dynastic claims, or whether they should be partitioned to preserve the balance of power in Europe. Under the October 1698 Treaty of the Hague between France, Britain and the Dutch Republic, five-year old Joseph was designated heir to Charles II; in return, France and Austria would receive parts of Spain's European territories. The physician in the autopsy of Charles II gave some very. Louis XIV, becoming convinced that a Bourbon success would result in a general European coalition against him, and to avoid the Spanish possessions passing to a Habsburg, in October 1698 agreed with William III in a Partition Treaty (signed at The Hague) to recognize Joseph Ferdinands rights to Spain, the Spanish Netherlands, and the Indies. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. In March Villars had crossed the Rhine at Kehl and, pushing through the Black Forest, had in May joined the elector of Bavaria near Ulm. As a result, Eugene, who had marched from Stollhofen along the north bank of the Danube, was able to reach Hochstadt and join forces with Marlborough on the same day that Tallart joined the elector. The claim of the electoral prince Joseph Ferdinand, on the other hand, appeared superior to both. 3,500 British troops surrendered at Brihuega on 8 December, and the Battle of Villaviciosa on 10 December confirmed Bourbon control of Spain. Negotiations continued throughout 1711, and on January 29, 1712, peace discussions were opened formally at Utrecht, in the United Provinces, between representatives of France, England, and the United Provinces. Its geographical position provided enormous tactical flexibility; unlike Austria, it had a navy, and as the campaigns of 17081710 proved, even under severe pressure it could defend its borders. [91], Article II of the Peace of Utrecht included the stipulation "because of the great danger which threatened the liberty and safety of all Europe, from the too-close conjunction of the kingdoms of Spain and France, the same person should never become King of both kingdoms." Annual average, 17011713. Charles VI initially rejected the idea of a peace conference; he reluctantly agreed once the Dutch decided to support it, but Habsburg opposition to the treaty continued. [83] Despite their resentment at being excluded from these negotiations, the Dutch were financially exhausted by the enormous cost of the war, and could not continue without British support. The Maritime Powers did, however, succeed in capturing Kaiserswerth (June) and Rheinberg on the lower Rhine and thus improved their line of communications with the emperor. Charles II of Spain, known as the Bewitched, was the last Habsburg ruler of the Spanish Empire. "The Story of. [73], French diplomats focused on the Dutch, whom they considered were more likely to favour peace than their allies, for victory at Ramillies removed any direct military threat to the Republic, while highlighting differences with Britain on the Spanish Netherlands. The Spanish Habsburgs' reign lasted two centuries, until the 38-year-old Charles II, a king whose manifold health woes and infertility scholars often attribute to severe inbreeding, died in 1700 . [92], Britain is usually seen as the main beneficiary of Utrecht, which marked its rise to becoming the dominant European commercial power. This threat in his rear forced Louis William to retreat to the east side of the Rhine. [33] Combined with other French actions that threatened English trade, this produced a clear majority for war and in May 1701, Parliament urged William to negotiate an anti-French alliance. He was with his father at the Battle of Edgehill and in Oxford, until ordered by him to seek the safety of France. So decisive were the reverses experienced by France and its allies in 1706 that in August Louis XIV made an approach to the Dutch for peace. By 1702 the efforts of the diplomats had transformed the struggle into a general European war. There was at the beginning no representation from Portugal, Savoy, or the German princes; even more remarkable is the initial absence of representatives of the emperor or the king of Spain. Antwerp, Ghent, Bruges, and Oudenaarde all capitulated, and in July the fall of Ostend improved Marlboroughs line of communications with England. Take to the Streets. On the Upper Rhine, Imperial forces under Louis of Baden remained on the defensive, although they took Landau in 1702. Although the Portuguese promised to provide 28,000 men, their effective strength in 1704 barely reached 15,000 men. The famous " Habsburg jaw " was a severe underbite; Charles' was so intense that he could not even close his mouth, not even for eating. [18] The 1690s also marked the lowest point of the Little Ice Age, a period of cold and wet weather that drastically reduced crop yields across Europe. Charles hoped that once he was King of Navarre; his claim to the throne of France would be recognized. In 1709, Parliament approved expenditures of 6.4 million, up from 5.0 million in 1706; by the end of 1710, these had doubled to 12.9 million, despite minimal gains. Once again the English and Dutch proved implacable. [32], Helped by the Viceroy, Max Emanuel of Bavaria, French troops replaced Dutch garrisons in the 'Barrier' fortresses in the Spanish Netherlands, granted at Ryswick. The situation became complicated by the deaths of the dauphin Louis (April 1711), his eldest son Louis, duc de Bourgogne (February 1712), and the latters elder surviving son, Louis, duc de Bretagne (March 1712). Since George, Elector Hanover, was also heir to the British throne, his support was more reliable, but the suspicion remained the interests of Hanover came first. However, with the help of Maximilian of Bavaria, the governor of the Spanish Netherlands, the Dutch garrison troops had been replaced by French troops by 1701. The death of Joseph I dramatically improved the prospects of the fifth round peace negotiations, which had begun at the end of 1710, when communications were established between the governments of France and England. The French King probably hoped that this would take the mind of the King of Navarre off the French throne while keeping him on Francess side in the ongoing dispute with their English relative. King Charles' Was Known as El Hechizado As a result of Charles' inbreeding, he was severely deformed. In Spain the emperor and his allies experienced considerable reverses. Tallart, from his position farther south, at once crossed to the left bank of the Rhine, fearing that Marlborough intended to attack Alsace, but Marlborough only made a feint of attempting to cross the Rhine at Mannheim. In the Netherlands, Villeroi, receiving information that Marlborough had not yet been reinforced by Prussian and Hanoverian forces, struck toward Liege but was heavily defeated by Marlborough at the Battle of Ramillies (May 23, 1706). [25] Her right to do so was doubtful, but Louis and William used this to devise the 1700 Treaty of London. However, Piedmont provided foreign powers access to the restive southern French provinces of the Dauphin and Vaunage, former Huguenot strongholds with a long history of rebellion. The British secretly negotiated peace terms directly with France, leading to the signing of the Preliminary Articles of London on 8 October 1711. This showed the French retained their fighting ability, while the Dutch finally reached the end of their willingness and ability to continue the war. When the new Bourbon administration took over in 1701, they found the Empire bankrupt and effectively defenceless, with fewer than 15,000 troops in Spain itself and a navy consisting of 20 ships in total. He was the last Habsburg monarch and his reign marked the end of the Spanish Empire's golden age. colorful (if not medically impossible) descriptions like "heart the size of a peppercorn" and "did not contain a single drop of blood." What was going on in these autopsies? [85], The Dutch and Austrians fought on, hoping to improve their negotiating position but Bolingbroke issued 'Restraining Orders' to Marlborough's replacement, the Duke of Ormonde, instructing him not to participate in offensive operations against the French. The peace terms on which England and France finally agreed were advantageous to England but were also much more favourable to the Bourbons than the terms that Louis XIV had been prepared to accept in previous negotiations. Peace talks broke down in late 1708 because the Allies had agreed not to negotiate a separate peace but could not agree on the terms. Charles largely ignored Navarre for the next twelve years, using it as a resource for his campaigns in France. Best remembered for his physical disabilities and the War of the Spanish Succession that followed his death, Charles's reign has traditionally been viewed as one of managed decline. By now Louis of Baden and the imperial general Hermann Styrum had brought up their armies to cover any attack on Vienna, but they had failed to unite into a single force, and Villars was able to attack Styrum and defeat him at Hochstadt, near Blenheim (September 20). [39], This expanded the war to North America, India, and other parts of Asia, with tariffs used as a policy weapon. Apart from denying an undivided Spanish Monarchy to others, Louis's objectives were to secure his borders with the Holy Roman Empire, weaken his rival Austria, and increase French commercial strength through access to trade with the Americas. [60], A combined Savoyard-Imperial attack on the French base of Toulon planned for April was postponed when Imperial troops were diverted to seize the Spanish Bourbon Kingdom of Naples. [37] On 8 May the Dutch Republic declared war on France, followed by the British and the Emperor on 15 May and the Imperial Diet on 30 September. [106] From 1666 onward French policies assumed military and economic superiority over their rivals, but this was no longer the case by 1714 when Britain appeared to have overtaken France on both fronts. Consequently, when Margaritas daughter Maria Antonia, who in 1685 married the Bavarian elector Maximilian II Emanuel, gave birth in 1692 to a son, the electoral prince Joseph Ferdinand, this prince could be regarded as heir presumptive to Charles II. On his march Tallart made the serious mistake of wasting five days trying to capture Villingen. On December 31, 1711, Marlborough was dismissed from his command. This enabled Marlborough to get between his enemies and Vienna. The kings of the Spanish Habsburg dynasty (1516-1700) frequently married close relatives in such a way that uncle-niece, first cousins and other consanguineous unions were prevalent in that dynasty. It was fought on five fronts: the Low Countries, the Rhine, the Danube, northern Italy, and Spainas well as at sea. [44] The Whigs argued France could not be defeated by seapower alone, making a Continental strategy essential, while Britain's financial strength made it the only member of the Alliance able to operate on all fronts against France. At the end of August, he captured Menen; in September, Dendermonde; and in October, Ath. On 7 September, the Holy Roman Empire joined the agreement by the Treaty of Baden; although Catalonia and Majorca were not finally subdued by the Bourbons until June 1715, the war was over. This meant that in 1349, as well as inheriting his fathers lands in Normandy, Charles inherited the crown of Navarre from his mother. [61], The first objective for the Grand Alliance in this theatre was to secure the Dutch frontiers, threatened by the alliance between France, Bavaria, and Joseph Clemens of Bavaria, ruler of Lige and Cologne. [57], Vendme, one of the best French generals, took command and was substantially reinforced; Prince Eugene managed a draw at the Battle of Luzzara but the French recovered most of the territory lost the year before. Article XIX of the treaty transferred sovereignty over the Spanish Netherlands to Austria. [15], In 1700, the Spanish Empire included possessions in Italy, the Spanish Netherlands, the Philippines and the Americas, and though no longer the dominant great power, it remained largely intact. This had a deep effect on the Dutch deputies, who remained excessively cautious and timid throughout the war. Subject to extended periods of ill-health for much of his life, his death was anticipated almost from birth, and the issue of his successor a matter of diplomatic debate for decades, the two main contenders being Louis XIV of France and Emperor Leopold I. Louis briefly considered refusing; although it meant the succession of Archduke Charles, insisting William help him enforce the Treaty of London meant he might achieve his territorial aims without fighting. [62] The 1703 campaign was marred by Allied conflicts over strategy; they failed to take Antwerp, and a Dutch contingent narrowly escaped disaster at Ekeren in June, which led to bitter recriminations.[63]. [82], When Emperor Joseph died in April 1711, Archduke Charles was elected Emperor; continuing the war now seemed pointless since the union of Spain with Austria was as unwelcome as one with France. Margarita Teresa, however, made no renunciation and, moreover, was named in Philip IVs will as the next heir after his son Charles (Charles II of Spain). Omissions? The imperial forces and their allies, therefore, concentrated instead on besieging Lille, which finally fell on October 22. By the end of 1704 the whole situation on the Danube front had been altered. [26] By early October 1700, Charles was clearly dying; his final will left the throne to Louis XIV's grandson Philip, Duke of Anjou; if he refused, the offer would pass to his younger brother the Duke of Berry, followed by Archduke Charles. [20] The 1697 Treaty of Ryswick was the result of mutual exhaustion and the acceptance by Louis that France could no longer achieve its objectives without allies. The conflict in Italy came to a close with the Convention of Milan in March 1707. Spain was indignant at this partition treaty, and in November 1698 Charles II created a will naming Joseph Ferdinand heir to the whole inheritance. [53], Over the course of the 17th century, the Savoyard state, generally known as Savoy, sought to replace Spain as the dominant power in Northern Italy. It became Charless lifes work to reclaim what he believed was rightfully his. Many of the objectives set out by the Grand Alliance in 1701 had been achieved, but success in 1708 made them overconfident. He was prepared to cede Spain and Spanish America to the archduke Charles if Philip retained Milan, Naples, and Sicily. By the end of 1708, the French had withdrawn from Northern Italy, while the Maritime Powers controlled the Spanish Netherlands, and secured the borders of the Dutch Republic; in the Mediterranean, the Maritime Powers had achieved naval supremacy, and Britain acquired permanent bases in Gibraltar and Menorca. Charless grandfather died before his birth on October 10, 1332. Here Jeff Aronson describes Charles's final illness and suggests that his death was hastened by his doctors. The War of the Spanish Succession was a European great power conflict that took place from 1701 to 1715. So in 1354, he awarded him lands in Normandy through the Treaty of Mantes. [21], Unlike the crowns of France or Austria, that of Spain could be inherited through the female line. France accepted the Protestant succession, ensuring a smooth inheritance by George I in August 1714, while agreeing to end support for the Stuarts in the 1716 Anglo-French Treaty. [68], British involvement was driven by safeguarding their trade routes in the Mediterranean. Marie's French attendants were often accused of plotting against the Spanish crown and one of her maids was even "questioned" for potential plots. [90], Fighting continued on the Rhine, but Austria was financially exhausted, and after the loss of Landau and Freiburg in November 1713, Charles finally made peace on 7 March 1714. [27], With most of his objectives achieved by diplomacy, Louis now made a series of moves that combined to make war inevitable. Updated January 10, 2022 Charles II's family was so set on keeping the royal bloodline that they put their children at risk just to make sure outsiders stayed outsiders. These minor French successes could not repair the damage done by the elector of Bavarias excessively cautious strategy on the Danube. Louis sought to avoid conflict over the issue through direct negotiation with his main opponent William III of England, while excluding the Spanish. This first pronunciamiento, or military coup, inaugurated a tradition that was to bear bitter fruit in the political life of Spain and Latin America in the 19th and 20th centuries. Charles XII of Sweden had established himself in Saxony in September 1706, and there was a serious danger that where the elector of Bavaria and French troops had failed in their attack on Vienna, Charles might succeed. Villars was in favour of making a dash for Vienna, but the elector of Bavaria refused. Throughout 1703, French victories at Friedlingen, Hchstdt and Speyerbach with the capture of Kehl, Breisach and Landau directly threatened Vienna. In Germany the emperors situation became critical because of developments in the Second Northern War, which was raging in the Baltic region. Although Eugenes troops had not yet arrived, Marlborough moved to check Vendmes advance and defeated the French at the Battle of Oudenaarde (July 11, 1708). Instead, from Mainz he pushed southeast across the Main River, up the valley of the Neckar, across the watershed between the Neckar and the Danube, and by the middle of June joined forces with Louis of Baden just north of Ulm. [55], The war in Italy primarily involved the Spanish-ruled Duchies of Milan and Mantua, considered essential to the security of Austria's southern borders. [69], Spain was a union between the Crowns of Castile and Aragon, which was divided into the Principality of Catalonia, plus the Kingdoms of Aragon, Valencia, Majorca, Sicily, Naples and Sardinia. [93] It established naval superiority over its competitors, acquired the strategic Mediterranean ports of Gibraltar and Menorca and trading rights in Spanish America. He became known as Charles I in Spain. "In reality, both the idea of a Spanish decline of the seventeenth century.and of the King's (Carlos III) absolute incapacity are two major historiographic myths that have helped create distorted and simplistic visions, also deeply rooted and widely accepted.Both the myth of decline and that of an incapable king have a basis in reality, but both are simplistic and inexact." Peace negotiations (MarchJuly 1710) were held at Geertruidenberg in the United Provinces between representatives of Louis XIV and the Dutch. Almost immediately, Charles began to use his new position in France to earn his defining title The Bad. The possibility of seriously threatening Vienna, however, was still not out of the question. Charles XII was not prepared to collaborate with France to attack Vienna, and the crisis soon passed. Combined with efforts to build an alliance between France and Imperial German states in Swabia and Franconia, these were challenges Leopold could not ignore. In the same month, however, Louis of Baden retreated eastward across the Rhine, and the Dutch rejected Marlboroughs ambitious scheme. These humiliating maneuvers were reported to Louis XIV by Catinats enemies at the French court, and he was replaced by Franois de Neufville, duc de Villeroi. Charles abandoned his claim to Strasbourg and Alsace and agreed to the restoration of the Wittelsbach Electors of Bavaria and Cologne, Max Emmanuel, and Joseph Clemens. [54], During the Nine Years' War in 1690, Savoy joined the Grand Alliance before agreeing a separate peace with France in 1696. Holy Roman Emperor Charles V became King of Spain in 1519 following the death of his mother, Queen Joana. Even some English statesmen, including Townshend, Sidney Godolphin, earl of Godolphin, and Marlborough, were prepared to consider allowing Philip V to retain part of the Spanish possessions. Allied victory at Vigo Bay in October 1702 persuaded Peter II of Portugal to switch sides, giving them an operational base in this area. The decentralisation of the Holy Roman Empire continued, with Prussia, Bavaria and Saxony increasingly acting as independent states. Marlboroughs force was then large enough for him to detach Louis of Baden to besiege Ingolstadt, the one strong point on the Danube east of Donauworth held by the Bavarians, and which was a serious threat to communications with Vienna. The war may be said to have begun in March 1701 when French troops seized Spanish fortresses in the Spanish Netherlands. Almost as soon as he became King, he earned, through his duplicitous dealings and ruthless pursuit of power a further title: Charles the Bad. In July 1710 the peace negotiations broke down. [86] These orders caused fury then and later, with Whigs urging Hanoverian military intervention; those George considered responsible, including Ormonde and Bolingbroke were driven into exile after his succession, and became prominent Jacobites. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). By the time they besieged Toulon in August, the French were too strong, and they were forced to withdraw. [89], Charles withdrew from the Conference when France insisted he guarantee not to acquire Mantua or Mirandola; he was supported in this by George, Elector of Hanover, who wanted France to withdraw support for the Stuart heir James Francis. Another French force under Tallart was to the north, near Kehl, to protect the communications between France and the French army on the Danube. Of the two daughters of Philip III of Spain (Charles IIs grandfather), the elder, Anne, married Louis XIII of France, and the younger, Maria Anna, married the future Habsburg emperor Ferdinand III. These are authorised numbers and actual were almost certainly lower. Seeking to reduce this was a major factor in France entering the 1740-to-1748 War of the Austrian Succession. Once again the negotiations were checked by the uncompromising attitude of England, where in December in the House of Lords the Whigs passed a resolution refusing to make a peace by which a member of the House of Bourbon should retain any of the Spanish possessions. [45], Although the English Duke of Marlborough was Allied commander in the Low Countries, the Dutch provided much of the manpower, and strategy in this theatre was subject to their approval. [28] The Tory majority in the English Parliament objected to the Partition Treaties, chiefly the French acquisition of Sicily, an important link in the lucrative Levant trade. While Victor Amadeus initially allied Savoy with France, his long-term goal was the acquisition of the Duchy of Milan, which neither Bourbons nor Habsburgs would relinquish voluntarily. The first, overriding all others, was to preserve a balance of power in Europe, an objective threatened by French expansion under Louis XIV. [50] Its dependence on others was illustrated in 1703; despite the presence of an invading Allied army, the French ambassador urged Louis to allow Dutch and English merchants to purchase wool from Spanish farmers, "otherwise the flocks cannot be maintained". The Spanish Army consisted of three separate forces; Spain (20,000), Spanish Netherlands (35,000) and Italy (15,000). When Charles II died on November 1, 1700, Louis XIV was confronted with a dilemma, If he accepted the will, he was faced with the prospect of war with Leopold I, who might have the support of the Maritime Powers. "When Charles II of England lay dying from a convulsion which attacked . Edward III was descended from the sister of Charless grandfather, Louis X, while John II was descended from Charles de Valois, Philips youngest son. This allowed Charles' sisters Maria Theresa (16381683) and Margaret Theresa (16511673) to pass their rights onto the children of their respective marriages with Louis XIV and Emperor Leopold. Britain retained Gibraltar and Menorca which it captured during the war, acquired significant trade concessions in the Spanish Americas, and replaced the Dutch as the leading maritime and commercial European power. The precarious situation of the Spanish Habsburgs, who were on the verge of extinction due to the lack of male heirs, manifested itself in rumours that the son marked . At the beginning of July 1708, Vendme had managed to recover Bruges and Ghent, thus asserting French control over most of the Spanish possessions in West Flanders. Finally, while colonial conflicts were relatively minor and largely confined to the North American theatre, the so-called Queen Anne's War, they were to become a key element in future wars. A three-pronged offensive against France planned early in the year proved impracticable, partly because Saxony and Prussia did not provide their promised contingents. France and Spain had the support of two reluctant allies, Portugal and Savoy, which feared to oppose the Bourbons, whose forces controlled Spain and the Spanish possessions in northern Italy.
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