List of Spanish monarchs

This is a list of Spanish monarchs—that is, rulers of the country of Spain in the modern sense of the word. The forerunners of the Spanish throne, as well as of the Portuguese throne, were the following:

These lineages were eventually united by the marriage of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile. Although their kingdoms continued to be separate, with their personal union they ruled them together as one dominion. Ferdinand also conquered the southern part of Navarre and annexed it to what was to become Spain. Isabella left her kingdom to her daughter Joanna of Castile. Ferdinand served as her regent during her insanity; though rebuffed by the Castilian nobility and replaced with Joanna's husband Philip the Handsome, he resumed his regency after Philip's death. In 1516, after Ferdinand II's death, Joanna's son, the future Holy Roman Emperor Charles V assumed the authority due to the his mother's insanity, and he was sworn as King, thereby uniting the thrones permanently.

Monarchs of Spain

In Roman Times, what is today Spain was a province of Rome which the Romans called Hispania. These lands were brought under the control of Rome by Julius Caesar before his conquest of Gaul. Spain from the time of the fall of the Roman Empire was a loose collection of kingdoms, duchies, feudal states and warlords which no one but the Moors were able to conquer. Charlemagne tried but was not able to make Spain part of his Holy Roman Empire and his nephew Roland was killed when it was attempted. Spain as a nation did not exist until Isabella I and Ferdinand II were married uniting the three most powerful parts of Spain (Leon, Castile, and Aragon), and were therefore able to conquer all of Spain.

Officially, the monarchy of "Spain" came into the Bourbon monarch's titulary as late as in 1837, when the regency of Isabella II of Spain adopted it to the place of the old, lengthy titularly (that had started "...of Castile, Leon, Aragon," and so on). Even then, it was in plural : Reina de las Españas - Queen of the Spains. Only in 1874 was the name Spain changed into singular in the Bourbon monarchical titulary. However, colloquial use of the name Spain (Hispania) as the name of the kingdom had already taken place around three centuries earlier. Where brevity was necessary, the state used it: beginning with Philip II Spanish coinage had regularly used the short rex Hispaniarum to exclusion of other, longer titles.

Thus, the "birth of Spain" cannot be definitively dated. It is a process that lasted several centuries and the more significant stages are:

In 1479, Catholic Kings Isabel I of Castile and Ferdinand both won the War of the Castilian Succession and Ferdinand II inherited Kingdom of Aragon; thereby King Ferdinand was King of Castile (by the Agreement of Segovia of 1475, Ferdinand and Isabella agreed to rule jointly), and King of Aragon. However, after this, the kingdoms shortly became separate, as Isabella's daughter Joanna of Castile inherited her mother's throne in 1504, but Aragon remained Ferdinand's; he even married again and had he produced a son, that son would have taken precedence in Aragon and kept that country separate in the future.

In 1516, Ferdinand II of Aragon was dead, and his daughter Queen Joanna of Castile was kept prisoner at Tordesillas as insane, thereby his grandson the future Emperor Charles V, self-proclaimed king and Kingdom of Castile accepted afterwards before his arrival to Spain, while his mother Joanna, who was incapable to rule, was Queen also. However, in Aragon, the authorities did not acknowledge^[1] Ferdinand II's will and did not have any King until Carlos swore the fueros in his name and the one of his mother, and both were Kings of Aragon also.

It has been reported that in a coinage of two silver reals, minted in Mexico, the son and mother were "Carolus et Johana, reges Hispaniarum et Indiarum".At the moment, the old Hispania was not united, as Portugal was independent.

In 1580, when, after the Portuguese dynastic crisis, at the moment of personal union between Portugal and all other Iberian monarchies, it is said the old Hispania, became a united realm. Charles's son Philip II of Spain who already was King of Castile and Aragon (directly from his father) also became King of Portugal, and no longer there was any other monarchy in the Iberian Peninsula. Later, in 1640, Portugal rebelled and separated from this union under the House of Braganza (recognized by Spain only in 1668), and thenceforth the name of Spain does not refer to the whole of the Iberian peninsula (ancient Hispania), but only to this one of its two constituent countries.

Between 1707 and 1716, during and shortly after the end of the War of the Spanish Succession, King Philip V—the first Bourbon king of Spain—, signed Nueva Planta decrees and suppressed the institutions, privileges, and the ancient fueros of the Crown of Aragon.

In 1812, during the Peninsular War, Cádiz Cortes promulgated a Constitution that it expressed what the Spanish Nation were.

The Spanish monarchs traditionally sign Yo El Rey (I the King), or Yo La Reina (I the Queen).

England cricketer Ashley Giles is nicknamed the King of Spain after a consignment of mugs was erroneously produced with that name on it. (They should have said 'King of Spin', in reference to his style of bowling)

House of Trastámara

In 1479 King John II of Aragon died, passing the throne of Aragon to Ferdinand II, while Isabella I of Castile ruled in Castile and Leon. However, they did not rule the whole of Spain, although They conquered the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada, a southern Muslim Taifa state in 1492, and Ferdinand conquered the Kingdom of Navarre in 1512.

Picture	Name	Monarch From	Monarch Until
	Ferdinand II of Aragon (Ferdinand V of Castile) with his wife, Isabella of Castile)	January 15, 1475 In Castile (due to Agreement of Segovia) January 20, 1479 In Aragón	November 26, 1504 In Castilla (due to Isabel I's Death) January 23, 1516 In Aragon
	Isabella I of Castile with her husband, Ferdinand II of Aragon	December 13, 1474 In Castile	November 26, 1504

File:Juanaaragon1479.jpg	Joanna I of Castile ^[2] with her husband, Philip I of Castile (1506), with her son, Charles I of Spain (1516-1555)	November 26, 1504 In Castile July 29, 1518 In Aragon (due to her son swore Aragonese fueros)	April 12, 1555
	Philip I of Castile with his wife, Joanna I of Castile (1506)	July 12, 1506 (was sworn at Cortes after the Agreement of Villafáfila)	September 25 de 1506

House of Habsburg / House of Austria

The House of Habsburg (or "of Austria", as it was known to contemporaries) descended from Charles I of Spain (who was also the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V). He left behind a Spanish monarchy that also, for some time, retained control of the Netherlands; however, the title of Holy Roman Emperor did not pass to these Spanish monarchs.

Name	Monarch From	Monarch Until
Charles I with his mother Joanna I of Castile (1516-1555)	March 14, 1516 In Castile (self-proclaimed king y accepted afterwards) July 29, 1518 In Aragon (due to his oath of Aragonese fueros)	January 16, 1556 (abdication)
Philip II	January 16, 1556	September 13, 1598
Philip III	September 13, 1598	March 31, 1621
Philip IV	March 31, 1621	September 17, 1665
Charles II	September 17, 1665	November 1, 1700

House of Bourbon

After Charles II died without heirs, the crown of Spain passed to his nephew Philip V, a grandson of Louis XIV of France.

Name	Monarch From	Monarch Until
Philip V	November 16, 1700	January 14, 1724
Louis I	January 14, 1724	August 31, 1724
Philip V	September 6, 1724	July 9, 1746
Ferdinand VI	July 9, 1746	August 10, 1759
Charles III	August 10, 1759	December 14, 1788
Charles IV	December 14, 1788	March 19, 1808
Ferdinand VII	March 19, 1808	May 6, 1808
Charles IV	May 6, 1808	June 6, 1808

House of Bonaparte

The only monarch from this dynasty was Joseph I, imposed by his brother Napoleon I of France after he conquered Spain. The title used by Joseph was King of the Spains and the Indias, by divine grace. He was also later given all of the titles of the deposed King.

Picture	Coat of Arms	Name	Monarch From	Monarch Until
		Joseph I Napoleon	June 6, 1808	December 11, 1813

House of Bourbon (first restoration)

Again the title used was king of Castile, Leon, Aragon,… by divine grace.

Picture	Coat of Arms	Name	Monarch From	Monarch Until
		Ferdinand VII	December 11, 1813	September 29, 1833
File:IsabellaII.PNG		Isabella II	September 29, 1833	September 30, 1868^[3]

House of Savoy

The only Monarch of this dynasty was Amadeo I, elected by the Cortes after the Spanish revolution deposed Isabella II. The new title used was King of Spain, by divine grace and will of nation.

Picture	Coat of Arms	Name	Monarch From	Monarch Until
		Amadeus I	January 2, 1871	February 11, 1873

First Spanish Republic

The First Spanish Republic lasted from 1873 to 1874.

House of Bourbon (second restoration)

Constitutional king of Spain.

Picture	Coat of Arms	Name	Monarch From	Monarch Until
File:Alfonso XII.png		Alfonso XII	December 29, 1874	November 25, 1885
		Alfonso XIII	May 17, 1886	April 14, 1931

Second Spanish Republic

The Second Spanish Republic lasted from 1931 to 1939.

Francisco Franco's dictatorship

Francisco Franco ruled parts of Spain from 1 October 1936 and the entire country from 1 April 1939 until his death on 20 November 1975. In 1947, Franco proclaimed the restoration of the monarchy, but did not allow the pretender, Juan de Borbón, Count of Barcelona, to take the throne. In 1969, Franco declared that Juan Carlos, the Count of Barcelona's son, would be his successor. The Count renounced his claims in favor of his son in 1977, two years after Franco's death and Juan Carlos's accession.

House of Bourbon (third restoration)

The title is King of Spain.

Picture	Coat of Arms	Name	Monarch From	Monarch Until
File:Juan Carlos I fortable.jpg		Juan Carlos I	November 22, 1975	Incumbent

Notes

^ Estudio documental de la moneda castellana de Carlos I fabricada en los Países Bajos (1517)
^ Under the regency of his father, Ferdinand II of Aragon (1504-1506, 1506-1516)
^ Following Isabel's abdication, there was a more than two year interregnum, during which time the government sought a new monarch from abroad.

External links

Kings of Spain, 700–

[1] Estudio documental de la moneda castellana de Carlos I fabricada en los Países Bajos (1517)

[2] Under the regency of his father, Ferdinand II of Aragon (1504-1506, 1506-1516)

[3] Following Isabel's abdication, there was a more than two year interregnum, during which time the government sought a new monarch from abroad.

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