Spanish Monarchy

We explain what the Spanish monarchy and its main characteristics are. In addition, who are their representatives today and more.

What is Spanish monarchy?

The Spanish monarchy is one of the most traditional European monarchies still in force .

The Spanish monarchy is considered to be It was consolidated after the marriage of Isabel I of Castilla with Fernando II of Aragon (The Catholic Monarchs), which meant the dynastic union of two important crowns of the Iberian Peninsula. Then other territories, such as Granada or Navarra. Once the reign of the Catholic Monarchs concluded, two royal houses (the XVI-XVII centuries) and the Bourbons (17th century-Actuality) followed on the throne of Spain.

The Spanish monarchy crossed different stages that included their conformation as an empire in the 16th century the Napoleonic invasion that briefly imposed José Bonaparte as king (1808-1813), and a succession of liberal (constitutional) and absolutist periods that encouraged political and succession conflicts (Carlist wars) during the nineteenth century. Currently, Spain is a parliamentary monarchy.

Characteristics of the Spanish monarchy

• The Spanish monarchy It is a form of political organization that has a long history and is currently in force in the territory of Spain. Although it has a history in the Visigothic era and in the formation of Christian kingdoms during the Middle Ages, its establishment as a unified government is rolled back to the reign of the Catholic Monarchs at the end of the 15th century. With the empire of Carlos I, he consolidated himself as a political administration of the Spanish State under a single monarch.
• Like other European monarchies, the Spanish monarchy Follow an order of hereditary succession . Throughout its history, monarchs of three dynastic houses were happening: the Trastámara (the Catholic Monarchs), the Habsburg (known in Spain as major and minor Austrias) and the Bourbons. Two short periods established a king of last name Bonaparte (1808-1813) and a monarch of the house of Savoy (1871-1873).
• The current Spanish Constitution recognizes as successors the heirs of Juan Carlos I de Borbón who was ratified as king for being considered “legitimate heir of the historical dynasty.” Since Juan Carlos abdicated in 2014, the current king is his son Felipe VI and the heiress of the crown is his daughter, Princess Leonor.
• The Spanish monarchy crossed stages of expansion and territorial retraction and came to consolidate an immense empire and then lose most of its overseas possessions. He also had authoritarian and absolutist monarchs, as well as liberal and constitutional periods. At present, the Spanish monarchy is parliamentary and is subordinated to a democratic constitution.

History of the Spanish monarchy

Background

In the years of the Roman Empire, The Iberian Peninsula was integrated into the provincial system with the name of Hispania . After the dissolution of the Empire, the Visigoths, one of the Germanic populations that migrated to the Peninsula during the 5th century, established a kingdom that in the seventh century came to unify most of the territory under a monarchy. In this process some Roman norms and institutions were adopted and the reigns of Leovigildo and, above all, Recaredo (who, in addition, converted to Catholicism) were especially important.

Subsequently, the Visigothic kingdom suffered internal divisions and, in 711, there was an Arab invasion that led to almost eight centuries of Muslim domination in much of the Peninsula. During this period, Christian kingdoms were formed in the north, such as León, Castilla, Aragon or Navarra that alternated peaceful and hostile relationships with Muslim populations until the defeat of the Emirate of Granada in 1492.

This era too It was characterized by the annexations and unifications of kingdoms and counties that put broad territories under the authority of crowns such as those of Aragon or Castilla, and laid the foundations of the subsequent unified Spanish monarchy.

Start of the Spanish monarchy: the Catholic Monarchs

Historians They usually mark as the beginning of the Spanish monarchy the union of the crowns of Castilla and Aragon consequence of the marriage between the so -called Catholic Kings (Isabel I of Castilla and Fernando II of Aragon), which was held in 1469.

The main objectives of the Catholic Monarchs when consummating the dynastic union were, in the field of internal policy, to achieve the internal pacification of Spain (until then divided into kingdoms and harassed by conflicts of interest) and create a central power. In line with these objectives, Fernando the Catholic later annexed the kingdom of Navarra (1513).

In terms of foreign policy, The objective was to isolate France, with which Aragon rivaled by Mediterranean hegemony and expand the exchange routes and domains through the expulsion of Muslims from the southern Peninsula, the conquest of the Canary Islands and northern Africa and the promotion of expeditions to other parts of the world (such as the transcendental trip of Christopher Columbus in 1492). Many of these trips meant to the Spanish crown the annexation of colonies, from which he obtained important wealth. This resulted in the formation of an authentic empire, with special presence in America.

Although the dynastic union guaranteed that the domains of each crown retain their own laws, The Government of the Catholic Monarchs was the first step towards a centralized monarchy from all over Spain . A tax system was implemented that allowed to sustain an administrative bureaucracy, regional courts of justice were established, a unique currency was coined and an ideology was deployed that magnified the figure of the kings.

The unwavering defense of the Catholic faith was another ideological element that granted unity and identity to the Spanish monarchy. In fact, During the reign of the Catholic Monarchs, the Inquisition Court was created known as Spanish Inquisition to differentiate it from the episcopal inquisition created in the twelfth century to combat Albigenses in southern France. The Spanish Inquisition gave rise to a climate of religious terror and intolerance, not only in Spain but also in its colonies.

The treatment of “Catholics” of the Kings Fernando and Isabel was granted by Pope Alexander VI in 1496, in recognition of this strong adhesion to the Catholic faith (these kings beat the Muslim kingdom of Granada and expelled or established the forced conversion of the Jews of Spain). The successors of the Catholic Monarchs inherited this title until today.

Habsburg’s house

After the death of Isabel I (1504) and Fernando II (1516), Inherited the Spanish throne and empire (which included the territories that were being conquered in America) Carlos I grandson of the Catholic Monarchs. As was also the grandson of Maximiliano I of Habsburg’s house, he was proclaimed emperor of the Holy Roman Empire with the name of Carlos V. Thus, in addition to inheriting an immense empire that covered a large part of Europe and growing portions of the New World, inaugurated the reign of the Habsburg in Spain and was the first king who ruled as the only monarch the Spanish territories.

Carlos I and his son Felipe II are commonly called “Senior Austrias” . The first reorganized the administration of the American territories after the conquests of the Aztec and Inca empires and created the Council of the Indies (1524). He also opposed the Protestant reform and freed wars against France and the Ottomans.

But she also repressed revolts on the Peninsula, with important consequences. The War of Communities (1520-1522) faced real troops with urban and noble groups in Castile that were unhappy with the presence of foreigners in government positions and with the fiscal pressure that violated municipal privileges. The defeat of the community members reinforced the monarch’s authority who appointed individuals of confidence in the advice and created the thirds, the Professional Infantry Army of the Spanish Empire.

Felipe II inherited the throne of Spain and its possessions when Carlos I abdicated in his favor although he bequeathed the sacred empire to his other son. Felipe II extended the territories of the Empire, reformed the bureaucracy, reinforced the authority of the monarchy, and even ignored legal privileges that Aragon retained since its union with Castile. He defeated the Ottomans in Lepanto (1571) and incorporated Portugal (1580) but then suffered military defeats against England and the Protestants of the Netherlands.

During the reign of Felipe III, Felipe IV and Carlos II, called “Minor Austrias”, The Spanish monarchy lost territories, such as Portugal and the north of the Netherlands and crossed economic difficulties. These kings used to leave much of government decisions to their valid (trusted men). The last of these monarchs could not have offspring, perhaps due to the consanguinity values ​​derived from dynastic endogamy, which also caused other ailments (so it was called “the bewitched”). At his death, a succession conflict was unleashed that installed on the throne to the house of Bourbon, whose first king in Spain was Felipe V.

Bourbon’s house

Felipe de Anjou belonged to the house of Bourbon that ruled in France And he was grandson of Louis XIV. But he was also great -grandson of Felipe IV of Spain and ascended to the Spanish throne in the middle of a war of succession. The peace of Utrecht (1713) signed at the end of the contest recognized the right to throne as Felipe V on condition that he renounced his succession rights to the throne of France. But another consequence of the treaty was the loss of territories such as Gibraltar and Menorca in favor of England and the south of the Netherlands and the Italian possessions in favor of the Austrian Habsburgs. In this way, the Spanish monarchy was almost completely restricted to the peninsula, but retaining the important American colonies.

The Bourbon Monarchy of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century is usually characterized as an absolute monarchy . The “new plant decrees” unified the administration according to a centralist model inspired by the France of Louis XIV. They abolished laws and fueros of the Crown of Aragon and, together with other measures, established a new administrative division based on intendances, offices and secretariats, giving prominence to important ministers.

This modernization expedited the bureaucratic functioning and affirmed the authority of the monarch, which was considered ruler by divine law. This also explains the Bourbon reforms in the New World, which created new viceroyalty and general captains and implemented the intention regime.

At this stage Carlos III stood out, whose modernizing measures are usually associated with enlightened despotism . During his reign the Jesuits from America were also expelled, considered a threat to the absolute authority of the monarchy.

Napoleonic invasion and restoration

The Bourbon monarchy experienced changes during the nineteenth century . In 1808, with the Napoleonic invasion of Spain, King Fernando VII was taken prisoner and occupied the throne José Bonaparte, brother of Napoleon.

This king enacted Bayona’s letter, a kind of constitution that established rights and freedoms to imitation of the liberal principles released during the French Revolution. However, The first Spanish Constitution was the one that approved in 1812 the deputies of the Cortes de Cádiz in the context of the wars of independence against France (1808-1814). Influenced by democratic liberalism, formulated the division of powers settled in the Cortes, and the sovereignty of the Nation. Therefore, the king was no longer a monarch only by the grace of God but also by the Constitution; His powers were thus limited.

This first liberal impulse concluded when Napoleon was defeated And Fernando VII returned to the Spanish throne in 1814, dissolved the Courts of Cádiz and restored absolutism. In any case, in the context of civil conflicts and the loss of territories by the American independence wars, from 1820 they alternated in the Spanish government stages of liberalism (constitutional) and absolutism, which were also linked to succession disputes (the Carlist wars).

In 1873 the First Spanish Republic was proclaimed, which was followed by the Bourbon Restoration (1874-1931). This new stage of the monarchy was based on the Constitution of 1876 that gave him the form of a liberal constitutional monarchy. During the reign of Alfonso XIII, a coup d’etat established a dictatorship (1923-1930) that suspended the Constitution, while the proclamation of the Second Republic (1931-1939) approved a new Constitution and forced the king to exile.

After the Civil War (1936-1939), The head of the State Francisco Franco appointed Juan Carlos de Borbón Successor as a king (1969) and he assumed in 1975, ratified by the Constitution (currently in force) of 1978. King Juan Carlos I had an active role in the so-called “Spanish transition” (1975-1979) that democracy restored. His position was consolidated when he disallowed an attempt with a military coup in 1981. Although in 2014 he abdicated in favor of his son, the current King Felipe VI of Bourbon’s house, by protocol Juan Carlos continues to take the title of King.

Interruptions in the Spanish monarchy

Spain is a long data monarchy, which was only interrupted for three periods: that of the First Republic (1873-1874), that of the Second Republic (1931-1939) and during the Franco regime (1939-1975).

• The First Republic was proclaimed in the context of the revolutionary sexennium (1868-1874) and concluded with the Bourbon restoration that Alfonso XII installed on the throne.
• The Second Republic caused the abandonment of the country of Alfonso XIII, who died in exile in 1941.
• During the Franco regime, the head of the State was General Francisco Franco, but he appointed the grandson of Alfonso XIII, Juan Carlos, successor as a king in 1969. At the death of Franco in 1975, Juan Carlos was proclaimed king of Spain, and was ratified as such by the 1978 Constitution.

Current Spanish monarchy

In the current Spanish monarchy The king is the head of the State and as such assumes the representation of the Spanish State in international relations . According to the Constitution, it is also a symbol of unity, which arbitrates the functioning of the institutions and holds the supreme command of the Armed Forces. However, all its acts must be endorsed by the Government, constituted by a president, vice presidents and ministers.

Parliament in the current Spanish monarchy

The Spanish monarchy is parliamentary . The current Constitution establishes the division of powers. The Legislative Power resides in Parliament, which in Spain is called General Courts and is composed of two chambers. Its members are elected by suffrage and assume the representation of the Spanish people. In Parliament the president of the Government is elected. Therefore, it is not the king but Parliament that directs Spanish politics.

Representatives of the current Spanish monarchy

Currently the king of Spain is Felipe VI . The Royal Family is also made up of his wife, Queen Consort Letizia, her daughters, the princess of Asturias Leonor and the Infanta of Spain Sofia, and her parents, Juan Carlos and Sofía, who by protocol retain the titles of King and Queen. Felipe VI was proclaimed king in 2014, when his father, King Juan Carlos I, abdicated in his favor, after 39 years of reign.

The Constitution establishes that The economic support of the royal family falls to the State Budgets . The current private residence of the Royal Family is the Palacio de la Zarzuela, on the outskirts of Madrid. But the official residence remains the Royal Palace of Madrid, also known as Palacio de Oriente, first occupied by Carlos III of Bourbon.

Continue with:

References

• Álvarez Palenzuela, VA (coord.) (2011). History of Spain of the Middle Ages. Ariel.
• Britannica (2013). Catholic monarchs. Britannica Encyclopedia.
• Channel, J. (ed.) (2017). Contemporary history of Spain (2 volumes). Taurus
• García Prison, R. (2002-2003). History of Spain (2 volumes). Chair.
• Official page of the House of His Majesty The King.