Bourbon claim to the Spanish throne monarchs of France and Spain, therefore starting the War of the Spanish Succession. In this article, the Bourbon claim to the Spanish Crown and its origins are explained in detail. What became parts of northern Spain and southern France had strong connections going back hundreds of years. Some dynasties that ruled in Spain had origins going back to the Frankish empire, for example, the rulers of the County of Barcelona were created by Charlemagne as counts when he conquered lands in the Iberian Peninsula north of the river Ebro, and were subservient to the Carolingian dynasty until its decline in
Jeanne de Bourbon, Duchess of Bourbon eldest son of Robert, Count of Clermont and Beatrix of Bourbon. Beatrix was the heiress of the Bourbon family and the matriarch of the new Bourbon line of the Capetian dynasty. Robert was the youngest son of Louis IX of France and Margaret of Provence. She married first John II, Duke of Bourbon in 1487. The groom was about sixty-one years old and the bride only twenty-two. John had survived two previous wives and his only son. He was in a need of an heir; however, they had only one son: John II died the same year as his second