renunciations tainted the claims of Emperor Leopold I's son Charles, Archduke of Austria, who was a grandson of Philip III's
youngest daughter Maria Anna. The English and Dutch feared that a French or Austrian-born Spanish king would threaten the
balance of power and thus preferred the Bavarian Prince Joseph Ferdinand, a grandson of Leopold I through his first wife
Margaret Theresa of Spain (the younger daughter of Philip IV).
In an attempt to avoid war, Louis signed the Treaty of the Hague with William III of England in 1698. This agreement divided
Spain's Italian territories between Louis's son le Grand Dauphin and Archduke Charles, with the rest of the empire awarded to
Joseph Ferdinand. William III consented to permitting the Dauphin's new territories to become part of France when the latter
Peace of Ryswick
War of the Spanish Succession
Causes and build-up to the war