The Urgel Regency (in Spanish: Regencia de Urgel ) was an interim government , or interregnum , expressly authorised by Fernando VII towards the end of May 1822.
43-887: It was formed on 14 or 15 August 1822, during the Liberal Triennium ( Trienio Liberal ), by the Spanish absolutists , or Royalists, supporters of Fernando VII, who opposed the Constitutional Government that (basing itself on the Spanish Constitution of 1812 ) had resulted from the Spanish Revolution of 1820 . The Regency's leading figures were Bernardo Mozo de Rosales , Marquis of Mataflorida; Baron de Eroles ; and Jaime Creux , Archbishop-elect of Tarragona. Based in Seo de Urgel ,
86-740: A period of liberal rule. However, political conspiracies of both right and left proliferated in Spain, as was the case across much of the rest of Europe. Liberal revolutionaries stormed the King's palace and seized Ferdinand VII, who was a prisoner of the Cortes in all but name for the next three years and retired to Aranjuez . The elections to the Cortes Generales in 1822 were won by Rafael del Riego . Ferdinand's supporters set themselves up at Urgell , took up arms and put in place an absolutist regency,
129-600: A very strong argument in favour of absolutism. A Regency destined to re-establish the Throne and the Altar should be constituted of people of good breeding. But the times of commotion in which we lived meant otherwise, and even absolutism had to enlist its people from among the plebs. This fact, which had been observed since the previous century, was expressed by Louis XV , when he said that the nobility needed to be covered in manure in order to be made fertile. Of these three regents,
172-714: Is known in France as the "Spanish Expedition" ( expédition d’Espagne ) and in Spain as " The Hundred Thousand Sons of St. Louis ". King Ferdinand VII provoked widespread unrest, particularly in the army, by refusing to accept the liberal Spanish Constitution of 1812 . The King sought to reclaim the Spanish colonies in the Americas that had recently revolted successfully, consequently depriving Spain from an important source of revenue. In January 1820, soldiers assembled at Cádiz for an expedition to South America, angry over infrequent pay, bad food and poor quarters, mutinied under
215-496: Is only referred as "Louis Antoine". The document was signed in favour of his nephew Henri, duke of Bordeaux . For the final time he left for exile, where he was known as the "count of Marnes ". Louis Antoine and his wife travelled to Edinburgh , Scotland, in November 1830 and took up residence in a house at 21 (now 22) Regent Terrace near Holyrood Palace where Charles X was staying. Emperor Francis I of Austria offered
258-536: The Cortes of Cádiz during the French occupation, was ended again by the government, which led to accusations of it being nothing more than afrancesados (francophiles), who, only six years earlier, had been forced out of the country. More radical liberals attempted to revolt against the entire idea of a monarchy, regardless of how little power it had. In 1821, they were suppressed, but the incident served to illustrate
301-466: The Duke of Wellington to bring about Napoleon's overthrow. Louis Antoine was, as chief of the royalist army in the southern Rhône River valley, unable to prevent the return of Napoleon to Paris, and he was again forced to flee to Britain during the " Hundred Days ". He loyally served Louis XVIII after the final defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo . In 1823, he commanded a French army sent into Spain to restore
344-513: The July Revolution , but this is not backed up by one interpretation of the historical evidence. He never reigned over the country, but after his father's death in 1836, he was the legitimist pretender as Louis XIX . He was a petit-fils de France at birth, and was initially known as Louis Antoine d'Artois. After his father's accession to the throne, he became Dauphin de France , and his surname changed to de France , following
387-626: The Prague Castle in Prague to the royal entourage in 1832, so Louis-Antoine and Charles X moved there. Francis I, however, died in 1835, and his successor Ferdinand I told the French royal family that he needed the palace for his coronation in the summer of 1836. The exiled French kings and their entourage therefore left and eventually arrived at the palace of Grafenberg in Görz , Austria on 21 October 1836. Many legitimists did not recognize
430-709: The Urgel Regency . Ferdinand's supporters, accompanied by the Royal Guard, staged an uprising in Madrid that was subdued by forces supporting the new government and its constitution. Despite the defeat of Ferdinand's supporters at Madrid, civil war erupted in the regions of Castile , Toledo , and Andalusia . Three years of liberal rule (the Trienio Liberal ) followed. The Progresista government reorganized Spain into 52 provinces, and it intended to reduce
473-558: The château de Beauregard , located 5 km (3.1 mi) away from Versailles. On the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789, the two young princes followed their father into exile first to Turin , then Germany, and finally England. In 1792, Louis Antoine joined the émigré army of his cousin, the Prince of Condé . In June 1795, his uncle, the comte de Provence , proclaimed himself King Louis XVIII . Later that year,
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#1732776096043516-658: The "Concert of Europe" was so concerned by Spain's liberal government and its surprising hardiness that it was prepared to intervene on Ferdinand's behalf. In 1822, the Congress of Verona authorized France to intervene. Louis XVIII of France was only too happy to put an end to Spain's liberal experiment, and a massive army, the 100,000 Sons of Saint Louis , was dispatched across the Pyrenees in April 1823. The Spanish army, fraught by internal divisions, offered little resistance to
559-671: The 20-year-old Louis Antoine led an unsuccessful royalist uprising in the Vendée . In early 1797, he joined his brother and uncle in the German Duchy of Brunswick , hoping to join the Austrian Army. The defeat of Austria by France obliged them to flee, and they took refuge in Mittau , Courland , under the protection of Tsar Paul I of Russia . There, on 10 June 1799, Louis Antoine married his first cousin, Marie Thérèse of France ,
602-647: The Congress of Verona in October 1822, gave France a mandate to intervene and restore the Spanish monarchy. On 22 January 1823, a secret treaty was signed at the congress of Verona, allowing France to invade Spain to restore Ferdinand VII as an absolute monarch. With that agreement from the Holy Alliance, on 28 January 1823, Louis XVIII announced that " a hundred thousand Frenchmen are ready to march, invoking
645-592: The France-Spain border, charging them with halting the spread of Spanish liberalism and the "yellow fever" from encroaching into France. In September 1822, the cordon sanitaire became an observation corps and then very quickly transformed itself into a military expedition. The Holy Alliance (Russia, Austria and Prussia ) refused Ferdinand's request for help, but the Quintuple Alliance ( United Kingdom , France, Russia, Prussia and Austria ), at
688-554: The French, showing some ability. In early 1801, Tsar Paul made peace with Napoleon Bonaparte , and the French court in exile fled to Warsaw , then controlled by Prussia . For the next ten years, Louis Antoine accompanied and advised his uncle, Louis XVIII. They returned to Russia when Alexander I became Tsar, but in mid-1807 the treaty between Napoleon and Alexander forced them to take refuge in Britain. There, at Hartwell House , King Louis reconstituted his court, and Louis-Antoine
731-779: The Government offensive at the head of the Constitutionalist Army in autumn-winter of 1822-1823, forcing the Royalist Regency to flee across the border into France. Despite counting on the initial support of the Holy Alliance , the Regency generated tension among the different factions of Royalists, with some leading military figures of the day, such as Francisco de Eguía and his supporters, even declaring war against Mataflorida and his Regency with
774-560: The Russian foreign minister and a leading European conservative statesman of the Holy Alliance ; Montmorency , known for his strong reactionary, ultramontane , and Ultra-royalist views; Bernstorff , considered to have subordinated the particular interests of Prussia to the European policy of Metternich and the Holy Alliance; and Klemens von Metternich . The meeting, held at Metternich's apartment, dealt with two matters concerning Spain,
817-673: The Spanish King's absolute powers , known as the Hundred Thousand Sons of Saint Louis . He was victorious in the Battle of Trocadero , after which the reactionary power of King Ferdinand VII of Spain was firmly restored. For this achievement, he was offered the title of Prince of Trocadero . Upon the Louis XVIII's death in 1824, his father became King Charles X and Louis Antoine became Dauphin , heir-apparent to
860-692: The abdications as valid, and recognized Charles X as king until his death in 1836, with Louis Antoine succeeding him as Louis XIX. Louis Antoine died in Görz in 1844, aged 68. He was buried in his father Charles X's crypt in the church of the Franciscan monastery of Kostanjevica in Nova Gorica , Slovenia . Upon his death, his nephew the Duke of Bordeaux became head of the Bourbon royal family of France under
903-622: The city-fortress taken by Royalist forces some weeks earlier, the Urgel Regency was one of the major outcomes of Spain's 1822-1823 civil war , the conflict resulting from the uprising of the Royalists who rejected the 1812 Constitution and wanted to restore the absolute monarchy . The Regency was presided over by the Marquis de Mataflorida , who had agreed to forming a government in the “liberated” zone, that is, one not controlled by
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#1732776096043946-514: The cost of their lives. Benito Pérez Galdós refers to "the three regents" in his 1877 novel Los Cien Mil Hijos de San Luis ( Hundred Thousand Sons of Saint Louis ), part of his Episodios Nacionales . The following is an example: These were the Baron de Eroles and don Jaime Creux , Archbishop of Tarragona, both of them, just like Mataflorida , from the humblest of classes, brought out of obscurity by these revolutionary times, which wasn't really
989-640: The eldest child of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette , and the only member of the immediate royal family to survive the French Revolution. Since her release from the Temple Prison in 1795, she had been living at the Austrian court. They had no children. In April 1800, Louis Antoine took command of a regiment of cavalry in the Bavarian army and took part in the battle of Hohenlinden against
1032-686: The end of the Peninsular War (1814), Fernando VII, despite having sworn to uphold the Constitution of Cádiz , behaved as a tyrant and despot , imposing the absolutism of the Antiguo Régimen . He not only rejected the Constitution he had sworn to uphold, but went out of his way to carry out a harsh repression and persecution of liberals and so-called afrancesados . Rafael del Riego ’s pronunciamiento of 1 January 1820
1075-479: The frail coalition that bound the government together. The election of a radical liberal government in 1823 further destabilized Spain. The army, whose liberal leanings had brought the government to power, began to waver when the Spanish economy failed to improve, and in 1823, a mutiny in Madrid had to be suppressed. The Jesuits , who had been banned by Charles III in the 18th century, only to be rehabilitated by Ferdinand VII after his restoration, were banned again by
1118-461: The government announced a ceasefire for negotiations with the rebels until the 1812 Constitution, which ironically, had been superseded by Ferdinand's actions, was accepted. According to the ceasefire, Spain would end the persecution and would issue a blanket amnesty for the insurgents; otherwise, the war would continue. The 11 commissioners failed, since the patriots demanded recognition of their independence from Spain. In 1822, Ferdinand VII applied
1161-550: The government. For the duration of liberal rule, Ferdinand (still technically head of state) lived under virtual house arrest in Madrid. The Congress of Vienna , ending the Napoleonic Wars, had inaugurated the "Congress system" as an instrument of international stability in Europe. Rebuffed by the Holy Alliance of Russia , Austria , and Prussia in his request for help against the liberal revolutionaries in 1820, by 1822,
1204-487: The intention of renewing their activities and in mid-March they returned to Toulouse to meet up with Louis Antoine, Duke of Angoulême , who would soon (that same April) lead the " Hundred Thousand Sons of Saint Louis ", comprising some five army corps, but actually only numbering some 60,000 troops, to invade Spain to help the Spanish Royalists restore King Ferdinand VII to the throne. On his return to Spain, at
1247-441: The leadership of Rafael del Riego . Pledging fealty to the 1812 Constitution, they seized their commander. Subsequently, the rebel forces moved to nearby San Fernando , where they began preparations to march on the capital, Madrid . Despite the rebels' relative weakness, Ferdinand accepted the constitution on 9 March 1820, granting power to liberal ministers and ushering in the so-called Liberal Triennium ( el Trienio Liberal ),
1290-487: The liberal government headed by the " exaltado " Evaristo San Miguel . Despite Wellington having assured the British Foreign Secretary , George Canning , on 18 October 1822, that "all notion of what is called a European army, or any offensive operation against Spain, is at an end", on 20 October 1822, at the first working session of the Congress of Verona , attended by Wellington; Nesselrode ,
1333-580: The most likeable was Mataflorida, who was also the most learned; the most tolerant was Eroles, and the most evil and unpleasant, Don Jaime Creux. It cannot be said that these men had been slow in developing their brilliant careers. Eroles was a student in 1808 and a lieutenant-general in 1816. The other, from obscure cleric, became a bishop, in reward for his betrayal of las Cortes in '14. ( Pérez Galdós : Los Cien Mil Hijos de San Luis , 1877, p. 38.) Liberal Triennium The Trienio Liberal , ( [ˈtɾjenjo liβeˈɾal] ) or Three Liberal Years ,
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1376-514: The name of Saint Louis , to safeguard the throne of Spain for a grandson of Henry IV of France ". Louis Antoine, Duke of Angoul%C3%AAme Louis Antoine of France, Duke of Angoulême (6 August 1775 – 3 June 1844) was the elder son of Charles X and the last Dauphin of France from 1824 to 1830. He is identified by the Guinness World Records as the shortest-reigning monarch , reigning for less than 20 minutes during
1419-413: The petition was shelved, for the time being. Later, however, when four of the five allies advocated invading Spain, Wellington posed the following: "Let us suppose that you are already in Madrid and that only two battles have been required to take you there, what would you do then? Would you overthrow the constitution, or would you let it stand?". The Regency came to an end when Francisco Espoz y Mina led
1462-645: The publication of A la España realista y a las demás naciones de Europa ( To Royalist Spain and the Other Nations of Europe .). Due, in part, to the mounting pressure from the liberal military forces, the three leaders were finally forced to flee Spain in November 1822, via Puigcerdá and Llivia, escorted by 300 troops of the so-called Regency Battalion, and head to Toulouse, arriving there in December 1822. In mid-February 1823, they met up in Perpignan with
1505-646: The regional autonomy that had been a hallmark of Spanish bureaucracy since Habsburg rule in the 16th and 17th centuries. Opposition of the affected regions, in particular, Aragon, Navarre, and Catalonia, shared in the king's antipathy for the liberal government. The anticlerical policies of the Progresista government led to friction with the Catholic Church , and attempts to bring about industrialisation alienated old trade guilds . The Spanish Inquisition , which had been abolished by both Joseph Bonaparte and
1548-865: The royal custom for princes with such rank. Louis Antoine was born at the Palace of Versailles , as the eldest son of Charles Philippe, Count of Artois , the youngest brother of King Louis XVI . He was born one year after the death of his great-grandfather, King Louis XV and 7 years after the death of his great-grandmother, the Queen Marie Leszczyńska . His mother was Princess Maria Theresa of Savoy (known as Marie Thérèse in France), daughter of Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia and Maria Antonia of Spain . From 1780 to 1789, Louis Antoine and his younger brother, Charles Ferdinand, Duke of Berry , were educated by their gouverneur Armand-Louis, Marquis of Sérent in
1591-598: The second of which was a letter, dated 11 September, signed by the Marquis of Mataflorida and the Archbishop of Tarragona. Read by Carlos de España , as envoy of the Urgel Regency, the letter requested the allied sovereigns' aid "to restore the King to his throne and to reestablish all things as they had been before March 9, 1820". Of the five members of the Alliance, only Russia was initially willing to invade Spain and
1634-526: The terms of the Congress of Vienna , lobbied for the assistance of the other absolute monarchs of Europe, in the process joining the Holy Alliance formed by Russia, Prussia, Austria and France to restore absolutism. In France, the ultra-royalists pressured Louis XVIII to intervene. To temper their counter-revolutionary ardour, the Duc de Richelieu deployed troops along the Pyrenees Mountains along
1677-519: The throne. He attended his father's coronation in Reims in May 1825. In the July Revolution of 1830, masses of angry demonstrators demanded the abdication of Charles. He reluctantly signed the document of abdication on 2 August 1830. It is said that Louis Antoine, who relinquished his right to the throne, became king "Louis XIX" between his father's signature and his own, but in the abdication document he
1720-480: The well organised French force, who seized Madrid and reinstalled Ferdinand as absolute monarch. The liberals' hopes for a new Spanish War of Independence were dashed. Regarding the policy for America in the absolutist period, the new government changed political repression into negotiation. Sending troops was replaced by commissioners to attract pro-independence leaders, who were invited to submit to royal authority in exchange for recognition by Spain. With that in mind,
1763-471: Was a period of three years in the modern history of Spain between 1820 and 1823, when a liberal government ruled Spain after a military uprising in January 1820 by the lieutenant-colonel Rafael de Riego against the absolutist rule of Ferdinand VII . It ended in 1823 when, with the approval of the crowned heads of Europe, a French army invaded Spain and reinstated the King's absolute power. This invasion
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1806-550: Was granted an allowance of £300 a month. Twice (in 1807 and 1813) he attempted to return to Russia to join the fight against Napoleon, but was refused by the Tsar. Louis Antoine remained in Britain until 1814 when he sailed to Bordeaux , which had declared for the King. His entry into the city on 12 March 1814 was regarded as the beginning of the Bourbon Restoration in France . From there, Louis Antoine fought alongside
1849-622: Was the start of the Trienio Liberal , which ended in October 1823 when, with the approval of the crowned heads of Europe, a French army, known in Spain as "The Hundred Thousand Sons of St. Louis ", and in France as the "Spanish Expedition" ( expédition d’Espagne ), invaded Spain, and Fernando VII was able to restore an absolute monarchy . Riego was by no means the first who had tried to intervene in this represión. Before him, several notable public figures, such as Espoz y Mina , Richard , Renovales , Díaz Porlier (1815), Brigadier-general Lacy (1816) or Vidal (1819), had all failed, most of them at
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