The

The Hello and welcome to a history of Europe, Ki-Battles podcast.

This set of episode is about the War of Spanish Succession, from 1701 to 1714,

and this is the first part of four. When a new century dawned in the year 1700, Europe was in a moment of relative peace.

The Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I had just concluded the Treaty of Carnivitz with the Ottomans

to end war on the Austrian-Habsburg's Eastern Front. Only a couple of years before that,

the powers of Western Europe had agreed to the Treaty of Rizvig, ending the nine years' war.

It wasn't to be very long, however, before war rid its ugly head once more.

The King of Spain, Charles or Carlos II, was dying.

Charles had become a king of the age of four in the year 1665

and throughout his life had suffered appalling physical ill health.

By the age of six, he had measles, chickenpox, rebella and smallpox, each of which was then potentially fatal.

As the only surviving son of Philip IV of Spain, with expectations low that he would produce an heir, the question of succession was for long time, prominent in European politics.

Charles had blundish hair, a long face and pronounced jaw, common to many Habsburgs,

so much that he spoke and ate only with difficulty.

The deformity may have been due to inbreeding, but in the absence of genetic material, this remains speculation.

Benjamin Curtis in his book, The Habsburgs, The History of Identity, writes that although Charles were disabled, he was not completely incapable.

Quote, his development was slow, but he was not unintelligent. He was in fact

self-aware, but with a weak will and an inability to concentrate. He remained mostly a dynastic

figurehead and a political pawn, end quote.

Jones's side life and physical infirmities in some ways mirrored the weakness of the Spanish monarchy during this time. In the first half of the 17th century, Spain still enjoyed

its golden age, a period of flourishing in arts and literature, coinciding with its political apogee.

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