Enlightenment in Spain Enlightenment in Spain The ideas of the Age of Enlightenment (in Spanish, "Ilustración") came to Spain in the eighteenth century with the new Bourbon dynasty, following the death of the last , Charles II, in 1700. "Like the Spanish Enlightenment, the Spanish Bourbon monarchs were imbued with Spain's Catholic identity." The period of reform and 'enlightened despotism' under the Bourbons focused on centralizing and modernizing the Spanish government, and improvement of infrastructure, beginning with the rule of King Charles III and the work of his minister, José Moñino, count of Floridablanca. In the political and economic sphere, the crown implemented
House of Bourbon democracy; the Spanish Constitution of 1978 recognized the monarchy. Since 1964 the Bourbon-Parma line has reigned agnatically in Luxembourg through Grand Dukes Jean and his son Henri. In June 2011, Luxembourg adopted absolute primogeniture, replacing the old Semi-Salic law that might have guaranteed the survival of Bourbon rule for generations. Though it is not as powerful as it once was and no longer reigns in its native country of France, the House of Bourbon is by no means extinct and has survived to the present-day world, predominantly composed of republics. The House of Bourbon, in its surviving branches, is believed