Reign of Isabella II: Regency, Carlist War, and Liberal Reforms

Posted on Dec 14, 2024 in History

Reign of Isabella II (1833-1868)

I. Minority Age of Isabella II: The Age of the Regency (1833-1843)

1. Introduction: General Aspects

The minority of Isabella II was occupied by a double regency, held by her mother Maria Cristina, Queen Governor until 1840, and General Baldomero Espartero until 1843.

The regency of Maria Cristina was marked by the First Carlist War that forced her to seek the support of moderate liberals against the pretender, Don Carlos. The first consequence of this approach to the Liberals was the granting of a Royal Charter (1834), a charter granted by the Crown, which reserved powers over political life. In the context of civil war, the triumph of liberalism came in 1836 after the coup of the sergeants of La Granja. Mendizabal came to power with the seizure of 1836 and the promulgation of the Constitution of 1837, of progressive character.

The process entailed paying back the abolition of religious orders, the nationalization of their property, and their sale at public auction. The Constitution affirmed the principle of national sovereignty and parliamentary practice based on universal suffrage and a bicameral system based on the census: House of Representatives and Senate.

Both reforms gave a decisive impetus to the development of capitalism and political liberalism, expanding the base of the bourgeois regime. However, the hostility of the ruler towards the progressive liberals and her preference for moderates led to a growing social discontent that fueled the pronouncement of 1840. With the end of the war and the signing of the Convention of Vergara in August 1839, Maria Cristina was forced to resign the regency and was exiled to France, leaving her daughters under the tutelage of Argüelles and the Countess of Espoz y Mina. Espartero, Carlist War hero and leader of the Progressive Party, then assumed the regency. During his tenure, two streams consolidated in which the liberal “family” was divided: the Moderate Party (conservative) and the Progressive Party (advanced liberal). He suppressed a coup orchestrated by Maria Cristina and, having failed, it meant the execution of some leaders, including the legendary Montes de Oca and Diego de León. But the blunders of the regent, particularly his poor performance in the successful uprising in Barcelona, led to his downfall in early 1843 and the proclamation of the coming of age of Isabella when she had just turned thirteen.

2. Carlist War

More than a dynastic dispute, this was an ideological conflict in which the traditionalists (ultraconservative absolutists) fought against the liberal revolution.

The traditionalist movement, or Carlist, was headed by Carlos María Isidro, brother of Fernando VII, who claimed his dynastic rights against his niece Isabella. Remember that Fernando VII repealed the Salic Law (which prevented women from ascending to the throne) by the Pragmatic Sanction.

Carlism was a supporter of exalted realism, absolutism, the ancien regime, religious fundamentalism, and the defense of the Jurisdictions (which attracted Navarra and the Basque Country).

An important group of urban society, especially rural, supported the Carlists. Those who supported them were the religious of the orders affected by the confiscations, a less numerous part of the secular clergy, prominent members of the army, the provincial nobility (old gentlemen-owners), and the peasantry who suffered from the early nineteenth century a decline in their living conditions.

Elizabethans, or Christines: followers of Isabella II and her mother. They sought to settle the old regime and the establishment of a liberal political system (albeit with different trends).

Most people defended the current law, but emphasized on the Elizabethan side were most of the charges of the administration and the provincial and municipal bureaucracy, members of the military, middle class, financial traders, liberal professions, aristocracy, much of the secular clergy, and most popular sectors.

The war erupted on October 1, 1833, and ended in 1840. It developed mainly in two areas: the Basque-Navarre and Maestrazgo, but the raids affected the entire country. It developed in the following phases:

Carlist initiative phase (1833-1835): the main focus was in the Basque Country and Navarre, but there were others in Aragon, Catalonia, Valencia, and Castile. The Liberals managed to hold back the Carlists in cities. In one of them, Bilbao, the Carlist general Zumalacárregui died.
Extension of the conflict (1835-37): Carlist expeditions began south of the Ebro, which showed little support for the Carlists, who were not able to unite territories, failing to take Madrid and Bilbao, defended by General Espartero.
Liberal Victory: Facing an impossible victory, due in part to the lack of resources, Carlism split into factions. One was intransigent, unwilling to surrender or reach an agreement, and a moderate sector, open to transactions. The head general, Maroto, signed the Peace or Agreement of Vergara (1839), while another general, Cabrera, continued the war in the Maestrazgo until 1840.

The end of the war meant the triumph of liberalism, and places such as Navarra and the Basque Country, which retained its rights despite the Nueva Planta decrees, were subject to statutory restrictions. Carlism lost power in 1840, but did not disappear and sporadically rebrotaría, hindering the policy of the reign of Isabella II.

3. Regency of Maria Cristina de Borbón (1833-1840)

The beginning of the regency of Maria Cristina, to gain liberal support, saw the fall of the minister of Ferdinand VII, Cea Bermúdez, replaced by Martinez de la Rosa. During his administration began drafting a basic law for the operation of the Courts, which crystallized in the Royal Charter of 1834 (closer to a charter granted than to a constitution). It highlights the lack of liberal principles (such as national sovereignty or individual rights) and created a division between liberals happy with it (moderate) and those who were not (exalted, or progressive), because they sought to impose the Constitution of 1812.

Because of this, there was the revolution of 1835, urban and bourgeois, which was created to end the Carlists and the moderate government. Maria Cristina was forced to appoint Minister Mendizabal (progressive), replaced shortly by Istúriz (moderate). This caused the Sergeants of La Granja (August 12, 1836), which required the restoration of the 1812 Constitution and the Boards. As a result, the queen ordered the government to a progressive, J. Mª. Calatrava, who focused his work on a constitutional text in accordance with the times, the Constitution of 1837, a flexible text that did not entirely satisfy any group, but that made government possible.

From 1837 to 1840, governments succeeded in the liberal faction (progressives and moderates), until in 1840 a crisis occurred because of the Municipalities Act, in which the moderates sought to amend the existing rules concerning the election of mayors, who claimed the domain of progressive local government, and replaced by direct appointment of these positions by the Queen. The conflict pitted directly the Regent with Espartero (progressive leader), ending with the resignation of Maria Cristina, who was exiled to France.

4. General Baldomero Espartero Regency (1840-1843)

Espartero, thanks to his reputation as a general in the Carlist War, became a military symbol of progress, opening a political season characterized by the active participation of the military in the government of the country.

He was elected regent, facing the discontent of the moderates, supported by Maria Cristina from exile, and the very liberal, who disagreed with many of his measures, such as election falsification, nepotism, strategic leadership, and the harsh repression in response to riots in Barcelona in 1842. The textile industry manifested against free trade and pro-British government measures, which adversely affected the production of cloth.

An anti-Espartero demonstration, under the leadership of another general, Narváez (moderate), defeated Espartero, who fled into exile, forcing a power vacuum. This led to advancing the age of majority of Isabella II, to allow her coronation.

5. The Confiscation

5.1. Background

The sale was the tool of the bourgeoisie to transform the property, that is, to develop economic liberalism. Their story began in the 18th century, from the reports and analysis of the first Spanish:

The ministers of Charles III (Olavide, Campomanes, Jovellanos…) were concerned about the large amount of property held in mortmain, thinking of putting on sale Church property, but the lack of agreement with the Holy See made it impossible. The agreement was then directed to the property of municipalities, decreeing that they must be accessible to the rural poor. But the move did not work and was repealed.
With Charles IV, problems forced the Treasury to implement the principles of disentailment to tackle public debt. At the same time, by Royal Orders, church property was offered for sale (colleges, hospitals, hospices, guilds, etc.) by expropriation of property, valuation, and sale at public auction.
The Cadiz Cortes decreed the sale of confiscated property to Francophiles and Jesuits, in addition to military orders, convents, monasteries destroyed during the war, part of the patrimony of the Crown, and more than half of the vacant land.
With the Constitutional Triennium or Liberal, disentailment legislation inspired by the Courts of Cadiz, the Decree of August 9, 1920, put on sale the property being sought in 1812, admitting the debt payment vouchers. Shortly after (October) monasteries were deleted and their property sold. But with the reestablishment, the Decree was repealed.

5.2. The Elizabethan (or Christian) Confiscation, or Ecclesiastical

Since the death of Fernando VII, legislation affecting both civil and ecclesiastical property was developed, starting with the latter:

The Mendizabal (Royal Decree of February 19, 1836) affected the regular clergy and was made to amortize (pay) the State’s debt and consolidate on the throne Isabella II, threatened by the Carlists. Goods from extinct religious communities and corporations were offered for sale. Payment could be made in cash or in debt.

The Espartero (in 1841, during the rule) was conducting a project not carried out in 1837, which affected the secular clergy.

Mendizabal’s work was criticized from the progressive ranks by Alvaro Flores Estrada, who proposed to give priority to social reform while guaranteeing access to land for small and medium sectors of the peasantry. His alternative was to cede land to settlers and church farm growers through a renewable lease in return for a moderate income no higher than they were paying (since, being poor, they had no money to buy).

5.3. Results of Confiscations

These confiscations had an undeniable influence on the development of Spain at the time, although its consequences were not really wanted by the politicians of the time. Among the considerations to take into account, may include:

Much of the purchases were made by the business bourgeoisie and the agrarian bourgeoisie.
The confiscation was not a reform, therefore, in practice, it did not solve the problem of land ownership.
The number of landowners increased and there was a large wage increase for farmers.
The seizure affected an increase in agricultural production.
Public debt did not disappear, but rather increased.
The confiscation was a diversion to the agricultural world of capital that could have been used in industrialization.
The confiscation affected the consolidation of the liberal regime in Spain.