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of the negotiations that ended the Thirty Years' War, the independence
of the Dutch Republic was recognized. For another 11 years Philip con-
tinued the struggle against France, until, his resources exhausted, he
concluded peace in 1659 (exactly one century after his grandfather had
triumphed over France). Not only did he cede Cerdagne and Rousillon
on the Pyrenean frontier, he agreed to give his daughter María Teresa
in marriage to the young French monarch, Louis XIV, as a pledge of
dynastic reconciliation.
As the fortunes of the dynasty withered, so did the actual Spanish
branch of the House of Habsburg. By the end of the war with France
Philip IV had no surviving sons. A new marriage, to an Austrian kins-
woman, brought him the male heir he desired, a sickly child born in
1661. Four years later the boy succeeded his vexed and troubled father
under the name of Charles II. Throughout the remaining 35 years of his
life this monarch would suffer from a multitude of physical and mental
illnesses, his life frequently in jeopardy and the future of his country
perpetually in doubt. Until he was 14 his mother served as regent,
assisted by her German father confessor, whose skills in statecraft were
scarcely more developed than those of the queen mother. Declared of
age at 14, Charles relied heavily upon the advice of others, pulled this
way and that by rival factions in the Court. Although France had fought
another two brief wars with Spain over territory in the Low Countries
claimed by Louis XIV on behalf of his Spanish wife, it was eventually
agreed that Charles II would marry a French princess. The bride soon
died, allegedly poisoned by Austrian agents, and a successor was chosen
from that country which now moved into the ascendancy at Madrid.
Childless in both of his marriages, the morose and confused king wan-
dered aimlessly about the palace when he was not confined to bed by
one of his frequent illnesses. On his better days he sought to take coun-
sel from his advisers and to understand the complexities of the interna-
tional maneuvers that drew Spain into yet another war with France
between 1688 and 1697. By now the country was no longer playing a
leading role in European affairs but merely functioning as a subservient
ally to others.
The contending European monarchs concluded the Nine Years' War
in 1697 largely in order to focus on the fate of the moribund Charles II
and his much decayed empire. Although still a vast complex of far-
flung territories, the inheritance passed on from Philip II was no longer
capable of mobilizing its resources to determine its own destiny. Two
successive partition treaties (in 1697 and 1699) in effect divided the
spoils among the major European political players, with the kingship of
Spain itself designated for Archduke Karl of Austria. In response to the
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