Rumor, Prophecy, and the Bourbon Millennium: The War of the Spanish Succession in New Spain, 1702–14

In 1706, an official in Mexico City accused a group of artisans and merchants critical of Philip V of being “Sebastianists,” a term applied to those who embraced millenarian beliefs surrounding the death of the young and heirless King Sebastian of Portugal in 1578; Sebastian had wanted to conclude the conquest of Morocco, but ended up losing his life at the Battle of Alcácer Quibir. Soon after, rumors circulated that King Sebastian had not died and would return to rule over a “golden age.” After Philip II assumed the Portuguese throne in 1580, the millenarianism unleashed by Sebastian’s death conflated with the nationalism inspired by the union of Spain and Portugal.

The labeling of men in Mexico City as Sebastianists seems on the surface absurd, but during the War of the Spanish Succession (1702-1714) officials bantered the term about with little reflection. A fear of Sebastianism made it to New Spain in the form of various imprints that accused the Portuguese troops allied with the Austrian Alliance of being filled with Sebastianists. Still, why would officials in New Spain apply the term to Spaniards of questionable loyalty?

Using printed propaganda and a large corpus of sermons given during the War of the Spanish Succession in cities throughout New Spain, I suggest that supporters of Bourbon rule saw Austrian sympathizers as motivated by millenarianism because they themselves were. Pro-Bourbon orators borrowed heavily from the Book of Daniel and The Book of Revelation to explain the war, but also from a constellation of messianic writings produced within the kingdoms of Spain. After defeating the false prophet or antichrist, New Spain`s orators promised that Philip V as the New David would revitalize the ailing empire and inaugurate a “golden age.”