Ominous Decade

Ferdinand VII depicted by Francisco Goya.

After his restoration, Ferdinand VII started a period of his reign known as "Ominous Decade", due to its marked stress on the suppression of his enemies. Most of the members of the Liberal Party fled abroad, to London (where some received monetary help by the British government for their role in the wars against Napoleon), Paris, Malta, the United States, or to newly proclaimed independent republics of South America, towards which the Spanish liberal government had held a far less hostile stance than Ferdinand VII. Others, instead, were ruthlessly eliminated, such as Del Riego, the main symbol of the revolution, who was hanged on 7 November 1823 in La Cebada Square of Madrid.

Harsh censorship was re-established, while an archaic and totally reactionary organization of universities was introduced under the strict control of the Minister of Justice, Francisco Tadeo Calomarde, who was the mastermind of the suppression of opposition and of the restoration of former institutions, such as the Jesuits (outlawed by the Bourbons in the late 18th century), monasteries and others. The French corps remained in Spain, with the de facto role of an occupation force: however, its heavy cost of supply caused further damage to the Spanish treasury, which had been depleted under the liberal government, also due to the South American revolutions.

The discontent of the Spanish military was further spurred by the formation of the Voluntarios Realistas ("Royalist Volunteers"), a militia created by Ferdinand VII in 1823, a short time after the collapse of the constitutional cabinet, in order to provide the king a direct means of suppression against the liberal opposition. In 1826 the militia amounted to some 200,000 volunteers, half of which included in 486 infantry battalions, 20 artillery companies, 52 cavalry squadrons and some sapper companies.

The decade saw an endless series of riots and attempts of revolutions, such as that of Torrijos, funded by English liberals, on 11 December 1831. Aside from the liberal side, Ferdinand's policies caused discontent also in the conservative party: in 1827 a revolt broke out in Catalonia, and later extended to Valencia, Aragon, the Basque Country and Andalusia, spurred by ultra-reactionaries according to whom Ferdinand's restoration had been too timid, failing in particular to reinstate the Inquisition. In what was called the War of the Agraviados, some 30,000 men controlled most of Catalonia and some of the northern regions, and even established an autonomous government. Ferdinand intervened personally, moving to Tarragona to quench the revolt: he promised an amnesty, but once the rioters had surrendered, he had their leaders executed and others exiled to France.

Further instability came when, on 31 March 1830, Ferdinand issued the Pragmatic Sanction, which had been approved by his father Charles IV as early as 1789, but not published till then. The decree allowed the succession to the Spanish throne also to female heirs, in case a male one was not available. Ferdinand would have only two children, both daughters, the eldest being the future queen Isabella II, who was born in October 1830. The Sanction excluded from the succession Ferdinand's brother, Carlos, Count of Molina.

In his later years, Ferdinand fell severely ill, and he lost the ability to direct his own affairs. His young wife, Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies, took the regency. Since the other pretender, Don Carlos, was considered a champion of absolutism, Maria Christina decided to seek support from the liberal opposition.

Her policy worsened the acrimony amongst Carlos's supporters. At Ferdinand's death, in 1833, his daughter Isabella II was declared Queen; Carlos opposed this and declared himself the legitimate heir to the throne with the name of Charles V. This was the beginning of the First Carlist War.