Treaty of Badajoz (1801)

The Treaty of Badajoz (also known as the Peace of Badajoz) was signed in Badajoz on 6 June 1801 between the representatives of Prince Regent John of Portugal and representatives from the Kingdom of Spain. Based on the terms of the accord, the Kingdom of Portugal agreed to cede Olivença (along with paying an indemnity to Spain^[1]). Moreover, Portugal was required to close all ports to the British.^[2] On a sidenote, Prince John was forced to sign the accord as a result of the Spanish army (along with a French auxiliary corps) having been dispatched across the Portuguese frontier. The treaty was reinforced and slightly altered during a special convention (i.e. Treaty of Madrid) that was held on 29 September 1801 whereby Portugal was forced to pay France a total of 20 million francs. ^[3] Portugal has to this day disputed the Spanish claim and thus does not recognize Spanish sovereignty over Olivença , on the grounds that the conditions under which this treaty was signed make it void; and that after the end of the French invasions, Spanish occupation of that territory contradicts the Treaty of Vienna. ^[4]

See also

• List of treaties
• War of the Oranges

Notes

1. Brodrick and Fotheringham, p. 6. Spain and Portugal were both lukewarm in this war, and on June 6 signed the treaty of Badajoz, by which Portugal agreed to close her ports to England, to pay an indemnity to Spain, and to cede the small district of Olivenza, south of Badajoz.
2. Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne, p. 375. On the 6th of June, 1801, Portugal signed the treaty of Badajoz, by which she promised to cede Olivenza, Almeida, and some other fortresses to Spain, and to close her ports against England. The first consul, who was dissatisfied with the treaty, at first refused to ratify it. He still kept his army in Spain, and this proceeding determined Portugal to accede to some slight alterations in the first treaty. This business proved very advantageous to Lucien and Godoy.
3. Fournier, p. 210. A Spanish army reinforced by a French auxiliary corps was despatched across the Portuguese frontier, and on the 6th of June, 1801, John VI. was forced to sign the treaty of Badajoz, which closed all Portuguese harbors to the English, and by a special convention, September 29th, he was bound to pay France twenty million francs.
4. http://www.olivenca.org/litigio_uk.htm

References

• August Fournier (translated by Margaret W. Bacon Corwin and Arthur Dart Bissell). Napoleon the First: A Biography. H. Holt and Company, 1903.
• George Charles Brodrick and John Knight Fotheringham. The History of England, from Addington's Administration to the Close of William IV.'s Reign 1801-1837 (Volume XI). Longmans, Green, 1906.
• Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne. Private Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte: During the Periods of the Directory, The Consulate, and the Empire. Carey & Lea, 1831 (Received by the Harvard College Library on July 13, 1860).