Outlines of Universal History, Designed as a Text-book and for Private Reading - George Park Fisher

The table which follows will show the nature of this claim:—

FREDERIC, V, 1610-1632, Elector and King of Bohemia, m.
Elizabeth, daughter of James I. of England.
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+—CHARLES LEWIS, 1649-1680.
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| +—CHARLES, 1680-1685.
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| +—Elizabeth, m. Philip, Duke of Orleans, d. 1701.
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+—Sophia, m. Ernest Augustus, Elector of Hanover.
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+—George I of England.

Philip, Duke of Orleans, was the only brother of Louis XIV. From him descended King Louis Philippe (1830-1848).

Another reason that Louis had for war was his determination to secure the archbishopric of Cologne for the bishop of Strasburg, a candidate of his own. In 1686 the League of Augsburg had been formed by the emperor with Sweden, Spain, Bavaria, Saxony, and the Palatinate, for defense against France. The Grand Alliance, in which England and Holland were included, was now made (1689). In the year before, by the advice of Louvois, the French had deliberately devastated the Palatinate, demolishing buildings, and burning cities and villages without mercy. The ruins of the Castle of Heidelberg are a monument of this worse than vandal incursion, the pretext for which was a desire to prevent the invasion of France. In the war the English and Dutch fleets, under Admiral Russell, defeated the French, and burned their ships, at the battle of La Hogue (1692). This battle was a turning-point in naval history: "as at Lepanto," says Ranke, where the Turks were defeated (1571), "so at La Hogue, the mastery of the sea passed from one side to the other." But in the Netherlands, where William III., the soul of the League, steadfastly kept the field, after being defeated by Luxemburg; in Italy, where the Duke of Savoy was opposed by the Marshal Catinat; and in a naval battle between the English and French at Lagos Bay,—the French commanders were successful. In 1695 William's troops besieged and captured the town of Namur. At length Louis was moved by the exhaustion of his treasury, and the stagnation of industry in France, to conclude the Peace of Ryswick with England, Spain, and Holland (1697). The Duke of Savoy had been detached from the alliance. Most of the conquests on both sides were restored. William III. was acknowledged to be king of England. In the treaty with the emperor, France retained Strasburg. William was a man of sterling worth, but he was a Dutchman, and was cold in his manners. The plots of the Jacobites, as the adherents of James were called, did more than any thing else to make him popular with his subjects.

CHAPTER II. WAR OF THE SPANISH SUCCESSION (TO THE PEACE OF UTRECHT, 1713); DECLINE OF THE POWER OF FRANCE: POWER AND MARITIME SUPREMACY OF ENGLAND.

OCCASION OF THE WAR.—The death of Charles II. of Spain (1700) was followed by the War of the Spanish Succession. The desire of Louis to have his hands free in the event of Charles's death had influenced him in making the Treaty of Rysivick. Charles had no children. It had been agreed in treaties, to which France was a party, that the Spanish monarchy should not be united either to Austria or to France; and that Archduke Charles, second son of the Emperor Leopold I., should have Spain and the Indies. But Charles II. of Spain left a will making Louis's second grandson, Philip Duke of Anjou, the heir of all his dominions, with the condition annexed that the crowns of France and Spain should not be united. Instigated by dynastic ambition, Louis made up his mind to break the previous agreements, and seize the inheritance for Philip. Philip V. thus became king of Spain. On the death of James II. (1701), Louis recognized his son James, called "the Pretender," as king of Great Britain. This act, as a violation of the Treaty of Ryswick, and as an arrogant intermeddling on the part of a foreign ruler, excited the wrath of the English people, and inclined them to war. The Grand Alliance against France (1701) included the Empire, England, Holland, Brandenburg (or Prussia), and afterwards Portugal and Savoy (1703). France was supported by the electors of Bavaria and Cologne, and at first by Savoy. William III. died in 1702, and was succeeded by Anne, the sister of his deceased wife, and the second daughter of James II.

The following table will help to make clear the several claims to the
Spanish succession:—

1 Recognized as heir of Charles II of Spain until his death.

2 Rival claimants for the Spanish crown after Charles II, the elder brother of each having resigned his pretensions.