In 1667, a French king claimed his wife's inheritance by invading the Netherlands
King Louis XIV leveraged an obscure inheritance custom to launch a territorial invasion in 1667, forever altering the borders of modern-day France and Belgium.
In May 1667, the French Royal Army crossed into the Spanish Netherlands to begin the War of Devolution. King Louis XIV claimed these lands belonged to his wife, Marie-Therese, based on a local law stating that property should 'devolve' to children of a first marriage before those of a second.
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