PHILIP V, king of SPAIN. — Born at Versailles to Louis, Dauphin of France, and Maria Anna of Bavaria on 19 Dec. 1683, died on 9 July 1746. He was invested by the king of France with the duchy of Anjou. In 1700 Charles II of Spain named him in his second testament heir to the throne, with the clause that Spain could not be united with other states. Upon Charles’s death, F. was proclaimed king and arrived in Madrid in Feb. 1701. When Louis XIV declared that he reserved for him the rights to the throne of France, a European coalition formed against France and Spain. In 1705 the English brought the Archduke Charles of Habsburg to Catalonia, who succeeded in entering Madrid and was proclaimed king there under the name Charles III, while F. took refuge in Valladolid. But sustained by the loyal attachment of the masses of Castile, F. retook the capital on 3 Aug. 1706. A second time he had to abandon it in 1710, but soon returned. When his adversary ascended the imperial throne, the powers recognized F. under the pact that he renounce, for himself and his successors, the throne of France.
In 1713 F. promulgated a “pragmatic” establishing succession according to Salic law. After his first wife, Maria Luisa of Savoy (daughter of Victor Amadeus II), died in 1714, he married Elizabeth Farnese. This led to ALBERONE (v.). In 1721 Spain allied with France and England, and the marriages of Maria Anna Victoria to Louis XV and of the Infante Louis to Louise Elizabeth of Orleans, daughter of the Regent, were arranged (only the second marriage took place). On 1 Jan. 1724 F. abdicated in favor of his son Louis, but since the latter died in August, he resumed power. F. distinguished himself by the mildness of his disposition, but his weak character meant that he was always dominated by others. In his final years he suffered from a severe nervous illness, so that the direction of affairs was held by the queen.