KING CHARLES IV (SPAIN) CARLOS ANTONIO PASCUAL FRANCISCO JAVIER JUAN NEPOMUCENO JOSE JANUARIO SERAFIN DIEGO - MILITARY APPOINTMENT SIGNED 12/13/1799 CO-SIGNED BY: ANTONIO CARMELAGA, PEDRO APARICI - HFSID 174910

KING CHARLES IV, ANTONIO CARMELAGA and PEDRO APARICI
The King of Spain Charles IV grants a petition and names Veteran Lieutenant of the Provincial Regiment of Dragons of Michoacan (Mechoacan, in Tarasco, the native language of the region) and Don Ramon Benavides as a Lieutenant of the one in Spain. The King mentions the Viceroy in New Spain and the media anta tax, which also make this document very important
Military Appointment Signed: "Yo, El Rey" in iron gall ink. 12x8¼. Two pages. Fully Translated in English: "Regarding the veteran tenure of the Provincial Regiment of Dragons of Mechoacan where Don Ygnacio Salcedo, I have named Don Ramon Benavides as Lieutenant of the one in Spain, as a result of the requested barter that I have approved according to the decree of August 15, 1788. Therefore, I mandate the Viceroy and General Captain of the Kingdom of New Spain to order Don Ramon Benavides to start working in that position with the privileges and exemptions. That is my will, and I want the appropriate Minister of my Real Estate to also order the writing of this in the principal accounting office, in where his salary will be established according to the last regulation, it will be in effect since the day they do what I order, without contributing at all to the right of media anata for the job, because it is completely military. This will also be written in the General Accounting Office of my Council of Indias. Dated in San Lorenzo, December 13, 1799. I, The King. His Majesty names veteran lieutenant of the Provincial Regiment of Dragons of Mechoacan to Don Ramon Benavides. It was written in the North Department of the Accountancy of the Indias. Pedro Aparici". Carlos Antonio Pascual Francisco Javier Juan Nepomuceno Jose Januario Serafin Diego (1748-1819) and later known just as King Charles IV was born in Naples on November 11, 1748 to Queen Maria Amalia of Saxony and Charles III, who was King of Naples and Sicily. His elder brother Prince Philip was passed over for both crowns due to his learning disabilities and epilepsy. Charles was known as "Prince of Taranto" in Naples and Sicily and was called "El Cazador" ("The Hunter"), due to his preference for sport and hunting over dealing and solving the affairs of the state. So, may people considered him to be cordial but simple-minded. After the death of Charles III in 1788, Charles IV succeeded to the throne in December 14, 1788 and tried to maintain the policies of his father, so he retained his prime minister, the Count of Floridablanca, in office. King Charles IV married his first cousin Maria Louisa, daughter of Philip, Duke of Parma in 1765, and they had fourteen children, six of whom survived into adulthood. Regardless he deeply believed in the sanctity of his office and kept up the appearance of an absolute and powerful monarch, King Charles IV never took more than a passive part in his own government. The affairs of government were left to his wife and his prime minister while he spent the time hunting. In 1792, political and personal enemies ousted Floridablanca from office, replacing him with the Count of Aranda Pedro Pablo Abarca de Bolea. However, in the beginning of the war against Republican France, the liberal-leaning Count of Aranda was himself replaced by Manuel de Godoy, a favorite of the Queen and widely believed to be her lover, who enjoyed the lasting favor of the king. So, Godoy continued Aranda's policy of neutrality towards France, but after Spain protested the execution of Louis XVI of France on January 21, 1793, France declared war on Spain. After the declaration, Portugal and Spain signed a treaty of mutual protection against France. In 1795 France forced Godoy to enter into an alliance, and declare war on the Kingdom of Great Britain. Spain remained an ally of France and supported the Continental Blockade until the British naval victory at Trafalgar, when Spain became allied with Britain. Nevertheless, after Napoleon Bonaparte achieved a victory over Prussia in 1807, Godoy steered Spain back onto the French side again. This switching of alliances devalued Charles V's reputation as a trustworthy ally, increased the unpopularity of Godoy and strengthened the supporters of Crown Prince Ferdinand, who favored an alliance with the United Kingdom and who would later become King Ferdinand VII. So, economic problems, the rumors about an affair between the Queen and Godoy and the King's ineptitude, provoked the declining in prestige of the monarchy among the population. Anxious to take over from his father and jealous of the prime minister, Prince Ferdinand attempted to overthrow the King in an aborted coup in 1807. Some riots and a popular revolt at the winter palace of Aranjuez in 1808, forced King Charles IV to abdicate on March 19 in favor of his son, and that was how Ferdinand was crowned as Ferdinand VII, but was mistrusted by Napoleon, who had 100,000 soldiers stationed in Spain by that time. The ousted king, having appealed to Napoleon Bonaparte for help in regaining his throne, was summoned before him in Bayonne, along with his son, in April 1808; Napoleon Bonaparte forced both Charles and his son to abdicate in March 19, 1808, declared the Bourbon dynasty of Spain deposed and installed his brother, Joseph Bonaparte, as King Joseph I of Spain. Following Napoleon's deposing of the Bourbon dynasty, the former king, his wife and once Prime Minister Godoy, were made prisoners in France, first at the chateau de Compiegne and three years in Marseilles , where a neighborhood was named after him. After the collapse of the regime installed by Napoleon, Ferdinand VII was restored to the throne and his dad Charles IV drifted about Europe until 1812, when he finally settled in the Palazzo Barberini, in Italy. His wife died on January 2, 1819 and Charles IV did the same just eighteen days later. Well-meaning and pious, Charles IV floundered in a series of international crises beyond his capacity to handle, and he was also painted by the great painter Francisco Jose de Goya y Lucientes in a number of official court portraits. Fragile. Partially printed. Lightly toned and creased. Chipped at blank left edge, shaded at left and upper left margins. Pinhead-size hole at upper blank margin. Small tears along edges. Otherwise, fine condition.