Parties And Factions In Isabelline Spain

There were numerous political parties and factions in Isabelline Spain (Spain during the reign of Isabella II, who reigned 29 September 1833 – 30 September 1868). Some of them are known by multiple names, and in many cases the lines between these were fluid over time, both in terms of individuals moving from one party or faction to another and in terms of parties or factions changing their stances. Many of these factions are subgroups of parties, and groupings sometimes overlapped. Many factions (especially within the Moderate Party) were based on little more than political clientelism.

Carlists and Christinos

When Isabella first became queen, she was only three years old. The queen mother, Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies, served as regent. The first and foremost political division of the Isabeline era was between ''Carlists'' and ''Christinos''Germán Rueda
La primera guerra carlista (España)
, ''ArteHistoria''. Retrieved 17 March 2010. (or ''Isabelinos''), the former being supporters of Infante Carlos, Count of Molina, a rival claimant to the throneEsdaile, p. 66 ''et. seq.'' and the latter being supporters of Maria Christina and Isabella. The former supported absolute monarchism and the traditionalism of the '' Antiguo Régimen'' ("Old Regime"); they were uniformly close to the Roman Catholic Church, and generally clericalist. The latter were generally supporters of constitutional monarchy (although some, including Maria Christina herself, were more inclined toward enlightened absolutism); they were liberals of one stripe or another, ranging from liberal conservatives and those whose liberalism was strictly economic to social liberals. In the 1830s, these two groups faced off in the First Carlist War, which the Cristinos won. The terms of surrender—notably the Convention of Vergara—left an opportunity for relatively moderate Carlists to continue to play a role in the country's politics, and many did so over the ensuing decades.

Another term strongly associated with the Carlist faction is ''apostólicos'', a term deriving from their strong ties to clericalism. This term actually predates ''Carlist''; this was already the name of a faction in the time of Ferdinand VII before they had settled on the Infante Carlos, Ferdinand's younger brother, as their champion

Political parties

Leaving aside the Carlists, four groups within the Isabelino camp are generally considered to be political parties, although the two that came first chronologically did not have quite the formal organization that the term "party" may imply. These first two were the Moderates (''moderados'') and Progressives (''progresistas''), both of them with roots going back at least to the '' trienio liberal'' of 1820–1823. The latter two were the Democrats (''demócratas'', who established themselves as the Partido Progresista-Demócrata in 1849) and the Liberal Union (''Unión Liberal'', formally founded 1858).Esdaile, p. 112–113 In keeping with the Praetorianism that was such a factor in the Spanish politics of the time— coups and coup attempts were routine—the Moderates, Progressives, and Liberal Union were each closely associated with a general, respectively Ramón María Narváez, Baldomero Espartero, and Leopoldo O'Donnell.

Factions

Within these parties were numerous factions; as remarked above, many of these were rather fluid (as, at times, were the parties themselves). To begin with, there were the ''doceañistas'', associated with the Cortes of Cádiz and the Constitution of 1812, and the ''veinteañistas'' or ''exaltados'', slightly younger, somewhat farther to the left, associated with the '' trienio liberal'' (1820–1823). To a large extent, these corresponded to the Moderates and Progressives, respectively, though there were certainly exceptions. Furthermore, there were the ''afrancesados'' ("Frenchified"), a term that could refer to anyone associated with the Enlightenment, but especially to those who had supported the regime of Joseph Bonaparte during the Peninsular War / War of Independence.Esdaile, p. 387–393

After the moderate Maria Christina was ousted as regent in September 1840, a division arose that crossed party lines, but importantly split the Progressives. Those who wanted a three-person council of regency were known as ''trinitarios'' ("Trinitarians"), those who wanted a single regent as ''unitarios'' ("Unitarians"). The Moderates were nearly all ''unitarios''.Vilar, p. 191.

The Moderates can generally be divided into ''puritanos'' and ''doctrinarios''.Esdaile, p. 89 The former, headed by Joaquín Francisco Pacheco and Nicomedes Pastor Díaz, favored strict constitutionalism according to the Constitution of 1837, even if it meant that the party was less likely to hold power continuously. The ''doctrinarios'' were more willing to use "illegality and subterfuge" to hold power for the party. The ''doctrinarios'' were further divided into fluid groups based on clientelism: ''narvaístas'' (around General Narváez), ''monistas'' (around Alejandro Mon), ''pidalistas'' (followers of Pedro Pidal), and ''polacos'' (around Luis Sartorius, and so named because of Sartorius's Polish ancestry.)

Also leagued with the Moderates were the ''vilumistas'', led by the Marquess of Viluma, who wished to go back to the enlightened absolutism of the Royal Statute of 1834. The ''vilumistas'', unlike most other Moderates, were open to a coalition with the Carlists.

Among the Progressives, the divisions were more ideological. The right wing of the Progressives overlapped the Moderates politically. This included the ''isturizta'' personal faction around Francisco Javier Istúriz, which at times allied with the Moderates against the rest of the Progressives. While some authors use ''exaltados'' almost interchangeably with ''progresistas'', others view this as an anachronism. Left ''progresistas'' were also known as ''puros''.Esdaile, p. 107

The Democrats also covered a wide range of views. Party leader Nicolás Rivero was a constitutional monarchist. Emilio Castellar and Francisco Pi y Margall were both republicans, but the former was more interested in winning the Progressives over to Republicanism and the latter with building a mass movement among the ''populacho''. Sisto Sáenz de la Cámara was socialist along lines similar to Louis Blanc in France; in 1855–1856, Sáenz advocated revolutionary terror, undermining the loose Progressive-Democrat alliance of the ''bienio progresista''.

Finally, Leopoldo O'Donnell's Liberal Union, founded 1858, attempted to bridge nearly all of these groups. Its members included ''doctrinarios'', ''puritanos'', Progressives and even some Democrats. Unsurprisingly, such a broad coalition eventually fragmented back into many separate pieces.Esdaile, p. 115–116

Notes

References

*Charles J. Esdaile, ''Spain in the Liberal Age: From Constitution to Civil War, 1808–1939'', Blackwell (2000), .
* Juan Bautista Vilar, "El reinado de Isabel II y el sexenio revoucionario", 183:218 in Javier Paredes Alonso (ed.), ''España Siglo XIX'', Madrid: Actas, 1991, .

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