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sored by the reactionary powers grouped in
the Holy Alliance and carried out by the
restored Bourbon dynasty of France. The
invading army (the “One Hundred Thou-
sand Sons of St. Louis”) soon overcame the
Spanish forces and restored Ferdinand to
absolute authority. He took harsh and venge-
ful reprisals against those who had humili-
ated him between 1820 and 1823.
The final 10 years of Ferdinand VII's
reign were dominated by disputes over the
question of the royal succession. Childless
after several marriages, Ferdinand had, by
his fourth wife, Maria Christina of Naples,
two daughters. This circumstance led him
to insist on the right of female succession to
the throne. There were contradictory prec-
edents and laws involved, as well as objec-
tions raised by the king's brother, Charles,
who argued that as the nearest male rela-
tive he had a preemptive right to succeed
Ferdinand. With conservative interests,
including the church, supporting the “tradi-
tionalist” position, the right of female suc-
cession inevitably drew the support of the
reviving liberal forces. Ironically, in his
dying months Ferdinand was in alliance
with his old enemies to assure that his elder
daughter would be recognized as sovereign.
Upon his death the three-year-old princess
was proclaimed Queen I
SABELLA
II, and
Spain moved rapidly toward civil war.
Ferdinand VII, largely an unknown
quantity when he returned from his exile
in France in 1814, had become a symbol of
national identity and patriotic resistance
during the struggle against the French. He
soon revealed himself as a committed reac-
tionary. Although he was capable of per-
sonal affability that won him significant
support among the common people, his
absolutist conception of monarchy antago-
nized all the forces of reform that had built
up over the previous decades. He was
forced to accommodate himself to the lib-
erals during the 1820-23 period, but his
display of hypocrisy and cruelty once he
was free to follow his own inclinations
again guaranteed him the hatred of a grow-
ing proportion of his people. Moreover his
obsession with enforcing his will in Spain
diverted his attention from the situation in
the Americas and made the collapse of the
transatlantic empire a certainty. This colo-
nial catastrophe and the dynastic-political
war that he brought upon his country
make his reign one of the most tragic in
Spanish history.
Fernandes, Vasco
(c. 1475-1542)
Portuguese painter
Perhaps the principal artist produced by
Portugal during the reign of M
ANUEL
I, Fer-
nandes is often referred to as “Grão Vasco”
(Great Vasco). His early work (1506-11)
was much influenced, like that of other
Portuguese artists, by the early Flemish
masters. Lucas van Leyden, whose prints
had found their way to Portugal by the
1520s made a particularly strong impres-
sion on him. Fernandes's greatest achieve-
ments belong to the period of 1535 to 1541,
when he integrated a wider range of Renais-
sance awareness and inspirations in pro-
ducing the paintings that adorn the
cathedral at Viseu.
Fernández de Córdoba, Gonzalo
(1453-1515)
Spanish soldier
Known even in his lifetime as el Gran Capi-
tán (the Great Captain), this commander
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