History of Spain (1700–1808)
Reino de España | |||||||||||||||
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| 1700–1808 | |||||||||||||||
| Motto: Ferdinand VII | |||||||||||||||
| Legislature | Spanish War of Succession | 1700–1715 | |||||||||||||
| 1740–1748 | |||||||||||||||
| 1756–1763 | |||||||||||||||
| 1807–1814 | |||||||||||||||
| 24 September 1808 | |||||||||||||||
| Currency | Spanish real | ||||||||||||||
| ISO 3166 code | ES | ||||||||||||||
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| History of Spain |
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The Kingdom of Spain (Spanish: Reino de España) entered a new era with the death of Charles II, the last Spanish Habsburg monarch, who died childless in 1700. The War of the Spanish Succession was fought between proponents of a Bourbon prince, Philip of Anjou, and the Austrian Habsburg claimant, Archduke Charles. After the wars were ended with the Peace of Utrecht, Philip V's rule began in 1715, although he had to renounce his place in the succession of the French throne.
Spain entered a period of reform and renewal, as well as continued decline. Ideas of the
The 18th century in Spanish
Philip V, first Spanish Bourbon monarch (1700–1724, 1724–1746) and Louis I (1724–1724)
War of the Spanish Succession
The last few years of the rule of the mentally challenged and childless Spanish Habsburg Charles II, were dominated by the politics of who would succeed the unfortunate monarch, the last Spanish king of the Hapsburg dynasty. Spain was at the center of this political crisis, but it was the "object not the arbiter."[1] Economic troubles, the decay of the Spanish bureaucracy, a series of defeats in wars against France, and the erosion of imperial institutions in the seventeenth century had left Charles the king of a declining empire, and his physical and mental weakness provided him with little ability to reverse the course of his country. The vastness and wealth of the ultramarine Spanish Empire in the New World and the Philippines, along with her naval resources, had made Spain a vital part of European power politics. If the throne of Spain was to go to a relative of the king of France, or if the two countries were to be united, the balance of power in Europe would shift in France's favor. The wealth of the Spanish overseas empire would flow to France. If it remained in the hands of another member of the anti-French, Austrian Hapsburg dynasty, the status quo would remain. European politics at the end of the 16th century became dominated by establishing an orderly succession in Spain that would not alter the balance between Europe's great powers.
Bourbon France and Hapsburg Austria and its allies went to war to determine the successor to Charles. The prize was the wealth of the Spanish Empire. The
Changes in government under Philip
Philip V proved an effective administrator, centralizing the Spanish authority by eliminating regional cortes (parliaments) and beginning a process of making uniform the laws among the various regions of Spain's empire by eliminating special privileges (fueros). The Nueva Planta decrees (1716) dismantled the composite system of rule in Spain, and replaced it with rule from Madrid and unitary Castilian values. If the Austrian Hapsburgs had won the War of the Spanish Succession, Habsburg pluralism promised to be continued, leading Aragon to support the losing Habsburg cause. The Nueva Planta decrees eliminated that regional autonomy. "The most enduring achievement of the reign of Philip V was to establish, for the first time since the Romans, a single, united polity."[3]
Also eliminated with the Bourbon dynasty was the Habsburg system of conciliar government, replacing councils with four secretariats, later evolving into ministries: State & Foreign Affairs, Charity & Justice; Army & Navy, and The Indies, i.e., the overseas portions of the Spanish Empire. The four ministers formed a "cabinet council" and ministers were directly responsible to the crown. In general, aristocratic men no longer dominated government positions, but rather men of talent who were then elevated to high position and rewarded with noble titles. Some 200 new titles were created by Philip alone.
Philip's selection of capable French and Italian ministers to key positions in the government reined in independent, isolated, and corrupt ministries that had flourished in the later period of Habsburg rule. Philip aimed at expanding economic activity and moved toward economic freedom, especially regarding Spain's trade in its overseas empire, in theory a Spanish monopoly. Expanding Spanish manufactures and agricultural exports was envisioned, so that trade did not benefit foreign powers who had horned in on the Spanish American trade. The House of Trade long operating in Seville, was moved to Cádiz in 1717, while the monopoly on trade with the Spanish Empire was also opened to all the ports of peninsular Spain. Philip permitted the foundation of the Basque Caracas Company in 1728, on the model of Northern European trading companies, to trade with Venezuela, a major producer of chocolate.[6] The free trade zone (comercio libre) within the Spanish sphere expanded further with later Spanish Bourbons.
Military conflicts
Philip was often dominated in his policies by his second wife,
The Spanish again attempted to regain some of their lost territory in the Anglo-Spanish War (1727–1729). An alliance was concluded in 1725 with the Austrians, who agreed to help the Spanish in retaking key naval bases in the Mediterranean - Menorca and Gibraltar – from the British.
In response, an alliance was forged by the British Secretary of State, Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount Townshend, with France and the Dutch Republic; when Philip did finally lay siege to Gibraltar, Austria declined to intervene against the powerful alliance, and Spain was left alone once again. French armies invaded the Basque country and Britain and Netherlands elected to capture Spain's New World empire and disrupt precious metal shipments hoping to prevent Philip from buying the Austrians into intervention; the allies suffered greater losses in men than the Spanish but the plan succeeded and Philip was forced to sue for peace in 1729. Elizabeth Farnese did get one of her wishes, though; securing the succession rights in the Duchy of Parma and Piacenza and Grand Duchy of Tuscany.[7]
After 1729, Philip was more reserved in his use of Spanish power and sought the close support of allies, in particular France: a more cautious strategy that yielded positive results. Philip sought a friendly axis with his relatives in France in the War of the Polish Succession, where he succeeded in regaining the kingdoms of Naples and Sicily for his son, the future Charles III of Spain. The Pacte de Famille with Louis XV of France was signed in 1733, bringing the two states closer together after the embarrassments of the Quadruple Alliance. Friction with Britain prompted by the War of Jenkins' Ear (1739–1741) pushed Philip into a closer alliance with France in the years leading to the War of the Austrian Succession, in which Philip obtained the Duchy of Parma and Duchy of Guastalla from Austria for his son Philip. This restored Spanish power in Italy to much of its pre-1700 extent and added new territories, albeit to a more indirect degree.
First Minister Ensenada
Late in his reign, Philip elected to place the reformation of his government in the hands of his ministers. The youthful and ambitious
Ferdinand VI (1746–1759)
The end of the
Ferdinand's rule reaped good fortune and the rewards of Philip V's reforms. He was a charitable ruler, relieving drought-stricken Andalusia from all taxes in 1755 and devoting large sums of money to the reconstruction of that part of the country. As king, he deferred many of his judgments to his leading ministers.
Ensenada continued to be the leading member of court in the early part of Ferdinand's reign. After the successful alliance with France in the War of the Austrian Succession, he advised strengthening that bond as a means of protecting Spain's vulnerable security and checking British interests in her empire. He was opposed by an
The agreement with Portugal, however, was to have important political consequences for Spain. The agreement traded seven
A scandal at court, resulting from a conspiracy between Carvajal and the British ambassador, led to the embarrassment of Ensenada and his disrepute at court. When Carvajal died in 1754, Ferdinand and his wife dismissed Ensenada, fearing that the Marquis's French sympathies would lead to an alliance with Louis XV of France and war, without Carvajal's British sympathies to counterbalance him. An Irishman, Ricardo Wall, was appointed to replace Ensenada as chief minister. Wall, a staunch defender of Spain's neutral policy, successfully kept the country out of war for the remainder of Ferdinand's reign, in spite of the outbreak of the Seven Years' War.
Although his wife, Barbara, had always feared that Ferdinand would die before her and leave her destitute – she had amassed huge personal wealth as a safeguard against this – she was the one who would precede him, dying in 1758. Deeply distraught by her death, Ferdinand became apathetic to his duties as king, and indeed, suicidal. He died a year later, in 1759.
Charles III, Enlightened despotism and reform (1759–1788)
Italian experience, ascension to the Spanish throne
Ferdinand's successor was
He had been introduced to reform by his mentor in Sicily,
Seven Years' War
Although the Seven Years' War had broken out in 1756, Spain had managed to remain strictly neutral under the ministry of Ricardo Wall, who continued to lead Spain's government in the early years of Charles III. Charles, however, bore a grudge against the English and as the war became increasingly desperate for France, he went against his chief minister's wishes and intervened on France's behalf in 1762. Spain fared poorly in the war, and the British captured Havana and Manila within a year. Spanish Florida was ceded to the British and Spain recognized British control over Menorca and Gibraltar in 1763, although the vast territory of Louisiana was given to Spain to compensate her for her losses. After the Treaty of Paris (1763), however, Spain could focus on internal development.
Reforms
By far the largest landholder in Spain, the
The
Land reform and agricultural reform alienated both clergymen and landed elites in Spain. Charles chose to ally with the merchantmen of his country and a growing middle class that came with a new prosperity during his rule. An advocate of free trade, Charles reduced the tariff barriers that had been the core of Spanish trade policy for centuries. The Marquis of Esquilache successfully liberalized the grain trade in 1765, but riots broke out in 1766 in due to the rise in grain prices.
Although he believed in centralized government and continued the reforms of his predecessors to reduce the autonomy of the regional parliaments that could potentially challenge his power, Charles approved of establishing prototype chambers of commerce, the Economic Societies of the Friends of the Country) to encourage local economic development and initiative. The national infrastructure was improved to foster the development of Spanish manufacturing, and a unified monetary system was implemented.
The reforms were not without costs, however, and in 1766, in the context of a worldwide grain shortage and the difficulties of the recently liberalized grain trade, riots broke out in Madrid and other cities in Spain against rising grain prices. The "Motin de Esquilache" drove the king from his capital and embarrassed the king's chief minister the Count of Aranda. Aranda gained prominence during the crisis and led the government in the king's absence. He was the only titled aristocrat in Charles's administration; the king generally preferred men of lower social origin who were university graduates from outside Castile. Charles granted noble titles to able men in his administration, who became part of a loyal and progressive bureaucracy.[13] Charles removed Esquilache from power in Madrid, naming him Ambassador to Venice.
Aranda, as the leader of the
The new count was named chief minister in 1777 and undertook the material reform of the Spanish bureaucracy. His chief bureaucratic successes were the creation of a true cabinet system of government in 1778 and the creation of Spain's first national bank, the National Bank of San Carlos, in 1782.[14][15] Recognizing the damage done to Spain's education system after the expulsion of the Jesuits, Floridablanca undertook drastic reform to hire new teachers and modernize Spain's education system. Floridablanca's most enduring accomplishment was the opening of free trade with Spain's empire in the New World to foreigners.
Although Floridablanca – like Carvajal before him – admired British governance and believed that a cordial relationship with George III of Great Britain was the best policy for Spain, the American Revolutionary War was too great an opportunity for Charles III to pass up, and Spain went to war against Britain alongside France and the Dutch Republic in 1779, after providing monetary assistance to the rebels. Bernardo de Gálvez, the governor of Spanish Louisiana, led the campaign to retake the forts lost to the British since 1762; Pensacola, Florida was retaken in 1782, and The Bahamas were seized later that year. The Treaty of Paris (1783) restored much of what Spain had lost in the Seven Years' War, including Florida.
Assessments of Charles's rule
Charles is considered "the most successful monarch of Spain after Ferdinand and Isabel" in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. "He deserves high a rank among the enlightened despots of the eighteenth century, for in many ways he accomplished more than such famous rulers as
Charles IV, decline and fall (1788–1808)
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King Charles III died on 14 December 1788 and was succeeded by his son,
Charles III's eldest son Infante Philip, Duke of Calabria was both epileptic and mentally disabled and was passed over for the throne in favor of his second son, Charles. Charles IV was seen by many of his time as being as uninterested in politics just as Ferdinand VI had been. After growing up in Naples, Charles arrived in Spain, with his chief interest being hunting. For all of his rule, his policies were dominated by the will of his wife, Maria Luisa of Parma.[19] Charles retained many of the ministers who served his father, but Charles and Maria Luisa fueled the rise of Manuel Godoy, a humble military officer who became the monarch's favorite, becoming chief minister in 1792.
The chief minister at the time of Charles IV's accession,
The spirit of reform that had made the reign of Charles III an era of renewed prosperity for Spain was extinguished in the reign of Charles IV. His queen and her lover were uninterested in the improvement of the Spanish bureaucracy and regarded Floridablanca as an exponent of the very sort of liberalism that was tearing France apart. The Aragonese faction led by Aranda, allied to many of the causes that had opposed Charles III's reforms, managed to undo much of the changes brought about in Charles III's tenure.
After the
Godoy, having abandoned his Austrian and British allies, faced a decision: whether to continue to fight the Revolutionary France that had already defeated Spain once before, or to join the French side and hope for better times. The Spanish, after initially opposing the French, signed the Treaty of San Ildefonso in 1796, allying Spain to France, in exchange for the French permitting Charles IV's cousin Ferdinand to continue ruling Parma. In response, the British blockaded Spain in 1797 and cut off her colonial empire from the mother country. By the end of 1798, the Spanish fleet had been defeated by the British, and Menorca and Trinidad were occupied. In 1800, the Spanish returned Louisiana to France.
The Portuguese, who opposed the French, continued to trade with the British in spite of a series of French demands that they close their ports to British ships. In 1801, the Spanish delivered an ultimatum on behalf of France, and in the following War of the Oranges, occupied the town of Olivenza (Olivença) before the Portuguese agreed to the Spanish and French demands. The town – which is disputed to the present day – continues to be administered by Spain, though Portugal contends that the Congress of Vienna restored it to Portugal.
The
After Trafalgar, Godoy withdrew from the
Ferdinand VII and the Napoleonic upheaval (1808–1814)
In 1808, Spain and France agreed to the partition of Portugal, which had renewed its support of the British after Trafalgar. The French and Spanish quickly occupied the country. Prince Ferdinand traveled to France, and rumors spread that he was asking for Napoleon to oust Godoy from power; the Spanish King sided with his favorite. Riots broke out in various parts of Spain, and in the
See also
- Social class in 18th-century Spain
- Spain in the 17th century
- History of Spain (1808–1874)
- Contemporary history of Spain
Notes
References
- ^ John Lynch, Bourbon Spain, 1700–1808. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers 1989, p. 22.
- ^ Payne, Stanley G. A History of Spain and Portugal. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press 1973, vol. 2, pp. 351-52.
- ^ Payne, A History of Spain and Portugal, p. 355.
- ^ Payne, A History of Spain and Portugal, p. 356.
- ^ Payne, A History of Spain and Portugal, pp. 356-357.
- ^ Herr, "Flow and Ebb" p. 184.
- Simms, Brendan. Three Victories and a Defeat: The Rise and Fall of the First British Empire. Penguin Books, 2008. p.211
- ^ Brading, D.A. The First America: The Spanish Monarchy, Creole Patriots, and the Liberal State, 1492-1867. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1991, pp.470-72.
- ^ Herr, Spain, p. 51
- ^ Stein, Stanley J. and Stein, Barbara H., Apogee of Empire: Spain and New Spain in the Age of Charles III, 1759-1789. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press 2003, p. 10.
- ^ Herr, Spain, p. 51
- ^ Herr, Spain, p. 51
- ^ Herr, Spain, p. 59.
- ^ Carlos Marichal, "Banco de San Carlos (Spain)" in Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1996, vol. 1, p. 278.
- ^ Earl Hamilton, "Plans for a National Bank in Spain, 1701–1783" in Journal of Political Economy, 58, no. 3 (1949): 315–36.
- ^ Richard Herr, Spain, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall Inc., 1971, p. 51.
- ^ Stanley G. Payne, History of Spain and Portugal (1973) 2:371
- ^ Lynch, John. Bourbon Spain, 1700-1808. Blackwell 1989, p. 2.
- ^ Payne, History of Spain and Portugal (1973) 2:415–21
Further reading
In English
- Elliott, John H. Empires of the Atlantic World: Britain and Spain in America 1492–1830 (2007)
- Herr, Richard. The Eighteenth-Century Revolution in Spain. Princeton: Princeton University Press 1958.
- Kamen, Henry (2001). Philip V of Spain : the king who reigned twice. New Haven : Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-08718-7
- Lynch, John. Bourbon Spain 1700–1808 (1989)
- Noel, C.C. "Opposition to Enlightened Reform in Spain: Campomanes and the Clergy, 1765–1775." Societas 3, 1 (1973) pp. 21–43.
- Paquette, Gabriel B. Enlightenment, Governance, and Reform in Spain and Its Empire, 1759–1808 (2007)
- Walker, Geoffrey J. Spanish Politics and Imperial Trade, 1700–1789. Bloomington : Indiana University Press, c1979.
In Spanish
- Anes Alvares, Gonzalo. Economía e Ilustación en la España del siglo XVIII. Barcelona 1969.
- Egido Martínez, Teofanes (2001). Carlos IV. Madrid : Arlanza Ediciones. ISBN 84-95503-22-0
- Fernandez, Roberto (Fernandez Diaz) (2001). Carlos III. Madrid : Arlanza Ediciones. ISBN 84-95503-21-2
- Guimera, Agustín (1996). El reformismo borbonico : una visión interdisciplinar. Madrid : Alianza : Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas. ISBN 84-206-2863-8
- Rodríguez Díaz, Laura. Reforma e Ilustración en la España del siglo XVIII. Pedro Rodríguez de Campomanes. Madrid, 1975.
- Santos, José (2002). Martín Sarmiento : Ilustración, educación y utopía en la España del siglo XVIII. La Coruña: Fundación Barrié de la Maza. ISBN 84-9752-009-2
- Sellés, Manuel, José Luis Peset, and Antonio Lafuente, eds. Carlos III y la ciencia de la ilustración. Madrid: Alianza Editorial 1988.
- Ubieto Arteta, Antonio (1997). Historia ilustrada de Espana, v. 5: El Barroco espanol y el reformismo borbonico. Madrid : Debate ; Valencia : Circulo de Lectores. ISBN 84-226-6342-2
- Ubieto Arteta, Antonio (1997). Historia ilustrada de Espana, v. 6: Guerra, revolucion y Restauracion. 1808–1833. Madrid : Debate ; Valencia : Circulo de Lectores. ISBN 84-226-6343-0
In Catalan
- Navarro i Soriano, Ferran (2019). Harca, harca, harca! Músiques per a la recreació històrica de la Guerra de Successió (1794-1715). Editorial DENES. ISBN 978-84-16473-45-8.