| Carlos
III
King of Spain
(1716-88)
Titles and Honours
Carlo VII, King of Naples, 1734-59, res.[J92]
Carlo VII, King of Sicily, 1734-59, res.[J92]
Carlo I, Duke of Parma, 1731-36[S95]
Titular King of Jerusalem, 1734-88†[J92][K21]
Biographical
Ruled as duke of Parma by right of his mother at the age of sixteen, and
thus came under more intelligent influence than he could have found in
Spain. In 1734 he made himself master of Naples and Sicily by arms. Charles
had, however, no military tastes, seldom wore uniform, and could with
difficulty be persuaded to witness a review. The peremptory action of
the British admiral commanding in the Mediterranean at the approach of
the War of the Austrian Succession, who forced him to promise to observe
neutrality under a threat to bombard Naples, made a deep impression on
his mind. It gave him a feeling of hostility to England which in after-times
influenced his policy.[J92E]
As king of the Two Sicilies Charles began there the work of internal reform
which he afterwards continued in Spain. Foreign ministers who dealt with
him agreed that he had no great natural ability, but he was honestly desirous
to do his duty as king, and he showed good judgment in his choice of ministers.
The chief minister in Naples, Tanucci, had a considerable influence over
him. On the death of his half-brother Ferdinand VI he became king of Spain,
and resigned the Two Sicilies to his third son Ferdinand,[J92E]
but the kings of Spain continued to use the title of 'King of Jerusalem'.[K21]
As king of Spain his foreign policy was disastrous. His strong family
feeling and his detestation of England, which was unchecked after the
death of his wife, Maria Amelia, daughter of Frederick Augustus II of
Saxony, led him into the Family Compact with France. Spain was entangled
in the close of the Seven Years’ War, to her great loss. In 1770 he almost
ran into another war over the barren Falkland Islands. In 1779 he was,
somewhat reluctantly, led to join France and the American insurgents against
England, though he well knew that the independence of the English colonies
must have a ruinous influence on his own American dominions. For his army
he did practically nothing, and for his fleet very little except build
fine ships without taking measures to train officers and men.[J92E]
But his internal government was on the whole beneficial to the country.
He began by compelling the people of Madrid to give up emptying their
slops out of the windows, and when they objected he said they were like
children who cried when their faces were washed. In 1766 his attempt to
force the Madrileños to adopt the French dress led to a riot during which
he did not display much personal courage. For a long time after it he
remained at Aranjuez, leaving the government in the hands of his minister
Aranda. All his reforms were not of this formal kind. Charles was a thorough
despot of the benevolent order, and had been deeply offended by the real
or suspected share of the Jesuits in the riot of 1766. He therefore consented
to the expulsion of the order, and was then the main advocate for its
suppression. His quarrel with the Jesuits, and the recollection of some
disputes with the pope he had had when king of Naples, turned him towards
a general policy of restriction of the overgrown power of the church.
The number of the idle clergy, and more particularly of the monastic orders,
was reduced, and the Inquisition, though not abolished, was rendered torpid.
In the meantime much antiquated legislation which tended to restrict trade
and industry was abolished; roads, canals and drainage works were carried
out.[J92E]
Many of his paternal ventures led to little more than waste of money,
or the creation of hotbeds of jobbery. Yet on the whole the country prospered.
The result was largely due to the king, who even when he was ill-advised
did at least work steadily at his task of government. His example was
not without effect on some at least of the nobles. In his domestic life
King Charles was regular, and was a considerate master, though he had
a somewhat caustic tongue and took a rather cynical view of mankind. He
was passionately fond of hunting. During his later years he had some trouble
with his eldest son and his daughter-in-law. If Charles had lived to see
the beginning of the French Revolution he would probably have been frightened
into reaction. As he died on the 14th of December 1788 he left the reputation
of a philanthropic and 'philosophic' king. In spite of his hostility to
the Jesuits, his dislike of friars in general, and his jealousy of the
Inquisition, he was a very sincere Roman Catholic, and showed much zeal
in endeavouring to persuade the pope to proclaim the Immaculate Conception
as a dogma necessary to salvation.[J92E]
Place of birth: Madrid[J92]
Place of death: Madrid[J92] |
