34

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 1667 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In 1665 Count Caracena, who had superseded Don John, headed a Spanish army which had been reinforced from Italy and Flanders, and beseiged Villa Viciosa.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 repre

sentative 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

36

Weakness of the chief European States [1661-70

to the French monarch. From the Peace of Nymegen in 1678 their suspicions of the real aims of the German policy of Louis began to assume a definite shape; but the long war between Austria and the Turks which broke out in 1682 and lasted till 1699 prevented Leopold from using the strength of the Empire against its most dangerous adversary.

During the period from 1661 to 1670, the weakness of the Empire, the decadence of Spain, and the embittered war between England and Holland, enabled Louis XIV to formulate and carry out an aggressive policy, deliberately calculated to extend the boundaries of France and to strengthen and consolidate her position in Europe. The only Power which showed similar aggressive tendencies was Turkey. Under Mohammad IV (1648-87) and the Kiuprilis, the gradual decline of Turkey was checked; and, from 1656 to the siege of Vienna in 1683, the Ottoman Empire like the French kingdom enjoyed a period of success. The attacks of the Turks upon Transylvania (1661), upon Hungary (1663), upon Candia (1669), and upon Poland (1672-8), indeed, aided the projects of Louis XIV; for, by diverting eastwards the attention of the Poles and Austrians, they weakened the Emperor's power of resistance to the French aggressions.

In the west, too, the years from the death of Mazarin in 1661 to the invasion of the Low Countries by France in 1667 constitute a period in which events favoured Louis, and facilitated his preparations for taking his first step towards the establishment of his claims upon the succession to the Spanish monarchy. As the Spanish throne was not then vacant, Louis contented himself with asserting his claim to the immediate possession of the Spanish Netherlands. It was based upon the so-called jus devolutionis a local custom of Brabant and Hainault, by which, though a man might have married more than once, the children of his first marriage succeeded to his property. Since Maria Teresa, the consort of Louis XIV, was the only surviving child of Philip IV's first marriage, Louis claimed the whole of the Low Countries; though in the course of his negotiations with Spain in 1662 he had declared his willingness to be satisfied with instant possession of Hainault, Cambray, Luxemburg, and Franche Comté.

The negotiations with Spain were resultless; but Louis never ceased his efforts to carry out his object. Already in April, 1662, he had entered into friendly negotiations with the leading statesman of the United Provinces, John de Witt, Grand Pensionary of Holland, and had concluded a treaty guaranteeing all the Dutch possessions in Europe. He had hoped at the same time to arrive at some arrangement with regard to the Spanish Netherlands. The plan of equal partition between France and the United Provinces was eventually rejected by de Witt, who preferred that the Spanish Netherlands should be erected into an independent Catholic republic, or remain under Spain if the latter Power

1665-7]

The French invasion of Flanders

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entered into a close alliance with the free Provinces. To Louis, who, like Mazarin, desired the annexation to France of the Spanish Low Countries, none of de Witt's suggestions were acceptable; and the death of Philip IV of Spain, on September 17, 1665, seemed a suitable opportunity for pressing the supposed claims of the King of France. But in March, 1665, war had broken out between England and Holland; and Louis was, by the treaty of April, 1662, bound to aid the Dutch. Though they were able to assert their supremacy at sea, the alliance of Charles II of England with the warlike Bishop of Münster resulted in his raising a large army and overrunning the province of Overyssel. De Witt, however, succeeded in persuading Louis XIV to carry out his treaty engagements, though the behaviour of the French troops nominally hostile to the Bishop of Münster tended to increase the dislike felt by the Dutch for their allies. In January, 1666, Louis, fearing that de Witt might conclude peace with Charles II, reluctantly declared war against England. The French alliance affected the fortunes of Holland in a variety of ways. It strengthened the hands of the Dutch, who, early in 1666, won a series of diplomatic successes. Denmark concluded an alliance with them; Sweden was induced not to unite with England. At the same time, some of the German Princes became fearful of the results of a too close dependence of the United Provinces upon France. In October, 1666, the United Provinces were enabled, through the influence of the Great Elector who had in February, 1666, threatened the Bishop of Münster to form a Quadruple Alliance with Brandenburg, the Brunswick-Lüneburg Princes, and Denmark.

England was thus left practically without an ally, and the Dutch were free from the necessity of placing too much reliance upon France. During 1666 the war between England and the United Provinces continued with varying results. In 1667 two important events took place. On March 31 Charles made the first of his secret treaties with Louis XIV, agreeing not to oppose a French invasion of the Spanish Netherlands, on the understanding that the French fleet withheld all assistance from the Dutch. But the calculations of Charles were upset in June, 1667, by the Dutch attack on the English ships in the Thames and Medway — which compelled Charles to agree to the Treaty of Breda on July 31, 1667. For the United Provinces peace was absolutely necessary, since on May 24 French troops had crossed the frontier of the Spanish Low Countries, and the War of Devolution had begun.

For this war Louis' preparations had been carefully made. By a treaty with Portugal, concluded in March, 1667, it was arranged that hostilities between that country and Spain should continue; by the treaty of 1662 with the United Provinces their hands were tied; and by the secret treaty of March 31, 1667, Charles II had bound himself not to enter into an alliance with the Emperor against Louis XIV during the year 1667. Secure of a free hand in the Spanish Low Countries,

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38

The Triple Alliance

[1667-8

Louis ordered his troops to cross the frontier (May 24, 1667). The southern portion of the Spanish Low Countries was speedily overrun; and Lille, the most important of the Belgian cities, was taken (August 27).

This rapid success alarmed Europe, and signs of opposition to France at once appeared. Spain hastily recognised the independence of Portugal (February, 1668), and, freed from all necessity of continuing her attempts to reconquer that kingdom, endeavoured to secure the assistance of the Emperor Leopold in the Low Countries. Her efforts were in vain. Louis, by the able diplomacy of his ambassador Gravel, contrived to induce the Imperial Diet in October, 1667, to abstain from active assistance to the Spanish Low Countries (which technically formed part of the Circle of Burgundy, one of the ten Imperial Circles); but he was unable to succeed in bringing about by the same means the continuance of the League of the Rhine beyond its formal term (August, 1668); when, after much negotiation, it came to an end. Further, by means of his able agent de Gremonville, Louis not only persuaded the Emperor Leopold to withhold all assistance from Spain, but actually induced him to agree to a treaty, signed on January 19, 1668, for the eventual partition of the Spanish monarchy between himself and Louis, should King Charles II, as seemed probable, die without children.

So far, the success of the French King had been remarkable and unchecked. Having secured by various means the neutrality of Brandenburg, and that of Sweden, and having encouraged the war between England and Holland, Louis had met with no serious resistance in his subjugation of the Spanish Low Countries. By the beginning of 1668 Spain was isolated and the alliance, or at all events the quiescence, of the Emperor secured. But it was these extraordinary successes of Louis which brought about the formation of the coalition between England, the United Provinces, and Sweden, almost distinctively known as the Triple Alliance.

Some such coalition was justified, not only by the French invasion of the Spanish Netherlands, but by the French conquest of Franche Comté, which was effected in February, 1668. On January 23 England and the United Provinces concluded an alliance which in April was on certain conditions joined by Sweden. Louis had thus to face a formidable adverse combination. The importance of the Triple Alliance lies in the fact that it was the "first formal expression of European resistance to the aggressions of Louis"- the first attempt to check a Power which continued to dominate Europe till the Treaty of Ryswyk. Spain and Portugal were now at peace (February, 1668), the influence of England being paramount in the latter kingdom; and Louis could no longer rely upon the abstention of Spain from active measures in the Low Countries. Moreover, by consenting to make peace, he would lose little, and would