Academic Inbreeding in Spanish Universities: Perverse Effects in a Global Context

Abstract

Inbreeding, in the real biological sense, is not strange in Spanish history. The Hispanic Empire, one of the biggest in history, was run by the Spanish branch of the Habsburgs. This dynasty (1516–1700) frequently saw the marriage of close relatives in such a way that consanguineous unions were prevalent. In the historical literature, it has been suggested that inbreeding was a major cause of the extinction of the dynasty, when King Charles II “the Bewitched,” physically and mentally disabled, died in 1700 without begetting any children from his two marriages. It is likely that the occurrence in Charles II of genetic disorders could explain most of the complex clinical profile of this king, including his infertility, which ultimately led to the extinction of the dynasty (Alvarez, Ceballos, and Quinteiro 2009), provoked the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714), which involved most European countries and eventually triggered the end of the Hispanic Empire.