Numerous other factions entered the fray claiming descent from one or both of the main parties such as the Água Rosada of Kibangu and the da Silva of Soyo.
By the end of the war, Kongo's vaunted capital had been destroyed and many Bakongo were sold into the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade.
[1]: 63 King Garcia II had come to power after the death of his brother, Álvaro VI, whom he had assisted in seizing the throne of Kongo from the House of Kimpanzu.
[2] Rival claimants for the throne of Kongo, by then the most powerful state in Central Africa, united behind the Kimpanzu.
[5] King Garcia II's gambit of assisting the Dutch in their short war with Portugal over the port of Luanda had turned out badly.
[7] Despite the rising tension between the states, the spark that would set them to war again would be a dispute over the tiny border town of Mbwila.
[8]: 103 King António I and many of the Kinlaza nobility were killed in the battle; the royal crown and sceptre were sent to Portugal as trophies.
[9]: 60 Robbed of their king, heir and symbols of leadership, the kingdom quickly descended into civil war as Kinlaza and Kimpanzu partisans vied for the throne.
In an unprecedented move, Soyo marched on the capital and assisted the people in Álvaro VII's overthrow and murder.
With the promise of mineral rights and opportunity to punish Soyo for dealings with the "heathen" (non-Catholic) Dutch, Angola sent an army under the command of João Soares de Almeida.
[11]: 131 After an initial victory against Soyo in which its ruler Count Estêvão da Silva was killed, the Angolan army was crushed at the Battle of Kitombo by a Soyo force led by Prince Pedro da Silva, brother of the dead count.
King Rafael remained on the throne as Soyo turned its focus toward protecting its own border and getting papal recognition.
[1]: 39 São Salvador became the grazing place of wild animals, where rival claimants would crown themselves then retreat before drawing the ire of opposition partisans.
Two brothers from the Água Rosada kanda, the product of a Kimpanzu father and Kinlaza mother, overthrew Manuel in 1688.
[1]: 25 In the midst of the Kongo Civil War (and perhaps because of it as well) a religious movement developed spearhead by a young noblewoman[1]: 19 from the Mbidizi valley.
[1]: 11 Born Beatriz Kimpa Vita,[1]: 18 the young woman's family lived in the sphere of influence of the Kinlaza.
She later traveled to each of the mountain fortresses of the Kinlaza (Kibangu[1]: 110 and Bula[1]: 135 ) She proclaimed her mission was to persuade the different claimants to resettle São Salvador and make an end to the bloodshed.
[1]: 139 King Pedro IV, at the urging of Capuchin missionaries, had Dona Beatriz arrested for heresy and burned at the stake.
[1]: 199 The defeated Antonians fled to Bula and sought the help of João II, who had still refused to recognize any king of Kongo other than himself.
On Saint Francis Day, October 4, the armies of João II and Pedro IV clashed within the Mbula territory.
King Pedro IV was so elated that he proclaimed St. Francis his savior and renamed his base São Francisco de Kibangu.
[1]: 201 King Pedro died in 1718 leaving an at least partially reunified kingdom with its capital back at São Salvador.