In 1808, after a period of shaky alliance between the Spanish
Antiguo Régimen and the
Napoleonic French First Empire, the
Mutiny of Aranjuez (17 March 1808) removed the king's minister
Manuel de Godoy, Prince of the Peace, and led to the
abdication of king
Charles IV of Spain (19 March 1808). His son
Ferdinand VII briefly held the reins of power, but Napoleon determined to settle the monarchy of Spain on a member of his own family: his older brother Joseph, conferred the title Prince of Spain to be hereditary on his children and grandchildren in the male and female line. Charles IV renounced his rights to the Spanish Crown in favor of Napoleon. Later the same day, Ferdinand VII, unaware of Charles's abdication, abdicated in favor of his father, effectively passing the Crown to Napoleon. at the
Château de Valençay. In an attempt to conform at least mildly to the tradition of legal continuity, Napoleon ordered his general
Joachim Murat, Grand Duke of Berg, to convene in Bayonne a
Cortes of thirty deputies chosen from among the notables of Spain to help draft and to approve the constitutional basis for the new regime. However, in the context of the
Dos de Mayo Uprising in
Madrid and various other uprisings elsewhere in Spain, only about a third of the invited Spanish notables attended. Napoleon designated his brother Joseph as king of Spain; it was promulgated July 8. ==Content==