BOURBON DYNASTY (SPAIN)

BOURBON DYNASTY (SPAIN). The House of Bourbon, French in origin, was enthroned in Spain upon the death of Charles II, the last Habsburg monarch, who named as his heir to Spain and its overseas empire the duke of Anjou, second son of Louis, the Grand Dauphin of France, and Maria Ana of Bavaria. As Philip V of Spain (1683–1746; reigned 1700–1724 and 1724–1746), the first Spanish Bourbon married Maria Luisa, daughter of the duke of Savoy (1688–1714), and, after her death, Isabel Farnese of the ducal House of Parma, aiming to reinforce Spain's presence in Italy. His abdication in 1724 made way for the brief reign of his eldest son Luis I (1707–1724; reigned 9 February–31 August 1724). Luis's marriage to the French princess Luisa Isabel of Orleans (1709–1742) had not produced children before the young sovereign's death so Philip V was able to resume his kingship without difficulty, despite the constitutional scruples raised by his return.

The most notable result of his dynastic identity was an alliance with France through the so-called Family Pacts (7 November 1733 and 25 October 1743), which gave Philip the support he needed to enthrone his son Charles in the Kingdom of Naples (1734), and his son Philip in the duchies of Parma, Piacenza, and Guastalla (1748), thereby creating two new dynasties in Europe: the Bourbons of the Two Sicilies and the House of Bourbon-Parma. Philip V was followed on the throne of Spain by his son Ferdinand VI (1713–1759; reigned 1746–1759), who married Barbara of Braganza (1711–1758), daughter of the king of Portugal. The marriage proved childless, and Ferdinand was succeeded by his half-brother Charles, king of Naples (1716–1788; reigned in Naples, 1734–1759 and in Spain, 1759–1788), who ceded his Neapolitan throne to his third son Ferdinand, before leaving Naples to become Charles III of Spain. Abandoning the policy of neutrality regarding France and England that had marked the previous reign, Charles returned Spain to its alliance with France, with the third Family Pact of 15 August 1761. His marriage to Maria Amalia of Saxony (1724–1760), daughter of the prince elector and king of Poland, produced his heir Charles IV (1746–1819; king of Spain, 1788–1808), who married Maria Luisa of Bourbon-Parma (1751–1819) and had to confront the political upheavals occasioned by the French Revolution.

War against the regicide French government under the Convention (1793–1795) was followed by a new Spanish alliance with France, sealed by the Treaty of San Ildefonso (1796), which lasted despite vicissitudes until the Napoleonic invasion of 1808. Prior to that, a palace intrigue had persuaded Charles IV to abdicate in favor of his son Ferdinand VII (1784–1833) on 19 March 1808, a decision he ratified on 5 May in the French city of Bayonne. Ferdinand in turn ceded the throne to Napoleon Bonaparte, who gave it to his brother Joseph and invaded Spain. This confusing episode led to an uprising of the Spanish people against Napoleon's army and a protracted war of independence that received crucial support from English forces under the duke of Wellington. After Napoleon's defeat, the Bourbons were restored in Spain in the person of Ferdinand VII. Surviving republican ousters in 1868–1871 and 1931–1936, and the dictatorship of Francisco Franco from 1939–1975, the Bourbon dynasty—in the person of Juan Carlos I—led Spain's democratic, constitutional monarchy into the twenty-first century.

See also Charles II (Spain) ; Charles III (Spain) ; Farnese, Isabel (Spain) ; Ferdinand VI (Spain) ; Philip V (Spain).

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bergamini, John D. The Spanish Bourbons: The History of a Tenacious Dynasty. New York, 1974.

Carlos MartÍnez-Shaw (Translated from the Spanish by Carla Rahn Phillips)