Spanish Liberal Triennium (1820-1823): Key Figures & Events

The Liberal Triennium (1820-1823)

The Liberal Triennium was a period of three years in Spanish history, from 1820 to 1823, when a liberal government ruled Spain after a military uprising by Lieutenant Colonel Rafael del Riego against the absolutist rule of Ferdinand VII.

Key Figures and Events

• Rafael del Riego: Lieutenant Colonel stationed at the head of St. John with an army that was to be shipped to quell the revolt of the American colonies. He proclaimed the Constitution of Cadiz and reinstated constitutional municipal authorities. He became the main instigator of the ruling Liberal Triennium. Riego visited several Andalusian towns without much support, but despite this, he joined the ruling cities.
• Conde de la Bisbal: The Earl who led the charge by the government army to fight Riego, chose to proclaim the constitution in Ocaña, so Ferdinand VII had to consent. Ferdinand was forced to swear to the constitution, becoming a constitutional monarch.
• Holy Alliance: A meeting of Napoleon's victorious European powers to maintain the situation before the French Revolution.
• Inmates (Doceanistas): A group of deputies who were part of the Cortes of Cádiz were imprisoned. Ferdinand VII referred to them as prisoners in a contemptuous tone. Also known as *doceanistas* or moderates, they were convinced of the constitutional conversion of the king. They hoped to gain influence through measures such as the introduction of a second chamber or senate.

Anti-Clerical Laws

Several laws were passed against the Church:

1. Expulsion of the Jesuits.
2. Reduction in the number of monasteries and convents; assets were auctioned.
3. Halving of the tithe-paying peasants.
4. Abolition of ecclesiastical privileges, i.e., the particular laws that allowed church people to be judged by ecclesiastical tribunals instead of civil courts.

Amortized or Connected Property

This referred to land that could not change owners and would switch to the hands of capitalists. Families who were working their ancestral lands were left without the ability to cultivate them because these lands passed into the hands of new owners who had freedom of contract.

Clerical-Absolutist Peasant Alliance

An alliance created by anti-liberal opposition groups due to the agricultural situation and the actions against the Church.

Hundred Thousand Sons of Saint Louis

An army sent by France under the orders of the Duke of Angoulême. It was formed by more than one hundred thousand soldiers to curb the constitutional army.

The Ominous Decade (1823-1833)

• Ballesteros: Finance Minister who contributed financially to the foundation of the Bonaplata factory in Barcelona, the first to use steam engines.
• Mariana Pineda: A young widow from Granada, killed by garrote vil for embroidering a liberal flag.