Carlists, the name given to the supporters of the Spanish pretender, Don Maria Isidor Carlos de Bourbon, who was born March 29, 1788, the second son of Charles IV. of Spain, and was educated chiefly by priests. After the expulsion of the French from Spain, and the re-accession of his brother, Ferdinand VII., who had had no children from three marriages, Don Carlos naturally began to cherish the hope of succeeding to the throne. A fourth time, however, the indefatigable Ferdinand married, and the result was a daughter, the Infanta Maria Isabella (queen of Spain till her deposition in 1868), born October 10, 1830. Now as the Salic Law excluding females from succession to the throne, introduced into Spain by Philip V. in 1713, had been abrogated after much hesitation by Ferdinand at the instigation of his new wife, Christina, in a formal 'Pragmatic Sanction,' four months after their marriage, the birth of this daughter completely destroyed the hopes of the Carlists. As Don Carlos still continued his agitation, he was banished in 1833 to Portugal, and soon afterwards was commanded to reside in the Papal States. But before he had embarked for Italy, King Ferdinand VII. died, September 29, 1833. The child Isabella was at once proclaimed queen with her mother Christina as regent; she was supported mainly by the liberals in the state, while Don Carlos rallied round him chiefly the supporters of absolutism. His chief strength lay in the indomitable courage of the inhabitants of the Basque provinces, whose ancient fucros the Liberals had foolishly refused to confirm, and here the struggle raged hotly for some years. Under Zumalacarrgui and Cabrera the Carlists had at first considerable success, but were at length subdued by Espartero in 1839. Meanwhile the claim of Don Carlos had been recognised not only by the Carlists, but also by Dom Miguel in Portugal; the latter, however, was banished by the quadruple alliance of Spain, Portugal, England, and France. In June 1834 Don Carlos embarked for England, but in the following month he returned to the Continent, and passed in disguise through France into the northern provinces of Spain, whence he was ultimately compelled to escape into France. In 1836 his claims to the throne were unanimously rejected by the Constituent Cortes; in 1844 he abdicated in favour of his eldest son. He died at Trieste, March 10, 1855.—DON CARLOS, his son, born 1818, was better known as the Count de Montemolin. This second pretender made an attempt in 1849 to pass under a disguise through France into Spain, but failed. In 1860 an attempt was made at Tolosa in Valencia to stir up another Carlist insurrection, in consequence of which the Count de Montemolin and his brother Ferdinand were arrested, but liberated after they had signed a reunciation of all their claims to the Spanish throne. He died in 1861.—The next representative of the Carlist pretensions was his nephew, DON CARLOS, born 30th March 1848. His father, Juan (1822-87), who in 1863 renounced his claim in favour of his son, was brother of Don Carlos the second. On his behalf, Carlist risings—speedily repressed—took place in 1869, 1870, and 1872; but the insurrection headed by him in person after the abdication of King Amadeo in 1873, proved much more formidable, and kept the Basque provinces in great confusion till the beginning of 1876, when it was finally crushed, and the last of their ancient privileges stripped from the Basques, whose noble and unquestioning loyalty of nature did not know how to abandon a lost cause even when disaster was a foregone conclusion. The most striking feature of the last Carlist war was a total lack of ability on the part of the leaders, that would have rendered the whole struggle completely contemptible but for the heroic courage of the Basque soldiers. Don Carlos crossed into France, and when expelled for expressing sympathy with the
Legitimists in 1881, took refuge in London. He is put forward by the ultra French Legitimists as the true heir to the throne of France as well as Spain, in opposition to the Orleanist princes.