La niebla constitucional de la Corona. Las ceremonias políticas de la monarquía en el Estado nación español (1808-1868)

espanolEl liberalismo concedio mucha importancia a la ritualidad politica. Era necesario representar publicamente sus teoricos, sus valores constitutivos y su orden sociopolitico, condensandolo en un sistema simbolico complejo. En una epoca dominada por las formas de gobierno monarquicas, este proyecto ritual liberal se elaboro en dialogo con las ceremonias monarquicas, integradas en una longeva tradicion cultural. Esto hizo que se produjera un continuo trasvase entre ambas formas rituales y sus significados politicos. Este articulo analiza los intentos por conciliar simbolica y ritualmente los dos principales sujetos soberanos del siglo xix —la monarquia y la nacion— mediante las ceremonias politicas que llevaban a la Corona a la sede de la representacion nacional espanola: la apertura y clausura de Cortes y la jura de la Constitucion. El proceso no fue monolitico, sino que sufrio intensos cambios en funcion a los contextos y el reparto de papeles. Entre 1808 y 1837 se sucederan en Espana tres modelos ceremoniales asociados a tres sistemas politicos, enfatizando el complejo proceso de adaptacion de la monarquia al liberalismo. Establecido el modelo definitivamente en 1837, comenzo entonces un intenso combate por sus usos y significados. Estos rituales llevaron a los gobiernos a instrumentalizar la Corona, haciendola descender al combate politico alejado de aquella reclusion moderadora por ellos teorizada. Pero, igualmente, se convirtieron en espacios de protesta y discusion publica. Tras estas ceremonias se evidencia la lucha por el control del espacio publico y la legitimacion politica donde los silencios, las aclamaciones y los vitores se erigieron en potentes armas politicas. EnglishLiberalism attributed great significance to political rituality. It was necessary to publicly represent its political principles, constitutive values, and socio-political order but also to condense it into a complex symbolic system. In an age dominated by monarchical forms of government, this ritual project was developed by liberalism in dialogue with the royal ceremonies, which were part of a long cultural tradition. This fact produced a continuous transfer between both ritual forms and their political meanings. This article analyses the attempts to reconcile symbolically and ritually the two nineteenth-century main sovereign subjects in Spain: the monarchy and the nation. To this end, I study the political ceremonies that brought the Crown to the seat of the national representation: the State Opening of Parliament and the Constitution’s Oath. The process was not monolithic but underwent profound changes depending on the contexts and the distribution of roles. Between 1808 and 1837, there were three ceremonial models associated with three political systems in Spain, emphasizing the complex process of adaptation of the monarchy to liberalism. The final ritual model was established in 1837, but it began then an intense fight for its uses and meanings. These rituals led the governments to use the Crown as a political tool, making it descend to political combat far from that theorized moderate reclusion. But they also became spaces for protest and public discussion. Behind these ceremonies, it was hidden the fight for public place control and political legitimization in which silences, acclamations, and cheers became powerful political weapons.