CHARLES II THE BEWITCHED: BIOGRAPHY - ARTE - 2025

Carlos II of Spain, "the Bewitched" (1661-1700), was the last king representing the Habsburg dynasty who could hold the highest title of the Spanish monarchy. His physical and intellectual defects as a result of his family's inbred politics are the clearest example of the decline of the House of Austria in Spain.

The nickname of "the bewitched" arose precisely because of his health problems, which raised suspicions that the ruler was the victim of some curse. The origin of the Habsburg dynasty dates back to the Aargau region, present-day Switzerland, in the 11th century AD

Carlos II was the last Spanish king of the House of Habsburgs. Source: National Museum of Fine Arts

As a consequence of a successful policy of matrimonial alliances, the Habsburgs obtained a very privileged aristocratic position. Thanks to this advantageous situation, this family came to rule the territories of the Roman Empire and also those of the Spanish Empire.

The Habsburgs

In Spain the Habsburgs were officially known as the Austrias. They took the power of this Empire when the Catholic kings of the Trastamara dynasty married their children with those of Archduke Maximilian I of Habsburg.

This alliance had the objective of frustrating the siege carried out by the French Crown to the Italian territories that were dominated by Spain.

Due to the premature death of Juan de Trastamara, son of Isabel I of Castile and Fernando II of Aragon, the son of Maximiliano (Felipe II) took power as consort of the heir to the kingdoms of Spain, Juana I, "the Crazy".

The marriage of Felipe “el Hermoso” with Juana de Castilla meant the crossing of two lineages that practiced inbreeding.

This is explained because, just as Juana was the daughter of Isabel and Fernando -who were cousins-, Felipe's mother was María de Borgoña, who only had six great-grandparents.

Genetic defects

Then, the Spanish Habsburgs inherited the genetic defects of the Trastamara and the Burgundians, as well as their territories. It is worth noting that the inbreeding practice continued to be carried out for several generations, going through Carlos I, Felipe II, III and IV, until arriving at Carlos II.

Already with Felipe IV the continuity of the clan was threatened by the problem of infertility. His first wife, Isabel de Borbón, had ten attempts at pregnancy; of these only two offspring survived childhood. Baltasar, the only male child of this marriage, died of smallpox at the age of seventeen, before he could inherit the throne.

When Elizabeth died, Felipe IV married his niece, Mariana de Austria, to keep together the Iberian and Central European branches of the Habsburgs.

Mariana had five children and three of them died as babies. Five days after the death of the first male, Felipe Próspero, the one who would be the last heir of the Austrian House was finally born.

Biography

Carlos II was born on November 6, 1661. Having a genetic consanguinity coefficient 0.254 made his health always precarious.

He had Klinefelter syndrome; Furthermore, he was of a fragile constitution and did not walk until he was six years old. He also suffered from intellectual retardation: he belatedly learned to speak, read and write.

Ironically, this being who by nature was incapable of governing inherited the throne of Spain when he was just four years old, since Felipe IV died in 1665. During the king's childhood, his mother had to assume the regency of the territories of the Austrian House, entrusting administrative decisions to valid ones you trust.

Various nuptials

In 1679, when he was 18 years old, Carlos married María Luisa de Orleans, daughter of Duke Felipe de Orleans and niece of the French monarch Louis XIV.

Ten years later, and without having given birth to a successor, María Luisa died. It is worth noting that the consort was suspected of conspiring against the Habsburgs in favor of the French Crown.

Promptly and despite the mourning, a new wife was sought from the king, hoping that she would give him a son that would prolong the dynasty. The chosen one was his German cousin Mariana de Neoburgo, daughter of Duke Felipe Guillermo, elector of the Palatinate.

Mariana was selected because her lineage guaranteed her fertility; her mother had given birth to twenty-three children. In 1690 these second nuptials took place and the arrival of the new queen created new tensions in the Austrian court.

The wife immediately began to rival the king's mother for control of her powers. The Neoburg heiress had to fake twelve pregnancies to maintain her influence as a spouse.

After the death of Mariana of Austria, the new queen carried out various maneuvers to favor the German branch of the Habsburgs.

The theft of Spanish capital, the manipulation of the conflict in terms of successions and conspiracies related to the courts of the Inquisition, were actions that stained the reputation of the second wife.

Government problems

During the government of King Carlos II, the political and economic crisis that Spain dragged from Felipe IV converged with court disputes to exercise de facto power in the face of the incapacity of the heir.

The king's mother, the regent in charge, first relied on the abilities of her confessor, the Austrian Jesuit Juan Everardo Nithard, who was appointed councilor of state and inquisitor general in 1666.

To be advocated by a foreign cleric was a decision that displeased an important sector of the court and also the majority of the population.

Participation of Juan José of Austria

The main adversary of the joint government of Mariana de Austria and Father Nithard was the bastard son of Luis IV, Juan José de Austria, who sought to obtain the power that, by consanguinity and affinity with his father, he believed he deserved.

Due to the siege of the territory of the Netherlands that Louis XIV had started in 1667 with the War of Devolution, Mariana of Austria entrusted her bastard husband with the protection of Flanders.

Although it was a strategy to remove Juan from Madrid, the bastard took advantage of the appointment as governor general of the Netherlands to position himself hierarchically in the Hispanic monarchy and discredit Nithard, claiming that he did not grant him the necessary resources for the company that was I had entrusted him.

After having to capitulate with France to hand over various territories of the Netherlands, Juan José de Austria decided to undertake a military campaign from Barcelona to Madrid to demand the removal of the Inquisitor General. His company had such great popular acceptance that Queen Mariana had to give in to his demands.

The next valid for Mariana of Austria and King Carlos II (who was already coming of age) was Fernando de Valenzuela, who was also dismissed in 1776 for a conspiracy by Juan de Austria.

Since then, the king's half-brother obtained the power he so desired, becoming the new valid Carlos, a role he carried out until 1779, when he died under strange circumstances.

The mandate of Juan José was a disappointment for those who had placed their hopes in him. One of the reasons was that the bastard had to yield again to French pressure, losing the franco-county territories in the war in Holland (1672-1678).

Next managers

The next person in charge was Juan Francisco de la Cerda, the Duke of Medinaceli. This had to face one of the greatest economic crises in the history of Spain as a result of the continuous war failures, the appearance of a plague epidemic, the decline in crops and the consequent increase in prices.

The main measure of the duke was to devalue the currency, which caused a deflation that bankrupted important merchants and entire towns. This measure cost him exile.

His replacement was Manuel Joaquín Álvarez de Toledo, the Count of Oropesa. To contain the precipitous fall of the coffers of the kingdom, the count regulated public spending, reduced taxes and paid off the debts of the municipalities.

However, because his measures affected the benefits of the nobility, he earned many antipathies at court. Her main adversary was Mariana de Neoburgo.

What sentenced the end of the period of the Cnde de Oropesa as president of the Council of Castile was what is popularly known as "The mutiny of the cats" (1699), an uprising of the Madrid people as a protest against the lack of bread. Before this event, King Carlos II was forced to dismiss him.

The alleged curse

In 1696 the monarch's health began to seriously deteriorate. Faced with the ineffectiveness of medical aid and the abundance of court intrigues related to the matter of the uncertain succession, the rumor began to spread that the king was the victim of a spell that had made him sick and sterile.

The matter was dealt with in the Council of the Inquisition, but the case was discredited as a result of an evident lack of evidence.

However, Charles II himself was absolutely convinced that he had been bewitched, which is why he unofficially summoned Juan Tomás de Rocabertí, the Inquisitor General, and asked him not to rest until he discovered who had been the culprit of all his ills.

Rocabertí knew of a case of exorcism that was being carried out by Fray Antonio Álvarez de Argüelles in a convent in Cangas de Tineo, and he allied himself with the king's confessor, Froilán Díaz, to create the facade of an interrogation of the demons they had possessed to the nuns.

The exorcism - ordered by Rocabertí and Díaz, and executed by Argüelles - was carried out behind the back of the authority of the Bishop of Oviedo and the Council of the Inquisition. In the midst of these irregularities, Argüelles reported that the possessed nuns had indeed confirmed the enchantment theory.

Accused

The defendants were the mother, Mariana de Austria, and her valid Fernando de Valenzuela, who supposedly had bewitched him during his adolescence. With the confirmation of this theory, the already weakened king was subjected to a series of exorcisms and treatments that only managed to further deteriorate his health.

The intrigue of the hex was further obscured with the death of Rocabertí in 1699. The king appointed Cardinal Alonso de Aguilar as the new inquisitor, entrusting him as his main task to complete the task of Rocabertí. He leaned on a new exorcist named Mauro Tenda.

The investigation, at that time by Froilán Díaz, Alonso de Aguilar and Mauro Tenda, pointed out that the culprits were related to Mariana de Neoburgo. However, the corresponding proceedings were interrupted by the sudden death of Alonso de Aguilar.

Due to the interference of the king's wife, Baltasar de Mendoza - who had affinities for the pro-German party - was proclaimed the new inquisitor general. This proceeded to prosecute Froilán Díaz and Fray Tenda for the irregularity of their procedures.

Death

Despite the exorcisms and cures recommended by the clergy, the death of Carlos II came in the year 1700.

Subsequent studies revealed that the infertility was due to Klinefelter syndrome and that a urinary tract infection combined with her chronic kidney failure led to ascistis with progressive heart failure.

The succession conflict

After the king died without having fathered an heir, the usual power struggle in such situations was swift.

The opposing factions in the succession conflict were formed around two candidates. One represented the House of Habsburgs, it was the son of Emperor Leopold I, Charles, Archduke of Austria.

The other candidate favored the Bourbon dynasty: it was Prince Philip of Anjou, who was the grandson of Louis XIV and Maria Teresa of Austria, Philip IV's sister.

Charles II favored the French prince in his testament to protect the integrity of the kingdom, avoiding the attacks of Louis XIV. This ended up sealing the change in the balance of geopolitics in Europe.

The aristocracy of France thus consolidated its hegemony, monopolizing control of the two most powerful empires on the entire continent.

References

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2. "War of the Spanish Succession" in Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved on April 8, 2019 from Encyclopædia Britannica: britannica.com
3. Carmona Sánchez, JI "The Magic Spain" (2012). Madrid: Nowtilus.
4. Cervera, C. "Juan José de Austria, the bastard who wanted to reign in the Spain of« El Hechizado »" in ABC Spain. Retrieved on April 8, 2019 from ABC España: abc.es.
5. Cervera, C. "The tragedy of the Spanish Habsburgs: the dynasty that was destroyed by inbreeding" in ABC Spain. Retrieved on April 8, 2019 from ABC España: abc.es.
6. Ruiz Rodríguez, I. "Juan Everardo Nithard, a Jesuit at the head of the Hispanic Monarchy" (2011) in Reflections on power, war and religion in the History of Spain. Retrieved on April 8, 2019 from Dialnet: dialnet.unirioja.es.
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8. Testino-Zafiropoulos, A. "Political complaints about the Count of Oropesa in the aftermath of the reign of Carlos II" (2015) in Atlante. Revue d'études romanes. Retrieved on April 8, 2019 from Atlante - Revue d'études romanes: atlante.univ-lille.fr