Key Terms of 19th Century Spain: A Glossary

Key Terms of 19th Century Spain

**Pragmatic Sanction**

A rule or statutory provision enacted by the king to affect fundamental aspects of the state, such as the succession to the throne. In this case, *Felipe VII* took place in 1830 to eliminate this law because it failed *Salic* sons.

**Regency**

A transitional period during which a person exercises power on behalf of the monarch, either too young or old, due to absence or incapacity.

**Ominous Decade**

The period of the last phase of the reign of *Fernando VII* and the restoration of absolutism after the Liberal Triennium (1820-1823) ruled that the Constitution of Cadiz, 1812. This period is called shameful and began in 1823 with the invasion of the Hundred Thousand Sons of St. Louis, ending in 1833 after the death of *Felipe VII*.

**Carlists**

A legitimate political movement that emerged in liberal and anti-revolutionary Spain in 1833 after the death of *Felipe VII*. They refused to acknowledge *Isabel* as queen and enacted around the Old Regime. The head of this movement was *Felipe's* brother, *Don Carlos VII*, who promoted an alternative to a branch of the Bourbon dynasty.

**Moderates**

A liberal political party and dynastic defenders of the Spanish dynastic line represented by *Isabel II*, against the Carlists who competed for power during the reign (1833-1868). They defended the balance between the Crown and Courts and to share both the sovereignty.

**Hundred Thousand Sons of Saint Louis**

A French army led by the Duke of Angouleme that intervened militarily in Spain following the request of *Felipe VII* in 1823 against the liberals to support him and restore absolutism under the agreements of the Holy Alliance.

**Pronunciamiento**

An uprising or coup d'etat of an army, usually led by a high command, against a government to overthrow it.

**Salic Law**

Enacted by *Felipe V* in Spain, where only women could inherit the throne in the absence of male heirs in the mainline (children) or lateral (brothers and nephews).

**Liberalism**

The doctrine of political liberalism is characterized by its defense of individualism, inviolable rights, separation of powers, and national sovereignty.

**Creole**

A resident born in America to parents descended from Spanish or of Spanish origin.

**Freemasonry**

It is defined as a universal association, philanthropic, philosophical, and progressive. In Spain, I think in 1727 when the first lodge in Madrid that depended on the Lodge of England.