In 1788, Charles III died; Charles IV succeeded to the throne and ruled for the next two decades. Even though he had a profound belief in the sanctity of the monarchy and kept up the appearance of an absolute, powerful king, Charles never took more than a passive part in his own government. The affairs of government were left to his wife,
Maria Luisa, and the man he appointed first minister,
Manuel de Godoy. Charles occupied himself with hunting in the period that saw the outbreak of the
French Revolution, the executions of his Bourbon relative
Louis XVI of France and his queen,
Marie Antoinette, and the rise of
Napoleon Bonaparte. Ideas of the
Age of Enlightenment had
come to Spain with the accession of the first Spanish Bourbon,
Philip V. Charles' father, Charles III, had pursued an active policy of
reform that sought to reinvigorate Spain politically and economically and make the Spanish Empire more closely an appendage of the metropole. Charles III was an active, working monarch with experienced first ministers to help reach decisions. Charles IV, by contrast, was a
do-nothing king, with a domineering wife and an inexperienced but ambitious first minister, Godoy. The combination of a king not up to the task of governance, the queen widely perceived to take lovers (including Godoy) and the first minister with an agenda of his own earned the monarchy increased alienation from its subjects. Upon ascending to the throne, Charles IV intended to maintain the policies of his father and, accordingly, retained his prime minister,
the Count of Floridablanca. Under Charles IV,
scientific expeditions continued to be sent by the crown, some of which were initially authorized by
Charles III. The
Royal Botanical Expedition to New Granada (1783–1816), and the
Royal Botanical Expedition to New Spain (1787–1803), were funded by the crown. The
Malaspina Expedition (1789–94) was an important scientific expedition headed by Spanish naval commander
Alejandro Malaspina, with naturalists and botanical illustrators gathering information for the Spanish crown. In 1803, he authorized the
Balmis Expedition, aimed at
vaccinating Spain's overseas territories against
smallpox. In 1799, Charles IV authorized Prussian aristocrat and scientist
Alexander von Humboldt to travel freely in Spanish America, with royal officials encouraged to aid him in his investigation of key areas of Spain's empire. Humboldt's
Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain was a key publication from his five-year travels. in 1790 Spain's economic problems were of long standing, but deteriorated further when Spain was ensnared in wars that its ally France pursued. Financial needs drove his domestic and foreign policy. Godoy's economic policies increased discontent with Charles's regime. In an attempt to implement major economic changes,
Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos, a reformist,
Jansenist conservative proposed major structural reform of land tenure to promote the revival of agriculture. His 1795 work
Informe en el expediente de ley agraria argued that Spain needed thriving agriculture to allow its population to grow and prosper. In his analysis, the concentration of land ownership and traditions and institutional barriers were at the heart of agriculture's problems. He called for division and sale of public lands, which were held by villages, as well as the swaths of Spanish territory controlled by the
Mesta, the organization of livestock owners who had kept grazing lands as an asset for their use. Jovellanos also argued for the abolition of entailed properties (
mayorazgos), which allowed landed estates to pass undivided through generations of aristocrats, as well as sale of lands held by the Catholic Church. The aim of these policies was to create in Spain yeoman farmers, who would pursue their self-interest and make agricultural land more productive. The cost would be to undermine the power of the Church and the aristocracy. As the situation with immediate revenue became more fraught, the crown in 1804 imposed measures in its overseas empire forcing the church to call in immediately the mortgages it had extended on a long-term by the Catholic Church. Although aimed at undermining the wealth and power of the church, the wealthy landowning elites were faced with financial ruin, since they had no way to make full payment on their mortgaged properties. This ill-considered royal decree has been seen as a major factor in the independence movement in
New Spain (Mexico). The decree was in abeyance once Charles and Ferdinand abdicated, but it undermined elite support while in force. In foreign policy Godoy continued Abarca de Bolea's policy of neutrality toward as France, but after Spain protested the execution of
Louis XVI of France in 1793, France declared war on Spain. After the declaration, Portugal and Spain signed a treaty of mutual protection against France. In 1796 France forced Godoy to
enter into an alliance, and declare war on the
Kingdom of Great Britain. As a consequence,
Spain became one of the
maritime empires to have been allied with Republican France in the
French Revolutionary War, and for a considerable duration. Spain remained an ally of France for a while, lost against the British in the
battle of Trafalgar, and supported the
Continental Blockade. After
Napoleon's victory over
Prussia in 1807, Godoy kept Spain with the French side. But the switching of alliances devalued Charles's position as a trustworthy ally, increasing Godoy's unpopularity, and strengthening the
fernandistas (supporters of
Crown Prince Ferdinand), who favoured an alliance with the
United Kingdom. Economic troubles, rumors about a sexual relationship between the Queen and Godoy, and the King's ineptitude, caused the monarchy to decline in prestige among the population. Anxious to take over from his father, and jealous of the prime minister, Crown Prince Ferdinand attempted to overthrow the King in an aborted coup in 1807. He was successful in 1808, forcing his father's abdication following the
Tumult of Aranjuez. File:2 escudos en or à l'effigie de Charles IV, 1798.jpg|Coins with image of Charles IV of Spain, 1798 File:Charles IV of Spain 1794 Colombia 8 Escudos.jpg|Coin of Charles IV of Spain Colombia 8 Escudos, 1794 File:Count of Floridablanca.jpg|Count de Floridablanca, painting by
Goya ca. 1782–83 File:Pedro Pablo Abarca de Bolea, Count of Aranda.jpg|Count of Aranda File:Francisco de Goya - Godoy como general - Google Art Project.jpg|Manuel de Godoy, as general. Painting by Goya 1801 File:Francisco de Goya y Lucientes - Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos.jpg|Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos. Painting by Goya 1798 File:Ferdinand VII (1784–1833), When Prince of Asturias MET DT236256.jpg|Crown Prince Ferdinand, Painting by Goya 1800
Abdications of Bayonne Riots, and a popular revolt at
the winter palace Aranjuez, in 1808 forced the king to abdicate on 19 March, in favor of his son. ==Later life and death==