The Children of Adam and Eve

Philip V (of Spain) (1683-1746), king of Spain (1700-46), during whose
reign French ideas preVailed at his court, and French institutions were
introduced into Spain. The first of the Spanish Bourbons, he was the
grandson of Louis XIV, king of France, and the son of the dauphin Louis de
France (1661-1711), born in Versailles, France. Charles II, the last
Habsburg king of Spain, dying without issue, bequeathed Spain, the Spanish
Netherlands, and his Italian possessions to Philip, then duke of Anjou, in
1700.

Philip's accession, by uniting the French and Spanish thrones in the same
family, threatened to disturb the balance of power in Europe. This
resulted in the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-14), in which France
and Spain were matched against an alliance formed by England, the
Netherlands, Austria, and several of the German states and subsequently
joined by Portugal and Savoy. The Peace of Utrecht secured the throne of
Spain to Philip but stripped Spain of Sicily, which passed to Savoy; the
Spanish Netherlands, which passed to Sardinia; and Milan and Naples, which
passed to Austria. Philip attempted to regain the lands in Italy that he
had lost, and war ensued from 1718 to 1720 against the Quadruple Alliance
of Great Britain, France, Austria, and the Netherlands. Through this war
and also through the War of the Polish Succession (1733-35) and War of the
Austrian Succession (1740-48), Philip gained territory for his sons. In
January 1724 he abdicated in favor of his eldest son, but after his son's
Death the following August he resumed the crown. Philip was dominated by
his wife, Isabella Farnese (1692-1766), and in the last decades of his
life he was mentally incompetent.