SUCCESSION 



SUCCESSION WARS 



779 



Consult the Proceedings of Civil Engineers, vol. xxiv., 

 for the drains and subways of London and Paris ; Les 

 Promenades de Paris (1873), for sections of the Paris 

 subways; and Engineering, vols. xlix. and 1. (1890), for 

 papers on the City and Southwark subway. 



Succession, a term used technically in Roman 

 and Scots law ( but not in English law ) to denote 

 the taking of property by one person in place of 

 another. The order of succession in Roman and 

 Scots law differs in several respects from that in 

 English law. See HEIR, KIN (NEXT OF), EXECU- 

 TOR, HUSBAND AND WIFE, LEGITIM. For legacy 

 and succession duties, see LEGACY and the al- 

 manacs. For APOSTOLICAL SUCCESSION, see under 

 that heading. 



Succession Acts. From a comparatively 

 arly period in English history parliament occa- 

 sionally exercised the power of limiting or modify- 

 ing the hereditary succession to the throne. The 

 first instance of such interference occurred in the 

 case of Henry IV. ; and parliamentary interposi- 

 tion was subsequently exercised in the case of 

 Henry VII. and in regard to the immediate 

 successors of Henry VIII. The respective rights 

 of James I., Charles I., and Charles II. were 

 acknowledged by parliament. The revolution of 

 1688 was founded on the so-called abdication of 

 the government by James II. The Convention 

 bestowed the crown on William and Mary for 

 life, and regulated the claims of Anne. In view 

 of the impending extinction of the Protestant 

 descendants of Charles I. the crown was settled 

 by 12 and 13 Will. III. chap. 2, in the event 

 of the death of William and Anne without issue, 

 on the next Protestant line, according to the 

 regular order of succession viz. the descendants 

 of the Electress Sophia of Hanover, granddaughter 

 of James I. ; and it was at the same time enacted 

 that whoever should hereafter come to possession 

 of the crown should join the communion of the 

 Church of England as by law established (see 

 GEORGE I., HANOVER). This is the latest parlia- 

 mentary limitation of the crown ; but the right of 

 parliament to limit the succession was secured by 

 6 Anne, chap. 7. 



Succession Wars is the general name given 

 to contests which took place in Europe during 

 the 18th century on the extinction of certain 

 dynasties or ruling houses. Four such wars are 

 usually enumerated that of the Spanish succes- 

 sion (1701-13), of the Polish succession (1733-38), 

 of the Austrian succession (1740-48), and of the 

 Bavarian succession ( 1777-79). The first and third 

 alone are of sufficient general historical interest to 

 be noticed here. 



(1 ) WAR OF THE SPANISH SUCCESSION. Charles 

 II., king of Spain, having died without direct. 

 descendant* in November 1700, claims were raised 

 to the vacant throne by the husbands of his two 

 sisters, Louis XIV. of France, who had married 

 the elder, and the Emperor Leopold I., who had 

 married the younger. Both these monarchs were 

 also themselves grandsons of Philip III. of Spain ; 

 but neither desired the Spanish crown for his own 

 head. Louis put forward his grandson Philip of 

 Anjou ; whilst Leopold advocated the claims of his 

 second son, the Archduke Charles. The Electoral 

 prince Joseph of Bavaria, grandson of the Emperor 

 Leopold, was the heir originally designated in King 

 Charles's will, but he died in the beginning of 1699. 

 Both Louis XIV. and his wife had nine years before 

 solemnly renounced the crown of Spain for them- 

 selves and their heirs ; nevertheless, after Joseph 

 of Bavaria died the agent of Louis XIV. induced 

 Charles of Spain to nominate Philip of Anjou 

 as his successor. Three months after the Spanish 

 monarch's death the French prince entered Madrid, 



and was crowned as Philip V. ; and his accession 

 was at first recognised by all the European powers 

 except the emperor. Louis, however, soon provoked 

 the United Netherlands and England, and they 

 joined Austria for the purpose of armed opposition 

 to France. 



Hostilities were begun by Prince Eugene in Italy 

 in 1701 ; and in the following year the conflict 

 raged not only in Italy but also in the Netherlands 

 and in Swabia. At first the allies were victorious 

 all along the line : Marlborough took the fortresses 

 on the Meuse and overran the electorate of Cologne ; 

 and the Landgrave of Baden had the good fortune 

 to drive back the most redoubtable of the French 

 commanders, Villars, who had crossed the Rhine 

 from Alsace. But the aspect of things was altered 

 in 1703 by Villars, who, in conjunction with the 

 Elector of Bavaria, penetrated as far as Tyrol and 

 captured Passau, whilst the imperialists in Italy 

 were more than held in check by Vend6me. But 

 in the campaign of 1704 Marlborough and Eugene, 

 acting in concert, inflicted a crushing defeat upon 

 their opponents at Blenheim (q.v.) and drove them 

 back into France. Two years later the forces of 

 Louis were compelled to withdraw from the Nether- 

 lands owing to Marl borough's great victory of 

 1 Jamil lies and his capture of the principal Flemish 

 towns. At the same time Eugene and his relative 

 the Duke of Savoy routed the French near Turin 

 and swept them out of North Italy. Meanwhile 

 the war had extended to the Il>erian peninsula. 

 The king of Portugal declared for the allies, and 

 Archduke Charles made himself master of Cata- 

 lonia, and even for a time held possession of 

 Madrid. The English captured Gibraltar in 1704 ; 

 but they and the Portuguese sustained a severe 

 defeat from the Duke of Berwick (commanding the 

 French forces) at Almaii/a in 1707. In this latter 

 year Louis, feeling the severity of the strain, 

 opened negotiations for a settlement. But the 

 allies, having the upper hand, thought to humble 

 him yet more, and the war went on. 



An attempt of Vendome and the Duke of Bur- 

 gundy to reconquer the Spanish Netherlands in 1708 

 was frustrated by Marlborough and Eugene, who 

 routed them at Oudenarde ; and in the next year 

 they defeated at Malplaquet the hitherto invincible 

 Villars. Yet just when the fortunes of Louis 

 seemed to be at their worst, circumstances inter- 

 vened in his favour. In England the Whigs were 

 supplanted by the Tories, who voted for peace ; 

 and in Austria the Emperor Leopold died, and was 

 succeeded by the Archduke Charles. Accordingly 

 the war languished, and, Philip V. having pledged 

 himself that the crowns of Spain and France should 

 not be united, all the allies, except the emperor, 

 signed the treaty of Utrecht (q.v.) on llth April 

 1713. The emperor, too, was brought to terms 

 after Villars had overrun the Palatinate and Baden, 

 and he signed peace at Rastatt(7th March 1714), 

 whereby he acknowledged Philip as king of Spain, 

 and became himself the ruler of the Spanish 

 Netherlands, Naples, Milan, and Sardinia. 



See Mahon, History of the War of the Succession in 

 Spain (1832); Colonel the Hon. Arthur Parnell, The 

 War of Huerettion in Spain (1888); Courcy, La Coali- 

 tion de 1701 centre la France (2 vols. Paris, 1886); Von 

 Noorden, Der Spanische Erbfolyekrieg (3 vols. Diissel- 

 dorf, 1870-82); Arneth, Prim Eugen von Savoyen (3 

 vols. Vienna, 1858 ) ; and the articles EUGENE, MABL- 

 BOROUGH, PETERBOROUGH, VILLARS, &c. in this work. 



(2) WAR OF THE AUSTRIAN SUCCESSION. The 

 Emperor Charles VI. died in 1740, leaving his 

 hereditary dominions Bohemia, Hungary, and 

 the archduchy of Austria to his daughter Maria 

 Theresa. She was at once beset by enemies, eager 

 to profit from the presumed weakness of a feminine 

 rnter. The Elector Charles Albert of Bavaria, who 



