War of Devolution (1667-68)
War between France and Spain. Louis XIV of France had married Marie Therese, daughter of Philip IV of Spain, whose dowry had not been paid. Louis claimed the Spanish Netherlands (modern Belgium) as his wives inheritance instead of her dowry. Fighting was started by the French led by Turenne, who invaded the Spanish Netherlands on 24 May 1667 and successfully occupied much of Flanders and Hainault. The following year an French army led by Conde invaded Franche-Comte, also Spanish, and occupied it in fourteen days. The Dutch, worried by the French advance, organized the Triple Alliance with England and Sweden, and during the spring of 1668 the Triple Alliance demanded peace, under which pressure Louis entered negotiations, before agreeing to peace by the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (2 May 1668), in which he returned all of Franche-Comte and most of the Spanish Netherlands, although he retained a number of fortified towns on the border of the Spanish Netherlands, and gained some strongholds within Flanders itself. The main issue, the French desire to remove all Spanish holdings on their eastern borders, remained unanswered and fighting resumed in the Dutch War (1672-78) and beyond.
How to cite this article:
Rickard, J. (19 November 2000), War of Devolution (1667-68), http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/wars_devolution.html