page_title: Charles II of Spain
section_title: Succession
hierarchical_section_title: Charles II of Spain / Succession
context_page_description: Charles II of Spain, also known as El Hechizado or the Bewitched, was the last Habsburg ruler of the Spanish Empire. He is best remembered for his alleged physical disabilities, and the war that followed his death.
  Charles suffered ill-health throughout his life; from the moment he became king at the age of four in 1665, the succession was a prominent consideration in European politics. The historian John Langdon-Davies summarised this as follows: "Of no man is it more true to say that in his beginning was his end; from the day of his birth, they were waiting for his death".
  Despite two marriages, he remained childless. When he died in 1700, his heir was 16-year-old Philip of Anjou, grandson of Louis XIV and his first wife, Charles's elder half-sister, Maria Theresa. However, the succession of Charles was less important than the division of his territories, and the failure to resolve that question led to war in 1701.
context_section_description: One of John's last acts was arranging Charles's marriage in 1679 to Marie Louise, eldest daughter of Philippe I, Duke of Orléans. While the French ambassador wrote '...he is so ugly as to cause fear, and looks ill', it was considered irrelevant to the political benefits. Marie Louise was blamed for the failure to produce an heir, while primitive fertility treatments gave her severe intestinal problems.
  There has been considerable debate as to whether Charles was impotent, and if so, the cause; reports provided by Marie Louise indicate he may have suffered from premature ejaculation. The suggestion it was the result of inbreeding has not been proved, while a number of scientific studies dispute any linkage between fertility and consanguinity.   
  After she died in February 1689, Charles married Maria Anna of Neuburg, one of the twelve children of Philip William, Elector Palatine, and sister-in-law to Emperor Leopold. Although partly selected because her family was famous for its fertility, she proved no more successful in producing an heir than her predecessor. By this stage, Charles was almost certainly impotent; his autopsy revealed he had only one atrophied testicle.
  As the Crown of Spain passed according to cognatic primogeniture, it was possible for a woman, or the descendant of a woman, to inherit the crown. This enabled Charles's sisters Maria Theresa (1638–1683) and Margaret Theresa (1651–1673) to pass their rights to the children of their marriages with Louis XIV and Emperor Leopold. To prevent Spain's acquisition by France, Maria Theresa renounced her inheritance rights; in return, Louis was promised a dowry of 500,000 gold écus, a huge sum that was never paid.
  In 1685, Leopold and Margaret's daughter Maria Antonia married Max Emanuel of Bavaria; she died in 1692, leaving one surviving son, Joseph Ferdinand. In October 1698, France, Britain and the Dutch Republic attempted to impose a diplomatic solution to the Succession on Spain and Austria, by the Treaty of the Hague or First Partition Treaty. This made Joseph Ferdinand heir to the bulk of the Spanish Monarchy, with France gaining the Kingdoms of Naples and Sicily and other concessions in Italy plus the modern Basque province of Gipuzkoa. Leopold's younger son Archduke Charles became ruler of the Duchy of Milan, a possession considered vital to the security of Austria's southern border.
  Unsurprisingly, the Spanish objected to their Empire being divided by foreign powers without consultation, and on 14 November 1698, Charles II made Joseph Ferdinand heir to an independent and undivided Spanish Monarchy. Maria Anna was appointed Regent during his minority, an announcement allegedly received by the Spanish councillors in silence. Joseph Ferdinand's death in 1699 ended these arrangements.
  It also left Louis XIV's eldest son, the Grand Dauphin, heir to the Spanish throne, once again implying union between Spain and France. In March 1700, France, Britain and the Dutch agreed an alternative; Archduke Charles replaced Joseph Ferdinand, with Spanish possessions in Europe split between France, Savoy and Austria. Charles reacted by altering his will in favour of Archduke Charles, but once again stipulating an undivided and independent Spanish Monarchy.
  Most of the Spanish nobility disliked the Austrians, and Maria Anna, and viewed a French candidate as more likely to ensure their independence. In September 1700, Charles became ill again; by 28 September he was no longer able to eat, and Portocarrero persuaded him to alter his will in favour of Louis XIV's grandson, Philip of Anjou. He died five days before his 39th birthday on 1 November 1700; Philip was proclaimed King of Spain on 16th, and the War of the Spanish Succession began in 1701.
  The autopsy records his body "did not contain a single drop of blood; his heart was the size of a peppercorn; his lungs corroded; his intestines rotten and gangrenous; he had a single testicle, black as coal, and his head was full of water." As suggested previously, these are indicative of hydrocephalus, a disease often associated with
caption: Maria Anna of Neuburg, Charles's pro-Austrian second wife
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