CHARLES IV. (1748-1819), king of Spain, second son of Charles III. and his wife Maria Amelia of Saxony, was born on Nov. 11, 1748. The elder brother was set aside as imbecile and epileptic. Charles married Maria Luisa of Parma, his first cousin, who, on his succession to the throne in 1788, directed affairs with the assistance of her lover Godoy (q.v.). The king was too sloth ful to have more than a passive part in the direction of his own Government. If he ever understood that his kingdom was treated as a mere dependence by France, he consoled himself with a be lief in his divine right and the sanctity of his person. When he was told that his son Ferdinand was appealing to Napoleon against Godoy, he took the side of the favourite, and when the populace rose at Aranjuez in 1808 he abdicated to save the minister. He took refuge in France, and being imprisoned with his son he was with difficulty restrained from assaulting him. Finally he abdi cated in favour of Napoleon and died at Rome on Jan. 20, 1819.
See General Gomez de Arteche (Historia del Reinado de Carlos IV.) in the Historia General de Espana de la Real Academia de la Historia (1892, etc.) ; A. Savine, L'Abdication de Bayonne. (1908) .