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Case file s37 · Royalty · 1700
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1700
Charles II of Spain: Spanish: Carlos II de España Charles II of Spaintitle QS:P1476,es:"Carlos II de España "label QS:Les,"Carlos II de Españ
Charles II of Spain. Juan Carreño de Miranda. Public domain, Wikimedia Commons.
Died
1 November 1700
Place
Madrid, Spain
Field
Royalty (Spain, Habsburg) · Royalty and nobility on the timeline
Legal tradition
Castilian law of succession; international treaties · Civil law
Historical event
War of the Spanish Succession (1701 to 1714)
Religion
Charles II of Spain: Catholic (recorded as Catholicism on Wikidata)
RoyaltyConditions from the graveCrowns and successionEmpires and conquestEuropeSpainHouse of HabsburgHouse of Bourbon

Spain's childless Charles II left his whole empire to a French prince in his will, and Europe went to war for 13 years

Charles II of Spain, the last Spanish Habsburg, had serious inherited disabilities and no children. His empire included Spain, much of Italy, the Spanish Netherlands and the Americas. Britain, the Dutch Republic and France signed treaties in 1698 and 1700 to divide it after his death without consulting Spain. In October 1700 Charles signed a will leaving the entire empire undivided to Philip, Duke of Anjou, grandson of Louis XIV, on condition that the crowns of Spain and France never unite. If Philip refused, everything was to go to the Austrian Archduke Charles. Charles died on 1 November. Louis XIV accepted for his grandson. Austria, Britain and the Dutch went to war. The Treaties of Utrecht (1713) and Rastatt (1714) let Philip V keep Spain and its American empire on condition he renounce the French throne. Austria took Milan, Naples and the Netherlands. Britain took Gibraltar and Minorca. Philip's Bourbon descendants reign in Spain in 2026.

What the law took from it

Keeping an estate undivided in a will can cost more than dividing it would have.

Sources
  1. Wikipedia (English)Encyclopedia
  2. Wikipedia (English)Encyclopedia

Cite as: celebrity.estate, “Spain's childless Charles II left his whole empire to a French prince in his will, and Europe went to war for 13 years,” story s37, https://www.celebrity.estate/spains-childless-charles-ii-left-his-1700, updated 30 October 2026.

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Where this case sits

RoyaltyConditions from the graveCrowns and successionEmpires and conquestEuropeCivil lawSpainHouse of HabsburgHouse of Bourbon