St. James's / CNG
Auction 29 - The Lissner Collection 1-2 August 2014
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SPAIN, Reino de España. Fernando VII. Second reign, 1813-1833. AR 30 Sueldos (40mm, 26.61 g, 12h). Provincial issue for the Yslas Baleares (Balearic Islands). Majorca mint. Dated 1821. KM (C) L53.1. In NGC encapsulation graded AU 55. Very light grayish patina as is the norm for this type. Full strike and very pleasant coin. Only one graded at AU 58 is higher.
Ex Bowers & Ruddy (16 December 1981), lot 2617.
On 11 December 1813, Fernando VII, who, in May 1808, had handed over the throne of Spain to Napoleon I, was reinstated to it by the French emperor. An absolutist monarch, Fernando was welcomed initially by the Spanish populace, who blamed the afrancesados, or Spanish Francophiles, for both the Napoleonic invasion of the country and the subsequent Peninsular War (1807/8-1814), in which Great Britain wrested control of Iberia from the French. Hoping to rule as an absolute monarch, Fernando surrounded himself with a small camarilla of court favorites and ruled in a capricious, often terrifying, manner with frequent changes of government. In 1820, the king's misrule eventually precipitated a revolt to restore the Constitución española de 1812, a constitution that the Cortes in refuge drafted during the Peninsular War, which, among other things, established the principle of a constitutional monarchy. In 1820, troops scheduled to depart for South America to counter the wars of independence there mutinied in Cadiz under Colonel Rafael del Riego. Before it became a full-scale revolution, Fernando submitted to the revolutionaries and swore by the constitution. This event established the Trienio Liberal, a three-year period of rule by a fragile coalition of various progresistas (Liberals) from 1820 to 1823. The opposition of regions affected by this rule, as well as the Church's opposition to the governmental reforms resulted in the the election in 1823 of a more radical liberal government which further destabilized the country. Under virtual house arrest in the capital during this period, Fernando appealed to the pro-monarchist powers of Austria, Prussia, and Russia to assist him. In 1822, the Congress of Verona authorized the French to intervene. A corps of French soldiers under the command of the future Dauphin, Louis Antoine, Duke of Angoulême invaded Spain and, after the Battle of Trocadero on 31 August 1823, reinstalled Fernando as an absolute monarch. The last ten years of Fernando's reign, known as the Década Ominosa (the Ominous Decade), Fernando sought to reestablish absolutism in Spain. He relentlessly suppressed the progresistas, as well as the numerous revolts that were breaking out. He was especially vindictive during the 1827 War of the Agraviados, a rebellion in Catalonia. After promising amnesty as a condition of surrender, he had the leaders either executed or exiled to France once they capitulated. Since he had only two daughters, in 1830 Fernando issued the Pragmática Sanció, a decree that allowed the eldest of the two, the future Isabel II, to succeed him. Under the previous terms of the law of Spanish succession, which did not recognize female inheritance, the throne should have passed upon Fernando's death to his brother, the Infante Carlos, Count of Molina. The death of Fernando before the Pragmática Sanció could be repealed and the succession of Isabel II, still a child, touched off a series of of wars between her supporters and those of Carlos, known as the First Carlist War (1832-1839).
Ex Bowers & Ruddy (16 December 1981), lot 2617.
On 11 December 1813, Fernando VII, who, in May 1808, had handed over the throne of Spain to Napoleon I, was reinstated to it by the French emperor. An absolutist monarch, Fernando was welcomed initially by the Spanish populace, who blamed the afrancesados, or Spanish Francophiles, for both the Napoleonic invasion of the country and the subsequent Peninsular War (1807/8-1814), in which Great Britain wrested control of Iberia from the French. Hoping to rule as an absolute monarch, Fernando surrounded himself with a small camarilla of court favorites and ruled in a capricious, often terrifying, manner with frequent changes of government. In 1820, the king's misrule eventually precipitated a revolt to restore the Constitución española de 1812, a constitution that the Cortes in refuge drafted during the Peninsular War, which, among other things, established the principle of a constitutional monarchy. In 1820, troops scheduled to depart for South America to counter the wars of independence there mutinied in Cadiz under Colonel Rafael del Riego. Before it became a full-scale revolution, Fernando submitted to the revolutionaries and swore by the constitution. This event established the Trienio Liberal, a three-year period of rule by a fragile coalition of various progresistas (Liberals) from 1820 to 1823. The opposition of regions affected by this rule, as well as the Church's opposition to the governmental reforms resulted in the the election in 1823 of a more radical liberal government which further destabilized the country. Under virtual house arrest in the capital during this period, Fernando appealed to the pro-monarchist powers of Austria, Prussia, and Russia to assist him. In 1822, the Congress of Verona authorized the French to intervene. A corps of French soldiers under the command of the future Dauphin, Louis Antoine, Duke of Angoulême invaded Spain and, after the Battle of Trocadero on 31 August 1823, reinstalled Fernando as an absolute monarch. The last ten years of Fernando's reign, known as the Década Ominosa (the Ominous Decade), Fernando sought to reestablish absolutism in Spain. He relentlessly suppressed the progresistas, as well as the numerous revolts that were breaking out. He was especially vindictive during the 1827 War of the Agraviados, a rebellion in Catalonia. After promising amnesty as a condition of surrender, he had the leaders either executed or exiled to France once they capitulated. Since he had only two daughters, in 1830 Fernando issued the Pragmática Sanció, a decree that allowed the eldest of the two, the future Isabel II, to succeed him. Under the previous terms of the law of Spanish succession, which did not recognize female inheritance, the throne should have passed upon Fernando's death to his brother, the Infante Carlos, Count of Molina. The death of Fernando before the Pragmática Sanció could be repealed and the succession of Isabel II, still a child, touched off a series of of wars between her supporters and those of Carlos, known as the First Carlist War (1832-1839).