Kings of Spain: House of Austria or Habsburg, the Austrias Minor
In our previous article we began our report on the Austrian dynasty or Habsburg, kings of spain over the centuries XVI Y XVII. As we have already seen, the first King of this house was Carlos I (grandson of the Catholic kings) and his son succeeded him Philip II. Both reigns are called the period of the Greater Austriansgiven that it was the moment of greatest Spanish power.
After the death of Philip II the throne remains in the hands of his son Philip IIIin 1598. This is the beginning of the reigns considered as the “Austrias Minor” precisely because the power of the previous stage went into frank decline. The problems, however, had started long ago, with a economy in crisis, and the finances of the kingdom in bankruptcy.
This constitutes -as we have analyzed in the previous article- one of the great paradoxes of History of Spain. As you know, he had the largest colonial empire in the world from which came growing wealth obtained mainly from the exploitation of the mining resources American people.
It should be noted that a political characteristic of this period of the Austrias Minor was that all of them did not actively participate in the government -as their predecessors had done- but they delegated it to some very powerful nobles, who were the ones who really had control of the Kingdom: the Duke of Lerma and the Duke of Olivares among others.
We go on to briefly review the most significant events of the reigns of the Austrias Minor.
Philip III
Philip III (son of Philip II) from 1598 to 1621: his reign stands out as a “pacifist” stage compared to that of his successor and his predecessor. Different political situations gave a context of less confrontation between powers, establishing better relations with France, England Y Holland.
Philip IV
Philip IV (son of Philip III) from 1621 to 1665: the most significant event of this period was the Thirty Years War (1618-1648) in which the Austrian branch of the Habsburgs against the German Protestant states. The Spanish Crown intervened in favor of their Austrian relatives; soon a system of alliances was formed, in which most of the major European powers took part. The Habsburgs they lost the war and this implied for Spain the loss of several of its European possessions and the end of its hegemony.
Charles II (son of Philip IV) from 1665 to 1700, was known as “the bewitched.” From childhood he was in poor health and is described as having very little intelligence. Unable to govern, power was left in the hands of his various favorites. It was the time of the final decline of the empire Spanishwhich was used by Louis XIV of France who in successive wars snatched several territories from him. Charles II could not procreate children, leaving the kingdom without descendants at his death, which marked the end of the Austrians and the start of the War of the Spanish Succession.
Sources:
Kalipedia
ALONSO, ELIZALDE and VAZQUEZ. History. Europe modern and colonial America. Buenos Aires, Aique, 1994.
Images:
Equestrian portrait of Philip III, by Diego Velázquez, on wikipedia
Successor Line of the House of Austria, on wikipedia
Painting of The Battle of Rocroi (1643), the symbolic end of Spain as the dominant great power, at Wikipedia