Ferdinand VI of Spain
Ferdinand VI ruled Spain from 1746 to 1759 and kept it out of every European war of his reign, which is the reason it recovered. Born in Madrid in 1713, he was a son of Philip V by his first wife, and grew up neglected in favour of the children of his stepmother Elisabeth Farnese, who was determined to secure Italian thrones for her own sons. He was melancholic by temperament, a trait that ran in the family and eventually destroyed him. He married Barbara of Braganza, a Portuguese princess, in 1729. It was an unusually close marriage, and she shared his passion for music; they employed the castrato Farinelli, who ran the court entertainments for years, and Domenico Scarlatti, who had been Barbara's teacher and who wrote most of his keyboard sonatas in Spain. He ended the War of the Austrian Succession by the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748 and then maintained strict neutrality between Britain and France, refusing to be drawn into the Seven Years' War despite pressure from both. That peace allowed a decade of reconstruction under the Marquis of Ensenada and José de Carvajal. The navy was rebuilt substantially, dockyards and roads were constructed, a cadastral survey of Castile was undertaken to reform taxation, and the crown negotiated the Concordat of 1753, which gave it the right to appoint to most Spanish benefices and much of the church's revenue. Barbara died in August 1758. Ferdinand collapsed entirely, refusing to wash, eat or conduct business, and died at Villaviciosa de Odón in August 1759, childless, succeeded by his half-brother Charles III.
- Lived: 1713 CE – 1759 CE
- Nationality: Spanish
- Roles: king, head_of_state
