After the severe suppression of the uprising in Madrid by the French and the abdication of Charles IV and Ferdinand VII from the Spanish throne in May 1808 a long military conflict began, which in Spanish historiography was called the War of Spanish Independence. The Catholic Church played a significant role in mobilizing the Spanish population in the face of the French invasion. Most of the clergy and monks became those representatives of the educated strata of the country’s population who did not support the plans of Napoleon and his protege, Jose I, to secularize and reform Spanish society in accordance with French ideals. Priests spoke from the pulpits of churches and cathedrals with addresses and sermons calling for a fight against the «Antichrist» Napoleon and his army, and abbots of monasteries inspired monks and novitiates to fight against the invaders with weapons in hand. Moreover, the clergy managed to justify the direct participation of the clergy in such a «crusade» against Napoleon's army, which led to the formation of «crusaders-guerrilleros», which participated in the guerrilla war against the French army on an equal basis with other Spanish guerrilleros. Representatives of monastic orders, Capuchins, Carmelites and Franciscans, who suffered most from the religious reforms of Jose I, which implied, in particular, the liquidation of monasteries and monastic and mendicant orders on the territory of the Iberian Peninsula, were especially actively involved in the Spanish guerrilla war. It was the church that became an element of unity for the Spanish population in the face of the French invasion, providing the rebels with an ideological justification for their mission to liberate Spain.
«Crusade» against the French: clergy participation in the Spanish guerrilla 1808–1814
Kosykh Tatiana
The study is sponsored by the Russian Science Foundation, project № 23-18-00011 (https://rscf.ru/project/23-18-00011/).
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