ISABELLA II. (MARIA ISABEL LursA), ex-queen of Spain, the elder daughter of Fer dinand VII. by his fourth wife, Maria Christina, of the Two Sicilies, was b. at Madrid, Oct. 10, 1830, and by a decree which set aside the Salle law in Spain, and was con firmed by the tortes, Mar. 29, 1830, became the heiress-apparent to the throne, which she ascended on the death of her father in Sept., 1833, her mother being appointed queen-regent. An insurrection in favor of her uncle, Dou Carlos (q.v.), who, according to the Salle law, would have succeeded to the throne, immediately broke out in the north-eastern provinces, and raged with great violence for seven years, but was ultimately suppressed by the aid of Britain, France, and Portugal. During this tumult uous epoch, effective internal administration was impossible, and it was necessary to conciliate as far as possible all parties, in order to prevent desertions to the Carlists. Before the revolt had been crushed, which was conclusively effected in 1839, politicians had begun to divide into two classes, the moderados, or " conservatives,' and the &aikidos, or liberals;" and though the queen-regent sided with the former party, she found it necessary to enlarge the liberal constitution of 1834, and ultimately (1837) to re-establish the constitution of 1812. The attempts of the moderados to inaugurate a more narrow policy in 1839 failed, and Maria Christina was forced to flee to France, leaving the regency and the care of the young queen to Espartero (q.v.). On Nov. 8, 1843, the qneen was declared by the ccrtes to have attained her majority; and this was followed soon after by the return of queen-mother, the military dictatorship of Narvaez, and an anti-liberal policy. The question known as the "Spanish Marriages," which at that time agitated the different courts of Europe, was settled by French influ ence, the queen marrying her cousin,. Don Francisco d'Assisi, eldest son of Ferdinand VIL's youngest brother (Oct. 10, 1846); while her sister, Maria Ferdinand Luisa, espoused the Duke of Montpensier, the fifth son of Louis Philippe. This marriage of the queen,
based wholly upon the political interests of the party in power, has been fruitful of domestic annoyances, estrangements and reconciliations rapidly succeeding each other. After eight years of authority, during which he had repressed all liberalism with an iron hand, and foiled the intrigues both of the Carlists and the king-consort, Narvaez alive place to 3Iurillo (Jan., 1851), who began by promising liberal reforms, and agreed to a concordat with the pope. A change to almost purely absolute government in 1853, was followed by the banishment of many chiefs of the constitutional party, and a formidable rising of the army took place. The queen-mother fled to France, and Espartero was once more put at the head of an administration in which liberal principles held sway. But the queen. disapproving of his policy, he resigned in favor of O'Donnell, July 14, 1856, who was soon after supplanted by Narvaez ; and the latter, in turn, had (Oct., 1857) to make for a liberal government. In July, 1858, O'Donnell was restored to power, and with the exception of a brief interval in June, 1865, in which Narvaez was president of the council, maintained himself in the premiership till his death. Nov.. 1867; The chief foreign events of Isabella's reign were —repeated negotiations of the United States with Spain, with the view of purchasing the island of Cuba; the rectification of the Pyrenean frontier; the successful war with Morocco (q.v.); the annexation and subse quent evaenation of St. Domingo (see HAYTI); and the discreditable squabbles with the republics of Chili and Peru. The nation became more and more impatient under the despotic rule of the last years of Isabella's reign; and at length, in Sept., 1868. a revolu tion broke out, which ended in the formation of a republican provisional government, and the flight of Isabella to France. In 1870 she renounced her claim to the throne in favor of her son, Alfonso (chosen king in 1874). She returned to Spain in 1878.