1712-5] Plans for the Regency.-Death of Louis XIV. 31

"that a King is made for his subjects, not the subjects for the King.” Had he lived to inherit the throne there would have been an attempt made to alter the development of France, probably in a reactionary feudal direction. But, in 1712, the Duke of Burgundy and his charming wife and eldest son were all carried off by a mysterious disease which seems to have been smallpox, though it roused at the time suspicions of poison. The Duke of Berry, the third of the King's grandsons, died in 1714. The second, Philip, was King of Spain, and his claim to the French throne was expressly renounced by the Treaty of Utrecht. Any attempt to revive this claim would be the signal for a renewal of war. The direct heir to the throne was Louis, Duke of Anjou, who was afterwards Louis XV. He was two years of age, and of feeble health. And if the boy were to live, according to all the traditions of France the Regency would come into the hands of the Duke of Orléans. All eyes were fixed on him; and his name awoke the wildest suspicions and fears. He had fought with distinction in Spain, and possessed a keen and inquisitive intellect. But he was of an indolent and self-indulgent nature, plunged in vice and drunkenness, openly opposed to the doctrines and neglectful of the practices of the Church. Louis XIV and Madame de Maintenon saw with alarm the prospect of power coming into his hands, for it would mean a complete reaction against the policy which the dying monarch had pursued in Church and State both at home and abroad. Hence arose the last intrigue of the reign. The King's fondness for his illegitimate children had been manifested throughout the latter part of the reign. And now it was determined to give the reality of power to the Duke of Maine, the son of Madame de Montespan and the pupil of Madame de Maintenon. He had shown himself unsuccessful and incapable in war; but it was determined to make him master of France after the King's death. Tradition made it impossible to deny to the Duke of Orléans the title of Regent; but the custody of the young King was to be in the hands of the Duke of Maine and a council of regency was to be established by the will of the King, so arranged that the present régime would be prolonged and Louis XIV would still rule France from his grave. But the King and his wife miscalculated the forces against them. The age was weary of the long and now disastrous reign; men were more attracted by the known opposition of the Duke of Orléans to the reigning policy than frightened by his reputation. Thus the King's schemes were foredoomed to failure, when, after a reign of seventy-two years (the longest reign recorded in history) he died on September 1, 1715.

CHAPTER II.

THE FOREIGN POLICY OF LOUIS XIV.

(1661-97.)

THE prominent position occupied in Europe by France under Louis XIV from the death of Mazarin in 1661 to the Treaty of Ryswyk in 1697 affected in a marked though varying degree the politics of the whole of Western Christendom. In examining the causes and results of the rise of France to this position, a distinction must be drawn between the earlier and the later portion of the period. Till 1688, Louis succeeded in many of his aims, and during these twenty-seven years he secured for France territorial acquisitions of enormous value. After 1688, he was opposed by a European Confederacy against which he barely managed to hold his own. Nevertheless, in 1697 France still stood forth not only as the nation most advanced in the arts of civilisation, but also as the most powerful of European States, and a danger to the balance of power among them.

The supremacy which France had thus attained in both arms and arts, and the partial success which had attended Louis' policy of territorial aggression were due to many causes, chief among which were the consistent internal policy of the two great Cardinal Ministers and the political condition of the chief European States. Richelieu and Mazarin had, after infinite labour, reduced the nobility to obedience and laid down the lines on which the development of France should proceed. At home, religious toleration, the reduction of provincial autonomy, and the subordination of the Parlement of Paris to the royal power; abroad, alliance with England and the United Provinces, and encouragement of the independence of the Princes of the Empire-such was the substance of the political legacy bequeathed by the two far-sighted Cardinals to the young King.

It remained for Louis to take advantage of the political weakness of the great European States and, following the policy of the Cardinals, so to strengthen the monarchy that no Power or combination of Powers could by whatever means weaken its foundations. In carrying out this scheme Louis was aided by a variety of circumstances. England under Charles II

1661-99

The designs of Louis XIV.

33

and James II made no effective resistance to French projects; while the Empire was as disunited as ever, and many of its members continued more jealous of the power of the Emperor than they were of that of France. Moreover, the sudden recovery of Turkey under the Kiuprilis kept the east of Europe in a state of continual alarm; nor was it till the Treaty of Carlowitz in 1699 that the perennial menace to the Habsburg dominions was sensibly lessened. But the most alarming fact that Europe had to face was the fall of Spain from the position she had held under Charles V and his successors till the Peace of the Pyrenees. The disappearance of Spain from among the great European nations aided in a marked degree the rise of France under Louis XIV.

At the time of Mazarin's death the political outlook for France was promising. Louis XIV's marriage with Maria Teresa, the Spanish Infanta, brought with it possibilities of which time could alone determine the value. By the Treaty of the Pyrenees, France had strengthened herself on her north-eastern frontier by the acquisition of Avesnes, on the side of the Pyrenees by finally securing Roussillon, between Sambre and Meuse by the cession of Philippeville and Marienbourg, and in Lorraine by that of Bar, Clermont, Stenay, Dun, and Jarmetz. The Duke of Neuburg, the ally of France, had obtained Jülich; French troops had acquired the right to march through Lorraine; the League of the Rhine still more or less looked towards France for guidance.

The aspirations of the French nation were, however, by no means satisfied. The frontier of the Rhine had not yet been secured, and the Spanish Netherlands had not been conquered. Much, therefore, remained to be done; and by Louis XIV and his most astute advisers the Peace of the Pyrenees was regarded as merely a truce.

Till the War of Devolution in 1667 Louis contented himself with making elaborate preparations, with secretly helping the Portuguese, with concluding alliances in 1663 with Denmark, and in 1664 with Brandenburg and Saxony, and with taking an active part in the same year in the internal conflicts of the Empire. With the opening of the War of Devolution France entered upon a period of conquest and expansion, and till 1688 success on the whole crowned her efforts. From 1688, however, to the Treaty of Ryswyk in 1697, Louis XIV found himself confronted by an almost united Europe, and for the first time since the days of Mazarin a definite check was inflicted on French arms and French diplomacy. Nevertheless, throughout these years France held the foremost place in Europe. Had Louis XIV contented himself with following the policy of Richelieu, France would have been spared many disasters. But both in his home and foreign policy he aimed at ideals which in certain respects resembled those pursued by the Emperor Charles V.

No serious opposition to Louis' schemes was to be expected from Spain. That country was slowly but steadily declining in power and

C. M. H. V. CH. II.

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Decadence of Spain.

[1661-89 influence. Spain had made a brave show during the Thirty Years' War and the succeeding eleven years; but the revolt of Portugal, the alliance between the English Commonwealth and France, the loss of Jamaica, and the humiliating terms of the Peace of the Pyrenees, were alike proofs of weakness. The failure of Philip IV, between 1661 and 1665, to reconquer Portugal was still more significant. Portugal could only collect 13,000 men to oppose two Spanish armies, one of 20,000, and the other of 15,000 men. But Charles II of England, who in 1662 had married a Portuguese Princess, placed an auxiliary force under the command of the able "Comte" Frederick Hermann "de Schomberg," who had several years earlier entered the Portuguese service on the recommendation of France; and the Count of Castel-Melhor, who owing to the imbecility of the young King Alfonso VI was at the head of affairs, showed conspicuous energy. At Evora, Don John of Austria, the chief Spanish Commander, was worsted, and at Amegial, on June 8, 1663, his army was, mainly through the gallantry of the English auxiliaries, disastrously defeated.

In 1665 Count Caracena, who had superseded Don John, headed a Spanish army which had been reinforced from Italy and Flanders, and besieged Villa Viciosa. On the approach of the Portuguese and English forces under Marialva and Schomberg he advanced, and on June 17, gave battle at Montes Claros, where he suffered a crushing defeat. Philip IV had failed, and recognised the humiliating character of his failure. On September 17, 1665, he died, overwhelmed with a sense of Spain's ruin and degradation, leaving the crown to his son Charles II, who was only four years old.

During the reign of Charles II Spain sank to the lowest point ever touched in her history. The causes, both external and internal, of her decadence can be traced back to the days when she was governed by the Emperor Charles V and have been discussed in earlier volumes of this History. Under the rule of Charles II no steps were taken to arrest the decline that had become almost irretrievable. The last representative of his race, Charles II was small in stature, with large blue eyes, light hair, and a white skin. His health was always deplorable; and, as he grew older, he was frequently attacked by fainting fits. But, though he was so irresolute that he could settle nothing without advice, he was not wanting in intelligence, and the last act of his reign showed that in his own way he had the interests of Spain at heart.

On his accession Charles II was under the care of his mother Maria Anna, sister of the Emperor Leopold; as he grew older, he became more and more indifferent to all his duties; unlike Louis XIV, he detested the cares of government, and rarely attended a Council. "If it was necessary that he should be a Prince," said the Venetian Ambassador, "he ought to be a Prince of the Church." He married twice, first Marie-Louise of Orleans, who died in 1689, and after her Maria Anna of Neuburg,

1661-97]

Decadence of Spain.

35

sister of Eleonora Magdalena, third wife of the Emperor Leopold, and of Maria Sophia, who married King Pedro of Portugal. To the QueenMother and to Charles' second Queen must in some measure be attributed the misfortunes of the reign. The Queen-Mother was in close alliance with her confessor, Father Nithard, a German Jesuit. Both were unpopular in Spain, but they were able to expel from Court Don John of Austria, an illegitimate son of Philip IV, who was a man of no capacity and eaten up with vanity. In 1669 Nithard was forced to retire, but his place was taken by Fernando de Valenzuela, who supported the cause of the Queen-Mother. After failing in 1675 to carry out a coup d'état, Don John proved successful in 1677. Valenzuela fled; the Queen-Mother was sent to a convent at Tours; and Charles married in August, 1679, Marie-Louise of Orleans. Don John's triumph was brief, for he died in September, 1679, having outlived his popularity.

His death was followed by the return of the Queen-Mother and the triumph of the Austrian faction. Till April, 1685, the Duke of Medina-Celi made vain attempts to check the anarchy and misery which prevailed in Spain, and which was not lessened by the struggles at Court between the Austrian and French parties. In April, 1685, the Count of Oropesa succeeded Medina-Celi and managed to carry out some reforms. He was a member of the Austrian party, and on the death of MarieLouise of Orleans assisted the Queen-Mother in bringing about the marriage of Charles to Maria Anna of Neuburg. The new Queen soon turned against Oropesa, who fell in 1691, his duties being transferred at first to the Count of Melgar, Admiral of Castile. The rapacity of the Queen and of her German followers made her very unpopular and prepared the way for the triumph of French influences in 1701. Thus, from the death of Mazarin in 1661 to the Treaty of Ryswyk in 1697, Spain was unable to offer any effective resistance to the schemes of Louis XIV; the European balance was considerably affected by her disappearance as one of the great Powers.

The Empire as a whole cannot be said to have realised the danger which threatened it from the ambitious projects of France till the formation of the Grand Alliance in 1689. The Augsburg Alliance of July, 1686, though it united in it a considerable number of Estates, including both Spain and Sweden for their German possessions, was only an extension of the Luxemburg Alliance of June, 1682, which had been confined to the Emperor and the Franconian and Upper-Rhenish Circles. Moreover, the Emperor Leopold was not able to offer any effective opposition to Louis. Till 1672 he was outwitted by French diplomatists, and, after fighting against Louis from 1672 to 1679, was glad to make peace. The Hungarians, too, instigated in part by the diplomacy of the French "Defensor Hungariae," had risen against Leopold under Count Emeric Tökölyi (1677–82). Till 1689 the Estates of the Empire could not be relied upon to offer a united opposition