Charles II of Spain

Charles II of Spain
Portrait by Juan Carreño de Miranda (c. 1685).
King of Spain, Naples, Sicily and Sardinia, Duke of Milan, Sovereign of the Netherlands and Count of Burgundy
Reign	September 17, 1665 – November 1, 1700 (35 years)
Predecessor	Philip IV
Successor	Philip V
Regent	Mariana of Austria
Born	(1661-11-06)November 6, 1661 Madrid, Crown of Castile
Died	November 1, 1700(1700-11-01) (aged 38) Madrid, Crown of Castile
Burial	Royal Crypt of the Monastery of El Escorial
Spouse	Marie Louise of Orléans Maria Anna of Neuburg
House	House of Austria
Father	Philip IV of Spain
Mother	Mariana of Austria
Religion	Catholic
Signature

Charles II of Spain, called "the Bewitched" (Madrid, November 6, 1661 – ibid., November 1, 1700), was King of Spain between 1665 and 1700.

Son and heir of Philip IV and of Mariana of Austria, he remained under the regency of his mother until he came of age in 1675. Although his nickname came from the attribution of his lamentable physical state to witchcraft and diabolical influences, it is likely that the successive consanguineous marriages of the royal family caused the heir to suffer from Klinefelter syndrome, with symptoms such as weak musculature and infertility, which brought about a serious succession conflict, as he died without issue and the Spanish branch of the Habsburgs thus became extinct.

The beginning of Spanish decline has been attributed to Charles II, but 21st-century historiography has questioned both this and the seriousness of the Monarch's health. Together with his men, he managed to keep the empire intact in the face of the French might of Louis XIV, and achieved one of the greatest deflations in history, the increase of purchasing power in his kingdoms, the recovery of the public coffers, the end of hunger, and peace.

Regency of Mariana of Austria (1665–1675)

Charles II in the Hall of Mirrors of the Royal Alcázar of Madrid, by Juan Carreño de Miranda (c. 1675).

Philip IV had first married Elisabeth of France (who died in 1644). From this union a single son was born, Prince Balthasar Charles, who died in 1646, which led the King to decide to marry a second time (1649), to his niece the Archduchess Mariana of Austria, daughter of Emperor Ferdinand III and of Maria Anna of Austria (sister of Philip IV), with the aim of ensuring dynastic continuity on the throne. Several children were born of this marriage, of whom only the Infanta Margaret Theresa and the last of the sons, Charles, survived.

King Charles was barely three years old when his father died (1665), having established in his testament his widow, Queen Mariana of Austria, as Regent:

"[...] I name as governor of all my Kingdoms, states and lordships, and guardian of the prince my son, and of any other son or daughter who may come to succeed me, the Queen Doña Mariana of Austria, my very dear and beloved wife, with all the faculties and power that, in accordance with the laws, fueros and privileges, styles and customs of each of my said kingdoms, states and lordships..."

The Queen would be assisted by a Regency Council made up of six members: the President of the Council of Castile (García Haro Sotomayor y Guzmán, Count of Castrillo), the Vice-Chancellor of the Council of Aragon (Cristóbal Crespí de Valldaura), a representative of the Council of State (Gaspar de Bracamonte y Guzmán, Count of Peñaranda), a Grandee of Spain (Guillén Ramón de Moncada, Marquis of Aytona), the Inquisitor General (Cardinal Pascual de Aragón) and the Archbishop of Toledo (Cardinal Baltasar Moscoso y Sandoval) as the highest religious authority in the Monarchy.

When Philip IV's testament was opened, one of the members of the Council had already died, leaving vacant the seat of the Archbishopric of Toledo. Its holder, Cardinal Baltasar Moscoso y Sandoval, had died only a few hours before Philip IV. The Queen had to find solutions and, with the intention of leaving vacant the post of Inquisitor General, obliged Don Pascual de Aragón to take the Archbishopric of Toledo. In this way the post of inquisitor was left free to be taken shortly afterward by the Queen's chief confidant: her confessor, Father Juan Everardo Nithard.

Juan Everardo Nithard as favorite

Portrait of Cardinal Juan Everardo Nithard, by Alonso del Arco (c. 1674).

The death of Philip IV and the assumption of the regency by Mariana of Austria left her suddenly feeling alone amid the whirlwind of events that followed her husband's death. The center of attention, the target of exaltation and of criticism, the widowed Queen sought the support of her faithful confessor, the Jesuit Father Juan Everardo Nithard, who had accompanied her to Madrid from the court of Vienna in 1649, and not only in his spiritual role but also in the controversial political one.

Thus Father Nithard came to hold posts of great importance in the monarchy, acting as a true "valido", as he was almost the only person in whom the Queen Regent placed her full trust. With his rise Nithard managed to gather a great deal of hatred in both political and religious circles; for the Jesuit father not only joined the Council of State in January 1666 but also attained the post of Inquisitor General, the summit of the great ecclesiastical institution of the monarchy. The elevation of the Jesuit to such a juridical-religious dignity was by no means easy, but the Queen brought into play every resource within her reach to obtain that office for her confessor. First, she got the acting Inquisitor General, the Archbishop of Toledo, Don Pascual de Aragón, to resign his post and withdraw to his archbishopric, at the same time leaving his seat on the Regency Council, on which, according to Philip IV's testament, the Inquisitor General was to sit.

The second step was to naturalize Nithard, since a foreigner could not attain the post of Inquisitor General, for which she had to win the support of the Castilian cities with a vote in the Cortes. Third and last, papal approval was necessary, since Nithard, as a Jesuit, could not accept any office without the consent of the Supreme Pontiff, owing to the rules of his society. The Queen then did not hesitate to address Pope Alexander VII to vehemently request his approval of the inquisitorial post for her confessor. The Pope exempted Nithard from his Jesuit vow that prevented him from holding political office, in the bull promulgated on October 15, 1666; with this last act the Jesuit father obtained the office of Inquisitor General, which instantly made him a member of the Regency Council.

The nobility rejected Nithard's elevation from the outset, considering him an upstart lacking the merits for the positions he held; and the Dominicans, an order opposed to the Jesuits, felt their pride wounded on seeing a Jesuit snatch from them the primacy of the royal confessional, as well as the great inquisitorial post. Therefore, the political juncture of a moment in which the minister-favorite was in decline, the low station of the chosen one, the order to which he belonged, his displays of ambition little in keeping with his Jesuit condition and his suspicious closeness to the Queen were the determining premises of the many criticisms that Nithard received during his time as favorite.

Nevertheless, Nithard did not have as much political influence as has been thought, and in fact the circumstances of his elevation, his condition as a foreign Jesuit of low lineage and the favoritism the Queen showed toward him aroused more opposition than his actual management at the head of the Monarchy. Nithard became hateful because he blocked the avenues of access to the Queen, a fact for which he was not wholly responsible either, since Mariana of Austria showed extreme distrust toward the great Spanish nobility and toward Don Juan José of Austria, the confessor's chief enemy. Nithard's role as a politician and even as the highest religious authority of the Monarchy was rather mediocre, and his real influence is difficult to gauge. It seems that he favored the inclusion of certain figures in the Junta of ministers, devised the Chamberga Guard, etc., but his votes in the Council of State, more theological than political in character, were not always heeded. Moreover, Nithard did not manage to build a network of power that would keep him in his position as favorite; quite the contrary, in the three years in which he enjoyed closeness to the Queen, he kept gaining enemies until he was expelled in the hope that his distance would calm the stormy political situation.

The conflict between Don Juan José of Austria and Nithard: the fall of the favorite

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Portrait of Juan José of Austria, anonymous Madrid artist of the 17th century.

Between 1665 and 1668, Juan José of Austria, illegitimate son of Philip IV and therefore half-brother of Charles II, struggled tirelessly to obtain a post of importance at Court, visibly worn down by his continual military campaigns in Italy, Catalonia, Flanders and Portugal, to the point of appearing with his men at the gates of Madrid to the cry of "Long live the King. Death to bad government".

When Philip IV died, in September 1665, Don Juan was 36 years old, while his half-brother, Charles II, was only 3. In his testament the King made the following provision (clause 37):

Inasmuch as I have declared Don Juan José of Austria to be my son, whom I had while married, and I acknowledge him as such, I beg and charge my successor and the Queen, my very dear and beloved wife, to protect and favor him and to make use of him as of something of mine, seeking to provide him with an estate so that he may live in accordance with his rank, if I have not given it to him before my death.

— "Testamento de Felipe IV" (1982), introduction by Antonio Domínguez Ortiz. Colección Documenta

Nevertheless, Don Juan was excluded from every political post of importance, whether on the Regency Council or in the Council of State, which plunged him into a great state of dejection, as he indicated in writing to the Queen:

[...] for will it not be said, against what is most sacred in my intention, if they saw that Your Majesty closed to me the door that His Majesty, may God have him in glory [Philip IV], opened to me to sit on the benches of a Council, which is the touchstone door of trust and of the esteem of the most eminent vassals? Have I perhaps become unworthy of it since then through my conduct, or has any shadow or hint been seen that might darken it? No, Madam, neither has this happened, nor can Your Majesty permit that a disfavor of this magnitude be done to me.

— A.H.N., Estado, Libro 873.

To all this was added his discontent, like that of many other grandees and nobles, at the meteoric rise of the Jesuit Nithard.

In the political sphere Nithard had reaped continual failures, both domestically and abroad (suffice it to recall the discontent over the signing of the Treaty of Lisbon, which officially recognized the independence of Portugal). He also earned much antipathy for having advised the prohibition of theatrical performances. Lastly, the demands for money to deal with the many problems that arose highlighted the confessor's inability to implement an efficient economic policy. In addition, his projects aimed at establishing a single tax and lowering consumption taxes were not accepted.

Reign of Charles II (1665–1700)

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Portrait of Marie Louise of Orléans, Queen of Spain, by José García Hidalgo (c. 1679).

Charles II was proclaimed king in 1665, at the age of three. He was a person educated by theologians, but his poor health led to suspicions that he would die young, so his education in the tasks of government was neglected. During this period the struggle against Valenzuela intensified until, twelve years later, in 1677, Juan José of Austria marched on Madrid and seized power with the backing of the nobility. Valenzuela was banished and the Queen Mother left the Court, taking up residence in the Alcázar of Toledo. Juan José of Austria, with popular support, became the new favorite. His government was overshadowed by the political struggle against his adversaries and the dramatic situation of the Hispanic Monarchy, forced to cede the Franche-Comté to France through the Peace of Nijmegen in 1679. In that same year the King, 18 years old, married for the first time Marie Louise of Orléans, niece of Louis XIV of France. Although she never came to be truly in love with her husband, with the passing years Marie Louise came to feel a genuine affection for him. Charles, for his part, loved his wife tenderly. Faced with the lack of a successor, the queen even made pilgrimages and venerated sacred relics. She finally died in 1689, leaving the king in a depressive state, probably because of the potions they made him take.

Charles II's men revive the economy

King Charles II, fully aware of his inability to take on the functions of government, had the good judgment to place well-prepared people at the head of the most important offices. Authors such as Ribot García (2006) believe that he perhaps underestimated his own capacity. The first measures to reduce galloping inflation, avoid a permanent deficit and fill the royal coffers were put into practice by Fernando de Valenzuela, but he was at the head of the finances only a short time and his measures had no time to bear fruit.

The measures undertaken by Valenzuela were taken up again by the next favorite, Juan Francisco de la Cerda, Duke of Medinaceli (1680–1685). Although his disputes with the Queen and other influential people were numerous, de la Cerda holds the merit of achieving one of the greatest deflations in History before resigning his office, which was harmful to the public coffers but very beneficial to the King's subjects, a first step toward economic recovery.

After the departure of the Duke of Medinaceli, his place was taken by Manuel Joaquín Álvarez de Toledo-Portugal y Pimentel, Count of Oropesa (1685–1691), who continued the policy of placing in key posts people knowledgeable in the matter rather than nobles merely for being nobles. Under his direction the General Superintendency of the Royal Treasury was created, presided over by the Marquis of Vélez. Its objectives, among the most important, were to establish the spending ceiling by drawing up a budget from scratch, to forgive the debts of the municipalities to allow them to recover, to reduce taxes and to put an end to lavish spending.

With all these measures, the reign of Charles II in economic terms has been described by authors such as Ribot García (2006) as "a haven of peace", relieving the pressure on his subjects, allowing a surplus and putting an end to the successive bankruptcies incurred by his father, his grandfather and even his great-grandfather. It also made possible the arrival of funds that pleasantly surprised his successor years later.

"All my kingdoms and dominions without exception of any part of them"

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Portrait of Maria Anna of Neuburg, Queen of Spain, by Wilhelm Humer.

The confrontation with the traditional aristocracy and the Church, and his lack of rapport with the new queen, Maria Anna of Neuburg, the king's second wife, were compounded by the disasters of the war against France—the loss of Luxembourg through the Truce of Ratisbon in 1684, the French invasion of Catalonia in 1691—which precipitated the fall of Álvarez de Toledo-Portugal y Pimentel in June 1691.

One of the most important events that would later change the Hispanic Monarchy was the Peace of Ryswick, signed with France in 1697 after the French occupation of the Palatinate. The most important consequence of this peace was the possibility of France gaining access to the throne of the Spanish Crown.

The succession problem

Main article: War of the Spanish Succession

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Portrait of King Charles II, by Wilhelm Humer.

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Spanish gold coin minted in 1700, the year of Charles II's death.

Although in the last years of his reign the King decided to govern personally, his evident incapacity placed the exercise of power in the hands of his second wife, Queen Maria Anna of Neuburg, advised by the Archbishop of Toledo, Cardinal Luis Fernández Portocarrero. According to a French ambassador, during his last years the king was in a very precarious state: "His ailment, more than a specific illness, is a general exhaustion".

Given the King's lack of direct posterity, a complex web of palace intrigues began around the succession. This matter, turned into a question of State, consumed the efforts of European diplomacy. After the death of the agreed heir, Joseph Ferdinand of Bavaria, in 1699, King Charles II made his testament on October 3, 1700 in favor of Philip of Anjou, grandson of Louis XIV of France and of his sister, the Infanta Maria Theresa of Austria (1638–1683), the eldest of the daughters of Philip IV. This candidacy was supported by Cardinal Portocarrero. Clause 13 of the aforementioned testament read:

Recognizing, in accordance with various consultations of ministers of State and Justice, that the reason on which the renunciation by the ladies Doña Anne and Doña Maria Theresa, Queens of France, my aunt and my sister, of the succession to these kingdoms was founded was to avoid the harm of being united to the Crown of France; and recognizing that, this fundamental motive having ceased, the right of succession subsists in the nearest relative, in accordance with the laws of these Kingdoms, and that today this case is verified in the second son of the Dauphin of France: therefore, conforming myself to the said laws, I declare to be my successor, in the event that God takes me without leaving children, the Duke of Anjou, second son of the Dauphin, and as such I call him to the succession of all my Kingdoms and dominions, without exception of any part of them. And I command and order all my subjects and vassals of all my Kingdoms and lordships that, in the said event that God takes me without legitimate succession, they hold and recognize him as their king and natural lord, and that actual possession be given to him at once and without the least delay, preceded by the oath he must take to observe the laws, fueros and customs of my said Kingdoms and lordships.

Maria Anna of Neuburg, on the other hand, supported the claims of her nephew, Archduke Charles of Austria, son of Emperor Leopold I. The claims of the Austrian archduke were backed by England and Holland, the traditional enemies of Spain during the 17th century, which also rivaled the hegemonic France of Louis XIV. Although the bewitched Charles was manipulated by those around him to shore up the candidacy of the Bourbon, the latter already took precedence over his rival by dynastic right, since he had more Spanish ancestors than his Austrian rival.

Charles II, the last of the Spanish Habsburgs, died on November 1, 1700, at the age of 38, although he appeared older. According to the forensic physician, Charles's corpse "did not have a single drop of blood, the heart appeared the size of a peppercorn, the lungs corroded, the intestines putrefied and gangrenous, he had a single testicle as black as coal and the head full of water".

It is said that at the moment he expired the planet Venus was seen shining beside the Sun in Madrid, which was considered a miracle. At the same time, in distant Brussels, where news of the king's death had evidently not yet arrived, a Te Deum was sung in the Church of Saint Gudula for his recovery. On learning of this, the astrologer Van Velen exclaimed that they were praying for the monarch's improvement when in reality he had just died.

On November 6 the news of the death of King Charles II reached Versailles. On the 16th of the same month Louis XIV announced that he accepted the provisions of the Spanish king's testament. The now Philip V of Spain set out for Madrid, where he arrived on January 22, 1701. The tension between France and Spain and the rest of the European powers, which from the outset had distrusted the power the Bourbons were going to accumulate, increased owing to a series of political errors committed at the courts of Versailles and Madrid. Austria, which did not recognize Philip V as king, sent an army toward the Spanish territories in Italy, without a prior declaration of war. The first encounter between this army and the French took place at Carpi on July 9. On September 7 England, the United Provinces and Austria signed the Treaty of The Hague, and in May 1702 all of them declared war on France and Spain.

Portrait of the king

When the young king was twenty years old, his appearance and deplorable state would make a strong impression on the papal nuncio:

The king is rather short than tall, not badly formed, ugly of face; he has a long neck, a long face as if curved upward; the lower lip typical of the Austrias; eyes not very large, turquoise blue in color, and fine and delicate skin. His hair is blond and long, and he wears it combed back, so that his ears are left uncovered. He cannot straighten his body except when he walks, unless he leans against a wall, a table or something else. His body is as weak as his mind. From time to time he gives signs of intelligence, of memory and of a certain liveliness, but not now; usually he has a slow and indifferent look, clumsy and indolent, seeming stupefied. One can do with him whatever one wishes, for he lacks a will of his own.

— Pfandl (1947, p. 386)

In Spanish literature

The Romantic playwright Antonio Gil y Zárate composed a famous play, Carlos II (1837). Francisco Ayala dedicated to him "El hechizado", one of the six stories of Los usurpadores (1949). And Ramón J. Sender the historical novel Carolus Rex (1963).

Ancestors

Ancestors of Charles II of Spain

Generation 1

• 1. Charles II of Spain

Generation 2

• 2. Philip IV of Spain
• 3. Mariana of Austria

Generation 3

• 4. Philip III of Spain (=14)
• 5. Margaret of Austria-Styria (=15)
• 6. Ferdinand III of Habsburg
• 7. Maria Anna of Spain

Generation 4

• 8. Philip II of Spain (=28)
• 9. Anna of Austria (=29)
• 10. Charles II of Styria (=24/30)
• 11. Maria Anna of Bavaria (=25/31)
• 12. Ferdinand II of Habsburg
• 13. Maria Anna of Bavaria
• 14. Philip III of Spain (=4)
• 15. Margaret of Austria-Styria (=5)

Generation 5

• 16. Charles I of Spain
• 17. Isabella of Portugal
• 18. Maximilian II of Habsburg
• 19. Maria of Austria and Portugal
• 20. Ferdinand I of Habsburg
• 21. Anne of Bohemia and Hungary
• 22. Albert V of Bavaria
• 23. Anna of Habsburg-Jagiellon
• 24. Charles II of Styria (=10/30)
• 25. Maria Anna of Bavaria (=11/31)
• 26. William V of Bavaria
• 27. Renata of Lorraine
• 28. Philip II of Spain (=8)
• 29. Anna of Austria (=9)
• 30. Charles II of Styria (=10/24)
• 31. Maria Anna of Bavaria (=11/25)

Bibliography

1. Gargantilla, Pedro (2005). Enfermedades de los reyes de España. Los Austrias: de la locura de Juana a la impotencia de Carlos II el Hechizado (in español). Madrid: La Esfera de los libros. ISBN 9788497343381.
2. Martínez Shaw, Carlos (2000). "El primer monarca ilustrado". La aventura de la Historia (in español). 2 (25). Madrid: Arlanza Ediciones. ISSN 1579-427X.
3. Oliván Santaliestra, Laura (2006). Mariana de Austria en la encrucijada política del siglo XVII (in español). Madrid: Universidad Complutense de Madrid.
4. Pfandl, Ludwig (1947). Carlos II (in español). Madrid: Afrodisio Aguado.
5. Alonso Mola, María (2000). "El rey melancólico". La aventura de la Historia (in español). 2 (25). Madrid: Arlanza Ediciones. ISSN 1579-427X.
6. Ribot García, Luis Antonio (2006). El arte de gobernar. Estudios sobre la España de los Austrias (in español). Madrid: Alianza. ISBN 9788420647807.
7. Werner, Thomas; Verdonk, Robert A. (2000). Encuentros en Flandes: relaciones e intercambios hispanoflamencos a inicios de la Edad Moderna (in español). Leuven University Press.

Further reading

• Baviera, Adalberto de (1938). Mariana de Neoburgo, Reina de España (in español). Madrid: Espasa-Calpe.
• Calvo Poyato, José (1998). La vida y época de Carlos II el Hechizado (in español). Barcelona: Planeta.
• Contreras, Jaime (2003). Carlos II el Hechizado. Poder y melancolía en la Corte del último Austria (in español). Madrid: Temas de Hoy.
• Maura Gamazo, Gabriel (1942). Vida y reinado de Carlos II (in español). Madrid: Espasa-Calpe.

External links

• Diccionario Biográfico. Real Academia de la Historia Carlos II

• Castillo, Antonio (2005). "Carlos II. El fin de una dinastía enferma" (in español).
• «Carlos II de España» — article by Paul Bitternut