Case file · High strangeness
The exorcism of Charles II 'the Bewitched'
In 1698–99 the court of Charles II of Spain, sickly and without an heir, had the king exorcised after a 'possessed' nun in Asturias declared he had been bewitched with a potion.
1698 CE · 40.42, -3.71 · status: official
The sceptical view
Charles's illnesses are now attributed to genetic disorders from generations of Habsburg inbreeding.
The researched reading
A king made ill by his family tree, “bewitched” in a culture that blamed sorcery, at a court that used the idea for politics.
| Explanation | Weight | Why |
|---|---|---|
| A known natural phenomenon | 40% | Charles had an inbreeding coefficient of about 0.25, as high as a child of siblings. Alvarez et al. (2009) suggest that combined pituitary hormone deficiency and distal renal tubular acidosis explain his frailty and infertility. |
| Undetermined | 25% | The share a generic explanation had beyond what has been shown for this case: it fits many cases like this one, but has not been demonstrated for this one. |
| A cultural story | 18% | Bewitchment was an accepted explanation for unexplained illness in the late 17th century, and the court turned to it when doctors failed. |
| A hoax or fabrication | 10% | The succession crisis made the exorcism political. Pronouncements by “possessed” nuns, relayed by the king’s confessor, were used by court factions, and the Inquisition later prosecuted those involved. |
| Perception, memory or mind | 5% | The king’s anxiety and the rituals may have worsened his condition but did not cause it. |
| Something in the surroundings | 1% | Not relevant. |
| Genuinely anomalous | 1% | His conditions are well explained by genetics. |
Official position: The Inquisition investigated the exorcism affair; modern historians and geneticists attribute Charles’s illnesses to inbreeding.