Abolition of the Fueros system

In 1830, the abolition of the Salic Law in Spain created a crisis within the Spanish monarchy. Prior to this decree, the heir to the throne of Spain was King Ferdinand VII’s brother, Don Carlos. The first child of the king came to be young Isabella II who, at the age of three, was crowned Queen of Spain. The claim to the throne by Don Carlos, who cited Salic primogeniture, threw the system into turmoil. The resulting war was the downfall of a system that protected Basque sovereignty for centuries. Despite the maintenance of the Basque protections due to actions in the war, it spelled the beginning of the end for Basque sovereignty.

The Basques were some of the first to create an outcry in support of Don Carlos due to the steps taken by Ferdinand to weaken the fueros system, although many Basque areas, such as Bilbao, remained loyal to Isabella. Despite the abolition of the fueros, the Basque Country, in particular, was permitted to keep its own liberties and exemptions due to their defection to the liberal cause later in the war as well as the role they played in ending the war and forcing Don Carlos to retreat to France. This treatment, however, was only temporary.

At the end of the Second Carlist War, in the 1870s, the fueros system was completely abolished. However, some of its privileges were retained in the Basque Country in exchange for a lump sum paid to the crown. This, however, spelled the beginning of the end of the first era of the autonomous Basque region. The beginning of the Industrial Revolution in Spain brought an influx of Spanish immigrants and created a vacuum of Basque identity. This would begin the creation of a movement that would change what it meant to be Basque in the public sphere.

Image caption: This picture is of Don Tomas Zumalacarregui, Basque general of the Carlist forces during the first part of the First Carlist War. A brilliant soldier and tactician, he helped unify the Carlist forces into a standing army and inspired their early success in campaigns in the North of Spain. Until his death in Bilbao in 1835, he was the chief leader of the Basque sympathizers to Don Carlos. The Basque forces were loyal to Don Carlos until they switched sides to guarantee the continuation of the system that benefited their autonomy towards the end of the War.