Spanish History · Chronicle VI of X

Bourbon Reforms & Decline of Empire

España Borbónica

A new dynasty reforms Spain, from the War of Succession to the uprising of 1808.

Span: 1700 – 1808
Entries: 15
Next: Crisis, Liberalism & Lost Colonies

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Entry 1 of 15

1701
War of the Spanish SuccessionPolitical
Philip V crowned at Madrid
Philip of Anjou, grandson of Louis XIV, enters Madrid in April as Philip V of Spain. By the end of the year England, the Dutch Republic, Austria, and a coalition of German princes have allied against him, fearing the union of the French and Spanish crowns under one Bourbon family.
Meanwhile, elsewhere
Meanwhile, elsewhere · 3
1713
Peace of UtrechtPolitical
Peace at Utrecht — and Gibraltar lost
By the Peace of Utrecht, Philip V keeps Spain and the Indies but renounces all claim to the French throne. The Spanish Netherlands, Milan, Naples, Sardinia, and Sicily pass to Austria and Savoy; Gibraltar and Menorca pass to Great Britain.
Meanwhile, elsewhere · 3
1716
Nueva PlantaPolitical
The Decretos de Nueva Planta
By a final decree of 16 January, the laws, courts, and Cortes of the Crown of Aragon — Catalonia, Valencia, Aragon, and Mallorca — are abolished and replaced with the Castilian model. For the first time Spain becomes a single legal and administrative state.
Meanwhile, elsewhere · 3
1739
Imperial warsMilitary
The War of Jenkins's Ear
After two decades of friction over British smuggling in the Caribbean — and the dramatic display in Parliament of a sea-captain's ear, reportedly cut off by a Spanish coastguard — Britain declares war. The conflict soon merges with the wider War of the Austrian Succession.
Meanwhile, elsewhere · 3
1759
Charles IIIPolitical
Charles III ascends from Naples
On the death of his half-brother Ferdinand VI, Charles of Bourbon — for twenty-five years king of Naples and Sicily — sails up the Tyrrhenian to take the throne of Spain. The greatest of the Bourbons, and a prince formed by enlightened Italy, will reign for nearly three decades.
Meanwhile, elsewhere · 3
1767
Enlightened reformReligious
Expulsion of the Jesuits
Following the Esquilache riots of 1766 and the perceived Jesuit role in stirring popular discontent, Charles III decrees the expulsion of the Society of Jesus from Spain and the empire. Some five thousand Jesuits are deported overnight, most to the Papal States.
Meanwhile, elsewhere · 3
1783
Spain in the American warMilitary
Peace of Paris — Spain recovers Florida
By the Peace of Paris, ending the American War of Independence, Spain recovers Florida and Menorca from Britain. Bernardo de Gálvez, governor of Louisiana, has cleared the Gulf coast from Pensacola to Mobile, and Spain ends the century at the height of her renewed power.
Meanwhile, elsewhere · 3
1788
Charles IVPolitical
Charles IV, the king who painted nothing
Within a year of Charles III's death, the French Revolution overturns the European order. The new king Charles IV is timid, his queen María Luisa imperious, and royal authority slips first to the elderly Floridablanca, then to Aranda, and finally to the queen's favourite, the young Manuel Godoy.
Meanwhile, elsewhere · 3
1793
War of the PyreneesMilitary
War with revolutionary France
After the execution of Louis XVI in January, Spain joins the First Coalition. The War of the Pyrenees opens with a Spanish invasion of Roussillon, but within two years revolutionary armies are pouring south into Catalonia and the Basque country.
Meanwhile, elsewhere · 3
1799
GoyaCultural
Goya publishes Los Caprichos
Francisco de Goya y Lucientes publishes eighty etchings under the title Los Caprichos — a savage indictment of clerical corruption, superstition, and the moral decay of a monarchy he himself serves as principal court painter.
Meanwhile, elsewhere · 3
1805
TrafalgarMilitary
The Combined Fleet destroyed at Trafalgar
On 21 October, off Cape Trafalgar in Andalusia, Vice-Admiral Nelson destroys the combined French and Spanish fleet of Villeneuve and Gravina. Of the fifteen Spanish ships of the line, eleven are lost; Admiral Federico Gravina dies of his wounds. Spanish sea power, three centuries old, is broken.
Meanwhile, elsewhere · 3
1807
Treaty of FontainebleauMilitary
French armies enter Spain
By the Treaty of Fontainebleau (27 October), Godoy and Napoleon agree on the joint partition of Portugal. French armies under Junot pour across the Pyrenees and on through Spain; within months a hundred thousand French soldiers are stationed in the peninsula.
Meanwhile, elsewhere · 3
1808
AranjuezPolitical
The Mutiny of Aranjuez
On the night of 17 March, partisans of Crown Prince Ferdinand storm Godoy's palace at the royal site of Aranjuez. Godoy is dragged from a roll of carpets where he has hidden for two days; Charles IV abdicates the following morning in favour of his son Ferdinand VII.
Meanwhile, elsewhere · 3
1808
BayonnePolitical
The Bayonne Abdications
In May, Napoleon summons Ferdinand VII and Charles IV to Bayonne and, in a week of menace, induces both to renounce the Spanish crown in his favour. He bestows it on his elder brother Joseph Bonaparte, by way of a constitution drafted with a few co-opted Spanish notables.
Meanwhile, elsewhere · 3
1808
Dos de MayoMilitary
The Dos de Mayo uprising
On 2 May, as French troops attempt to remove the last Bourbon infante from the Royal Palace in Madrid, the people of the capital rise in armed revolt. By nightfall Murat's columns have crushed them; on 3 May the firing squads at the hill of Príncipe Pío execute the prisoners through the dawn.
Meanwhile, elsewhere · 3
7 more entries, to 1808

Bourbon Reforms & Decline of Empire

Philip V crowned at Madrid

Peace at Utrecht — and Gibraltar lost

The Decretos de Nueva Planta

The War of Jenkins's Ear

Charles III ascends from Naples

Expulsion of the Jesuits

Peace of Paris — Spain recovers Florida

Charles IV, the king who painted nothing

War with revolutionary France

Goya publishes Los Caprichos

The Combined Fleet destroyed at Trafalgar

French armies enter Spain

The Mutiny of Aranjuez

The Bayonne Abdications

The Dos de Mayo uprising