page_title: Luis de Lacy
section_title: Execution and rehabilitation
hierarchical_section_title: Luis de Lacy / Execution and rehabilitation
caption_attribution_description: Español: Fusilamiento del teniente general Luis Lacy y Gautier. Fue fusilado el día 5 de julio de 1817 en los fosos del Castillo de Bellver. El dibujo no reproduce fielmente la ejecución del general Lacy, ya que el general recibió la descarga sentado en una silla, por padecer en esos momentos un ataque de gota.
context_page_description: Brigadier-General Luis Roberto de Lacy, 11 January 1775 – 5 July 1817, was a Spanish professional soldier of Irish descent, who served in the Spanish and French Imperial armies.
  He played a prominent role in the 1808 to 1814 Spanish War of Independence and held a number of senior military positions but was executed in 1817 for leading a failed revolt against the government of Ferdinand VII. In 1820, the Cortes or Spanish Parliament, declared him a hero of Spanish democracy and installed a plaque to his memory in the Palacio de las Cortes, Madrid, where it remains.
context_section_description: Ferdinand rejected a previous commitment to accept the Spanish Constitution of 1812 and established an absolutist regime; Spain also faced colonial wars in the Americas, which began in 1810 and continued until 1833. This destabilised the regime and led to a series of attempted coups, by military officers like de Lacy backed by progressive civilian elements, often linked by Freemasonry. 
  Following failed attempts in 1815 and 1816, de Lacy returned to Barcelona and assisted by a former subordinate, Francisco Milans del Bosch, planned another. This began on 5 April 1817 but quickly collapsed; de Lacy was captured, court-martialed, and sentenced to death. Following public protests against the sentence, he was secretly taken to Palma, Majorca, held at Bellver Castle and executed there by firing squad on 5 July 1817. 
  In 1820, a revolt led by Colonel Rafael del Riego forced Ferdinand to restore the 1812 Constitution; this began the Trienio Liberal, a period of liberalisation that ended in 1823, when a French army allowed Ferdinand to re-assert control. However, in 1820 the reconstituted Cortes Generales declared de Lacy a martyr; along with others including Riego, he is commemorated on a plaque in the Palacio de las Cortes, Madrid, which can still be seen today. De Lacy was buried at the Cementiri de Sant Andreu, in Barcelona.
caption: Execution of Luis Roberto de Lacy y Gautier, 5 July 1817
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