The Iberian Revolution Continued: Birth of the Union of Iberian Christian Republics.
Fight of the King
In Madrid King Charles IV of Spain was taken aback by the events that had unfolded in his country. However, by October 2, 1796 had managed to gather a Royalist Army of 45,500 men to defend the Capital City of Madrid. This force was commanded by General Gregorio García de la Cuesta a conservative royalist who was ready to hang each and every traitor. A second smaller royalist force was gathering in Andorra under the command of the Infante Antonio Pascual the younger brother of King Charles IV, however this force was just over 25,000 men strong. By October 8th the Capital had been surrounded by the Rebel Holy Peasants Army of Castilian 30,000 men strong and the Grenadian Army of Christ 27,500 men strong however the two rebel armies worked together only grudgingly. This allowed the King a Chance to escape with his family or so Charles believed. On October 30, 1796 he and General Cuesta reviewed the Royal Army. “You men have proven your selves loyal to a fault to your king and our government. I have the utmost trust in you my most loyal men. Tomorrow we shall begin our long march we will break out of Madrid and march North to the men commanded by my Brother the Infante Antonio in Andorra from there we will gather other loyal forces to us and begin to the Second Reconquista.” Charles IV’s Address to the troops of the Royal Army of Madrid the day before would become known as Battle of Kingfall. At dawn on October 31st the Royalist broke out of the Defenses of Madrid and began marching north along with the Army was King and the Royal Family. The Royalist were making good time on the march while the Grenadian Army sacked the city and the Castilians prepared to follow after the Royal Army. However at 5pm this changed when the Royal scouts ran into a Division of the Catalonian Army, Although the Catalonians were outnumbered the had good defensive ground on a rocky hill that dominated the road. The Royalist would spend the remainder of the day light attempting to clear the road northeast however this was unable to be accomplished and in the morning they awoke to find themselves surrounded once more however this time they were in a creak bottom at the base of a step rocky hill which was occupied by rebels. The King and General Garcia decided to attack to the south were the Castilian and Catalonian forces joined the ring around the royalist force. General Garcia decided he would lead the attack himself. The attack would begin at 10 am, and would meet with early success as the Royalist broke out of the ring surrounding their camp. This success was short lived however because after just a mile of marching they ran into a body of Catalonian troops at cross roads village. Once more the Catalonians prove to be an immobile rock in the royalist escape. By the 5pm the battle was all but over, the King and General Garcia were both dead leading desperate attacks to break out of the trap. Young Infante Ferdinand now Ferdinand VII and Infante Charles would flee escape the trap with a small band of guards after darkness fell, theirs was far from the only such group to escape the royalist camp that night. At dawn the remaining royalist army would surrender all 28,000 of them. The battle had cost them about 2,000 killed and another 1500 wounded but that still didn’t account for the missing 13,500 soldiers who had run off during the night. The Republican Commanders were disheartened by this and even more so by the face that the young King Ferdinand VII and his brother had also escaped. Yet still the largest of the Royalist forces had been defeated and Madrid was in Republican hands and the King was dead. His body would be paraded though the streets of Madrid. The Village where the king had died with the royalist army would renamed ciudad Caída del Rey.
On November 21, 1796 the young King and Infante Charles would arrive in Andorra much to the surprise of their uncle. However, they now had an Amy less than 30,000 strong. They will hold the official Carination of Ferdinand VII on December 24, 1796 in the Saint Esteve Church in Andorra la Vella the capital city of the Principality of Andorra. With Infante Antonio Pascual the young king’s uncle acting as Regent until he came of Age. The Regent and the young king set out sending emissaries to all the countries of Europe asking for aid and support in Retaking their homeland.
Birth of the Union of Iberian Christian Republics
The Flag of the Union of Iberian Christian Republics
As the New year of 1797 began a conference was called in Madrid this conference would be the first meeting of the leaders of the Iberian Republics. At the same time in Paris another meeting is called by Louis XVI this meeting will see representatives of France, Great Britain, Austria and the Holy Roman Empire, the Papal States, the Kingdom of Naples and the Kingdom of Portugal over what to do with the continuing Iberian Crisis most concerned was the Kingdom of Portugal.
The Congress of Madrid was held on March 24, 1797 at the same time the Conclave of Madrid was held simultaneously. These two meetings of the Religious and political leaders of the Iberia Republics would produce a standard doctrine for the political movement that had brought about what was now being called the Iberian Revolution, it would also see the establishment of the Holy Church of the Works of Christ (HCWC) This church would be loyal to the pope in Rome as long as he accepted the fundamental doctrines of Franciscanism as a legitimate doctrine of the Church; if the Pope refused this then the Bishop of Toledo would become the head of the Church. The Bishop of Toledo would from here on out be elected by the Council of Priest, which would be made up by the 65 members of the clergy the 15 bishops of the Church and then 50 priest 10 form each republic which will be elected by the citizens of the Republics. While church and political officially defined Franciscanism. Franciscanism (noun): A system of Representative Government in which theologian leadership establishes a universal equality for all the citizens based upon the teachings of Christ that the meek are the blessed of god and have his favor. To ensure this all land and industry is owned by the church state. The bounty of the land and the products and proceeds of the church owned industries are collected by the church state and after the ten percent of each is taken by the government the remaining is divided evenly amongst the citizens of the nation. to ensure the equality of the lord and humbleness of the lord. All citizens get to vote in the election of representatives to the Assembly of Christ which shall act as the voice of the people in the government. The Congress of Madrid also creates a new Union of the Republics to replace the old Kingdom of Spain. This new Union Government would be called the Union of Iberian Christian Republics. This Union would bind the Five Republics together with a common currency, and Foreign policy and mutual defense. The Union would be led by the Head of the Holy Church of the Works of Christ This confederation becomes known as the Union of Iberian Christian Republics the Bishop of Toledo and Primer of Iberia who would be elected by the Iberian Assembly. The Iberian Assembly would be made up of two houses, the Council of Priest of the Holy Church of the Works of Christ forms the Upper house with the power of review of any alliance, Trade deal, or tariff the lower house might pass, as well as a vote on any Declaration of War, or Treaty approved by the lower house. The Lower house would be known as the Christian’s Assembly. This house would have 40 seats eight from each republic. The only requirements to run for this house are one be a member of the Franciscanist Party of their Republic, and be at least 25 years of age. Elections were set to be held in the Fall, of for the elected seats until then the Bishops will run the Union. The Union Government would be based in Madrid which it was decided would be an independent city administered by the Union as a whole, not by any member republic. The First act that the Newly formed Union of Iberian Christian Republic would do was to dispatch ambassadors to the nations of the world, these men would seek to gain recognition for the Union.
Flag of the Holy Church of the Works of Christ.
Meanwhile in Paris France
The French Sponsored Conference on the Spanish Crisis kicks off King Louis XVI was the host and leader of the Conference. Hugues-Bernard Maret the Foreign Minister would represent the Kingdom of France. William Wyndham Grenville, 1st Baron Grenville the Foreign Secertary would represent the British Empire. Johann Amadeus Franz de Paula Thugut the Foreign Minister of the Austrian Empire represented both the Austrian Empire and the Holy Roman Empire. Crown Prince João Braganza of Portugal represents his kingdom the last monarchy on the Iberian Peninsula. Francis Duke of Calabria represented the Kingdom of Naples, King Frederick Wilhelm II of Prussia represented his kingdom, and lastly Cardinal Ignazio Busca Secretary of State of the Holy See represented both the Papal States and the Holy Catholic Church.
The Conference began on May 1, 1797 with King Louis XVI addressing the assembled. “Gentlemen I welcome you to Paris and hope that between those of us gathered here and the nations whom they represent can come to a unified plan on what actions should be taken regarding the over throw of our cousin Charles King of Spain and the over throw of the Kingdom of Spain.”
Over the course of the nest month the delegates would discuss the events of the Iberian Crisis and what if anything was to be done about the current state of affairs. Portugal was the country that was pressing the hardest for military intervention to restore Ferdinand VII currently hold up in Andorra with what was left of the Loyalist forces, led by his uncle. This stance was one of perceived self-defense on the part of the Portuguese’s Monarchy who were concerned that they were the next target, and indeed a the Franciscanist movement in side of Portugal was indeed on the rise. Added to this call to arms by Portugal was the announcement by Cardinal Busca that Pope Pius VI had excommunicated those people in the Kingdom of Spain who were beholden to the false doctrine of Franciscanism, and rejected their proposal to “Divided the Holy Catholic church”, further the pope declared that if the Heretics in Spain tried to spread their Heresy then the Church and the Papal States would do everything in its power to protect catholic nations. This view was seconded by Naples. Yet the other two catholic nations France and Austria hesitated. The French Parliament was opposed to armed intervention unless the rebels either attempted to subvert the lawful authority of the Kingdom of France, or attacked the Principality of Andorra whom France was obliged to defend. Austria was also hesitant to declare for intervention because of the growing discord with the Protestant states inside the Holy Roman Empire, and the Hungarians ever constant bickering. While the Protestant nations saw no reason to object any of this it was after all an internal Spanish affair, until such time as it hurt British interest that is. Grenville did however announce that Britain would honor the alliance she had always had with the Kingdom of Portugal. Finally A compromise plan was proposed by King Louis XVI. This plan would recognize the Union of Iberian Christian Republics as the legal successor to the Kingdom of Spain with the strongest suggestion that they re brand their new nation the Union of SPANISH Christian Republics, thus easing the minds of the Portuguese. Also they would recognize the Pyrenees Kingdom whose boundaries would include the Principality of Andorra and extend along the Southern side of the Pyrenees to the Northeastern coast of Spain all of which was held by Royalist partisans anyways. This Kingdom would act as both a buffer state between Spain and the rest of Europe and provide a haven for those Spanish who did not wish to live under the new order. The new Union government would forfeit all claims to the Kingdom of Spain’s colonial empire outside of the Canary Islands and other islands off the coast of Africa. All the other colonies of Spain would be divided between Britain, France and Naples. However, many of the colonies would declare independence before any territory could officially change hands. Lastly the Union would agree not to attempt to subdue by force any attempt of a republic to return to the crown of Spain should it ever arise. Satisfied with this arrangement the Convention was ended and a draft was dispatched to Madrid, on June 20, 1797.
The Union government received the document in early July and decided to wait till after the fall elections when there would be a full government. That Government would be elected on October 18, 1797 it was by default a Franciscanist dominated Government, however there were differences of the 40 seats in the Christian’s Assembly 15 were held by Extremist Franciscanist, 20 where held by Moderate Franciscanist, and 5 were held by the self-proclaimed Conservative Franciscanist. The Domination of the Moderate faction would see Phillip de Barcelona being elected the First Primer of the Union of Iberian Christian Republics. He would join the Bishop Toledo, Atanasio Puyal y Poveda in the Executive Branch of the new union government. This moderate government would after some debate ratify the Treaty of Paris on November 5, 1797.
Map of the Union of Iberian Christian Republics in Europe.
This ratification would see Baleares Islands a place where Franciscanism never caught on vote to become part of the Kingdom of Naples Ruled by the brother of King Charles IV. The people of the Baleares viewed the new Pyrenees Kingdom as a land that was destined to either be forced back into the rest of the Iberian Fold or become a puppet of the French. It should be noted that they viewed Portugal’s monarchy as dead men walking as well. When word was dispatched to the America’s about the ratification of the Treaty of Paris A proclamation was also sent the leaders of the United States of Grand Columbia stating that the UICR held no claim to the territory of the United States of Grand Columbia, and considered hostilities to be ended. Word also when out to the other viceroys of the old Spanish empire asking them to either adopt Franciscanism and join the Union as equal members or the would be considered independent by the Union government.
The Spanish colonies would be split over this when world reached them around Christmas of 1797. In Florida East Florida would use this a justification for their decision to apply for state hood in the Commonwealth of American States, of course West Florida was Annexed into the State of Georgia earlier in the fall of 1797. Louisiana would use the Treaty of Paris to justify its break with New Spain and the selling of Northern Louisiana to the British 7.5 million pounds. On January 1, 1798 the Empire of Mexico would declare its Independence and take all of New Spain’s Territory on the North American Continent. That Same Day Cuba and Spanish Hispaniola and all other former Spanish holdings in the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico formed the The Kingdom of Hispaniola y Cuba. Lastly Peru would declare its self the Kingdom of Peru on January 7, 1798. Then before they could decide which way to go the on January 21, 1798 A French fleet sailed into the River Plata officially annexing the Viceroy of the Rio Plata into the French Colonial Empire as New Aquitaine. On February 7, 1798 the last piece of the old empire gives its answer the Philippians together with Wake Island, and Guam from the Christian Republic of Pacifica, adopting the a Franciscanist constitution and applying for member ship in the Union. The Addition of the Christian Republic of Pacifica would expand the UICR out of the Iberian Peninsula so Iberia would be a global player after all, as well as opening up Asia and the rest of the Far East to the Teaching of Franciscanism and the Holy Church of the Works of Christ.
Flag of the Christian Republic of Pacifica