French Inspiration

Abstract

The coming to the throne of Philip V, the first Bourbon king (1701–46), ushered in a new stage in the construction of Spain’s fiscal-military state. This change has traditionally been put down to the ‘new broom’ effect of the new reign and the new dynasty. As grandson of Louis XIV, the Duke of Anjou represented the ideal of the absolutist model, and the reforms undertaken in Spain could be construed as a replica of a political system that was reaching its full maturity just at that moment (Collins, 1995). In truth, as recent research has shown, the French absolutist state was far from satisfying the aspirations for change of the Spanish. The political and administrative organisation and the management of the fiscal and financial resources of Louis XIV’s state were beset by too many contradictions and limitations, so many, in fact, that any absolutist principles were rendered more ideal than real (Rowlands, 2012).