Mendizábal Confiscations and the First Carlist War Impact

The Mendizábal Confiscations

Joseph I and the Cádiz Parliament enacted new confiscations, which, like those of the Liberal Triennium (1820–1823), did not prevent the return to absolutism. It was after the death of Ferdinand VII that the bourgeois liberal revolution took hold.

The 1836 Confiscation Process

In 1836, amid the civil war against the Carlists, Mendizábal launched the confiscation of all regular church property. As a first step in 1835, he dissolved religious orders—except those devoted to teaching or caring for the sick—and declared their land, buildings, libraries, and works of art to be state property. These assets were subsequently sold by public auction.

Objectives of the Expropriation

The primary objectives sought were:

• Restructuring public finances
• Financing the war against the Carlists
• Converting buyers into supporters of the liberal cause

Fiscal purposes trumped social reform, which would have involved redistributing land among the peasants who worked it.

The First Carlist War

The beginning of the war favored the Carlists, who defeated government troops repeatedly due to their mobility and knowledge of the terrain. However, in 1835, they failed in the siege of Bilbao, where their best strategist, General Zumalacárregui, died.

The Decline of the Carlist Cause

In the following years, the Carlists tried to break their isolation through several expeditions to the south but found no support among the population. In the summer of 1837, they were close to taking Madrid, but the assault failed. From then on, they moved to a defensive position.

The Abrazo de Vergara

Exhaustion led General Maroto to open negotiations with General Espartero, the government army chief. This ended in August 1839 with the Abrazo de Vergara. In exchange for their surrender, the ranks and jobs of the vanquished were recognized. The agreement also included a commitment to the fueros (charters), although subsequent liberal governments failed to observe them.

Final Resistance

A Carlist nucleus, led by General Cabrera, resisted until the capture of Morella—his stronghold in the Maestrazgo—by Espartero's troops in May 1840.