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Spain History - House of Bourbon - 1700-1813)
Spain, finding it had no immediate successor and being weak with
financial problems attracted the enthusiastic attention of the
other European rulers. The English supported the claim of Austrian
Archduke Charles whilst Cardinal Portocarrero and the
French preferred their Bourbon rival in Prince Philip of Anjou.
King Carlos II had the last word by naming as his heir to the
Spanish throne the French Philip of Anjou who was duly crowned
as Felipe V (1700-1724 & 1724-1746).
As the grandson of King Louis XIV of France, Felipe V
took up his throne and it was soon noted that he was lazy and moody
and preferred hunting to all other duties. Paris was quick to increase
its influence in Spanish affairs by the king's marriage to Maria
Luisa of Saxony . Also, a key to the future was the ambitious
natural intriguer of the Princess of Ursins as lady-in-waiting
to the new Queen. Meanwhile, the English had formed a pact with
Holland and Austria to promote the claim of Archduke Charles,
and thus commenced the Spanish War of Succession (1701-1713). Ignoring
the Spanish the Archduke was named the future King of Spain in an
official ceremony in Vienna in 1703 and sailed for Lisbon with forces
to establish his claim. Regardless of the battlefield victories of the
English led by the Duke of Marlborough the French won the day.
An Anglo-Dutch fleet under Sir George Rooke failed to take
Cádiz in 1702 and then sailed on to take Gibraltar and a a Spanish
treasure fleet in Vigo Bay. A Spanish-French fleet engaged the enemy
off Málaga but was defeated. With the aid of the sympathetic Catalans
and Arogonese the Archduke Karl made Barcelona his base and
marched on Madrid proclaiming himself as King Carlos III of
Spain. This event caused their arch-enemy France to change sides and
join Spain as an ally. In 1704 an English fleet recaptured Gibraltar
whilst the Spanish were once again invading Portugal. In 1705 The
English led by Lord Peterborough recapture Barcelona in the
name of the Pretender Carlos. In 1706 the Portuguese combined
with English forces to take Madrid for a period of four months before
having to retreat back into Portugal. The next two years swung in
favour of Spain until the Austrians in 1709 defeated the Spanish at
Almenara and Saragossa and Pretender Carlos was expelled from
Madrid. Felipe V stood his ground during this difficult period
and the whole situation was resolved by the sudden death of the
brother of the Archduke Charles leaving him as heir to the more
important throne of the Emperor. In the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, the
English gained the possession of Gibraltar and the commitment hat the
Spanish and French thrones would never be united as a one State and
the Kingdom of Spain was granted unquestionably to the Bourbon
Felipe V. The Catalans were marked for particular punishment
for their choosing the wrong side in the war. The City of Barcelona
fell to the King's forces in 1714 and he immediately ordered a part of
the town destroyed to build the much hated La Ciudadela, a form
of fortress with an aggressive architectural design from which the
forces of the crown could keep an eye on the citizens. At the same time
he forbade the further use of the Catalan language in Spain.
Queen Maria Luisa died in 1714 and the Princess of Ursins
immediately sought a new bride for the somewhat rampant tastes of
King Felipe. At the same time she enlisted an Italian priest by
the name of Giulio Alberoni as an assistant in her plans.
Princess Elizabeth Farnese from Italy was chosen as the new Queen
an the wily Alberoni mainly outmanoeuvred Ursins by
becoming the Queen's personal advisor. Together, the Queen and the priest
spent the next 40 years plotting Italian thrones for her sons. Among the
plots was a failed scheme to place James III on the throne in
Scotland. An invasion fleet was prepared but storms at sea made it turn
back. Somewhere in the intrigue was a desire to create a real unification
of the different kingdoms of Spain. A flag was chosen, a national anthem
was composed, and most importantly a national regular army was formed. At
that time Spain became a leader in its unification efforts in comparison
to either England or France. Aragón and Valencia became subject to the
laws of Castile and had to adopt Castilian as an official language.
Military governors replaced Viceroys and taxes were placed into a central
control under the supervision of the crown. The power of the nobles was
slowly removed and a new administrative body of bureaucrats also loyal to
the crown took over the reins of Spain. The influx of French and Italian
knowledge and culture was a breath of fresh air to the country and the
Spanish were now encouraged to go abroad to acquire skills and experience.
There were created a number of Academies to foster and inspire the
intellectuals to expand their horizons. King Felipe was bent on
bringing Spain into the cultural movements to be found north of the
Pyrenees.
By 1727 Spain was once more at war with England and blockades Gibraltar
but it only lasted a year until the signing of Convention of Prado which
brings peace. A further Treaty of Seville in 1728 between Spain, England,
France and Netherlands brings as agreement not to go to war and grants
Don Carlos, third son of King Filipe V, to inherit the
thrones of Parma and Tuscany. Overseas in Paraguay the popular rebel
leader Antequera is killed. In 1734 the Spanish army defeats the
Austrians and retakes Sicily and Naples and the Spanish King Carlos
IV is recognized officially as their king. In an obvious political
move King Felipe marries his son in 1739 to the daughter of
King Louis XV of France. In 1743 war once again is engaged
between Spain and England relative to previous bickering over the
colonies in America and is nicknamed War of Jenkins Ear. This
name is still officially used in history and is based on a an incident
relating to an ear that was removed by a Spaniard from an Englishman by
the name of Jenkins. It is a story were a tide of over-emotional public
feeling was cleverly manipulated for international and political gain.
Felipe V was raised in the French court and found the very heavy
atmosphere of the El Escorial Palace was not to his liking and so he
created a smaller version of his beloved Versailles at La Granja near
Segovia. In Madrid when the Alcazar was burned to the ground he took the
opportunity to build an impressive Royal Palace. A further palace was
built to the south of the capital at Aranjuez and the court was moved
between the locations at his whim. In 1724, and possibly due to his
constant desire to return to France he decided to pass his throne over
to his son Luis I. The 16 year old new King enjoyed his new
responsibilities for only 6 months when he caught smallpox and died.
King Felipe accepted the crown once more and ruled to his death
in 1746. His wife went to considerable lengths to control his moods. A
great Neapolitan singer was engaged to sing at court and he pleased the
king so much that he had to sing the same four arias each night for the
following ten years!
Towards the middle of the century foreigners looking inward to Spain
could see a country that had made great strides in righting itself,
culturally, administratively and even military. Even so, the foreign
intellectuals and writers still pointed their fingers at Spain and
helped to continue its famed title as the Black Legend. They
accused the Spanish church of holding its people in ignorance to the
more enlightened northern European manner of thinking. However, this
accusation did not ruffle the majority of Spanish as the remained in
rapture with their religious devotion and the essentially Spanish
traditions into which they were encouraged to direct their feelings.
It is to be noted that almost a half a million people claimed a noble
family tree which was considered an acceptable and comfortable barrier
to hide behind. Minor gentry considered beggary to be more acceptable
than honest work, whilst some 250,000 Spanish were priests or involved
in religious orders. Only small steps were taken to the outside world.
Fernando (Ferdinand) VI as the eldest son inherited the crown
in 1746 and with his Portuguese wife Barbara of Bragança ruled
for 13 years. They were to prove strong and set about righting some of
the wrongs that then existed. They halted the dreaded auto de fe
and persuaded the Pope to place the Spanish Church mainly under royal
control. They replaced with Spanish the previous French court advisors
and introduced some years of tranquillity into social life.
Unfortunately for the loving couple their world was shattered by the
devastating earthquakes in 1755 which partially destroyed Lisbon,
damaging buildings throughout Spain and killing thousands of people.
Regardless, the economy of Spain started to improve with factories in
Catalonia expanding and the shipyards of the Basques remaining
constantly busy. By the end of the century the Catalan textile industry
was the second busiest in Europe after England. The coastal boom
commenced a distinct split between its developing society, either the
countryside or the industrial coast which was to later cause friction.
With no heir to the throne when King Fernando died in 1759 the
crown passed to his half-brother Carlos III. He arrived as one
of the few Spanish Kings who was already knowledgeable how to be a king
as until this moment he had been enjoying power as the King of Naples.
Not visually attractive he made up this failing by being an
enlightened despot. When King Carlos III came to the
throne the Seven Years War (1757-1763) between England and France had
previously enrolled the support of Spain and when the Portuguese
refused to close their ports to England in 1761 the Spanish marched into
Portugal. England retaliates by taking Cuba and sending in defending
forces into Portugal and the Treaty of Paris in 1763 brings temporary
peace. Following the examples set by both Portugal and France he found
sufficient grounds to ban in 1767 the Order of Jesuits from Spanish
soil. King Carlos III (1759-1788) opened the door of Spain to
new forms of European thinking which feed the intellectuals with much
needed liberalism of thought. He ordered the building of a web of new
roads improving the much needed communications. In 1768 a census of the
population showed that the residents of Spain had moved back up to
10,200,000 people. He instituted a law that required one in every five
men were required to serve eight years in the military. His attempts to
reform land laws were met with virulent resistance. Another area in
which he was not fortunate was in his foreign policy. The Seven Years
War between France and England had cost Spain several of its American
possessions. Friction developed between Spain and England over the
latter’s possessions of Gibraltar, Menorca and the Falkland Islands
(1770). Both Spain and France sided with America in their revolution
against the English. Their combined blockade of the English Channel
caused a lack of supplies reaching Lord Cornwallis who was
subsequently forced to surrender to the Americans. In 1779 the Spanish
besieged Gibraltar who managed to hold out for three years until the
Spanish retired accepting their failure. An important sea battle was
engaged between Spain and England in 1780 off Cape St Vincent and the
English fleet was victorious. In the Treaty of Versailles in 1783 they
regained some of their pride by regaining Menorca in return for them
recognizing the Independence of the United States. Spain was once
again a power to be reckoned with but their extensive land Empire in
the Americas was becoming subject to problems increased by the new
Independence of the American States.
In Peru a descendant of the Inca rulers by the name of Tupac
Amaru led a revolt against the Spanish with the resulting death of
60, 000 Indians. The Creole race (a mixture of Spanish and Indian
coupling), made many inroads into positions of power and wealth which
were initially tolerated by the indolent and rich viceroys. The Creoles
took every advantage and eventually their greed made them subject to
purges.
In 1788 King Carlos III died of a cold and his second son
Carlos IV occupied the throne with his sensuous Italian wife
Maria Luisa de Parma. King Carlos IV is recorded as
being dissolute but he is out shadowed by the reports on his wife’s
desires. The painter Francisco Goya (1746-1828), captures her
outright sensuality in his painting of the royal family and in his many
other he lucidly records a picture of society during his life. He does
not hesitate to reveal the world in which he moved from court levels
down to beggars and prostitutes in the street. King Carlos IV
cousin of the beheaded King Luis XVI declared war on
Revolutionary France and a popular wave of anti-French feeling swept
through Spain. The people began to see danger in any liberal or
progressive thinker, singling out especially the Freemasons movement -
the result was once again a split in Spanish thinking by ardently
backing with one side against the other.
Carlos IV appointed a 25 year old royal guard named Manuel
Godoy as his Chief Minister. This young and handsome advisor soon
to be a reputed bedfellow of the Queen, brought to the post enthusiastic
ambition but unfortunately this was not matched with the same level
of ability. He soon became resented by the courtiers who soon spread
rumours against him. In 1790 he lost support when he handed over
Vancouver Island to Britain and his handling of Florida and later
Louisiana in the USA, both did not improve his position. It was also
Godoy's policy to side with Napoleon Bonaparte in France
and the latter's success in 1799 gave confidence to Spanish nobility
of the possible Bourbon restoration in France itself. King Carlos
temporary reinstituted the Inquisition to weed out liberal thinkers in
positions of power and even Godoy was subject to investigation.
In 1804 Napoleon declared himself as an Emperor and the Spanish
once again found itself at war against England. Bonaparte then
flattered the Spanish throne with gifts and soon Spain found itself
involved in an in unwanted invasion of the neighbouring Portugal, the
long term ally of England.
The disastrous defeat of the combined Spanish and French fleet at the
Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 by Admiral Nelson was mainly due to
poor French leadership whilst the Spanish still to this day tend to
regard this battle as their personal victory. This attitude is due to
the courageous sacrifices made by their own sailors in the fighting.
This event also marked the definite end to Spain as a naval power. In
1807 the fighting in Portugal came to an end and in a private agreement
between France and Spain, Godoy was granted the land of the
Algarve in the south of Portugal as his own personal new found Kingdom.
With this pact in place the French armies invaded the Peninsular and
by March of 1808 there was an army of over 100,000 French soldiers
marching through Spain having first taken control of Madrid. Rumours
correctly placed Godoy as an accomplice with Napoleon
and the citizens of Madrid marched on the Palace at Aranjuez in a
carbon style copy of what had occurred previously at Versailles.
Godoy managed to escape by remaining hidden in a roll of carpet
for two days. King Carlos then wisely abdicated in favour of his
son Fernando VII who was soon to prove contemptible in the eyes of the
whole of Spain.
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