Spanish-Portuguese War of 1657-68

João's queen, Luísa de Gusmão, becomes regent on her husband's death because the royal couple's oldest son, Teodosio, had died three years before his father and their youngest son, Afonso, is only ten years old.

Although a disease in infancy had left Afonso partially paralyzed and had impaired his intelligence, his mother succeeds in having him proclaimed king.

Afonso VI (r. 1662-67) grows into a degenerate who prefers riding, coursing bulls, and watching cockfights.

His marriage to Marie-Francoise Isabelle of Savoy is annulled, and, in 1667, aware of the need for a successor, Afonso consents to his own abdication in favor of his brother, Pedro.

During this period, the Portuguese manage to fight off the last attempt by Spain to reincorporate them into the Iberian Union by defeating the Spanish invaders at Ameixial near Estremos.

In 1666, three years after this victory, Spain at last makes peace and recognizes Portugal's independence. 

Diego Osorio de Escobar y Llamas, who has held the offices of canon, inquisitor and vicar-general in the diocese of Toledo, is a member of the secular clergy, but a friend of the Jesuits; he had been chosen bishop of Puebla on the recommendation of Cardinal Moscoso, taking up the position in 1656, in which he will remain until his death in 1673.

There he builds the convent of La Santísima Trinidad, hastens the construction of the cathedral, and pays for the chapel and altar of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe.

He was in 1663 named archbishop of Mexico City, but he declined the office in order to remain in Puebla (although he does administer the diocese for a few months until the arrival of the new archbishop, Alonso de Cuevas Dávalos).

Spain is still at war with England when Osorio, apparently accepting the position with reluctance, is named to replace Viceroy Juan de Leyva de la Cerda, who has been ordered back to Spain because of corruption.

During his brief administration, Osorio sends thirty thousand pesos to Cuba for the repair of the Castle of Santiago and the rebuilding of the city,  destroyed in 1662 by the English under Christopher Myngs.

He also founds a gunpowder factory and sends some of the production to Cuba.

He takes steps to see that the Armada de Barlovento (coast guard) is prepared for an attack on the Gulf coast of New Spain.

He advances money for the fortification of Campeche.

He reforms the postal service, which was very bad before his administration and much more efficient after his reforms.

He also reforms the marketing of mercury and intervenes in a dispute between the Franciscans and the governor of Yucatán.

Osorio serves as viceroy for less than four months, from June to October 1664.

A stranger to profane affairs, he resigns as viceroy at the first opportunity in order to return to his diocese in Puebla.

Afterward experiencing difficulties with his successor, Antonio Sebastián de Toledo, the bishop goes into seclusion in the town of Tlatlauquitepec.

Toledo, born in Spain, had grown up in Peru, where his father, Pedro de Toledo, 1st Marquis of Mancera, was viceroy from 1639 to 1648.

As a young adult, he joined the colonial navy and commanded squads against Dutch pirates.

Retuning to Spain with his father in 1648, he was subsequently majordomo of the royal palace, then ambassador in Venice and Germany.

On December 30, 1663, King Philip IV of Spain had named him viceroy of New Spain, although the Council of the Indies had initially rejected him on grounds of his poor health.

Arriving in Chapultepec, the Marquis had remained there some days before making his formal entry into Mexico City.

While in Chapultepec, he gave orders that no celebration was to accompany his arrival, because the treasury of the colony has been exhausted by remittances to Spain and the war against the English.

However he also ordered that the 16,000 pesos intended for the celebration be used for a filigreed golden box to be sent as a present to the king.

He enters Mexico City October 15, 1664, and takes up his office.

The reign of Charles II of Spain, the only surviving son of his Habsburg predecessor, King Philip IV and his second Queen (and niece), Mariana of Austria, another Habsburg, begins on September 17, 1665.

Born in the capital of the vast Spanish empire, Madrid, and as the only surviving male heir of his father's two marriages (the only brother of Charles to survive infancy was Balthasar Charles, Prince of Asturias, who died at the age of 16 in 1646), he had been named the Principe de Asturias as his heir.

Charles is four; his mother was made his Regent .

Outbreeding in Charles II's lineage had ceased around 1500.

From then on, all his ancestors were in one way or another descendants of Joanna the Mad and Philip I of Castile, and among these just the royal houses of Spain, Austria, and Bavaria.

Charles II, whose genome is more homozygous than in an average brother-sister offspring, was born physically and mentally disabled, and disfigured.

Possibly through affliction with mandibular prognathism, he is unable to chew.

His tongue is so large that his speech, a skill acquired only recently, can barely be understood, and he frequently drools.

He may also suffer from the endocrine disease acromegaly.

He will not learn to walk for another four years Consequently, Charles II is known in Spanish history as El Hechizado ("The Hexed") from the popular belief – to which Charles himself will later subscribe – that his physical and mental disabilities had been caused by "sorcery."

The international situation in 1667 is very advantageous for France.

Spain has already been at war with Portugal for some years (the Portuguese Restoration War), which has brought Spain almost only defeats and which has bound up the largest part of the Spanish military potential.

France had at first supported Portugal covertly, then openly.

Thus, the two states formally conclude an alliance on March 31, 1667.

The United Provinces are another ally of France.

After France had for a long time supported the Dutch in their war with Spain, both countries had entered into a defense alliance in 1662.

Louis XIV is anxious to gain the support of the United Provinces for a conquest of the Spanish Netherlands and therefore enters into negotiations.

The United Provinces are at this time at war with England (the Second Anglo–Dutch War), and in the States-General there are fears of a rapprochement between England and France, if they do not take up the French offers.

The influential Grand Pensionary Johan de Witt suggests that the Spanish Netherlands be mutually divided.

Such plans were already being debated from 1663 onward, but the share that Louis XIV had demanded for himself alienates de Witt, and the deal had never been concluded.

At the same time, the Spanish had suggested setting up a combined army if the French invaded.

De Witt believes Spanish military power to be weak however, and the French emissary declares candidly that a Dutch alliance with Spain would amount to a declaration of war on France.

Although the Franco-Dutch negotiations have not led to tangible results, Louis XIV is convinced of the benevolence of the United Provinces.

He promises them that he will mediate in the conflict with England and in the end himself declares war on England, although the French navy will never be engaged to a very large extent.

Therefore, the only remaining potential obstacle to French expansion is the Holy Roman Empire.

As part of the Burgundian Circle, the Spanish Netherlands are subject of a special defense guarantee by the Empire, according to the agreement of Augsburg of 1548 between the Empire and Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (who was also King of Spain).

In the event of an attack, the Imperial States of the Reichstag could declare an imperial war on France.

The French diplomats however are very intent on eliminating this threat: to this end, they avail themselves of the members of the League of the Rhine.

Bilateral treaties are concluded with the Prince-Bishopric of Münster, the Archbishopric of Mainz, Palatinate-Neuburg, the Electorate of Brandenburg, and the Electorate of Cologne, in which these Imperial States pledge to deny their territories to foreign troops and to push for imperial neutrality in the Reichstag.

Thus, the planned French campaign is also protected against intervention of the Empire from the East.

Louis XIV transmits to the Spanish court on May 8, 1667, a declaration in which he repeats his demands.

This declaration is likewise advertised by the French ambassadors in every court in Europe.

They are to present the campaign of the Sun King not as an invasion, but as an entry into lands that already rightfully belong to him.

The King himself calls the invasion a "voyage".

After the Treaty of the Pyrenees, the French armed forces had been sharply reduced in order to save costs.

In 1665, they numbered only fifty thousand men.

Louis XIV however has authorized preparations through which the number of soldiers has grown to eighty-two thousand by the start of the war.

Fifty-one thousand French soldiers, who have been raised in four days, deploys in spring 1667 between Mézières and the sea. 

The main army consists of thirty-five thousand men personally commanded by Louis XIV; however, the actual commander is Maréchal Turenne).

To the left of the main army, ...

...a further French corps draws up in Artois at the coast, under Maréchal Antoine d’Aumont de Rochebaron, while ...

...another corps under Lieutenant General François de Créquy, marquis de Marines, takes over the protection of the main army on the right flank.

All three armies are to enter the Spanish territories at the same time, in order to take advantage of the French numerical superiority and not allow the Spanish to concentrate their defense against a single French force.

French forces on May 24, 1667, cross the border into the Spanish Netherlands.

The latter are badly prepared for war and cannot expect reinforcement from the mother country in the foreseeable future.

Indeed, the military forces in the Spanish Netherlands are not centrally organized.

Every large town has its own area of responsibility and went about the maintenance of its own defense arrangements, which in practice however means that they are badly prepared for a siege.

Their commanders are relatively independent and responsible only to the Statthalter Marquis of Castel Rodrigo, who also commands the few regular Spanish troops.

Apart from this, he only has militias at his disposal, which are however only available in the utmost emergency.

Thus the small number of available troops does not permit the establishment of a field army.

Therefore, the few available forces are posted in the strongholds of the country, to hold out as long as possible.

For this reason, during the whole war, not one large battle will be fought; instead, small skirmishes and sieges ensue.

Maréchal de Turenne had on May 10, 1667, taken over the supreme command over the French forces .

The first objective is the stronghold of Charleroi, which, due to its location on the Sambre, dominates the connection between the northern and southern Spanish possessions.

The Marquis de Castel-Rodrigo does not have the means to hold this important position, and abandons the fortress, after destroying all the fortifications.

Maréchal de Turenne occupies Charleroi on June 2 and has the fortifications reconstructed by the prominent engineer Vauban, in order to advance from there against Mons or Namur.

To this end, the whole main army encamps for fifteen days around Charleroi.

The Spanish strengthen the fortresses of Mons and Namur.

However, Turenne bypasses Mons and ...