Reign of Ferdinand VII (1814-1833) & Regency of María Cristina
Reign of Ferdinand VII (1814-1833)
The Absolute Government (1814-1820)
March 1814: Ferdinand VII returned to Spain and was greeted with great enthusiasm. Arriving in Valencia, a group of MPs released the absolutist Manifesto of the Persas, requesting the restoration of absolute monarchy.
May 4, 1814: Ferdinand VII decreed the annulment of the 1812 Constitution.
Years of deep economic crisis and war had impoverished the country and destroyed crops.
1816: Independence movements began to generalize in America, exacerbating the commercial crisis.
Liberal groups (formed by army sectors, intellectuals, and the bourgeoisie) staged repeated pronunciamientos that failed due to lack of organization.
The Liberal Triennium (1820-1823)
January 1, 1820: Colonel Riego’s pronunciamiento in Andalusia in favor of the Constitution (supported by the commercial bourgeoisie and middle classes of Cadiz) sparked uprisings in other cities. The king was forced to restore the 1812 Constitution.
Governments enacted laws adopted by the Cortes of Cadiz and measures to improve the economic situation (removing internal customs, granting industrial freedom, and forcing the nobility and church to pay taxes).
1822: Absolutist sectors organized into Realist groups (with the support of the king, the church, and many farmers disgruntled by the new taxes).
August 1822: The Headquarters of Urgell formed a regency on behalf of King Ferdinand VII.
October 1822: Congress of Verona: Absolutist powers (Prussia, Russia, Austria, and France) instructed France to restore absolutism in Spain.
April 1823: The French Army (under the command of the Duke d’Angoulême) crossed the border with Realist support.
April 30, 1823: The French Army occupied Cadiz and released the king.
The Ominous Decade (1823-1833)
All legislation of the Liberal Triennium was annulled, and Liberals faced strong repression. The Church recovered its property.
The economic situation forced the king to seek support from moderates and apply some measures favorable to the bourgeoisie (e.g., protectionist tariffs for Catalan manufactures). This led to dissatisfaction among ultra-royalist sectors (called apostolic) led by Carlos María Isidro, brother of Ferdinand VII.
November 1826: Manifesto of the Federation of Pure Realists disqualified Ferdinand VII and proposed his brother Carlos as king.
1827: Uprising of Malcontents in Catalonia.
1829: Ferdinand VII married his niece María Cristina of Naples. The king had no children, and his successor was his brother Carlos.
March 1830: Pragmatic Sanction annulled the Salic Law.
October 1830: Isabel (daughter and heir of Ferdinand VII) was born.
September 1832: María Cristina favored a more open regime to enlist Liberal support and granted amnesty to many exiles.
September 1833: Ferdinand VII died.
Regency of María Cristina (1833-1840)
1833-1837: Profound political, social, and economic transformations took place in Spain.
1837-1839: First Carlist War.
January 1834: María Cristina appointed the moderate liberal de la Rosa as prime minister.
April 1834: Royal Statute: A very conservative constitutional text.
Summer 1835: Radical liberal and popular revolts in several cities.
Protests in Barcelona (the bullangues) resulted in assaulted convents.
August 10, 1835: Barcelona’s bourgeoisie created governing boards.
September 1835: The governor appointed the progressive liberal Mendizabal as head of government.
July 1836: Progressive pronouncements due to the return of moderate government.
August 12, 1836: Insurrection demanding Mendizabal’s return and the restoration of the 1812 Constitution.
June 18, 1837: New Constitution: A compromise between moderate and progressive positions.
1837: Mendizabal’s disentailment.