Charles IV of Spain and Ridolfi plot: Difference between pages

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[[Image:Mary-queen-of-scots full.jpg|thumb|200px|The Ridolfi plot was meant to put Mary Stewart on the throne of England.]]

<table align = right width = 200><tr><td>[[image:FamilyofCharlesIV.jpg]]</td></tr><tr><td align = center><small><small>Charles IV and his queen Maria Luisa, from ''The Family of Charles IV'' by [[Francisco Goya|Goya]]</small></small></td></tr></table>

The '''Ridolfi plot''' was a [[Roman Catholic]] plot in [[1570]] to assassinate [[Elizabeth I of England|Queen Elizabeth I of England]] and replace her with [[Mary I of Scotland]]. The plot was hatched and planned by [[Roberto di Ridolfi]], who, an international banker, was able to travel between [[Brussels]], [[Rome]] and [[Madrid]] to gather support without attracting too much suspicion.

== Background ==

'''Charles IV''' ([[November 11]], [[1748]] - [[January 20]], [[1819]]) was [[list of Spanish monarchs|King of Spain]] from [[December 14]], [[1788]] until his abdication on [[March 19]], [[1808]].

The Duke of Norfolk, a cousin to the Queen and wealthiest landowner in the country, had been proposed as a possible husband for Mary ever since her imprisonment in 1568. This suited Norfolk who had greater ambitions and felt Elizabeth persistently undervalued him.<ref>Williams, Neville, ''The Life and Times of Elizabeth I'', (Book Club Associates, 1972), pg 91.</ref> In pursuit of this, he agreed to support the [[Northern Rebellion]], though quickly lost his nerve and tried to call it off. However, the rebellion was not under his control and went ahead anyway, with the Northern earls trying to foment rebellion among their Catholic subjects to prepare for a Catholic Spanish invasion by the [[Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba|Duke of Alba]], governor of the [[Netherlands]].<ref>Starkey, David, ''Elizabeth I: Apprenticeship'', (Vintage, 2001), pg 322.</ref>

==Early life==

After the rebellion failed, the leaders were executed and a purge of Catholic sympathisers in the priesthood carried out. Norfolk was imprisoned in the [[Tower of London]] for nine months and only freed under house arrest when he confessed all and begged for mercy.<ref>Williams, ''Life and Times'', pg 101-2.</ref> Pope [[Pius V]] issued [[Regnans in Excelsis]], a [[papal bull]] excommunicating Elizabeth, shortly afterwards, which commanded all faithful Catholics to do all they could to depose her, though the majority of Engish Catholics ignored the bull.<ref>Dures, Alan, ''English Catholicism, 1558-1642'', (Longman, 1983), pg 17.</ref> In response, Elizabeth became much harsher to Catholics and their sympathisers.<ref>Starkey, ''Elizabeth I'', pg 322.</ref>

Charles was the second son of [[Charles III of Spain|Charles III]] and his wife [[Maria Amelia]] of Saxony. He was born at [[Portici]], while his father was king of the [[Two Sicilies]]. His elder brother was passed over for the throne as [[mental retardation|mentally retarded]] and [[epilepsy|epileptic]]. Charles had inherited a great frame and immense physical strength from the [[Saxon]] line of his mother. When young he was fond of wrestling with the strongest countrymen he could find. He was considered by many to be intellectually torpid and quite credulous. His wife [[Maria Luisa of Parma]], on the other hand, was seen by many (including by the painter [[Francisco Goya]]) as a vicious and coarse woman who thoroughly dominated the king. He was the father of, amongst others, king [[Ferdinand VII of Spain]] and [[Carlota Joaquina, Princess of Spain|Carlota Joaquina]], consort of king [[João VI of Portugal]].

we love you arsenal we do

During his father's lifetime he was led by her into court intrigues which aimed at driving the king's favourite minister, [[Floridablanca]], from office, and replacing him by [[Pedro Pablo Aranda|Aranda]], the chief of the "Aragonese" party.

==Reign Plot ==

[[Roberto Ridolfi]], a Florentine banker and ardent Catholic, had been involved in the planning of the Northern rebellion, had been plotting to overthrow Elizabeth as early as 1569.<ref>Elton G.R., ''England under the Tudors'', (University Paperback, 1978), pg 297.</ref> Observing the failure of the rebellion, he came to the conclusion that only foreign intervention could restore Catholicism and bring Mary to the throne, and began to contact potential conspirators. Mary's advisor, [[John Lesley]], the [[Bishop of Ross]], gave his assent to the plot as the only way to free Mary.<ref>Williams, ''Life and Times'', pg 102-3.</ref> The plan was to have the Duke of Alba invade from the Netherlands with 10,000 men, foment a rebellion of the northern English nobility, murder Elizabeth, and marry Mary to [[Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk]]. Ridolfi optimistically estimated half of all English peers were Catholic, and could muster in excess of 39,000 men.<ref>Williams, ''Life and Times'', pg 102.</ref> Norfolk gave verbal assurances to Ridolfi that he was Catholic, though as a pupil of [[John Foxe]], he remained a Protestant all his life.<ref>Dures, ''English Catholicism'', pg 17.</ref><ref>Lockyer, Roger, ''Tudor and Stuart Britain, 1417-1714'', (Longman, 1964), pg 186.</ref> Both Mary and Norfolk, desperate to remedy their respective situations, agreed to the plot.<ref>Jenkins, Elizabeth, ''Elizabeth the Great'', (Phoenix Press, 1958), pg 176.</ref> With their blessing, Ridolfi set off to the continent to gain Alba, Pius V and King Philip II's support.

After he succeeded to the throne in [[1788]] his one serious occupation was hunting. Affairs were left to be directed by his wife and her lover [[Manuel de Godoy]]. Although Godoy essentially took over his wife and his office, the king was favourable towards him for all his life. When terrified by the [[French Revolution]] he turned to the [[Inquisition]] to help him against the party which would have carried the reforming policy of Charles III much further. But he never took more than a passive part in the direction of his own government. He simply obeyed the impulse given him by the queen and Godoy.

However, the Duke of Alba feared that if the plot should be successful, it would lead to Mary, Queen of Scots, a former Queen of France whose mother was a member of the prominent [[Guise]] family, occupying the throne of England. The consequence of this would be an England wedded to Mary's beloved France, an outcome which the Spanish feared.

He had a profound belief in his divine right and the sanctity of his person. He thought it very important to seem a very powerful monarch, although his kingdom was treated as a mere dependency by [[France]] and his throne was dominated by the queen and her lover. Spain allied with France and supported the [[Continental Blockade]], but withdrew after the [[Battle of Trafalgar]]. When Napoleon won from [[Prussia]] in [[1807]], Godoy returned to the French side, but France did no longer consider Spain a worthy ally. But even the alliance with France as it was made Godoy's rule unpopular and fueled the [[partido fernandista]], the supporters of Ferdinand, who favored a close relationship with [[Great Britain]].

==AbdicationDiscovery==

In 1571, Elizabeth's intelligence network was sending her information about a plot against her life. She was also sent a private warning by the Grand Duke of Tuscany, who had learned of the plot against her. William Cecil Charles Baillie, Ridolfi's messenger, was arrested at [[Dover, England|Dover]] carrying compromising letters, and revealed the existence of the plot under [[torture]]. The Duke of Norfolk was arrested on [[September 7]], [[1571]] and sent to the tower.<ref>Weir, ''Mary, Queen of Scots'', pg 493.</ref> Guerau de Spes, the Spanish ambassador, was expelled from the country in [[January]], [[1571]].<ref>Jenkins, ''Elizabeth the Great'', pg 179.</ref> Ridolfi was still abroad at the time the plot was discovered, and never returned to England, becoming a Florentine senator in 1600.

When he was told that his son Ferdinand was appealing to the emperor [[Napoleon]] against Godoy, he took the side of the favourite. When the populace rose at [[Aranjuez]] in [[1808]] he abdicated on [[March 19]] to save the minister, who had been taken prisoner. Ferdinand took the throne but was distrusted by Napoleon, who had 100,000 soldiers in Spain by that time.

Mary, when questioned, admitted to having dealings with Ridolfi, but denied any involvement with the plot.<ref>Weir, ''Mary, Queen of Scots'', pg 493.</ref> She was clearly implicated by the evidence, but Elizabeth refused to have her executed and vetoed a bill by Parliament that condemned Mary and removed her from the succession.<ref>Smith, A. G. R., ''The Government of Elizabethan England'', (Edward Arnold, 1967), pg 28.</ref> She feared that by executing a [[Divine Right of Kings|divinely appointed]] monarch, she undermined her own position.<ref>Lockyer, ''Tudor and Stuart Britain'', pg 190.</ref> Instead, she had the Duke of Norfolk executed for treason in [[June]], [[1571]].<ref>T.A.Morris, ''Europe and England in the Sixteenth Century'', (Routledge 1998), p334</ref> However, Mary's status in England was transformed from honoured guest to treasonous pariah, and she was universally condemned by the governing elite:<ref>Morris, ''Europe and England'', p334</ref> her continued conspiring, especially in the [[Babington plot|Babington]] plot, eventually led to her execution on [[February 8]], [[1587]].<ref>Weir, Alison, ''Mary, Queen of Scots and the Murder of Lord Darnley'', (Pimlico, 2004), pg 509.</ref>

He took refuge in France, and was the prisoner of Napoleon. He had a difficult time restraining himself from assaulting his son. Then he abdicated in favour of Napoleon's brother [[Joseph Bonaparte|Joseph]]. He accepted a pension from the French emperor and spent the rest of his life between his wife and Godoy. He died in [[Rome]] on [[January 20]], [[1819]].

A very fictionalised version of the Ridolfi plot was featured in the movie ''[[Elizabeth (film)|Elizabeth (1998)]]'' which depicted Thomas Howard, the Duke of Norfolk, as the chief conspirator. However the film omitted the involvement of Ridolfi himself.

==Reference==

== See also ==

*''Historia del Reinado de Carlos IV'', by General Gomez de Arteche (5 vols.), in the ''Historia General de Espa&ntilde;a de la Real Academia de la Historia'' (Madrid, 1892, etc.).

* [[Throckmorton plot]]

{| align="center" cellpadding="2" border="2"

* [[Babington plot]]

|-

* [[Francis Walsingham]]

| width="30%" align="center" | Preceded by:<br>'''[[Charles III of Spain|Charles III]]'''

| width="40%" align="center" | '''[[List of Spanish monarchs|King of Spain]]'''

| width="30%" align="center" | Succeeded by:<br>'''[[Joseph Bonaparte]]'''

|}

== References ==

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== External links ==

* [http://www.marie-stuart.co.uk/England.htm Marie Stuart Society's account of the Ridolfi plot].

* [http://www.gunpowder-plot.org/ridolfi.asp The Gunpowder Plot Society's account of the Ridolfi plot].

* [http://www.elizabethi.org/uk/chronology/two.html Timeline of Elizabeth's reign from 1570 to 1603].

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[[Category:SpanishTudor monarchsrebellions]]

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