There was
likely to be dire trouble also respecting the vacant throne of Spain.
There had been originally three candidates for the throne of the
weakling Charles, not long dead--Philip of Anjou, whose claims had the
powerful support of his grandfather, the ambitious Louis; Charles, the
second son of the Emperor Leopold of Austria; and Joseph, the
Electoral Prince of Bavaria. But the last mentioned had died, leaving
the contest to Philip and Charles, the French and Austrian claimants.
The rest of Europe was naturally in alarm when the already
too-powerful Louis actually placed his grandson on the Spanish throne.
Practically the step amounted on the part of France to an annexation
of the once predominant kingdom of Spain with all its appanages. And
when the Grand Monarque, as his flatterers called him, proceeded
further to garrison the strongholds of the Netherlands, then a Spanish
province, with his own troops, it was clear that Louis considered
himself King both of France and Spain. As for the Protestants of
Europe, their very existence seemed to be threatened by the designs of
the French sovereign.
Who was there, then, to withstand the ambitious and arrogant Louis?
There was but one great and effective opponent, William of Orange,
King of England.
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