Remember when the French royal family fell like dominoes between 1711 and 1715? They weren't the only ones! During those years, the royal families of Europe lose:
1711 Holy Roman Emperor, Prussian Crown Prince, French Dauphin 1712 New French Dauphin and his wife, New French Dauphin 1713 King of Prussia 1714 Queen Regnant of Great Britain, Queen Consort of Spain, Duke second in line to a suddenly shaky French throne 1715 King of France
That's 4 heads of state (Austria, France, GB, and Prussia), 4 heirs to the throne, the person who was doing most of the ruling in Spain, and a 2nd in line whose death nearly contributed to another war of succession.
Austria In 1705, MT's grandfather, Emperor Leopold, who had been trying to make himself king of Spain for decades, finally dies. His oldest son, Joseph, becomes emperor. He carries on the war until he dies in 1711.
In 1711, he dies without a surviving male child (his daughters' marriages will help trigger the War of the Austrian Succession 30 years later), so his brother becomes Charles VI.
Now that he's Holy Roman Emperor, Charles' desirability in the eyes of the rest of Europe as an alternate King of Spain hits rock bottom. Suddenly, the English and Dutch are now okay with Philip V, since there's nothing they can do about it anyway, and nobody wants to revive the empire of Charles V. Except Charles VI, of course, who fights on alone, but then eventually has to give in.
Prussia In 1711, the second son of FW & SD, named Friedrich Wilhelm, dies as a baby.
In 1713, F1 dies and FW becomes king. This is less relevant to the Spanish succession but extremely relevant to salon.
Fortunately for the F1 male line, Fritz was just born in 1712.
England Anne dies without an heir in 1714, which means the Hanover dynasty accedes to the throne. There are some riots followed by a Jacobite rising, but the handover proceeds mostly smoothly.
Brits: We may not be huge G1 fans, but at least he's not a CATHOLIC.
France At the start of 1711, Louis has a son, three grandsons, and two great-grandsons. The succession seems assured, and the chances that Philip V, over in Spain, would try to advance his sort-of renounced claim to the throne, are remote.
Then everyone except Philip V and future Louis XV dies by early 1714. So in 1714 all that's standing between Philip V and the French throne is: - A 76-year-old man: Louis XIV. - A 4-year-old kid (future Louis XV) who nearly died of measles a couple years ago and only survived because his nurse locked out the doctors. - A treaty that Philip V just signed saying, "I pinky swear not to claim the French throne."
I say "pinky swear" because we know from the War of the Austrian Succession what a piece of paper like that is worth, and even contemporaries, who hadn't lived through that yet, were very very nervous. There could easily have been a war. There was no enforcement mechanism to make Philip V keep his word, and due to the weight of primogeniture tradition, he would have had solid support to go with his solid opposition.
Then the 76-year-old man dies.
Now it's 1715, and there's a 5-year-old kid and a piece of paper standing between Philip V and the French throne.
Would Philip have made a move if little Louis had died? I don't know, but war brought him out of his depression, and even with Louis XV on the throne and Philippe d'Orleans as regent, there was a conspiracy in France and Spain to make Philip V the regent.
You can consider it a small miracle that Louis XV survived and possibly averted the early 18th century War of the French Succession.
Spain Poor Marie Louise of Savoy. She who was married at 12 and regent at 13-14 dies at age 25, after years of increasing illness.
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Re: War of the Spanish Succession: Royal Turnover
Date: 2021-05-21 11:07 pm (UTC)1711 Holy Roman Emperor, Prussian Crown Prince, French Dauphin
1712 New French Dauphin and his wife, New French Dauphin
1713 King of Prussia
1714 Queen Regnant of Great Britain, Queen Consort of Spain, Duke second in line to a suddenly shaky French throne
1715 King of France
That's 4 heads of state (Austria, France, GB, and Prussia), 4 heirs to the throne, the person who was doing most of the ruling in Spain, and a 2nd in line whose death nearly contributed to another war of succession.
Austria
In 1705, MT's grandfather, Emperor Leopold, who had been trying to make himself king of Spain for decades, finally dies. His oldest son, Joseph, becomes emperor. He carries on the war until he dies in 1711.
In 1711, he dies without a surviving male child (his daughters' marriages will help trigger the War of the Austrian Succession 30 years later), so his brother becomes Charles VI.
Now that he's Holy Roman Emperor, Charles' desirability in the eyes of the rest of Europe as an alternate King of Spain hits rock bottom. Suddenly, the English and Dutch are now okay with Philip V, since there's nothing they can do about it anyway, and nobody wants to revive the empire of Charles V. Except Charles VI, of course, who fights on alone, but then eventually has to give in.
Prussia
In 1711, the second son of FW & SD, named Friedrich Wilhelm, dies as a baby.
In 1713, F1 dies and FW becomes king. This is less relevant to the Spanish succession but extremely relevant to salon.
Fortunately for the F1 male line, Fritz was just born in 1712.
England
Anne dies without an heir in 1714, which means the Hanover dynasty accedes to the throne. There are some riots followed by a Jacobite rising, but the handover proceeds mostly smoothly.
Brits: We may not be huge G1 fans, but at least he's not a CATHOLIC.
France
At the start of 1711, Louis has a son, three grandsons, and two great-grandsons. The succession seems assured, and the chances that Philip V, over in Spain, would try to advance his sort-of renounced claim to the throne, are remote.
Then everyone except Philip V and future Louis XV dies by early 1714. So in 1714 all that's standing between Philip V and the French throne is:
- A 76-year-old man: Louis XIV.
- A 4-year-old kid (future Louis XV) who nearly died of measles a couple years ago and only survived because his nurse locked out the doctors.
- A treaty that Philip V just signed saying, "I pinky swear not to claim the French throne."
I say "pinky swear" because we know from the War of the Austrian Succession what a piece of paper like that is worth, and even contemporaries, who hadn't lived through that yet, were very very nervous. There could easily have been a war. There was no enforcement mechanism to make Philip V keep his word, and due to the weight of primogeniture tradition, he would have had solid support to go with his solid opposition.
Then the 76-year-old man dies.
Now it's 1715, and there's a 5-year-old kid and a piece of paper standing between Philip V and the French throne.
Would Philip have made a move if little Louis had died? I don't know, but war brought him out of his depression, and even with Louis XV on the throne and Philippe d'Orleans as regent, there was a conspiracy in France and Spain to make Philip V the regent.
You can consider it a small miracle that Louis XV survived and possibly averted the early 18th century War of the French Succession.
Spain
Poor Marie Louise of Savoy. She who was married at 12 and regent at 13-14 dies at age 25, after years of increasing illness.
Philip remarries 7 months later, as we saw.