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 Patriotism is the feeling of love, devotion, and a sense of attachment to one's country or state. This attachment can be a combination of different feelings for things such as the language of one's homeland, and its ethnic, cultural, politic ...

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 Murcia ( , , ) is a city in south-eastern Spain, the Capital (political), capital and most populous city of the autonomous community of the Region of Murcia, and the Ranked lists of Spanish municipalities#By population, seventh largest city i ...

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 Ciudad Rodrigo () is a small cathedral city in the province of Salamanca (province), Salamanca, in western Spain, with a population in 2016 of 12,896. It is also the seat of a judicial district. The site of Ciudad Rodrigo, perched atop a rocky r ...

, 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—

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 The Council of Castile (), known earlier as the Royal Council (), was a ruling body and key part of the domestic government of the Crown of Castile, second only to the monarch himself. It was established under Isabella I in 1480 as the chi ...

, which initially had supported Joseph I, a " Supreme Central and Governmental Junta of Spain and the Indies" met in

Aranjuez Aranjuez () is a city and municipality of Spain, part of the Community of Madrid. Located in the southern end of the region, the main urban nucleus lies on the left bank of the Tagus, a bit upstream of the discharge of the Jarama. , the munici ...

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 Ocaña was fought on 19 November 1809 between French forces under Marshal Jean-de-Dieu Soult against the Spanish army under General Juan Carlos de Aréizaga, which suffered its greatest single defeat in the Peninsular War. ...

, the

Battle of Alba de Tormes In the Battle of Alba de Tormes on 28 November 1809, an Imperial French corps commanded by François Étienne de Kellermann attacked a Spanish army led by Diego de Cañas y Portocarrero, Duke del Parque. Finding the Spanish army in the mid ...

—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 The siege of Cádiz was a siege of the large Spanish naval base of Cádiz by a First French Empire, French army from 5 February 1810 to 24 August 1812 during the Peninsular War. Following the occupation of Seville, Cádiz became the Spanish s ...

). 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 The Political Constitution of the Spanish Monarchy (), also known as the Constitution of Cádiz () and nicknamed ''La Pepa'', was the first Constitution of Spain and one of the earliest codified constitutions in world history. The Constitution w ...

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 ...

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

Supreme Central Junta, 1808–1810

Spanish America

See also

References

Bibliography