Wow, check out his Wiki. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_II_of_Spain
He might be possibly be the worse case of Hapsburg jaw encountered (who woulda thunk that?) His jaw prevented chewing of food, his tongue was so large he was rarely understood when speaking, and he often drooled. Never put through school because they thought he was so frail... and he ended up becoming KING. Wow, needless to say Spain started to decline.
Inbreeding was quite common in royal courts at those times throughout europe. It should have produced a lot more deficiencies in royal families, and yet, the most visible results were for the Habsbourg in Spain.
Wow. I knew about first cousins marrying, but had no idea that marrying your niece was acceptable. I'm surprised they survived that level of inbreeding at all as far as Charles II.
Fascinating, and scary. Great find.
ReplyDeletePop by endomental.com to receive the coveted "best blog award."
Wow, check out his Wiki. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_II_of_Spain
ReplyDeleteHe might be possibly be the worse case of Hapsburg jaw encountered (who woulda thunk that?) His jaw prevented chewing of food, his tongue was so large he was rarely understood when speaking, and he often drooled. Never put through school because they thought he was so frail... and he ended up becoming KING. Wow, needless to say Spain started to decline.
Inbreeding was quite common in royal courts at those times throughout europe. It should have produced a lot more deficiencies in royal families, and yet, the most visible results were for the Habsbourg in Spain.
ReplyDeleteWow. I knew about first cousins marrying, but marrying nieces? I'm surprised anyone managed to survive that level of inbreeding at all.
ReplyDeleteEw.
Wow. I knew about first cousins marrying, but had no idea that marrying your niece was acceptable. I'm surprised they survived that level of inbreeding at all as far as Charles II.
ReplyDeleteEw.
The joke out here is that "Their family trees looks just like a telephone pole."
ReplyDeleteThis family? Very close.