PARES | Spanish Archives

Identification

Type:

Person

Preferred form:

Godoy, Manuel de (1767-1851)Other forms

Fechas de existencia:

Badajoz (España) 1767-05-12 - Paris 1851-10-04

History:

Manuel Godoy y Álvarez de Faria (Badajoz, May 12, 1767 – Paris, October 4, 1851).

He was a Spanish politician.

In 1784, he joined in the body of “Guardia de Corps” and moved to the Court, where he captured the sympathy of the Princes of Asturias, Maria Luisa of Parma (1751-1819), spouse of Charles IV (1748-1819), that when he climb to the throne, he was honored. In 1792, he already was Lieutenant General and Duke of Alcudia. The following year, the count of Aranda was separated and he was appointed to succeed him as Prime Minister.

From this moment until 1808, with the exception of the biennium 1798-1800, he directed the policy of Spain. His first acts of Government, led him to save the Louis XVI’s life. The French Revolution had placed Spain in a difficult situation, because of the contradiction between the ideological reasons that drove her to join the legitimist Europe against the revolutionary France. He advised to follow the policy of Family Compact of alliance with France against Great Britain, threated to his empire. The death of Louis XVI on the guillotine in 1793 made inevitable the war with France that would end with the peace of Basel (1795). Under the peace, Spain lost the half of the Santo Domingo Island and Godoy was awarded the title of "Prince of peace". The changes that have occurred in France allowed an alliance between the two countries which was manifested in the Treaty of San Idelfonso (1796).

Due to the pressures of the French Directory, on March 30, 1798 he retired from the Ministry, was replaced by Francisco de Saavedra (1746-1819) and subsequently by Urquijo (1769-1817). His distance from the power did not mean the loss of confidence of Charles IV.

In December 1800, Urquijo was replaced by Pedro Cevallos, although the one who started to manage the Government was Godoy. In alliance with France, he directed the war against Portugal (The War of the Oranges). The brief war ended with peace of Amiens that returned Menorca to Spain in return for Trinidad (1802). The peace of Amiens was signed with Great Britain by France and Spain. It seemed to open a long period of peace but war between those two Nations erupted again in 1803 and Godoy was forced to intervene in it under the French and British pressures. At the service of the failed plan of Napoleon to invade the British Isles, the Spanish squad was defeated in Trafalgar (1805).

In 1807, the Treaty of Fontainebleau was signed between France and Spain by which, on the pretext of the distribution of Portugal, French troops entered in Spain. The policy of Godoy began to cause animosities. It was hatched a conspiracy against him, led by the Prince of Asturias (future King Ferdinand VII), culminating with the invasion of the Palace of Aranjuez.

Manuel Godoy was taken as prisoner, but he was released shortly after by order of Napoleon. Later, he moved to Bayonne, where he met with Prince Ferdinand and the Kings. The Kings abdicated, lending the throne of Spain in the hands of Napoleon. He was exiled in Paris, where he wrote his memoirs. In 1847, Queen Elizabeth published a decree rehabilitating him, but he did not return to Spain.

Guerra de Independencia Española, 1808-1814

Mutiny of Aranjuez, 1808

Battle of Trafalgar