General Notes

Ferdinand VII (1784-1833), king of Spain (1808 and 1814-1833), whose reign was
one of the most disastrous in Spanish history.
Born in the Escorial, near Madrid, Ferdinand was the son of Charles IV. He
opposed the powerful Spanish minister Manuel de Godoy, who, after the death of
Ferdinand's first wife in 1806, tried to force him to marry a daughter of the
late Louis XVI of France. When Ferdinand instead proposed to a niece of
Napoleon, Godoy persuaded Charles to arrest his son for plotting to overthrow
him. Napoleon used the situation as an excuse to invade Spain. When a mob
stormed the royal palace, demanding the death of Godoy, the king, wholly
dependent on his minister, abdicated in favor of Ferdinand. Napoleon, however,
had other plans. Intending the Spanish crown for his brother, Joseph
Bonaparte, he invited Ferdinand to France, where he imprisoned Ferdinand and
forced him to return the throne to his father. Charles IV then obsequiously
presented the Spanish crown to Napoleon. Ferdinand remained a prisoner until
1814, when Napoleon, after the Peninsular War, realized that Spain was lost to
him. He then released Ferdinand, who reascended the throne in 1814.
Ferdinand's rule was harsh and oppressive. In 1814 he revoked the liberal
constitution of 1812 and ruled for the next six years as an absolute monarch.
In 1820, after several revolts, a full-scale revolution broke out, instigated
by liberal elements and aided by the army. The constitution of 1812 was
restored and Ferdinand was imprisoned. In 1823, however, Louis XVIII of France
sent a powerful French army to Spain, which restored Ferdinand to the throne.
In 1829 Ferdinand married his fourth wife, Maria Christina of Naples. Under
her influence he abolished the pragmatic sanction of the Salic Law, which
forbade the succession of a woman to the throne. This act gave the throne to
Ferdinand's daughter Isabella instead of to his brother, Don Carlos. On
Ferdinand's death in Madrid, Isabella II, was proclaimed queen, with her
mother, Maria Christina, as regent. Isabella's succession led to years of
civil war.
During Ferdinand's reign, Spain lost its colonies in North and South America
(except for Cuba and Puerto Rico) and suffered great loss of prestige as a
European power.