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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 Carlos III of Spain. This event caused
arch enemy France to change sides and join Spain as an ally. In 1704
an English fleet recaptured Gibraltar whilst the Spanish are once
again invading Portugal. In 1705 The English under 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. The next two years swing in favour of
Spain until the Austrians in 1709 defeated the Spanish at Almenara and
Saragossa and Carlos is 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 that the Spanish and
French thrones would never be united as one State and the Kingdom of Spain
was granted unquestionably to the Bourbon Felipe. 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 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 outmaneuvered 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 was a leader in its unification 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. 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 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 Carlos IV is recognized officially as their king. In an
obvious political move 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 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 heavy atmosphere of the El Escorial Palace
was not to his liking and so
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 moved
between the locations on 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. 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 tranquility 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 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 Carlos 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. 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
however 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 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 Carlos died of a cold and his second son Carlos IV occupied the
throne with his sensuous Italian wife Maria Luisa de Parma. 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
works 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. Carlos as the cousin of the beheaded
Louis 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
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 did not improve the situation. It was also Godoy's policy to side with Napoleon Bonaparte and
the latter's success in 1799 gave confidence to Spanish nobility of the
possible Bourbon restoration in France itself. 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 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 the minister Godoy was granted the land
of the Algarve in the south of Portugal as his 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.
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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