Charles II of Spain
Charles II was the last Habsburg king of Spain and his childlessness caused a European war. Born in Madrid in 1661, he was the son of Philip IV and Mariana of Austria, who was Philip's niece — the culmination of generations of Habsburg cousin marriage, and his inbreeding coefficient has been calculated as higher than that of a child of full siblings. He was disabled from birth. He could not walk until he was about four, could not speak until eight, was not weaned until nearly six, and had a jaw so pronounced that he could not chew properly. He suffered fits, was infertile, and was called el Hechizado, the bewitched, on the assumption that sorcery explained it; exorcisms were performed on him. He acceded at three under his mother's regency, and government passed between her favourites, his illegitimate half-brother Don John of Austria, and successive validos. He was capable of affection and of stubbornness but not of sustained rule. Spain continued to decline through his reign, losing territory to Louis XIV in a series of wars, though the economy showed some recovery in the 1680s and the currency was stabilised. The whole of European diplomacy in his last decade concerned who would inherit. Partition treaties were negotiated between France, England and the Dutch to divide the empire without a general war. He signed a will a month before his death leaving everything undivided to Philip of Anjou, Louis XIV's grandson. He died in November 1700, and the War of the Spanish Succession lasted thirteen years.
- Lived: 1661 CE – 1700 CE
- Nationality: Spanish
- Roles: king, head_of_state
