Carlism
Carlism (Basque: Karlismo; Catalan: Carlisme; Galician: Carlismo; Spanish: Carlismo) is a Traditionalist and Legitimist political movement in Spain aimed at establishing an alternative branch of the Bourbon dynasty,[1] one descended from Don Carlos, Count of Molina (1788–1855), on the Spanish throne.
The movement was founded as a consequence of an early 19th-century dispute over the succession of the Spanish monarchy and widespread dissatisfaction with the Alfonsine line of the House of Bourbon, and subsequently found itself becoming a notable element of Spanish conservatism in its 19th-century struggle against liberalism, which repeatedly broke out into military conflicts known as the Carlist Wars.
It was at its strongest in the 1830s but experienced a revival following Spain's defeat in the Spanish–American War in 1898, when the Spanish Empire lost its last remaining significant overseas territories of the Philippines, Cuba, Guam, and Puerto Rico to the United States.[2]
Carlism continued to play a notable role in the 20th century as part of the Nationalist faction in the Spanish Civil War and the subsequently triumphant Francoist regime until the Spanish transition to democracy in 1975. Carlism continues to survive as a minor party:
13 May 1713: , first of the Spanish Bourbons, together with the Cortes, Spain's parliament, through an Auto Accordado changes the order of succession to the Spanish crown from that outlined in the Siete Partidas. Where the previous rule consisted of male-preference primogeniture, Philip's new law instituted semi-Salic law, under which accession of a female or her descendants is possible only following the extinction of all dynastic males descended in the male line from Philip V.
Philip V
1789: During the reign of , the Cortes approves a reversion of the system of succession to the traditional Siete Partidas order of succession. However, the law was not promulgated, due in part to protests from the cadet branches of the House of Bourbon (the Sicilian branch and the Parmesan branch), who saw it as diminishing their hereditary rights.
Charles IV
1812. A new Spanish constitution outlines the rules of succession in accordance with the Siete Partidas.
31 March 1830: , at the time without issue and his fourth wife pregnant, promulgates the Pragmatic Sanction of 1830 which ratifies the 1789 law, thereby re-establishing the pre-Philippine order of succession.
Ferdinand VII
10 October 1830: The future is born to Ferdinand VII. After several court intrigues, the Pragmatic Sanction was definitively approved in 1832. Ferdinand's brother, the Infante Don Carlos, up to that time the heir presumptive, feels robbed of his rights, and leaves for Portugal.
Isabella II
1833–1876
Carlist Wars
1833–1876: factions pursued power mainly by military means.
1876–1936: Carlism reverted to a peaceful political movement.
1936–1975: During the , Carlists were part of Franco's coalition. During the Franco regime, some government ministers were drawn from Franco's Carlist supporters, but the movement as a whole was gradually marginalized by the generalissimo.
Spanish Civil War
1975–present: After Franco's death, the Carlist movement declines into near irrelevance.
Francisco Javier I
[20]
As traditionalists, Carlists mistrusted ideology as a political driving force. Some 19th-century pamphlets expressed it in this form: against a philosophical constitution (liberalism, based on ideology), a historical constitution is proposed (based on history, and the teachings of the Church).
Carlism's long active history—it has been an important force for over 170 years—and the fact that it attracted a large and diverse following, makes a comprehensive categorization more difficult.
There has almost never been a single school of thought inside Carlism.
The ideas expressed inside Carlism were partly and openly shared with other forces on the political spectrum. The more conservative, Catholic (or Christian-democratic) wings of the various nationalist and regionalist movements throughout Spain can claim an indirect influence from Carlism, particularly relating to fueros and regional self-government.
Motto: Dios, Patria, Fueros, Rey
[28]
The . In Basque, the Carlist troops were hence called txapelgorri –though the name was also shared by units of the opposing Liberal side. The red beret was worn as a distinguishing device by Carlists soldiers in the First Carlist War and later became an emblem of Carlists in general, often with a yellow pom-pom or tassel.[30]
red beret
was the site of the Carlist court.
Estella-Lizarra
/Vergara was the place of the Abrazo de Vergara, which ended the First Carlist War in the North.
Bergara
Brigadas de Navarra were National Army units formed mainly by Requeté forces from at the start of the Spanish Civil War. They saw intensive action during the War.
Navarre
("Stop bullet!") a small patch with an image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus worn on the uniform (over the heart) by most requetés.
Detente bala
were courtiers saying Ojalá nos ataquen y ganemos ("Wish they would attack us and we won"), but doing nothing to achieve victory. The name is a pun on hojalatero ("tinkerer", "pot-seller")
Ojalateros
The armed Carlist militias.
Requetés
, expression marking the desire to forcibly impose the ideas most hated by the opponents. Also a Liberal fighting song (chorus: "Swallow it, you Carlist, you who don't want a Constitution.").
Trágala
Carloctavismo
Historiography on Carlism during the Francoist era
Integrism (Spain)
Juan Vázquez de Mella
Legitimist
Loyalism
Mellismo
Miguelist
Order of Prohibited Legitimacy
Parties and factions in Isabelline Spain
Reactionary
Restoration (disambiguation)
Royalism
Traditionalism (Spain)
War of succession
List of movements that dispute the legitimacy of a reigning monarch
Carlist bibliography
Tetralema – Bitácora Lealtad
Blinkhorn, Martin (1972). "Carlism and the Spanish Crisis of the 1930s," Journal of Contemporary History, Vol. 7, No. 3/4, pp. 65–88.
Blinkhorn, Martin (1975). Carlism and Crisis in Spain, 1931–1939, .
Cambridge University Press
Brennan, Gerald (1960). In: The Spanish Labyrinth. Cambridge University Press, pp. 203–214.
"The Carlists."
Brooks, Sydney (1902). "The Situation in Spain," The North American Review, Vol. 174, No. 546, pp. 640–653.
Coverdale, John F. (1984). The Basque Phase of Spain's First Carlist War. Princeton, N.J. : .
Princeton University Press
Dillon, E. J. (1898). The Contemporary Review, Vol. LXXIV, pp. 305–334.
"The Coming of Carlism,"
Holt, Edgar (1967). The Carlist Wars in Spain. London: Putnam.
Miguel López, Raimundo de (1993). "El Pensamiento Político del Primer Carlismo." In: Saints, Sovereigns, and Scholars. New York and Geneva: Peter Lamb.
Mezei, Regina (1996). "Carlism and the Spanish–American War: The Role of the Pretender Carlos VII," Mediterranean Studies, Vol. 6, pp. 113–128.
O'Shea, John Augustus (1884). The Catholic World, Vol. 39, No. 234, pp. 801–815.
"With the Carlists,"
Parker, A. A. (1937). "History of Carlism in Spain," Studies: An Irish Quarterly Review, Vol. 26, No. 101, pp. 16–25.
Parker, A. A. (1937). "History and Policy of Carlism," Studies: An Irish Quarterly Review, Vol. 26, No. 102, pp. 207–222.
Parker, A. A. (1937). "Carlism in the Spanish Civil War," Studies: An Irish Quarterly Review, Vol. 26, No. 103, 383–398.
Preston, J. W. (1873). "Carlism in Spain," Scribner's Monthly, Vol. 7, No. 2, pp. 229–235.
Roche, James (1899). "The Outlook for Carlism," The North American Review, Vol. 168, No. 511, pp. 739–748.
Partido Carlista
Carlism as a current topic of discussion in Spanish politics
Ideological analysis of Carlism
Extensive historical background
Francisco de Paula Oller, Barcelona, La Propaganda Catalana, Librería de Antonio Quintana y Bové, 1887. Page scans from the Navarrese Digital Library.
Album de personajes carlistas con sus biografías
article by Eleonore Villarrubia on Catholicism.org