Q 01/05

Louis XIV fought the War of Devolution to claim Spanish lands in the name of which queen, his wife?

A) Marie Antoinette

B) Maria Theresa

C) Catherine de' Medici

D) Marie Leszczyńska

Answer · why

B) Maria Theresa

Maria Theresa had renounced her Spanish inheritance on marrying, but French lawyers called the promise void and said her rights had devolved to her hu...

Q 02/05

Louis XIV's lawyers said his queen's renunciation of her Spanish inheritance was void because Madrid never paid what?

A) A war indemnity

B) A widow's pension

C) Her dowry

D) A royal ransom

Answer · why

C) Her dowry

Her dowry of 500,000 gold écus was promised in the 1659 marriage treaty, but exhausted Spain never paid it, giving France its legal pretext.

Q 03/05

Which treaty town, the burial place of Charlemagne, gave its name to the 1668 peace ending the War of Devolution?

A) Aix-la-Chapelle

B) Campo Formio

C) Cateau-Cambrésis

D) Fontainebleau

Answer · why

A) Aix-la-Chapelle

Aix-la-Chapelle is the French name for Aachen, and the treaty signed there let Louis XIV keep Lille and other Flemish towns while handing a whole prov...

Q 04/05

The Spanish Netherlands that Louis XIV invaded in 1667 lay mostly in which present-day country?

A) Switzerland

B) Denmark

C) Germany

D) Belgium

Answer · why

D) Belgium

Belgium covers most of the old Spanish Netherlands, which also took in Luxembourg and a strip of what is now northern France.

Q 05/05

Which military engineer made his name at the 1667 siege of Lille and went on to build the citadel of Lille?

A) Vauban

B) Coehoorn

C) Carnot

D) Montalembert

Answer · why

A) Vauban

Vauban called the citadel he then built at Lille the queen of citadels, after the king chose his plan over a rival design by his own superior.