THE REAL SOCIEDAD ECONÓMICA MATRITENSE UNDER THE REGENCY OF MARÍA CRISTINA DE BORBÓN: THE PROMOTION OF LOCAL MODERNIZATION

Abstract

This article is part of my contribution to the Political History of Contemporary Spain Research Group at the University of Alcalá, classified as a High Performance Group by resolution of the Research Commission of October 23, 2019, ratified by the Governing Council of the UAH as of October 31.

The Royal Economics Societies of Friends of the Country have known, over the last centuries, several periods of impulse and decline. Born in the reign of Carlos III, they were initially supported by the enlightened elites, at the provincial and central level, although their work gradually diminished, especially due to lack of solid financial means. They knew a second impulse during the first years of the government of Manuel Godoy, until they became lethargic again at the end of the reign of Carlos IV. After the War of Independence, the first cabinets of Fernando VII accepted its reestablishment, especially due to its moderate and reformist character, but when many of its members were attached to constitutionalism during the years of the Liberal Triennium (1820-1823), the Societies again Economics fell into a daze. But, after the death of the king, a new political phase favorable to reformism opened during the regency of María Cristina de Borbón (1833-1840). The official propaganda spread, in Spanish society, the idea that the "enlightened reign of Elizabeth II" was beginning, so the government was in favor of the restoration and promotion of the Economics.