In the
Napoleonic era
The Napoleonic era is a period in the history of France and history of Europe, Europe. It is generally classified as including the fourth and final stage of the French Revolution, the first being the National Assembly (French Revoluti ...
, junta () was the name chosen by several local administrations formed in
Spain
Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
during the
Peninsular War
The Peninsular War (1808–1814) was fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Kingdom of Portugal, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French ...
as a
patriotic alternative to the official administration toppled by the French invaders. The juntas were usually formed by adding prominent members of society, such as
prelate
A prelate () is a high-ranking member of the Minister (Christianity), Christian clergy who is an Ordinary (church officer), ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin , the past participle of , which me ...
s, to the already-existing ''
ayuntamientos'' (municipal councils). The juntas of the capitals of the
traditional peninsular kingdoms of Spain styled themselves "Supreme Juntas", to differentiate themselves from, and claim authority over, provincial juntas. Juntas were also formed in Spanish America during this period in reaction to the developments in Spain.
The juntas were not necessarily revolutionary, least of all anti-monarchy or democratically elected. By way of example, the junta in
Murcia comprised the bishop, an archdeacon, two priors, seven members of the old city council, two magistrates, five prominent local aristocrats, including the
Conde de Floridablanca (
Charles III
Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms.
Charles was born at Buckingham Palace during the reign of his maternal grandfather, King George VI, and ...
's prime minister) and five high-ranking officers (either retired or still serving). Likewise, the junta of
Ciudad Rodrigo, a strategic town near the border with Portugal, comprised "nine serving officers, including the pre-war governor and the commanders of all the units that had made up the garrison; five retired officers, of whom two were brigadiers" and, among others, the bishop, and seventeen members of the clergy.
[Esdaile, Charles (2003)]
''The Peninsular War: A New History'', p. 53
Palgrave Macmillan. . At Google Books. Retrieved 24 August 2013.
Supreme Central Junta, 1808–1810
Realizing that unity was needed to coordinate efforts against the French and to deal with British aid, several supreme juntas—
Murcia,
Valencia
Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...
,
Seville
Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...
and
Castile and León
Castile and León is an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in northwestern Spain. Castile and León is the largest autonomous community in Spain by area, covering 94,222 km2. It is, however, sparsely populated, with a pop ...
—called for the formation of a central one. After a series of negotiations between the juntas and the discredited
Council of Castile, which initially had supported
Joseph I, a "
Supreme Central and Governmental Junta of Spain and the Indies" met in
Aranjuez on 25 September 1808, with the
Conde de Floridablanca as its president.
Documents of the Junta Era
at the Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes . Serving as a surrogate for the absent king and royal government, it succeeded in calling for representatives from local provinces and the overseas possessions to meet in an " Extraordinary and General Cortes of the Spanish Nation", so called because it would be both the single legislative body for the whole empire and the body which would write a constitution for it. By the beginning of 1810, the forces under the Supreme Central Junta's command had suffered serious military reverses—the Battle of Ocaña, the Battle of Alba de Tormes—in which the French not only inflicted large losses on the Spanish, but also took control of southern Spain and forced the government to retreat to Cádiz
Cádiz ( , , ) is a city in Spain and the capital of the Province of Cádiz in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. It is located in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula off the Atlantic Ocean separated fr ...
, the last redoubt available to it on Spanish soil (see the Siege of Cádiz). In light of this, the Central Junta dissolved itself on 29 January 1810 and set up a five-person Regency Council of Spain and the Indies, charged with convening a parliamentary Cortes. The system of juntas was replaced by a regency and the Cortes of Cádiz
The Cortes of Cádiz was a revival of the traditional ''Cortes Generales, cortes'' (Spanish parliament), which as an institution had not functioned for many years, but it met as a single body, rather than divided into estates as with previous o ...
, which established a permanent government under the Constitution of 1812.
Spanish America
The term was also used in Spanish America to describe the first autonomist governments established in 1809, 1810, and 1811 in reaction to the developments in Spain. By the time the delegates were to be chosen for the Cádiz Cortes, some of the American provinces had successfully established their juntas, which did not recognize the authority of either the supreme central one or the regency. Therefore, they did not send representatives to Cádiz, but rather the juntas continued to govern on their own or called for congresses to set up permanent governments. This development resulted in the Spanish American wars of independence
The Spanish American wars of independence () took place across the Spanish Empire during the early 19th century. The struggles in both hemispheres began shortly after the outbreak of the Peninsular War, forming part of the broader context of the ...
.
See also
* Revolution of April 19, 1810
* First Republic of Venezuela
* Junta Grande of Río de la Plata
* Junta Suprema de Caracas
* List of Government Juntas of Chile
* ''Patria Boba'' (Colombia)
* Primera Junta (Buenos Aires)
References
Bibliography
* Robertson, William Spence. "The Juntas of 1808 and the Spanish Colonies". ''English Historical Review'' (1916) 31#124 pp. 573–585. .
* Artola, Miguel. ''La España de Fernando VII''. Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, 1999. .
* Lovett, Gabriel. ''Napoleon and the Birth of Modern Spain''. New York: New York University Press, 1965.
{{Authority control
19th century in Spain
Peninsular War
Napoleonic era
Patriotism