In fact, modern researchers widely state that generations of inbreeding among the Spanish Habsburgs caused their downfall. Due to incest, the familys genetic line progressively deteriorated … See more

This condition is marked by a protrusion of the lower jaw to the point that its significantly larger than th… See more

Their rule in Spain may have officially begun in 1516, but the Habsburgs, originally of German and Austrian extraction, had been controlling various regions of Europe since th… See more

In addition to being socially and culturally taboo, incestuous marriages are harmful in that they lead to higher rat… See more

One of the most famous Habsburgs (not of the Spanish Habsburgs, however) did not entirely manage to dodge the family trait either: Marie Antoinette of … See more

Charles II, Habsburg jaw and all, was not able to produce any children of his own; researchers speculate that he may also have been infertile. His body finally gave out and he died in 1700 wh… See more

When the first Spanish Habsburg ruler, Charles V, arrived in Spain in 1516, he couldnt fully close his mout… See more

However, just as these Spanish Habsburgs themselves had received the crown through marriage, they knew that it easily pass out of their hands in the same way. In their determination … See more

Marriage between close family members also increases the chance that harmful recessive genes which wo… See more

Charles IIs father, Philip IV, had married his own sisters daughter, a dangerously close relationship that made him both Charless father and great-uncle. Due to the centuries of consangui… See more

They thought keeping power within the family would keep them strong, but it ultimately made them weak. The Habsburgs lost the throne in Spain thanks to the very process that the… See more