Fontainebleau, Treaty of (1807)

Treaty of Fontainebleau (1807), a secret agreement between Spain and France regarding the partition of Portugal. In the Treaty of Fontainebleau, Charles IV and Napoleon I outlined a proposed conquest and partition of Portugal by Spain and France as part of Napoleon's ongoing attempt to isolate England. Consisting of twenty-one articles, seven of which were secret, the treaty divided Portugal into three parts. The north would go to the king of Etruria, the grandson of Charles IV; the central provinces to Napoleon, until a general peace could be concluded; and the south, the Algarve, to Manuel de Godoy, Charles's first minister. At the conclusion of the peace, Charles IV would be recognized as emperor in Spanish America. The treaty also allowed a French army of 25,000 men and 3,000 cavalry to cross Spain into Lisbon with a 40,000-troop reserve just north of the Spanish-French border at Bayonne, in case of English intervention. The treaty was signed 27 October 1807, nine days after a French army crossed into Spain and began its march on Lisbon.

Although this treaty permitted French soldiers on Spanish soil legally, it was never published, and the terms of the division of Portugal remained unfulfilled. The Treaty of Fontainebleau ultimately led to the Napoleonic occupation of Spain, the capture of Charles IV, and the designation of Napoleon's brother Joseph Bonaparte as ruler of Spain.

See alsoBonaparte, Joseph; Charles IV of Spain; Godoy, Manuel; Napoleon I.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Manuel De Godoy. Memorias. 2 vols. Madrid: Ediciones Atlas, 1956.

Carlos Seco Serrano. Godoy: El hombre y el político. Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, 1978.

Douglas Hilt. The Troubled Trinity: Godoy and the Spanish Monarchs. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1987.

                                        Suzanne Hiles Burkholder