Home › CHAPTER XVI › CHAPTER XVI

CHAPTER XVI

Commencement of the Eighteenth Century, to the Peace of Utrecht.

THE declining health of Charles II., king of Spain, who had no children, engaged the attention of the European powers, and kept on the alert those princes who were claimants of the crown. The candidates were Louis XIV., the emperor Leopold, and the elector of Bavaria; and it was manifestly to the interest of those who wished to preserve the balance of power in Europe that the choice should fall on the latter; but he was unable to contend with his rivals. A secret treaty of partition was therefore signed by France, England, and Holland, by which it was agreed that Spain, America, and the Netherlands should be given to the electoral prince of Bavaria; Naples, Sicily, and the Italian states to the dauphin; and the duchy of Milan to the emperor's second son, the archduke Charles. This treaty coming to the knowledge of the king of Spain, he was naturally indignant that his possessions should thus be disposed of during his life; and he immediately made a will in favor of the electoral prince. This will suited the views of England and Holland; but the intention was scarcely made known, when the favored prince died suddenly, not without suspicion of having been poisoned. The prince's death revived the apprehensions of England and Holland, and they entered into a new treaty of partition. But the king of Spain bequeathed the whole of his dominions to the duke of Anjou, second son of the dauphin, who was universally acknowledged by the nation after the death of Charles, who died in 1701; and the young king was crowned under the title of Philip V.