Charles IV of Spain

Charles IV of Spain, called "the Hunter" (Portici, November 11, 1748-Naples, January 19, 1819), son and successor of Carlos III and Maria Amalia of Saxony was King of Spain from December 14, 1788 to March 19, 1808.

He acceded to the throne shortly before the outbreak of the French Revolution, and his lack of character used to make him delegate the government in the hands of his favorite, Manuel Godoy, who was said to be the lover of his wife María Luisa de Parma, accepted as true by historians such as Balansó or Zavala, while denied by others, since it could not be proven. The French Revolution of 1789 marked his reign, but that did not prevent him from continuing with the line of enlightened reforms, promoted both by the monarch as by Godoy, truncated by Napoleonic interference and the internal instability that this caused.

His reign ended abruptly on March 19, 1808 when, as a consequence of the mutiny in Aranjuez, he abdicated in favor of his son, Prince Ferdinand. On May 6 of the same year, King Ferdinand VII returned the throne to his father, although he, in turn, had ceded his rights to the Crown to Napoleon Bonaparte the day before in what would be known as the abdications. from Bayonne. In 1814 Carlos would once again assign his rights to the Throne to his son Fernando by means of an agreement signed in Rome, the city where he lived in exile.

After the Mutiny of Aranjuez, Carlos IV only recovered the throne from Ferdinand VII, in the abdications of Bayonne, after having ceded the rights to the throne to Napoleon Bonaparte the day before. He ceded the crown to his son for the second time in 1814, by the agreement of Rome, although he had already recovered it from Napoleon by the Treaty of Valençay.

Early Years

Carlos IV in his youth (c. 1765), in a portrait of Mengs (Museo del Prado, Madrid).

He was born on November 11, 1748 in the Royal Palace of Portici, Portici, during his father's reign in the Two Sicilies. He was baptized as Carlos Antonio Pascual Francisco Javier Juan Nepomuceno José Januario Serafín Diego .

In 1759, after the death without issue of his uncle, King Ferdinand VI of Spain, his father became the Spanish throne.

The eldest son of Carlos III was Felipe Antonio de Borbón, who was separated due to his serious disability, both from the succession to the Crown of Spain and that of the Two Sicilies. Thus, Carlos, the second son, became heir to the Spanish monarchy and was sworn in as Prince of Asturias on July 19, 1760.

He succeeded his father, Carlos III, when he died on December 14, 1788.

Reign

Government of the Count of Floridablanca (1777-1792)

The first decisions of Carlos IV showed some reformist purposes. He confirmed the count of Floridablanca, an enlightened man who began his administration with measures such as the cancellation of the delay in contributions, limitation of the price of bread, restriction of the accumulation of goods from dead hands, in the position as first Secretary of State and Office. suppression of ties and majorazgos and the promotion of economic development. The monarch himself took the initiative to repeal the Salic law imposed by his predecessor Felipe V, a measure ratified by the Cortes in 1789, which was never promulgated.

The outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789 radically changed Spanish politics. As the news from France arrives, the crown's nervousness grows and it ends up closing the Cortes, which, controlled by Floridablanca (kept in power on the advice of his father), had met to recognize the Prince of Asturias. Isolation seems to be the recipe to prevent the spread of revolutionary ideas to Spain. Floridablanca, given the seriousness of the events, suspended the Family Pacts, established controls on the border to prevent revolutionary expansion and exerted strong diplomatic pressure in support of Louis XVI. He also put an end to the reformist projects of the previous reign and replaced them with conservatism and repression (fundamentally at the hands of the Inquisition, which arrested Cabarrús, banished Jovellanos, and stripped Campomanes of his posts).

Government of the Count of Aranda

In 1792, Floridablanca was replaced by the Count of Aranda, a friend of Voltaire and other enlightened Frenchmen, to whom the King entrusted the difficult task of saving the life of his cousin King Louis XVI at the moment when, after the failure of the flight of Varennes, this had accepted the French Constitution of 1791.

However, the revolutionary radicalization from 1792 and the dethronement of Louis XVI —the French king was imprisoned and the Republic was proclaimed— precipitated the fall of the Count of Aranda and the coming to power of Manuel Godoy on November 15 from 1792.

First Government of Manuel Godoy

Manuel de Godoy (1792), by Francisco Bayeu (Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, Madrid).

Manuel Godoy, a bodyguard, rose rapidly at court thanks to the friendship and trust that the kings gave him. In a few years he went from being a nobleman to becoming the Duke of Alcudia and Sueca, Captain General and, from the end of 1792, the "universal minister" of Carlos IV with enormous power. Enlightened in thought, he promoted reformist measures such as the provisions to favor the teaching of applied sciences, the protection of the Economic Societies of Friends of the Country and the so-called Godoy confiscation of assets belonging to hospitals, houses of mercy and hospices run by religious communities.

The French Revolution conditioned his role in Spanish politics. His first steps were aimed at saving the life of Louis XVI, prosecuted and sentenced to death. Despite the efforts of all the European courts, the French monarch was guillotined in January 1793, which generalized a war between the European powers against revolutionary France known as the War of the Convention, in which Spain participated and was defeated by Republican France, the result of disastrous supplies, the terrible preparation of the army and the low morale of the troops in the face of the inflamed sans culottes French. An army of 25,000 men^{[citation needed]} led by General Ricardos entered Roussillon and achieved some successes. From 1794 the Spanish troops were forced to withdraw. The French occupied Figueras, Irún, San Sebastián, Bilbao, Vitoria and Miranda de Ebro.

Godoy signed the Peace of Basel with France in 1795. The French Republic returned to Spain the occupied places, in exchange for the Spanish territory of the island of Hispaniola —a colony of Santo Domingo—. In gratitude, King Carlos IV granted him the title of Prince of Peace.

In 1796, after the most radical phase of the Revolution had concluded, Godoy signed the Treaty of San Ildefonso and Spain became an ally of France. This change in position sought a confrontation with Great Britain, the main adversary of revolutionary France and the traditional enemy of Spain with which it disputed maritime hegemony and, specifically, trade with America. The Spanish squadron suffered defeat off Cape San Vicente in 1797, but Cádiz and Santa Cruz de Tenerife resisted Admiral Nelson's attacks. In America the British occupied the island of Trinidad, and suffered a defeat in Puerto Rico. This caused the fall of Godoy in May 1798.

Governments of Saavedra and Urquijo

After that, two enlightened men, Francisco de Saavedra and Mariano Luis de Urquijo, succeeded each other at the head of the government between 1798 and 1800.

Second government of Manuel Godoy

Carlos IV (1790-1791) by Francisco Bayeu (Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, Madrid).

Napoleon's rise to power in 1799 and his proclamation as emperor in 1804 altered international relations and the alliance with France was renewed. Napoleon needed, in his fight against the British, to have the collaboration of Spain, especially his naval squadron. For this reason, he pressured Carlos IV to restore his trust in Godoy. He assumed power again in 1800 and signed the Agreement of Aranjuez of 1801 by which he made the Spanish squadron available to Napoleon, which again implied the war against Great Britain.

In 1801, Godoy declared war on Portugal, Britain's main ally on the continent, before France did. This conflict, known as the War of the Oranges, meant the occupation of Olivenza by Spain, which also obtained a commitment from Portugal to prevent the docking of British ships in its ports.

Visit of Carlos VI to Barcelona in 1802 on the occasion of the marriage links of the prince of Asturias, Fernando, with María Antonia de Nápoles, and of the infant María Isabel with Francisco Genaro de Dos Sicilias. For the event the streets were dug up, public works were performed, and dances, theatrical performances, masks, parades with floats, fireworks and balloon ascensions were organized.

In 1805, the defeat of the Franco-Spanish squadron at the Battle of Trafalgar by the British Navy changed the situation radically. Faced with the hegemony of Great Britain in the seas, Napoleon resorted to the continental blockade, a measure to which Spain joined. In 1807 the Treaty of Fontainebleau was signed, which established the division of Portugal between France, Spain and Godoy himself, and the right of passage through Spain for the French troops in charge of its occupation.

Final Crisis

Currency of 2 gold shields, coined in Madrid in 1798 with Latin legend: ·CAROL[US]·IIII·D[EI]·G[RATIA]·HISP[PANIARUM]
·ET·IND[IARUM]·R[EX]·

With such a succession of wars the crisis of the Treasury worsened to the extreme; and the ministers of Carlos IV proved incapable of solving it, since fear of the revolution prevented them from introducing the necessary reforms, which would have harmed the interests of the privileged classes, altering the traditional order.

The presence of French soldiers in Spanish territory increased the opposition towards Godoy, who was in conflict with the more traditional sectors due to his reformist and submissive policy towards Napoleon. At the end of 1807 the El Escorial Conspiracy took place, which was presented as a conspiracy headed by Fernando, Prince of Asturias, who sought to replace Godoy and the dethronement of his own father. In reality, Fernando only wanted to discuss his marriage with a French princess and, in the event of his father's death, get rid of Godoy. Both Godoy and the queen, who distrusted Fernando, tried to use their dealings with the French ambassador to discredit him, without success. Despite everything, Fernando himself betrayed his collaborators and asked for his parents' forgiveness. The scandal marked the beginning of the end of Carlos' reign. In March 1808, before the evidence of the French occupation, Godoy advised the kings to abandon the peninsula and took refuge in America. But the riot of Aranjuez took place, a popular uprising stirred up by Prince Fernando and the nobles opposed to Godoy, against the kings taking advantage of their presence in the palace of Aranju ez. Godoy was taken prisoner by the mutineers. Carlos IV, sick and discouraged, abdicated in his son Fernando VII before the turn of events:

As the ashes that I adole do not allow me to bear for longer the serious weight of the government of my kingdoms, and it is necessary for me to repair my health to enjoy in a more temperate climate of the tranquility of private life; I have determined, after the most serious deliberation, to abdicate my crown in my heir and my very expensive son the Prince of Asturias. Therefore it is my real will to be recognized and obeyed as Rei and natural Lord of all my kingdoms and dominions.

Gaceta de Madrid, March 25, 1808

This equestrian statue in honor of Carlos IV, located in Plaza Manuel Tolsá, in the historical center of Mexico City, best known as "El Caballito".

Napoleon, suspicious of the change in monarch, summoned the Spanish royal family to a meeting in the French town of Bayonne. Carlos and María Luisa left for France, preceded by Godoy, whom they had asked the French to release, on April 22. Napoleon encouraged Charles to demand that Ferdinand return the crown and was the arbitrator in the dispute that father and son held for several days. Ferdinand VII, under pressure from the emperor and his parents, He returned the Crown to Carlos IV on May 6, without knowing that the day before Carlos IV had agreed to the transfer of his rights to the crown in favor of Napoleon, who finally appointed his brother José as the new King of Spain.

Conflict with the Holy See

The evolution of Spanish regalism during the reign of Carlos IV was marked by two European events: the so-called Synod of Pistoya of 1786 and the Civil Constitution of the Clergy approved by the National Constituent Assembly born from the French Revolution of 1789. The first marked the triumph of the episcopal currents, following the Jansenist line drawn at the beginning of the century by Zeger Bernhard van Espen —an author known and followed by a good part of the first Spanish royalists and enlightened men such as Mayans— and developed by the theologian Pietro Tamburini. Its proceedings were widely disseminated and influenced in Spain, as the enlightened Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos wrote in his Diario: «all the youth of Salamanca [in reference to the students of the main Spanish university] are port- royalist, from the Pistoyense sect... There were more than three thousand copies when it was banned. One only gave himself up."

The Civil Constitution of the Clergy of the French Revolution exerted a certain influence through the correspondence maintained by some French constitutional bishops, such as Gregoire or Clément, with Spanish bishops, clergy and politicians, such as members of the circle of the Countess of Montijo or the canons of the Collegiate Church of San Isidro in Madrid. It was in these environments that the decree of September 5, 1799 that Menéndez y Pelayo called the "Schism of Urquijo" was forged.

The Death of Pius VI. Recorded 1805.

Mariano Luis de Urquijo had replaced Manuel Godoy as the first Secretary of State and Office after his dismissal in March 1798. One of Urquijo's projects was to bring to fruition the royalist policy of creating a Spanish Church independent of Rome taking advantage of the difficulties that the papacy was going through, whose Papal States had been occupied by French troops under the command of Napoleon Bonaparte and Pope Pius VI had been forced to leave Rome after the proclamation of the Republic in the & #34;holy city. The project of a "national" Church, following the model of the Gallican Church that had been initiated in the last year of Godoy's government, also had an important economic repercussion since the fees he charged would no longer go to Rome. the Church in Spain for marriage graces and dispensations, for example, which in 1797 had amounted to nearly 380,000 Roman escudos. Thus, a month after the death of Pius VI in France, the decree of Urquijo was promulgated.

The decree established that until the election of the new pope «the Spanish archbishops and bishops use all the fullness of their faculties, in accordance with the ancient discipline of the Church, for marriage dispensations and others that are their responsibility " and that the king assumed the canonical confirmation of the bishops that previously corresponded to the pope. The decision to promulgate the decree was due to the fear that after the death of the pope there would be a long period of vacancy with the risk of schism that this implied. Thus, it is paradoxical that a decree that sought to avoid the schism was described much later as the "Urquijo Schism". In fact, the Spanish episcopate was divided between those who accepted it and expressed their willingness to apply it —like Bishop Tavira— and those who rejected it and refused to use the powers granted to them by the decree.

The decree had little validity because the new Pope Pius VII, elected in March 1800 by the conclave of cardinals in Venice, refused to confirm it. "But the consequences were really important. In fact, it was the most radical manifestation of Spanish regalism of the century. And, on the other hand, it marked the way for subsequent legislation, both that of José I Bonaparte in December 1809 for the territories controlled by French troops, and in the legislative activity of the Cortes de Cádiz, with its invocations to the convocation of a National Council".

Exile and death

Carlos IV (1825), by José de Madrazo (Palacio Real de Aranjuez)

Napoleon arranged for Charles to be transferred to the Compiègne palace, 80 km north of Paris. He never returned to Spain. Soon after, the king asked to settle in Nice, as the climate of Picardy accentuated the sufferings caused by the gout that had afflicted him for years. The emperor accepts the transfer, clarifying that it occurs "at the king's own expense", in breach of the promises of financial compensation made to the monarch. The Spanish kings did not find accommodation in Nice, and overwhelmed by debts, they settled in Marseilles. But it won't be long before Napoleon sends Charles, his wife, and his court to the Borghese palace in Rome, where they will settle in the summer of 1812.

When Napoleon fell in 1814, Carlos and María Luisa moved to the Barberini palace, also in Rome, where they would remain for almost four years living on the pension sent to them by their son Fernando, who, now restored to the throne of Spain, denied their parents return. In that same year, in a final act, Carlos would once again abdicate his rights to the Spanish throne to his son Fernando VII, on October 1, 1814, signing the agreement in Rome, where he remained in exile. Carlos traveled to Naples to visit his brother Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies and find relief from the gout that tormented him, leaving his bedridden wife in Rome with both legs broken and an extremely deteriorated state of health. After having received extreme rites on one of January 1819, Maria Luisa de Parma died the following day.

When Carlos, informed of the death of his wife, was preparing to return to Rome on January 13, he was attacked by a gout attack with fever from which he would not recover, dying just six days later, on January 19 from 1819.

Patronage

Carlos was interested in art from his youth. An amateur violinist, in 1775 he bought for the court the Stradivarius instrument quartet currently kept in the Royal Palace of Madrid and surrounded himself with a privileged musical environment directed by the violinist and composer Gaetano Brunetti.

He also took an interest in painting, commissioning works from Luis Meléndez, Claude Joseph Vernet, and Luis Paret and naming Francisco de Goya chamber painter in 1789. He also collected several top-quality old paintings, now in the Prado Museum, such as the two side panels of the Werl Triptych by Robert Campin and two famous works by Raphael: Holy Family with the Lamb and Portrait of a Cardinal.

During his exile in Rome, he gathered a collection of works of art in a small palace that he had built next to the convent of the Hieronymite friars of San Alejo, on the Aventine. There were 688 paintings that his chamber painters, Madrazo and Ribera, were in charge of inventorying at the death of the king and that in 1819 they moved to Spain. This collection is known as that of San Alejo, part of which was sent to the Prado Museum and the rest was distributed among his heirs.

Noble titles granted

During his reign, he granted between titles of Spain and titles of the Indies: 179 noble titles, of which 33 were Grandees of Spain.

Marriage and children

The family of Carlos IV (1800-1801) by Goya (Museum of the Prado).

Charles IV married his first cousin Maria Luisa de Borbón-Parma (daughter of Felipe, Duke of Parma) in 1765. They had fourteen children out of the twenty-four times that Maria Luisa de Parma was pregnant, but only seven reached the adulthood:

• Carlos Clemente Antonio de Padua (19 September 1771-7 March 1774).
• Carlota Joaquina (25 April 1775-7 January 1830), married to Juan VI of Portugal.
• María Luisa Carlota (11 September 1777-2 July 1782).
• Maria Amalia (9 January 1779-22 July 1798), married to his uncle Antonio Pascual de Borbón, Infante de España hijo de Carlos III y hermano menor de Carlos IV.
• Carlos Domingo Eusebio (5 March 1780-11 June 1783)
• María Luisa Josefina (6 July 1782-13 March 1824), married to Luis de Borbón-Parma, Duke of Parma and King of Etruria.
• Carlos Francisco de Paula (5 September 1783-11 November 1784).
• Felipe Francisco de Paula (5 September 1783-18 October 1784).
• Fernando (14 October 1784-29 September 1833), king of Spain as Fernando VII.
• Carlos María Isidro (March 29, 1788-10 of March, 1855), Conde de Molina, founder of Carlism and suitor to the throne of Spain.
• Isabel (6 July 1789-13 September 1848). Married with his cousin Francisco I of the Two Sicilies and then with Francisco, Count of the Balzo.
• Maria Teresa (16 February 1791-2 November 1794). Dead because of the smallpox.
• Felipe María Francisco (28 March 1792-1 March 1794).
• Francisco de Paula Antonio, Duke of Cadiz (10 March 1794-13 August 1865). Married with his niece, Luisa Carlota de Borbón-Dos Sicilias, daughter of her sister María Isabel de Borbón and Francisco I de las Dos Sicilias. His firstborn, Francisco de Assisi de Borbón, married Queen Isabel II of Spain.

Ancestors

Charles IV in fiction

Cinema

• Volavérunt (1999). It was played by Carlos La Rosa.
• The ghosts of Goya (2006). It was played by Randy Quaid.

Television

• Goya (1985). It was played by José Bódalo.
• Relic Hunter (2002). It was played by Tacho González.
• Napoleon (2002). It was played by Vincent Grass.

Succession

Predecessor: Fernando de Borbón	Prince of Asturias 1760-1788	Successor: Fernando de Borbón
Predecessor: Carlos III	King of Spain 1788-1808	Successor: Fernando VII