View source for Ultra-royalist

{{short description|Monarchist political faction in Bourbon Restoration France}}
{{Infobox political party
| name             = Ultra-royalists
| native_name      = Ultraroyalistes
| colorcode        = {{party color|Ultra-royalist}}
| leader           = [[Joseph de Villèle]] and [[Charles X of France|Charles X]]<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Charles-X | title=Charles X &#124; Biography, Reign, Abdication, & Facts &#124; Britannica }}</ref>
| foundation       = {{start date and age|1815}}
| dissolution      = {{end date and age|1830}}
| successor        = [[Legitimists]]
| newspaper        = ''[[La Gazette (France)|La Gazette]]''<br />''[[La Quotidienne]]''<br />''Le Conservateur''
| ideology         = [[Monarchism]]<br />[[Reactionary|Reactionarism]]<ref>{{cite book|last1=De Bertier|first1=Ferdinand|last2=De Bertier de Sauvigny|first2=Guillaume|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4s5nAAAAMAAJ|title=Souvenirs d'un ultra-royaliste (1815-1832)|editor=Editions Tallandier|date=1993|publisher=Tallandier |isbn=9782235021197}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=De Waresquiel|first=Emmanuel|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DOFIwL8eD50C|title=L'histoire à rebrousse-poil: Les élites, la Restauration, la Révolution|editor=Fayard|date=2005|publisher=Fayard |isbn=9782213659480}}</ref><br />[[Ultramontanism]]<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vhrzkNN7DawC|title=Histoire de France, pendant les annees 1825, 1826, 1827 et commencement de 1828, faisant suite a l'Histoire de France par l'abbe de Montgaillard|volume=1|date=1829|page=74}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M1L73ft4EzYC|title=Encyclopédie des gens du monde: répertoire universel des sciences, des lettres et des arts; avec des notices sur les principales familles historiques et sur les personnages célèbres, morts et vivans|volume=22|editor=Treuttel et Würtz|date=1844|page=364}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Bailleul|first=Jacques-Charles|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yFROAAAAcAAJ|title=Situation de la France|date=1819|page=261}}</ref><br />[[Conservatism]]<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E2BAAAAAcAAJ|title=Le Conservateur: le roi, la charte et les honnêtes gens|editor=Le Normant|volume=1|date=1818|page=348}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Reboul|first=Pierre|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NyePB8OxKjEC|title=Chateaubriand et le conservateur|editor=Presses Univ. Septentrion|date=1973|page=288}}</ref>
| position         = [[Right-wing politics|Right-wing]]<ref>{{bulleted list
|{{cite book|last= Jean-Jacques Oechslin|title=Le mouvement ultra-royaliste sous la Restauration: son idéologie et son action politique (1814-1830)|date=1960|publisher=Librairie générale de droit et de jurispurudence, R. Pichon & R. Durand-Auzias|page=209}}
|{{cite journal|last=Pierre Triomphe|first= Pierre Triomphe|title=L'antiparlementarisme sous la Restauration|journal=Parlement[s], Revue d'histoire politique|date=2013|volume= 9|issue= 3 |pages=35–47|doi= 10.3917/parl.hs09.0035|url=https://www.cairn.info/revue-parlements1-2013-3-page-35.htm}}
|{{cite book|last=Bertrand Goujon|title=Monarchies postrévolutionnaires. 1814-1848: (1814-1848)|volume=II|date=2012|location=Paris|isbn= 9782021094459|edition=Le Seuil|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ccgNPu5U6tcC}}}}</ref>
| religion         = [[Catholic Church in France|Catholic Church]]
| seats1_title     = Chamber of<br>Deputies (1824)
| seats1           = {{composition bar|413|430|hex={{party color|Ultra-royalist}}}}
| country          = France
}}
{{Monarchism}}
{{Conservatism in France}}
The '''Ultra-royalists''' ({{langx|fr|ultraroyalistes}}, collectively '''Ultras''') were a [[Politics of France|French political]] faction from 1815 to 1830 under the [[Bourbon Restoration in France|Bourbon Restoration]]. An Ultra was usually a member of the nobility of high society who strongly supported [[Catholicism]] as the state and only legal religion of France, the [[House of Bourbon|Bourbon]] [[monarchy]],<ref>''Ultraroyalist''. Dictionary of Politics and Government, 2004, p. 250.</ref> [[Social class|traditional hierarchy between classes]] and [[Suffrage#Census suffrage|census suffrage]] (privileged voting rights), while rejecting the political philosophy of [[General will|popular will]] and the interests of the [[bourgeoisie]] along with their [[Liberalism|liberal]] and [[Liberal democracy|democratic]] tendencies.<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/topic/ultra-French-history "Ultra"]. ''Encyclopaedia Britannica''. "The ultras represented the interests of the large landowners, the aristocracy, clericalists, and former émigrés. They were opposed to the egalitarian and secularizing principles of the Revolution, but they did not aim at restoring the ancien régime; rather, they were concerned with manipulating France’s new constitutional machinery in order to regain the assured political and social predominance of the interests they represented".</ref>

The [[Legitimists]], another of the main [[Right-wing politics|right-wing]] factions identified in [[René Rémond]]'s ''Les Droites en France'', were disparagingly classified with the Ultras after the 1830 [[July Revolution]] by the victors, the [[Orléanist]]s, who deposed the Bourbon dynasty for the more liberal king [[Louis Philippe I|Louis Philippe]].

== Second White Terror ==
{{main|Second White Terror}}
Following the return of [[Louis XVIII]] to power in 1815, people suspected of having ties with the governments of the [[French Revolution]] or of [[Napoleon]] suffered arrest. Several hundred were killed by angry mobs or executed after an informal summary court-martial. The episodes happened primarily in the south of France.<ref>Gwynn Lewis, "The White Terror of 1815 in the Department of the Gard: Counter-Revolution, Continuity and the Individual" ''Past & Present'' No. 58 (February 1973), pp. 108–135 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/650258 online].</ref>

Historian [[John Baptist Wolf]] argues Ultra-royalists—many of whom had just returned from exile—were staging a [[counter-revolution]] against the French Revolution and also against [[Coup of 18 Brumaire|Napoleon's revolution]].
:Throughout the Midi — in Provence, Avignon, Languedoc, and many other places — the White Terror raged with unrelenting ferocity. The royalists found in the willingness of the French to desert the king fresh proof of their theory that the nation was honeycombed with traitors, and used every means to seek out and destroy their enemies. The government was powerless or unwilling to intervene.<ref>{{cite book|author=John Baptiste Wolf|title=France: 1814-1919, the Rise of a Liberal-democratic Society|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gRy-GYG8XzMC|year=1963|page=36}}</ref>

== Bourbon Restoration ==
[[File:Karel X-Koning der Fransen.jpg|thumb|200px|[[Charles X of France|Charles X]]'s personal philosophy was more in line with the Ultras than [[Louis XVIII]]'s had been]]
Inaugurating the Bourbon Restoration (1814–1830), a strongly restricted census suffrage elected to the [[Chamber of Deputies]] an Ultra-royalist majority (''la [[Chambre introuvable]]'') in 1815–1816 and again from 1824 to 1827. Known to be "more royalist than the king" (''plus royalistes que le roi''), the Ultras were the dominant political faction under [[Louis XVIII]] (1815–1824) and [[Charles X of France|Charles X]] (1824–1830). Opposed to the limitation of the [[Sovereignty|sovereign]]'s power under the [[constitutional monarchy]], they hoped to restore the [[Ancien Régime]] and annul the rupture created by the [[French Revolution]]. Passionately espousing the ruling ideology of the Restoration, the Ultras opposed [[liberalism]], [[republicanism]] and [[democracy]]. While Louis XVIII hoped for a moderate restoration of the Ancien Régime, acceptable to the masses who had participated in the Revolution, the Ultras held rigidly to the dream of an integral restoration. Their power was due in part to electoral laws which largely favored them: on one hand a [[Chamber of Peers (France)|Chamber of Peers]] composed of hereditary members and on the other hand a Chamber of Deputies elected under a heavily restricted census suffrage of approximately 100,000 voters.

[[File:Jean-Baptiste de Villèle.jpg|thumb|left|200px|[[Jean-Baptiste de Villèle]], Ultra-royalist [[List of Prime Ministers of France|Prime Minister of France]] from 1821 to 1828]]
In 1815, an Ultra majority was elected to the chamber of deputies. Louis XVIII dubbed them ''La Chambre Introuvable'', "the unfindable chamber", due to his astonishment at a group of deputies more royalist than himself. Under the guidance of his chief minister the [[Armand-Emmanuel de Vignerot du Plessis, Duc de Richelieu|Armand-Emmenuel de Vignerot du Plessis, Duc de Richelieu]], Louis XVIII finally decided to dissolve this turbulent assembly, invoking Article 14 of the Constitutional Charter. There followed a "Liberal Interlude" from 1816–1820, a period of "wilderness years" for the Ultras. Then on 13{{nbsp}}February 1820, the [[Charles Ferdinand, Duke of Berry|Duke of Berry]] was stabbed by a republican assassin as he left the Paris Opera House with his wife and died the next day. This outrage strengthened the Ultras, who then introduced laws such as the {{ill|Law of the Double Vote|fr|Loi du double vote}} which allowed them to further dominate the Chamber of Deputies. In addition to other factors, Louis XVIII's health was in serious decline, reducing his resistance to Ultra demands: even before he came to the throne, the Comte d'Artois (Charles X) already dominated the government.

The 1824 death of Louis XVIII, whom they saw as too moderate, lifted the spirits of the Ultras: they expected their leader, the new king Charles X, would soon become an absolute monarch, answerable only to God. In January 1825, Villèle's government enacted the [[Anti-Sacrilege Act]], instituting [[capital punishment]] for the theft of sacred [[monstrance]] vases (with or without consecrated hosts). This "anachronistic law" ([[Jean-Noël Jeanneney]]) was never seriously applied and was repealed in the first months of Louis Philippe's reign (1830–1848). The Ultras also wanted to create courts to punish [[Radicalism (historical)|Radicals]] and passed laws restricting [[freedom of the press]].

== Legitimists, the successor of the Ultras ==
The 1830 [[July Revolution]] replaced the Bourbons with the more liberal Orléanist branch and sent the Ultras back to private life in their country chateaux. However, they retained some influence until at least the [[16 May 1877 crisis]] and even further. Their views softened, their principal aim became the restoration of the House of Bourbon and they became known from 1830 on as Legitimists. The historian [[René Rémond]] has identified the Legitimists as the first of the "right-wing families" of French politics, followed by the Orléanists and the [[Bonapartism|Bonapartist]]s. According to him, many modern [[Far-right politics|far-right]] movements, including parts of [[Jean-Marie Le Pen]]'s [[National Front (France)|National Front]] and [[Marcel Lefebvre|Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre]]'s [[Society of Saint Pius X|Society of St. Pius X]], should be considered as parts of the Legitimist family.

== Notable members ==
{{Gallery
| title        = Leader
| align        = center
| state        =
| height       = 130
| width        = 130
| File:Portrait of charles x 1757-183 hi.jpg
| '''[[Charles X of France|Prince Charles, Count of Artois]]'''<br />became King Charles X
}}
{{Gallery
| title        = Ministers and top parliamentarians
| align        = center
| state        = yes
| height       = 130
| width        = 130
| File:Jean-Baptiste de Villèle.jpg
| '''[[Jean-Baptiste de Villèle]]'''
| File:Portrait of Francois Rene Vicomte de Chateaubriand, 1828.jpg
| '''[[François-René de Chateaubriand|Viscount of Chateaubriand]]'''<br />was also very liberal on certain policies (e.g. press)
| File:François Régis de La Bourdonnaye, comte de La Bretèche.jpg
| '''[[François-Régis de La Bourdonnaye]]'''
| File:Comte de Vaublanc.JPG
| '''[[Vincent-Marie Viénot, Count of Vaublanc|Count of Vaublanc]]'''
| File:Jacques-Joseph de Corbière.jpg
| '''[[Jacques-Joseph Corbière]]'''
| File:Jules de Polignac (1780-1847).jpg
| '''[[Jules de Polignac|Prince Polignac]]'''
| File:Anne-Ferdinand-Louis de Berthier, Comte de Sauvigny.jpg
| '''[[Ferdinand de Bertier de Sauvigny]]'''
| File:Gaspard de Clermont-Tonnerre.jpg
| '''[[Aimé, duc de Clermont-Tonnerre|Duke of Clermont-Tonnerre]]'''
| File:Mathieu de Montmorency - Old.jpg
| '''[[Mathieu de Montmorency|Duke of Montmorency]]'''
| File:Denis-Luc Frayssinous.jpg
| '''[[Denis-Luc Frayssinous|''Abbé'' Frayssinous]]''',<br />royal chapelan and peer
|File:Casimir-de-rochechouart.jpg| '''[[Casimir-Louis-Victurnien de Rochechouart de Mortemart]]'''|File:Heim - Sosthène Ier de La Rochefoucauld (1785-1864).jpg| '''[[Sosthènes I de La Rochefoucauld]]'''|File:Fitz-James, Edouard de.jpg| '''[[Édouard de Fitz-James]]'''}}
{{Gallery
| title        = Intellectuals and patrons
| align        = center
| state        = yes
| height       = 130
| width        = 130
| File:Jmaistre.jpg
| '''[[Joseph de Maistre]]''',<br />chief ideologist
| File:Louis-de-Bonald.png
| '''[[Louis Gabriel Ambroise de Bonald|Viscount of Bonald]]''',<br />chief ideologist
| File:Zoé Talon, comtesse du Cayla.jpg
| '''[[Zoé Talon, comtesse du Cayla|Zoé Talon]]''',<br />paramour of [[Louis XVIII]]
| File:Alphonse de Lamartine.PNG
| '''[[Alphonse de Lamartine]]''',<br />[[Liberalism|liberal]] ideologist of the [[Liberalism|liberal]] faction
| File:Pierre-Sébastien Laurentie - gravure par Smeeton.jpg
| '''[[Pierre-Sébastien Laurentie]]'''
}}

== Electoral results ==
{|class=wikitable
|-
!Election year
!No. of
overall votes
!% of
overall vote
!No. of
overall seats won
!+/–
!Position
!Leader
|-
| colspan="7" |[[Chamber of Deputies (France)|Chamber of Deputies]]
|-
![[August 1815 French legislative election|1815]]
|35,200
|87.5%
|{{composition bar|350|400|hex={{party color|Ultra-royalist}}}}
|{{center|New}}
|{{yes|1st (majority)}}
|[[François-Régis de La Bourdonnaye]],
''[[François-Régis de La Bourdonnaye|Comte de La Bretèche]]''
|-
![[1820 French legislative election|1820]]
|34,780
|36.9%
|{{Composition bar|160|434|hex={{party color|Ultra-royalist}}}}
|{{center|{{Decrease}} 190{{efn|This change is compared to the last general election which was in August 1815.  The elections in 1816, 1817, and 1819 were all by-elections and those results are included|name=last}}}}
|{{no|2nd (minority)}}
|[[Joseph de Villèle|Jean-Baptiste Séraphin, ''Comte de Villèle'']]
|-
![[1824 French legislative election|1824]]
|90,240
|96%
|{{composition bar|413|430|hex={{party color|Ultra-royalist}}}}
|{{center|{{increase}} 253}}
|{{yes|1st (majority)}}
|Jean-Baptiste Séraphin, ''Comte de Villèle''
|-
![[1827 French legislative election|1827]]
|40,420
|43.1%
|{{composition bar|185|430|hex={{party color|Ultra-royalist}}}}
|{{center|{{decrease}} 228}}
|{{yes|1st (majority)}}
|Jean-Baptiste Séraphin, ''Comte de Villèle''
|-
![[1830 French legislative election|1830]]
|47,940
|50.7%
|{{composition bar|282|556|hex={{party color|Ultra-royalist}}}}
|{{center|{{Increase}} 97}}
|{{yes|1st (majority)}}
|[[Jules de Polignac]], [[Duke of Polignac|''Duke de Polignac'']]
|}
{{notelist}}

== See also ==
* [[Anti-Sacrilege Act]]
* [[Legitimists]]
* [[Bourbon Restoration in France#Political parties under Restoration|Political parties under Restoration]]
* [[Ultra-Tories]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

{{Conservatism navbox}}

[[Category:French Ultra-royalists|*]]
[[Category:Bourbon Restoration]]
[[Category:Conservative parties in France]]
[[Category:French monarchists]]
[[Category:Reactionary]]
[[Category:Far-right politics in France]]
[[Category:Catholic political parties]]
[[Category:Political parties of the Bourbon Restoration]]