What Was the War of Devolution?

DEVOLUTION, WAR OF (1667–1668). The Franco-Spanish Treaty of the Pyrenees (1659) brought France modest territorial gains. The peace was sealed by a marriage in 1660 between the young Louis XIV (ruled 1643–1715) and the daughter of Philip IV, Marie-Thérèse (1638–1683). If both powers regarded the 1659 settlement as a welcome escape from twenty-five years of indecisive conflict, by the mid 1660s perceptions had hardened that France was the dominant military and political force in Europe, while the Spanish monarchy was locked into a spiral of instability, weakness, and diminishing resources.