King Ferdinand VII of Spain, having refused…
1822 CE
He had accepted the constitution on March 9, 1820, despite the rebels' relative weakness, granting power to liberal ministers and ushering in the so-called Liberal Triennium (el Trienio Liberal), a period of popular rule.
However, political conspiracies of both right and left have proliferated in Spain, as is the case across much of the rest of Europe.
Liberal revolutionaries had stormed the King's palace and seized Ferdinand VII, who remains a prisoner of the Cortes in all but name for the next three years, having retired to Aranjuez.
The elections to the Cortes Generales in 1822 are won by Rafael del Riego.
Ferdinand's supporters have set themselves up at Urgell, taken up arms and put in place an absolutist regency.