Diplomacy, lineage and politics during the crisis of the Iberian monarchies. Disputes about the candidacy of Carlota Joaquina de Borbón between 1808 and 1810

Abstract

In the context of the crisis of the Spanish monarchy generated in 1808, this article intends to examine some aspects of the debate that took place around the figure of infanta Carlota Joaquina de Borbón. Through the diplomatic networks woven in an interimperial scale, it seeks to illuminate the options and representations that were configured between 1808 and 1810 when an alternative regency was presented to provisionally cover the vacatio regis. The network of links and conflicts exhibited by the dense documentary corpus reveal two central questions that cross the arguments of the following pages.The first is the role played by the dynastic lineage logic to confront constitutional tendencies that, under different formats, appeared in the Iberian world before the Napoleonic advance. The second considers the threats that this same logic unleashed on different fronts at an international level by putting into play the potential unity of the two Iberian crowns and the potential Americanization of the Spanish monarchy.