Second Franco-Dutch War, 1680-1690
Queen Marie-Louise, under pressure from the French ambassador, attempts to council her husband to adopt a more pro-French policy. He even convinces her to begin corresponding with her uncle, King Louis. At first, she is able to influence King Felipe V, and he considers improving Franco-Spanish relations by making conciliatory gestures towards ‘his dearest uncle and cousin’. The king even goes so far as to appoint the pro-French Cardinal Portocarrero to the presidency of the Council of State in early 1680.
However, the restored queen-mother Maria Anna, ever loyal to her brother the Emperor and threatened by her daughter-in-law’s ambitions, soon uncovers evidence that the Queen Marie-Louise is in communication with her uncle in France. While much of the correspondence is tenuous, she nevertheless exposes her findings to her son the king. Furious at his wife’s meddling in political affairs and hurt by what he sees as continued loyalty to her uncle over submission to her husband, King Felipe acts swiftly. He dismisses Cardinal Portocarrero immediately, exiling him to his country estates in Leon; the queen is sternly informed that she will involve herself no further in affairs of state and instead ‘shut her eyes and ears and endure, as befits one of her rank and station.’ From this point onwards, the relationship between King Felipe and his French wife, thus far surprisingly close for a political match, will be strained and full of mistrust. The king even goes so far as to write a letter to his cousin in France, accusing him of ‘attempting to manipulate the states of other princes’.
Seeing this as a final insult, King Louis XIV invades the Franche-Comté in early 1681. By April, the French, along with their allies in Savoy, occupy most of the south of that county and are besieging Besancon. At this point, King Felipe sees the odds as in his favor: the French army, while the largest in Europe, has few allies aside from Savoy. Portugal, with its finances almost in ruins since gaining its independence, poses little threat in Iberia, while Bavaria is technically in alliance with the Emperor at this time. The French, however, are determined to secure their frontiers and annex the Franche-Comté, while Duke Victor Amadeus II of Savoy is very eager to swallow up some of the Habsburg’s Italian possessions. Immediately, King Felipe dispatches an army by way of Italy to engage the French, under the command of Prince Alexander Farnese of Parma. The Spanish are soon joined by Austrian forces sent by the Emperor, in honor of the Family Pact. The Dutch, under Prince William of Orange, also agree to aid the Emperor and the King of Spain, attacking the French in Flanders. This, however, results in the ever-wary King Charles II of Great Britain throwing in his lot with the French and declaring war on the United Provinces.
The next eight years will see a long and bloody war in central Europe, mainly fought in the Low Countries and the Rhineland. While the Austrio-Spanish forces will initially be successful in the Franche-Comté, the tides soon enough turn in favor of the superior French forces; by mid-1685, Besancon falls to King Louis’s able commander, the Duke of Noailles. King Felipe, however, is much more successful in the Low Countries, and manages to even go so far as to occupy Artois for the winter of 1684-1685, and again from 1687 onwards. Meanwhile in Britain, King Charles II, constrained by finances and his increasingly pro-Dutch Parliament (who see a close relationship with France as a betrayal of their country’s Protestantism), is forced to secure an early peace with the Dutch and withdraw from the conflict by the Treaty of Rotterdam in 1686.
The last phase of the war, thus far almost an assured French victory, will begin in 1688, when the Habsburgs are able to inflict a massive victory over the French at Audincourt, under the skillful command of the Duke of Lorraine. This is supplemented by the retaking of Besancon in the summer. The final stroke, however, will be delivered when the Prince of Orange, newly brought to power in Britain as King William III via the events of the so-called ‘Glorious Revolution of 1688’ once again reenters England in the conflict, this time against the French, and manages to aid the Spanish in successfully besieging Arras in 1689. Seeing the tides of battle turning against him, Duke Victor Amadeus II soon sues for peace. Horrified by the recent turn of events, abandoned by his ally and fearing a further Anglo-Spanish offensive into Picardy, King Louis XIV follows suite.
The Treaty of Cambrai, signed in 1690, is a humiliating setback for the French, and an early indicator that the Habsburgs may be on the rise to recovery. Under the terms of the treaty, the French are forced to abandon all claims to the Spanish Netherlands, as well as cede both Artois and Lille to the Spanish, though they will receive Roussillon in so-called ‘compensation’. This comes at the cost of the Spanish agreeing to cede the commercial port of Dunkirk in Flanders (formerly a French possession) to the British (something that receives great acclamation in London, as a ‘restoral of English continental possessions)—this being mainly to comfort the Dutch, now disturbed at any renewal of Spanish power in the Low Countries.
In Spain, the peace of Cambrai is seen as a great triumph for King Felipe V, who is now ever more popular with his people. Further, the joint efforts of Austria and Spain in the war have only served to bind the family tighter together in unity, and ensure a very firm alliance between the two branches of the royal dynasty.
Meanwhile, in 1689, Queen Marie-Louise dies tragically giving birth to a daughter, the Infanta Ana María. The king is greatly moved, his stormy marriage having once again resumed some form of stability in the last few years. Nevertheless, his mother manages to convince him to remarry as soon as possible, to ensure the security of the state—for though the king already has a healthy son and heir, the ten year old Don Fernando, additional male heirs are considered a good form of security for the dynasty.
At first, the King considers a match with his niece, Archduchess Maria Elisabeth of Austria. However, as the girl is still only nine years old, and he will have to wait at least three years before any wedding can take place, he soon decides otherwise. Instead, the princess Maria Anna of Neuburg (b. 1667), the daughter of the Elector of Palatine, is selected, both for her excellent connections (her sisters being the wives of the King Peter II of Portugal and Emperor Leopold I respectively) and her family’s legendary fertility (her mother having born twenty-three children). The girl’s close connections with Austria and the Empire are seen favorably in Spain, and Emperor Leopold I himself gives the bride away, along with the blessing of Austria, at the proxy marriage at Innsbruck that year.
King Felipe and Princess Maria Anna are wed at Barcelona in November, 1690. Over the course of the next twelve years they will have ten children, of which six will survive infancy, including two sons, Infante Felipe (b. 1692) and Infante Carlos (b. 1697).