page_title: Bourbon claim to the Spanish throne
section_title: The Last of the Spanish Habsburgs
hierarchical_section_title: Bourbon claim to the Spanish throne / The Last of the Spanish Habsburgs
context_page_description: After the death of the last Habsburg monarch of Spain in 1700, the childless Charles II, the Spanish throne was up for grabs between the various dynasties of Europe despite Charles having left a will naming his heir. In this will, Charles left Philip, Duke of Anjou, grandson of the French king, the possessions of the Spanish Crown.
  The Austrian Habsburgs, who considered themselves the rightful heirs of Charles II, fearing that the vast domain of the Spanish Crown would be taken over by the French monarchy, formed a European coalition against the Bourbon monarchs of France and Spain, therefore starting the War of the Spanish Succession. In this article, the Bourbon claim to the Spanish Crown and its origins are explained in detail.
context_section_description: The respective marriages of Anne of Austria and Maria Theresa into the French Royal Family would not be thought much of despite Spain's tradition of following cognatic primogeniture (it did not exclude females from reigning on the throne of Spain). The Habsburgs themselves had come into possession of Spain through a female line: Joanna of Castile, the last heir of the joint sovereigns Isabella I of Castile and her husband Ferdinand II of Aragon, as her elder brother and the heir apparent had died childless.
  Probably (and similar to what  Carlos V  would later attempt to secure his dynasty's possession of Spain), the Habsburgs wanted to prevent the succession of any other royal house to the throne of Spain through a female line. Fortunately, each Habsburg king had a son to succeed him. Luck apparently ran out with the death of Baltazar Carlos, Philip IV's heir apparent.
  Therefore, with her brother's death, as a birthright, María Teresa could inherit the vast Spanish Empire and all the wealth it offered, since there was no restriction in Spanish succession law to the accession of a queen regnant (unlike in France, with its infamous Salic Law). Likewise, if María Teresa refused the throne, it would pass to the next blood descendants, the Austrian Habsburgs, who were also descended from a female line of the Spanish Habsburgs.
  Desperate for a male heir and fearing the extinction of the dynasty, Philip married his late son's intended bride, his own niece, Mariana of Austria, the daughter of his sister Maria Anna of Spain (1606–46) and Emperor Ferdinand III.
  The degree of inbreeding between the Spanish and Austrian branches of the House of Habsburg came to its zenith with this marriage and likewise, the resultant offspring was a culmination of nearly a century of incestuous marriages. This inbreeding in the Habsburg family genealogy had given many in the family hereditary weaknesses and left later generations prone to still-births. Charles's birth was greeted with joy and relief by the Spaniards, who had feared the dispute which could have ensued if Philip IV left no male heir. However, Charles was mentally and physically disabled as well as disfigured, which in turn limited his efficacy as a leader and earned him the name El Hechizado ("The Hexed") in Spanish history.
  Of Maria's six children, only one survived her, the Dauphin Louis, who died in 1711. Marie-Thérèse's grandson, Philip, Duke of Anjou, would eventually come to inherit her rights to the Spanish Throne, after the death of her mentally unstable half-brother Charles II of Spain. He acceded to that throne in 1700. It is through him that her descendants now reign over Spain. The War of the Spanish Succession was caused by this.
caption: Charles II of Spain. "El Hechizado"
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