General Notes

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, 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, and in the last
decades of his life he was mentally incompetent.