Charles IV of Spain

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Charles IV
King of Spain (more...)
Charles IV, as Prince of Asturias, (1765), by Anton Raphael Mengs
Reign	December 14, 1788–March 19, 1808
Predecessor	Charles III
Successor	Ferdinand VII
Consort	Maria Luisa of Parma
Issue
Charlotte, Queen of Portugal Maria Louisa, Queen of Etruria Ferdinand VII Infante Charles, Count of Molina Maria Isabella, Queen of the Two Sicilies Infante Francisco de Paula
Detail Titles and styles
HM The King HRH The Prince of Asturias HRH The Infante Charles of Spain
Royal house	House of Bourbon
Father	Charles III of Spain
Mother	Maria Amalia of Saxony
Born	November 11, 1748 Portici, Italy
Died	January 20, 1819 (aged 70) Rome, Italy

Charles IV (November 11, 1748 - January 20, 1819) was King of Spain from December 14, 1788 until his abdication on March 19, 1808.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Marriage and children 3 Reign 4 Abdication 5 Later life 6 Ancestors 7 References

[edit] Early life

Charles was the second son of Charles III and his wife Maria Amalia of Saxony. He was born at Portici, while his father was king of the Two Sicilies. His elder brother Don Felipe was passed over for the two thrones as mentally retarded and epileptic.

Charles had inherited a great frame and immense physical strength from the Saxon line of his mother, granddaughter of August the Strong. When young he was fond of wrestling with the strongest countrymen he could find. He was considered by many to be intellectually sluggish and quite credulous.

[edit] Marriage and children

Charles IV married his first cousin Maria Louisa, the daughter of Philip, Duke of Parma, in 1765. The couple had fourteen children, six of which survived into adulthood:

• Charles Clement (Carlos Clemente) (September 19, 1771 - March 7, 1774)
• Charlotte Joaquina (Carlota Joaquina) (April 25, 1775 - January 7, 1830), married the Prince John of Portugal, later King John VI
• Maria Louisa (Maria Luisa) (September 11, 1777 - July 2, 1782)
• Maria Amalia (January 9, 1779 - July 22, 1798)
• Charles Dominic (Carlos Domingo) (March 5, 1780 - June 11, 1783)
• Maria Louisa (Maria Luisa) (July 6, 1782 - March 13, 1824), married Louis, heir of Bourbon-Parma and became Queen consort of Etruria and Duchess of Lucca
• Charles Francis (Carlos Francisco) (September 5, 1783 - November 11, 1784)
• Philip Francis (Felipe Francisco) (September 5, 1783 - October 18, 1784)
• Ferdinand (Fernando) (October 14, 1784 - September 29, 1833), succeeded his father as King of Spain
• Charles (Carlos), Count of Molina (March 29, 1788 - March 10, 1855), later the first Carlist pretender
• Maria Isabella (June 6, 1789 - September 13, 1848), married Francis I, King of the Two Sicilies
• Maria Teresa (February 16, 1791 - November 2, 1794)
• Felipe Maria (March 28, 1792 - March 1, 1794)
• Francisco Antonio de Paula, Duke of Cadiz (March 10, 1794 - August 13, 1865)

Maria Luisa was widely considered a vicious and coarse woman who thoroughly dominated the king. During the lifetime of Charles III, she led her husband into court intrigues against the prime minister, the Count of Floridablanca.

[edit] Reign

Spanish House of Bourbon 1700-1833

Philip V Children    Louis I    Ferdinand VI    Charles III    Mariana Victoria, Queen of Portugal    Philip, Duke of Parma    Teresa, Dauphine of France    Infante Louis    Antonia, Queen of Sardinia Louis I Ferdinand VI Charles III Children    Infanta Maria Josepha    Maria Luisa, Holy Roman Empress    Felipe, Duke of Calabria    Charles IV    Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies    Infante Gabriel    Infante Antonio Grandchild of cadet line    Infante Pedro Carlos Charles IV Children    Charlotte, Queen of Portugal    Infanta Maria Amelia    Maria Luisa, Queen of Etruria, Duchess of Parma    Ferdinand VII    Carlos, Count of Molina    Maria Isabella, Queen of the Two Sicilies    Infante Francisco de Paula Grandchildren of cadet lines    Carlos, Count of Montemolin    Juan, Count of Montizón    Infante Fernando    Francis, Duke of Cadiz, King Consort of Spain    Henry, Duke of Sevilla    Infanta Maria Cristina    Amelia, Princess of Bavaria Ferdinand VII Children    Isabella II    Luisa Fernanda, Duchess of Montpensier Edit

In 1788, Charles III died and Charles IV succeeded to the throne. Even though he had a profound belief in the sanctity of his office and kept up the appearance of an absolute, powerful monarch, he never took more than a passive part in the direction of his own government, occupying himself with hunting. The affairs of government he left to his wife and his prime minister. In 1792, Maria Louis finally succeeded in ousting the Count of Floridablanca from office and had him replaced with Pedro Pablo Abarca de Bolea, Count of Aranda, the chief of the Aragonese party. However, in the wake of the war against Republican France, the liberal-leaning Count of Aranda was replaced by Manuel de Godoy, a favourite of the Queen and allegedly her lover, who would henceforth enjoy the lasting favour of the King.

Godoy continued Aranda's policy of neutrality towards France but after Spain protested against the execution of the deposed king in 1793, France declared war on Spain and in 1795 forced Godoy to conclude an alliance and declared war on Great Britain.

In 1803, after smallpox had affected his daughter María Luísa, the king commissioned his doctor Francisco Javier de Balmis to bring the vaccine to the Spanish colonies on state expenses.

Spain remained an ally of France and supported the Continental Blockade until the the British naval victory at Trafalgar. However, After Napoleon's victory over Prussia in 1807, Godoy again steared Spain back onto the French side. This switching back and forth devalued Charles' position as a trustworthy ally while the return to the French alliance increased Godoy's unpopularity and strenghtened partido fernandista, the supporters of Crown Prince Ferdinand, who favored a close relationship with Great Britain.

[edit] Abdication

When King Charles was told that his son Ferdinand was appealing to Napoleon against Godoy, he took the side of the minister. When the populace rose at Aranjuez in 1808 he abdicated on March 19, in favour of his son^[1], to save the minister who had been taken prisoner. Ferdinand took the throne as Ferdinand VII, but was distrusted by Napoleon who had 100,000 soldiers in Spain by that time.

Charles IV found refuge in France, and became a prisoner of Napoleon: the latter, posing as arbiter, summoned both Charles IV and his son to Bayonne in April and coaxed Charles (who had a difficult time restraining himself from assaulting his son) to retract his earlier abdication and abdicate, on May 5, 1808, in favour of Napoleon.^[2]

[edit] Later life

Charles was then interned in Talleyrand's castle in Valençay.^[3][4] He accepted a pension from the French Emperor and spent the rest of his life between his wife and Godoy, staying briefly in Compiègne and more durably in Marseille.

In 1812, he finally settled in Rome in the Palazzo Barberini.^[5][6][7][8], where he died on January 20, 1819.

[edit] Ancestors

16. Louis XIV of France

8. Louis, Dauphin of France

17. Maria Theresa of Spain

4. Philip V of Spain

18. Ferdinand Maria, Elector of Bavaria

9. Maria Anna of Bavaria

19. Henriette Adelaide of Savoy

2. Charles III of Spain

20. Ranuccio II Farnese, Duke of Parma

10. Odoardo II Farnese

21. Isabella of Modena

5. Elisabeth of Parma

22. Philipp Wilhelm, Elector Palatine

11. Dorothea Sophie of Neuburg

23. Landgravine Elisabeth Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt

1. Charles IV of Spain

24. John George III, Elector of Saxony

12. Augustus II the Strong

25. Anne Sophie of Denmark

6. Augustus III of Poland

26. Christian Ernst, Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth

13. Christiane Eberhardine of Brandenburg-Bayreuth

27. Sophie Luise of Württemberg

3. Maria Amalia of Saxony

28. Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor

14. Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor

29. Eleonore-Magdalena of Neuburg

7. Maria Josepha of Austria

30. John Frederick, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg

15. Wilhelmina Amalia of Brunswick

31. Benedicta-Henrietta of Simmern

[edit] References

1. ^ Articles: Period of Imperial Crisis (revised) - Historical Text Archive
2. ^ Gazeta de Madrid de 20 de mayo páginas 483 and 484.
3. ^ Napoleon I: Blockade and the peninsular campaign - Britannica Online Encyclopedia
4. ^ http://pcombal.club.fr/bioanglaise.html — “The Spanish affair&rqduo;
5. ^ http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_IV_d%27Espagne
6. ^ Manuel de Godoy#Exile
7. ^ Worldroots.com
8. ^ The Royal Favorite: Manuel Francisco Domingo de Godoy, Prince of the Peace

• Historia del Reinado de Carlos IV, by General Gomez de Arteche (5 vols.), in the Historia General de España de la Real Academia de la Historia (Madrid, 1892, etc.).

Charles IV of Spain House of Bourbon Cadet branch of the Capetian dynasty Born: 11 November 1748 Died: 20 January 1819
Regnal titles
Preceded by Charles III	King of Spain 1788–1808	Succeeded by Ferdinand VII
Vacant Title last held by Prince Ferdinand his uncle	Prince of Asturias 1759-1788	Succeeded by Prince Ferdinand his son

---

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

v • d • e Monarchs of Spain from 1479 House of Trastámara (1479-1555) Ferdinand II and Isabella I • Philip I and Joanna I House of Austria (1516-1700) Joanna I and Charles I • Charles I • Philip II • Philip III • Philip IV • Charles II House of Borbón (1700-1808) Philip V • Louis I • Philip V • Ferdinand VI • Charles III • Charles IV • Ferdinand VII House of Bonaparte (1808-1813) Joseph House of Borbón (1813-1868) Ferdinand VII • Isabella II House of Savoy (1868-1873) Amadeo I House of Borbón (1874-1931) Alfonso XII • Alfonso XIII House of Borbón (since 1975) Juan Carlos I