FUEROS OR REVOLUTION

Carlism can lay claim to being one of the oldest political movements in Europe. Founded more than two centuries ago Carlism enjoyed an extraordinary level of popular support across much of Spain and gave rise to three civil wars between 1833 and 1876, conflicts that dealt a severe blow to the cause of liberal reform.

The spark that ignited the Carlist uprising and the confrontation between liberals and those known as traditionalists had its roots in the dynastic conflict caused by the sudden and ultimately fatal illness of King Fernando VII in September 1832. The ideological clashes that raged in the Spanish Court prompted the ailing monarch to successively approve and then repeal what was called the “pragmatic sanction”.

Fernando was determined to see his daughter Isabel, who was not even two years old at the time, confirmed as Spain’s future queen under the regency of his wife María Cristina. This ran contrary to a piece of legislation enshrined in Salic Law under which limitations