Philip V of Spain

Philip V (Spanish: Felipe V; 19 December 1683 – 9 July 1746) was King of Spain from 1 November 1700 to 14 January 1724 and again from 6 September 1724 to his death in 1746. His total reign (45 years and 16 days) is the longest in the history of the Spanish monarchy, surpassing Philip IV. Although his ascent to the throne precipitated the War of the Spanish Succession, Philip V instigated many important reforms in Spain, most especially the centralization of power of the monarchy and the suppression of regional privileges, via the Nueva Planta decrees, and restructuring of the administration of the Spanish Empire on the Iberian Peninsula and its overseas regions.^[1]

Quick Facts King of Spain (more...), 1st reign ...

Philip V
Portrait by Louis-Michel van Loo, c. 1739
King of Spain (more...)
1st reign	1 November 1700 – 15 January 1724
Predecessor	Charles II
Successor	Louis I
2nd reign	6 September 1724 – 9 July 1746
Predecessor	Louis I
Successor	Ferdinand VI
Chief Ministers	See list José de Grimaldo The Marquess of the Peace The Duke of Ripperdá José Patiño The Marquess of Villarías
King of Naples and Sardinia
Reign	1 November 1700 – 7 March 1714
Predecessor	Charles V
Successor	Charles VI
Lord of the Netherlands
Reign	1 November 1700 – 10 May 1713
Predecessor	Charles II
Successor	Charles III
Governor	Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria (1700–1706)
Born	Philippe, Duke of Anjou 19 December 1683 Palace of Versailles, Kingdom of France
Died	9 July 1746(1746-07-09) (aged 62) Madrid, Kingdom of Spain
Burial	Royal Palace of La Granja de San Ildefonso
Spouses	Maria Luisa Gabriella of Savoy ​ ​ (m. 1701; died 1714)​ Elisabeth Farnese ​ (m. 1714)​
Issue more...	Louis I, King of Spain Infante Philip Peter Ferdinand VI, King of Spain Charles III, King of Spain Mariana Victoria, Queen of Portugal Philip, Duke of Parma María Teresa Rafaela, Dauphine of France Infante Luis, Count of Chinchón María Antonia Fernanda, Queen of Sardinia
Names Spanish: Felipe de Borbón y Baviera
House	Bourbon
Father	Louis, Grand Dauphin
Mother	Maria Anna Victoria of Bavaria
Religion	Catholic Church
Signature

Close

Philip was born into the French royal family (as Philippe, Duke of Anjou) during the reign of his grandfather Louis XIV. He was the second son of Louis, Grand Dauphin, and was third in line to the French throne after his father and his elder brother, Louis, Duke of Burgundy. Philip was not expected to become a monarch, but his great-uncle Charles II of Spain was childless. Philip's father had a strong claim to the Spanish throne, but since Philip's father and elder brother were expected to inherit the French throne, Charles named Philip as his heir presumptive in his will. Philip succeeded in 1700 as the first Spanish monarch of the House of Bourbon.

In 1701, the new king married his second cousin Maria Luisa of Savoy, with whom he had four sons. Their two surviving sons were the future Spanish kings Louis I and Ferdinand VI. Maria Luisa died in 1714, and Philip remarried to Elisabeth Farnese. Philip and Elisabeth had seven children, including the future Charles III of Spain; Infanta Mariana Victoria, who became Queen of Portugal; Infante Philip, who became Duke of Parma; and Infanta María Antonia Fernanda, who became Queen of Sardinia. It was well known that the union of France and Spain under one monarch would upset the balance of power in Europe, and that other European powers would take steps to prevent it. Philip's accession in Spain provoked the 13-year War of the Spanish Succession, which continued until the Treaty of Utrecht forbade any future possibility of unifying the French and Spanish crowns while confirming his accession to the throne of Spain. It also removed the Spanish Netherlands and Spanish-controlled territories in Italy from the Spanish monarchy. In 1724, Philip abdicated in favor of his eldest son, Louis I. Louis died later that year, and Philip took the throne again. As a result of his depression, Queen Elisabeth held control over the Spanish government. When Philip died in 1746, he was succeeded by his second son, Ferdinand VI.

The actions of Louis XIV heightened the fears of the English, the Dutch and the Austrians, among others. In December 1700, Louis XIV issued letters patent to Philip, prior to Philip leaving France, preserving his status as a régnicole (a natural Frenchman), and by extension his claim to the French throne, despite his permanent departure from France. The documents further granted Philip's male heirs status as régnicoles, and therefore as French dynasts, despite their births abroad.^[10]

Almost immediately the War of the Spanish Succession began. Concern among other European powers that Spain and France united under a single Bourbon monarch would upset the balance of power pitted France and Spain against the Grand Alliance of England, the Dutch Republic and Austria.^[11]

Inside Spain, the Crown of Castile supported Philip of France. On the other hand, anti-French sentiment was strong in Aragon and some members of the nobility of the Crown of Aragon rallied behind Charles of Austria, son of Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor and claimant to the Spanish throne by right of his grandmother Maria Anna of Spain. Their support swayed a significant portion of the population to support the Archduke.^[12]

The war was centred in Spain and west-central Europe (especially the Low Countries), with other important fighting in Germany and Italy. Prince Eugene of Savoy and John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough distinguished themselves as military commanders in those theatres. In colonial North America, the conflict became known to the English colonists who fought against French and Spanish forces as Queen Anne's War. Over the course of the fighting, some 400,000 people were killed.^[13]

It was with this war as a backdrop that, beginning in 1707, Philip issued the Nueva Planta decrees, which centralized Spanish rule under the Castilian political and administrative model and in the process abolished the charters of all independently administered kingdoms within Spain—most notably the Crown of Aragon, which was supporting Charles VI in the conflict—except for the Kingdom of Navarre and the rest of the Basque region, who had supported Philip in the war for the Spanish throne, and retained their semi-autonomous self-government. The policy of centralization had as model the French State under Louis XIV and was strongly supported by politicians such as Joseph de Solís and the Sardinian political philosopher Vicente Bacallar.^[14]

Philip agreed to relinquish his right of succession to France under one condition: the introduction of semi-Salic law in Spain. Under this law, the succession to the Spanish crown was limited to his entire male line before it could pass to any female, a requirement made clear to the allies during the preliminary peace negotiations. The purpose of this may have been to ensure that Philip and his male heirs, who under normal circumstances would inherit the French throne should the male line of Louis, Duke of Burgundy be extinguished, would always have a throne to occupy in its place. It was not until this was successfully accomplished (10 May 1713) that Spain and Great Britain made their own peace terms at the second Treaty of Utrecht (annexing the new law to the Treaty). By the terms of the Treaty of Utrecht that concluded the war, Philip was recognized as king of Spain but was forced to cede Menorca and Gibraltar to Great Britain; the Spanish Netherlands, Naples, Milan, and Sardinia to the Austrian Habsburgs; and Sicily and parts of Milan to Savoy.^[15] To further ensure the removal of Philip and his heirs from the French succession, the letters patent issued to preserve their claim to the throne despite their absence from the country, were repealed by the Parlement of Paris.^[10]

These losses greatly diminished the Spanish Empire in Europe, which had already been in decline. Throughout his reign, Philip sought to reverse the decline of Spanish power. Trying to overturn the terms of the Treaty of Utrecht, he attempted to re-establish Spanish claims in Italy, triggering the War of the Quadruple Alliance (1718–1720) in which Spain fought a coalition of four major powers. France, under the regency of Philippe II, Duke of Orléans later joined this coalition, as the House of Orléans had a strong interest in keeping Philip and his descendants out of the line of succession. Lacking allies, Phillip V was forced to sue for peace.^{[citation needed]}

Abdication

On 14 January 1724, Philip abdicated the Spanish throne to his eldest son, the seventeen-year-old Louis. As the abdication occurred just over a month after the death of the Duke of Orléans, who had been regent for Louis XV of France, many at the time believed it was an attempt by Philip to circumvent the Treaty of Utrecht, which forbade a union of the French and Spanish crowns, therefore allowing him to claim the former should his young nephew perish without sons of his own.^[17] However, the actual reason for the abdication was that Philip, who exhibited many elements of mental instability during his reign, no longer wished to rule due to his increasing mental decline.^[18][19] Louis would die on 31 August in Madrid of smallpox, though, having reigned only seven months and leaving no issue. Six days later, after much convincing, Philip was restored to the Spanish throne, so as to avoid a regency for his second son, Ferdinand, who was only 10 at the time.^[20][21]

Philip helped his Bourbon relatives to make territorial gains in the War of the Polish Succession and the War of the Austrian Succession by reconquering Naples and Sicily from Austria and Oran from the Ottomans. Finally, at the end of his reign Spanish forces defended their American territories from a large British invasion during the War of Jenkins' Ear (1739–1748).^[22]

During Philip's reign, Spain began to recover from the stagnation it had suffered during the twilight of the Spanish Habsburg dynasty. Although the population of Spain grew, the financial and taxation systems were archaic and the treasury ran deficits. The King employed thousands of highly paid retainers at his palaces—not to assist with ruling the country but to look after the royal family. Meanwhile, the army and bureaucracy went months without pay. It was only the shipments of silver from the New World which kept the system going. Spain suspended payments on its debt in 1739 – effectively declaring bankruptcy.^[23]

Death

In the last decade of his reign, Philip experienced bouts of manic depression and increasingly fell victim to a deep melancholia.^[24] During this period his second wife, Elizabeth Farnese, seems to have dedicated herself exclusively to caring for his health.^[25] Beginning in August 1737 his mental illness was eased by the castrato singer Farinelli, who became the "Musico de Camara of Their Majesties." Farinelli would sing eight or nine arias for the King and Queen every night, usually with a trio of musicians.^[26]

Philip was struck by a stroke and died on 9 July 1746 in El Escorial, in Madrid, but was buried in his favorite Royal Palace of La Granja de San Ildefonso, near Segovia. Ferdinand VI of Spain, his son by his first queen Maria Luisa of Savoy, succeeded him.^[27]

Historians have generally been unkind to the King. Lynch says Philip V advanced the government only marginally over that of his predecessors and was more of a liability than Charles II. When a conflict came up between the interests of Spain and France, he usually favored France. However, Philip did make some reforms in government, and strengthened the central authorities relative to the provinces. Merit became more important, although most senior positions still went to the landed aristocracy. Below the elite level, the inefficiency and corruption that had existed under Charles II was as widespread as ever. The reforms started by Philip V culminated in much more important reforms of Charles III.^[28] The economy, on the whole, improved over the previous half-century, with greater productivity, and fewer famines and epidemics. The government promoted industry, agriculture and shipbuilding.^[29] After the destruction of the main silver fleet at Vigo in 1702, the navy was rebuilt. Nevertheless, the new fleet was still too small to support the vast worldwide empire.^[30]

To commemorate the indignities the city of Xàtiva suffered after Philip's victory in the Battle of Almansa in the War of the Spanish Succession, in which he ordered the city to be burned and renamed San Felipe, the portrait of the monarch hangs upside down in the local museum of L'Almodí.^[31]

The province of the New Philippines, which occupied parts of what is now Texas in the United States, was named in 1716 in honor of Philip.^[32]

Philip V favored and promoted the Atlantic trade of Spain with its American possessions, ending the monopoly of Seville on colonial trade. During this Atlantic trade emerged important figures of the naval history of Spain, among which stands out the privateer Amaro Pargo. Philip V frequently supported the privateer in his commercial incursions: he granted a royal order given at the Royal Palace of El Pardo in Madrid in September 1714, in which he appointed him captain of a commercial ship bound for Caracas.^[33] The Monarch also interceded in the liberation of Amaro during his detention by the Casa de Contratación of Cádiz^[34][35] and authorized him to build a ship bound for Campeche, which was armed like a corsair ship.^[34]

Philip married his double-second cousin Maria Luisa of Savoy (17 September 1688 – 14 February 1714) on 3 November 1701^[36] and they had 4 sons, two of which reached adulthood and became kings of Spain, but they all died with no children:

1. Louis I of Spain (25 August 1707 – 31 August 1724) married Louise Élisabeth d'Orléans but had no children.
2. Infante Philip of Spain (2 July 1709 – 18 July 1709) died young.
3. Infante Philip of Spain (7 June 1712 – 29 December 1719) died young.
4. Ferdinand VI of Spain (23 September 1713 – 10 August 1759) married Barbara of Portugal but had no children.

Philip married Elisabeth Farnese (25 October 1692 – 11 July 1766) on 24 December 1714,^[37] they had 7 children, of whom all but one reached adulthood:

1. Charles III of Spain (20 January 1716 – 14 December 1788) married Maria Amalia of Saxony and had children.
2. Infante Francisco of Spain (21 March 1717 – 21 April 1717) died young.
3. Infanta Mariana Victoria of Spain (31 March 1718 – 15 January 1781) married King Joseph I of Portugal and had children.
4. Infante Philip of Spain (15 March 1720 – 18 July 1765) Duke of Parma and founder of the line of Bourbons of Parma married Louise Élisabeth of France and had children.
5. Infanta Maria Teresa of Spain (11 June 1726 – 22 July 1746) married Louis, Dauphin of France and had children.
6. Infante Louis of Spain (25 July 1727 – 7 August 1785), known as the Cardinal Infante. Was Archbishop of Toledo, Primate of Spain and cardinal since 1735. In 1754, renounced his ecclesiastical titles and became Count of Chinchón. In 1776, he married morganatically María Teresa de Vallabriga and had children, but without royal titles.
7. Infanta Maria Antonia of Spain (17 November 1729 – 19 September 1785) married Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia and had children.

More information Family of Philip V in 1743 ...

Family of Philip V in 1743

Close

• 
  1 Escudo as Philip IV of Sardinia
• 
  8 Escudos, Seville
• 
  Half escudo gold coin of Philip V, 1743
• 
  8 Escudos, Lima 1710
• 
  8 Reales, Mexico
• 
  2 Reales, Segovia
• 
  2 Reales, Segovia

• Nueva Planta decrees
• Royal Madrilenian Academy of Medicine