Editing Giulio Alberoni (section)

==Middle years==
[[File:Affresco contro il Card. Alberoni Palazzo Pubblico San Marino.JPG|thumb|right|200px|Anti-Alberoni fresco, from the Palace San Marino]]
When Vendôme was defeated by Marlborough at the [[Battle of Oudenarde]] in 1708, Alberoni was able to convince the Duke of Alba—the Spanish ambassador to the French court—to place Vendôme in charge of Spanish forces by 1710.<ref name="MW" /> Alberoni accompanied Vendôme to Spain as his [[Secretary of State (Ancient Regime in Spain)|secretary]] and became very active in promoting the cause of the French candidate [[Philip V of Spain|Philip V]]. Following Vendôme's death, in 1713 he was made a [[Count]] and appointed Consular agent for Parma at Philip's court where he was a Royal favourite.

Under the terms of the 1713 [[Treaty of Utrecht]], Philip became King of Spain but the Spanish Empire was effectively partitioned. [[Southern Netherlands|The Southern Netherlands]] and their Italian possessions were ceded to the [[Habsburg monarchy|Austrian Habsburgs]] and [[Savoy]], [[Menorca]] and [[Gibraltar]] went to Britain while British merchants gained trading rights in the previously closed market of the Spanish Americas.

At this time, the key powerbroker at the Spanish court was [[Marie-Anne de la Trémoille, princesse des Ursins]] who dominated Phillip and his wife [[Maria Luisa of Savoy]]. Alberoni worked with her and when Maria Luisa died in 1714 they arranged for Philip to marry [[Elizabeth Farnese|Elisabetta Farnese]], daughter of the Duke of Parma.<ref name="MW" />

Elisabetta was a strong personality herself and formed an alliance with Alberoni, their first action being to banish the Princesse des Ursins.<ref>E Armstrong, "The Influence of Alberoni in the Disgrace of the Princess des Ursins" ''English Historical Review'', 1890.</ref> By the end of 1715, Alberoni had been made a Duke and [[Grandee]] of Spain, a member of the King's council, [[Bishop of Málaga]] and Chief Minister of the [[Monarchy of Spain#Bourbon Monarchy|Hispanic Monarchy]]. In July 1717, [[Pope Clement XI]] appointed him a Cardinal Deacon, allegedly because of his assistance in resolving several ecclesiastical disputes between Rome and Madrid in favour of Rome.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Moore|first1=George|title=Lives of Cardinal Alberoni, the Duke of Ripperda and Marquis of Pombal|date=1814|publisher=Forgotten Books|oclc=22667803|page=33|edition=2017|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mqFQAAAAcAAJ&q=cardinal+alberoni&pg=PA33}}</ref>

One outcome of the war was to reduce the powers of [[Council of Castile|Castile]] and [[Council of Aragon|Aragon]] and create a Spanish state similar to the centralised French system. This allowed Alberoni to copy the economic reforms of [[Jean-Baptiste Colbert|Colbert]] and he passed a series of decrees aimed at restoring the Spanish economy. These abolished internal custom-houses, promoted trade with [[Council of the Indies|the Americas]], instituted a regular mail service to the colonies and reorganised state finances along lines established by the French economist [[Jean Orry]]. Some attempts were made to satisfy Spanish conservatives e.g. a new School of Navigation was reserved for the sons of the nobility.

[[File:Pier Leone Ghezzi Papa Clemente XI conferisce berretta a Giulio Alberoni.jpg|thumb|left|Pier Leone Ghezzi – Pope Clement XI confers the cardinal's hat to Giulio Alberoni, oil on canvas 1724, Museum of Rome]]
[[File:The Battle of Cape Passaro, 11 August 1718 RMG BHC0351.tiff|thumb|left|[[Battle of Cape Passaro]], 11 August 1718; the destruction of the Spanish fleet off Sicily]]

These reforms made Spain confident enough to attempt the recovery of territories in Italy ceded to [[Savoy]] and [[Charles VI of Austria]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Harcourt-Smith|first1=Simon|title=Cardinal of Spain: The Life and Strange Career of Alberoni|url=https://archive.org/details/cardinalofspainl00harc|url-access=registration|date=1944|publisher=Knopf|page=[https://archive.org/details/cardinalofspainl00harc/page/3 3] passim}}</ref> In 1717, a Spanish force occupied [[Sardinia]] unopposed; neither Austria or Savoy had significant naval forces and Austria was engaged in the [[Austro-Turkish War of 1716–18]]. This assumed the British would not intervene but when 38,000 Spanish troops landed on Sicily in 1718, Britain declared it a violation of Utrecht. On 2 August 1718, Britain, France, the Netherlands and the Austrians formed the [[Quadruple Alliance (1718)|Quadruple Alliance]] and on 11 August the Royal Navy destroyed a Spanish fleet off Sicily at the [[Battle of Cape Passaro]].

Alberoni now attempted to offset British in the Mediterranean by sponsoring a [[Jacobite rising of 1719|Jacobite landing]] to divert their naval resources; he also sought to end the [[Anglo-French Alliance (1716–1731)|1716 Anglo-French Alliance]] by using the [[Cellamare conspiracy]] to replace the current French Regent [[Philippe II, Duke of Orléans|the Duke of Orleans]] with Phillip of Spain. However, he failed to appreciate that Britain was now powerful enough to maintain naval superiority in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic while France declared war on Spain in December 1718 on the discovery of the Conspiracy.

France invaded eastern Spain and in October 1719 a British naval expedition captured the Spanish port of [[Capture of Vigo|Vigo]]; they landed 6,000 troops, held Vigo for ten days, destroyed vast quantities of stores and equipment and then re-embarked unopposed. The nearby city of [[Santiago de Compostela]] even paid £40,000 in return for being left alone.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Rodger|first1=NAM|title=The Command of the Ocean: A Naval History of Britain 1649–1815; Volume 2.|date=2006|publisher=Penguin|isbn=9780141026909|page=229}}</ref> As intended, this was a crushing demonstration of British naval power and showed the Spanish Britain could land anywhere along their coastline and leave when they wanted to.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Simms|first1=Brendan|title=Three Victories and a Defeat: The Rise and Fall of the First British Empire, 1714–1783.|date=2008|publisher=Penguin|isbn=9780140289848|page=141}}</ref> The failure of his policy meant Alberoni was dismissed on 5 December 1719 and ordered to leave Spain, with [[Treaty of The Hague (1720)|the Treaty of The Hague]] in 1720 confirming the outcome of Utrecht. In an effort to persuade the Pope to depose Alberoni, charges were laid against him: failures in chastity, not wearing appropriate clerical dress, and not having said Mass for years.<ref name="MW" />