The Treaty of the Pyrenees arranged Louis XIV's marriage to Maria Theresa and her renunciation of Spanish inheritance rights, alongside a substantial dowry. Louis treated Spain's failure to pay that dowry as grounds for declaring the renunciation invalid. He also invoked inheritance rules in Brabant and Limburg that favored children of a first marriage. These claims supported his invasion of the Spanish Netherlands in 1667. Once the Peace of Breda ended the Second Anglo-Dutch War, England, Sweden, and the Dutch Republic combined to contain French expansion. The Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle allowed Louis to retain some towns but required him to return other territory to Spain.
Chapter · 26:39-35:14
Louis XIV turns inheritance clauses into a war aim
An unpaid dowry and disputed inheritance rights helped Louis XIV justify invading the Spanish Netherlands, provoking a coalition to contain France.