Charles II of Spain

Triumph of Charles II
at the Brussels Grand-Place.

Charles II of Spain, known as «the Bewitched» (Madrid, November 6, 1661-Madrid, November 1, 1700), was King of Spain between 1665 and 1700.

Son and heir of Felipe IV and Mariana of Austria, he remained under his mother's regency until he came of age in 1675. Although his nickname came from the attribution of his unfortunate physical condition to witchcraft and influences diabolical, it is likely that the successive consanguineous marriages of the royal family caused his serious health problems, with symptoms such as weak muscles and infertility. Some authors have suggested that the heir suffered from Klinefelter syndrome. All this led to a serious conflict succession, when dying without descendants and thus extinguishing the Spanish branch of the Habsburgs.

Charles II has been credited with the beginning of the Spanish decline, but a part of 21st century historiography has questioned both this and the seriousness of the monarch's health, who, together with his men, managed to keep the empire intact Faced with the French power of Louis XIV, he achieved one of the greatest deflations in history, the increase in purchasing power in his kingdoms, the recovery of public coffers, the end of famine and peace. Due to these achievements, María Elvira Roca Barea considers him an unknown king, but who was the one who began the reforms and achieved a well-being that the Bourbons soon stoned, and authors such as Luis Antonio Ribot García will say of him "neither so bewitched nor so decadent". and in some regions such as Catalonia or Italy he is regarded as one of the best Spanish kings, if not the best.

Regency of Mariana of Austria (1665-1675)

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

Philip IV had first married Isabella of France (died 1644). From this union an only son was born, Prince Baltasar Carlos, who died in 1646, which caused the king to decide to marry his niece, Archduchess Mariana of Austria, daughter of Emperor Ferdinand III and María in a second marriage (1649). Ana of Austria (sister of Felipe IV), with the aim of ensuring dynastic continuity on the throne. Several children were born from this marriage, of whom only the Infanta Margarita Teresa and the last of the sons, Carlos, survived.

King Carlos was barely three years old when his father died (1665), leaving this established in his will as regent to his widow, Queen Mariana of Austria:

[...] I appoint by governor of all my kings states and lords, and guardian of the prince my son, and of another qual any son or daughter that will happen to me to the King Mariana of Austria my very chara, and loved to mute with all the faculties, and power, that according to the laws of wrath, and privileges, styles and customs of each one of the sayings my regnos, states and lords [...].

The queen would be assisted by a Board of Regency 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 Felipe IV's will was opened, one of the members of the Junta had already died: thus, the position of the Archbishopric of Toledo remained vacant. Its incumbent, Cardinal Baltasar Moscoso y Sandoval, had died only a few hours before Felipe IV. The queen had to look for solutions and with the intention of leaving the position of Inquisitor General vacant, she forced Don Pascual de Aragón to occupy the archbishopric of Toledo. In this way, the position of Inquisitor General was left free to be taken over shortly after by the queen's highest confidant: her confessor, Father Juan Everardo Nithard.

The support of Juan Everardo Nithard

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

The death of Felipe IV and the assumption of the regency by Mariana of Austria made her suddenly feel alone in the midst of the maelstrom of events that followed the death of her husband. The center of attention, the target of exaltation and criticism, the widowed queen required the support of her faithful confessor, the Jesuit Father Juan Everardo Nithard, who had accompanied her to Madrid in 1649 from the court of Vienna, and not only in its spiritual aspect, but in the controversial political aspect.

Thus, Father Nithard came to occupy positions of great importance in the monarchy, acting as a true "valid" as he was almost the only person in whom the queen regent placed her full trust. Nithard managed to collect with his promotion a great number of hatreds both in political and religious circles; and it is that the Jesuit father not only became part of the Council of State in January 1666 but he also reached the position of Inquisitor General, the pinnacle of the great ecclesiastical institution of the monarchy. The elevation of the Jesuit to such legal-religious dignity was not at all easy, but the queen put into play all the resources that she had at her disposal to obtain such a position for her confessor. In the first place, he got the acting Inquisitor General, the Archbishop of Toledo, Don Pascual de Aragón, to resign his position and retire to his archbishopric, leaving at the same time his position in the Board of Regency in which, according to the will of Felipe IV, should have been the Inquisitor General.

The second step was to naturalize Nithard, since a foreigner could not reach the position of Inquisitor General, for which he had to win the support of the Castilian cities with a vote in courts. Third and last, a papal approval was necessary since Nithard, as a Jesuit could not accept any position without the consent of the Supreme Pontiff, due to the rules of his company. The queen then did not hesitate to address Pope Alexander VII to vehemently request her approval of the inquisitorial position for her confessor. The Pope exempted Nithard from his Jesuitical 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 position of Inquisitor General, which made him a member of the Board of Regency.

The nobility rejected from the beginning the elevation of Nithard, whom they considered an upstart lacking the merits he boasted; and the Dominicans, an order opposed to the Jesuits, felt their pride wounded by watching a Jesuit take away from them the supremacy of the royal confessional, as well as the great inquisitorial position. Therefore, the political conjuncture of a moment in which the favorite-minister was in decline, the low condition of the chosen one, the order to which he belonged, his displays of ambition not in keeping with his Jesuit condition and his suspicious closeness to the queen, were the determining premises of the numerous criticisms that Nithard received during his tenure.

Nevertheless, Nithard did not have as much political influence as has been thought, and in fact the circumstances of his elevation or his condition as a low-born foreign Jesuit and the favoritism that the queen showed towards him aroused more opposition, than his real management at the head of the Monarchy. Nithard became hateful because he blocked the access routes to the queen, a fact for which he was not totally responsible either, since Mariana of Austria showed great distrust towards the great Spanish nobility and towards Don Juan José de Austria, the confessor's greatest enemy. Nithard's role as a politician and even as the Monarchy's highest religious authority was rather mediocre, his true influence being difficult to gauge. It seems that he favored the insertion of certain characters in the Board of Ministers, he was the creator of the Guardia Chamberga, etc., but his votes in the Council of State, of a more theological than political nature, were not always heeded.. On the other hand, Nithard did not know how to procure a network of power that would keep him in his possession; quite the contrary, in the three years in which he enjoyed the closeness of the queen, he made enemies until he was expelled in the hope that his distance from him would calm the stormy political situation.

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

Portrait of Juan José de Austria, an anonymous Madrid from the seventeenth century.

Between 1665 and 1668, Juan José de Austria, bastard son of Felipe IV and, therefore, half-brother of Carlos II, fought hard to get a position of relevance at Court, visibly worn down by his continuous military campaigns in Italy, Catalonia, Flanders and Portugal, to the point of appearing with his men at the gates of Madrid shouting "Long live the king. Death to bad government".

When Felipe IV died in September 1665, Don Juan was 36 years old, while his half brother, Carlos II, was only three. In his will, the king provided the following (clause 37):

Because I have declared by my son to Don Juan José of Austria, that he should be married, and I recognize him for this, I beg and commissioned my successor and the Queen, my very face and beloved woman, to embrace him and favor him and to serve him as my own thing, seeking to accommodate him with wealth, so that he may live according to his quality, if I have not given it before my death..

"Testamento de Felipe IV (1982), introduction of Domínguez Ortiz, Antonio. Document Collection

Nevertheless, Don Juan was excluded from all relevant political positions, both in the Board of Regency and in the Council of State, which caused him a great state of prostration, as he indicated in writing to the Queen:

... that will not be said against the most sacred of my intention if they see that His Majesty closed me the door that His Majesty may have [Philip IV] It opened to me in the banks of a council, which is the door of the touch of trust, and the appreciation of the most relevant vassals, have I then demerced it here with my proceeding, or has it been seen shadow or astonishment that can obscur it? No, ma'am, this has not been, nor can Your Majesty allow me to make a disfavor of this size.

A.H.N., State, Book 873.

To all this was added his discomfort, like that of many other great and nobles, by the brilliant rise of the Jesuit Nithard.

In the political field, Nithard had reaped continuous failures, both internally and externally (it is worth remembering the discontent over the signing of the Treaty of Lisbon, which officially recognized the independence of Portugal). He also earned many dislikes for having advised the prohibition of theatrical performances.Lastly, the demands for money to deal with the many problems raised, highlighted the confessor's inability to implement an efficient economic policy. In addition, his projects leading to the establishment of a single contribution and to lowering consumption taxes were not accepted.

Reign of Charles II (1665-1700)

Portrait of María Luisa de Orleans, 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 the suspicion that he would die young, so his education in government tasks was neglected. At that time the fight against Valenzuela increased until twelve years later, in 1677, Juan José from Austria marched on Madrid and seized power by relying on the nobility. Valenzuela was exiled and the Queen Mother left the Court establishing her residence in the Alcazar of Toledo. Juan José de Austria, with popular support, became the new valid. His government was overshadowed by the political struggle against his adversaries and the dramatic situation of the Hispanic monarchy, forced to cede Franche-Comté to France through the Peace of Nijmegen in 1678. In that same year, the 18-year-old king, He married in first nuptials with María Luisa de Orleans, niece of Luis XIV of France. Although she never truly fell in love with her husband, over the years María Luisa came to feel genuine affection for him. Carlos, for his part, loved his wife dearly. In the absence of a successor to her, the queen came to make pilgrimages and venerate sacred relics. She finally died in 1689, leaving the king in a depressed state probably because of the potions they made him take.

Charles II's men revive the economy

King Carlos II, fully aware of his inability to assume the functions of government, had the good judgment to put well-prepared people in charge of the most important positions. Authors such as Ribot García (2006) believe that perhaps he underestimated his own capacity. The first measures to reduce the galloping inflation, avoid the permanent deficit and fill the royal coffers were put into practice by Fernando de Valenzuela, but he was in charge of finance for a short time and his measures did not have time to bear fruit.

The measures undertaken by Valenzuela were resumed by the following valid Juan Francisco de la Cerda, Duke of Medinaceli (1680-1685). Despite the fact that his disputes with the Queen and other influential people were numerous, de la Cerda has the merit of achieving one of the largest deflations in History before resigning from office, which was detrimental to public coffers, but very beneficial for the King's subjects, the first step for an economic recovery.

After the abandonment of the one from Medinaceli, Manuel Joaquín Álvarez de Toledo-Portugal y Pimentel, Count of Oropesa (1685-1691) took his place, who continued with the policy of placing knowledgeable people in key positions and not to nobles for the mere fact of being so. Under his directives, the General Superintendency of the Royal Treasury was created, chaired by the Marquis of Vélez. Its objectives were to meet the spending ceiling by developing a budget from scratch, canceling debts to municipalities to allow them to recover, reducing taxes and ending sumptuous spending, among the most important.

With all these measures, the economic reign of Carlos II has been described by authors such as Ribot García (2006) as "a haven of peace", relieving the pressure on his subjects, allowing the surplus and ending the successive bankruptcies in which his father, his grandfather and even his great-grandfather incurred. In addition to enabling the arrival of funds that pleasantly surprised his successor years later.

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

Mariana del Palatinado-Neoburg on horsebackby Luca Giordano, Museo del Prado, Madrid.

The confrontation with the traditional aristocracy and the Church, and their lack of harmony with the new queen, Mariana de Neoburgo, the king's second wife, were added to the disasters of the war against France —the loss of Luxembourg due to the Regensburg Truce in 1684, 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 Spanish 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 accessing the throne of the Spanish Crown.

The inheritance problem

Spanish gold coin minted in 1700, the year of the death of Carlos II.

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

Given the King's lack of direct posterity, a complex network of palace intrigues began around the succession. This matter, turned into a matter of State, consumed the efforts of European diplomacy. After the death of the agreed heir, José Fernando de Baviera, in 1699, King Carlos II made a will on October 3, 1700 in favor of Felipe de Anjou, grandson of Louis XIV of France and his sister, the Infanta María Teresa de Austria (1638–1683), the eldest of the daughters of Philip IV. This candidacy was supported by Cardinal Portocarrero. Clause 13 of the aforementioned will read:

Acknowledging, in accordance with various consultations of the Minister of State and Justice, that the reason behind the resignation of the women of Doña Ana and Doña María Teresa, queens of France, my aunt and my sister, to the succession of these kingdoms, was to avoid the injury of joining the Crown of France; and recognizing that, coming to cease this fundamental motive, the right of succession persists in the most immediate relative, according to the laws of these second cases, And I command and command all my subjects and vassals of all my kingdoms and lords that in the case of God taking me without legitimate succession they have him and recognize him by his king and natural lord, and then give him, and without the slightest delay, the present possession, preceded by the oath that he must make to observe the laws, jurisdictions and customs of my kingdoms and dominions.

Mariana de Neoburgo, on the other hand, supported the claims of her nephew, Archduke Carlos of Austria, son of Emperor Leopold I of Habsburg. The Austrian archduke's claims were supported by England and the Netherlands, the traditional enemies of Spain during the 17th century, which also rivaled the hegemonic France of Louis XIV. Although the bewitched Carlos was manipulated by his environment to prop up the Bourbon's candidacy, he already took precedence over his rival by dynastic right since he had more Spanish ancestors than the Austrian rival of he.

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

It is said that at the time of expiration the planet Venus was seen shining next to the Sun in Madrid, which was considered a miracle. At the same time, in distant Brussels, where the news of the king's death had evidently not yet reached, a Tedeum was sung in the church of Saint Gudula for his recovery. Upon learning of this, the astrologer Van Velen exclaimed that they were praying for the monarch's recovery when he had actually just passed away.

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 testament of the Spanish king. The already Felipe V of Spain left for Madrid, where he arrived on January 22, 1701. The tension between France and Spain and the rest of the European powers, who from the beginning mistrusted the power that the Bourbons were going to accumulate, increased due to a series of political errors committed in the courts of Versailles and Madrid. Austria, which did not recognize Felipe V as king, sent an army to the Spanish territories in Italy, without prior declaration of war. The first encounter between this army and the French took place in Carpi on July 9. On September 7, England, the United Provinces and Austria signed the Treaty of The Hague and in May 1702 they all declared war on France and Spain, indicates Martínez Shaw (2000, p. 54).

Semblance of the king

When the young king was twenty years old, his figure and deplorable state would come to impress the papal nuncio:

The king is rather low than high, not poorly formed, ugly face; he has the long neck, the long face and as coveted upwards; the lower lip typical of Austria; not very large eyes, of turquoise blue and delicate cutis. The hair is blond and long, and wears it combed back, so the ears are uncovered. He cannot straighten his body but when he walks, unless he approaches a wall, a table or something else. His body is as weak as his mind. From time to time it gives signs of intelligence, memory and a certain vivacity, but not now; it usually has a slow and indifferent, clumsy and indolent look, seemingly shocked. It can be done with him what is desired, because he lacks his own will.

Pfandl (1947, p. 386)

In Spanish literature

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

Ancestors

According to research carried out and published at the beginning of 2016 by researchers Gonzalo Álvarez and Francisco Ceballos, from the Department of Genetics of the University of Santiago de Compostela, on the consanguinity of the Spanish Habsburgs, King Carlos II had a coefficient of consanguinity very high, 25.4%, being slightly higher than that reached in an incestuous relationship between parents and children or between siblings (25%).

Charles II's parents were uncle and niece to each other, but, in addition, his paternal grandparents were second cousins and his maternal grandparents were third cousins.

All of his grandparents bore the last name of Austria. Of his eight great-grandparents, six also shared the Austrian surname. Of his sixteen great-great-grandparents, nine also shared a last name.

In addition to being several great-grandparents, they were also great-great-grandparents, and their paternal grandparents were also great-grandparents on their mother's side. Ultimately, this family entanglement makes him a monarch with a very high coefficient of consanguinity, which most likely led to the king's precarious health during his lifetime and the inability to produce an heir.

Succession

Predecessor: Felipe Prospero of Austria	Prince of Asturias 1661-1665	Successor: Luis de Borbón
Predecessor: Philip IV of Spain	King of Spain, Naples, Sicily and Sardinia Sovereign of the Netherlands Duke of Milan 1665-1700	Successor: Felipe V de España
Predecessor: Philip IV of Spain	Count of Burgundy 1665-1678	Successor: Incorporated in France (Nimega Deal)
Predecessor: Philip IV of Spain	Count of Charolais 1665-1684	Successor: Luis II de Borbón-Condé

Recommended bibliography

• Bavaria, Adalberto de (1938). Mariana de Neoburg, Queen of Spain. Madrid: Espasa-Calpe.
• Calvo Poyato, José (1998). The Life and Time of Charles II the Hechized. Barcelona: Planet.
• Contreras, Jaime (2003). Charles II the Hechized. Power and Melancholy in the Court of the Last Austria. Madrid: Temas de Hoy.
• Maura Gamazo, Gabriel (1942). Life and reign of Charles II. Madrid: Espasa-Calpe.