(1667–68) Conflict between France and Spain over possession of the Spanish Netherlands .
Louis XIV began the war on the pretext that the custom of devolution, whereby daughters of a first marriage were preferred to sons of subsequent marriages regarding property inheritance, should apply to sovereign territories also. That would mean that his wife, Marie-Thérèse (1638–1683), should succeed her father, Philip IV , in the Spanish Netherlands. The French army advanced into Flanders in May 1667 and easily secured its objectives. A peace was reached at Aix-la-Chapelle, whereby France gave up Franche-Comté but retained conquered towns in Flanders.