As king of Spain, Charles III made far-reaching reforms to increase the flow of funds to the crown and defend against foreign incursions on the empire.

Although he did not achieve complete control over Spain's finances, and was sometimes obliged to borrow to meet expenses, most of his reforms proved successful in providing increased revenue to the crown and expanding state power, leaving a lasting legacy.

In 1726 Charles met Philippine Élisabeth for the first time; Elisabeth Farnese later wrote to the regent and his wife regarding their meeting: "I believe, that you will not be displeased to learn of her first interview with her little husband.

The Austrian viceroy, Giulio Borromeo Visconti, and the commander of his army, Giovanni Carafa , left some garrisons holding the city's fortresses and withdrew to Apulia.

Three weeks later, the Duke of Montemar left the mainland for Sicily where they arrived in Palermo on 2 September 1734, beginning a conquest of the island's Austrian-held fortresses that ended in early 1735.

The Hackney was a white mare and a sum of money which the King of Naples offered the Pope as feudal homage every 29 June, at the feast of Saints Peter and Paul.

In Rome, it was discovered that the Bourbons had confined Roman citizens in the basement of Palazzo Farnese, which was the personal property of King Charles; people were brought there to impress them into the newborn Neapolitan army.

[19] The Neapolitan king subsequently managed to iron out his differences with the Pope, after long negotiations, through the mediation of its ambassador in Rome, Cardinal Acquaviva, the archbishop Giuseppe Spinelli and the chaplain Celestino Galiani.

Tuscany went to Emperor Charles VI's son-in-law Francis Stephen, as compensation for ceding the Duchy of Lorraine to the deposed Polish King Stanislaus I.

That year, Emperor Charles died leaving his Kingdoms of Bohemia and Hungary (along with many other lands) to his daughter Maria Theresa; he had hoped the many signatories to the Pragmatic Sanction would not interfere with this succession.

Charles arranged for 10,000 Spanish soldiers that were to be sent to Italy under the command of the Duke of Castropignano, but they were obliged to retreat when a Royal Navy squadron under Commodore William Martin threatened to bombard Naples if they did not stay out of the conflict.

Tanucci had found a solution to Charles's acceding to the throne, but then implemented a major regalist policy toward the Church, substantially limiting the privileges of the clergy, whose vast possessions enjoyed tax exemption and their own jurisdiction.

Among the initiatives aimed at bringing the kingdom out of difficult economic conditions, Charles created the "commerce council" that negotiated with the Ottomans, Swedes, French, and Dutch.

The British Prime Minister, William Pitt wanted to create an Italian league where Naples and Sardinia would fight together against Austria, but Charles refused to participate.

"[30] With the Republic of Genoa relations were stretched: Pasquale Paoli, general of Corsican pro-independence rebels, was an officer of the Neapolitan army and the Genoese suspected that he received the assistance of the Kingdom of Naples.

The site had previously been home to a small hunting lodge, as had Versailles, which he was fond of because it reminded him of the Royal Palace of La Granja de San Ildefonso in Spain.

Determined to maintain the hold of his descendants on the court of Naples, Charles undertook lengthy diplomatic negotiations with Maria Theresa, and in 1758 the two signed the Fourth Treaty of Versailles, by which Austria formally renounced the Italian Duchies.

In the Nueva Planta decrees, Philip V also disbanded the Generalitat de Catalunya, abolished its Constitutions, banned the Catalan language from any official use and mandated the use of Castilian Spanish in legal affairs.

In this letter, Tadeo informs the Duke of a military campaign in which Charles III of Spain led an army of over 14,000 men, including Turks and Moors, and recounts how he had the fortune to witness the first shots fired during the battle.

On 23 March 1766, his attempt to force the madrileños to adopt French dress for public security reasons was the excuse for a riot (Motín de Esquilache), during which he did not display much personal courage.

The third code, which was named the "Código Negro Carolino" after Charles himself, divided the freed black and slave populations of Santo Domingo into strictly stratified socio-economic classes.

The policies that centralized the Spanish state on the Iberian Peninsula were extended to its overseas territories, especially after the end of the Seven Years' War, when Havana and Manila were captured (1762–63) by the British.

Charles's predecessors on the throne had begun reforming the relationship between the Iberian metropole Spanish American and Philippine possessions, to create a centralized and unified empire.

[44] Charles sent José de Gálvez as inspector general (visitor) to New Spain in 1765 to find ways to extract further revenue from its richest overseas possession and to observe conditions.

In Spanish America, the impact was significant, since the Jesuits were a wealthy and powerful religious order, owning lucrative haciendas that produced revenue funding its missions on the frontier and its educational institutions.

The economic hardship this introduced to parts of the Altiplano combined with systemic oppression of Indian and mestizo underclasses created an environment in which a large-scale uprising could occur.

[49] Charles received the strict and structured education of a Spanish Infante by Giovanni Antonio de Medrano; he was very pious and was often in awe of his domineering mother, who according to many contemporaries, he resembled greatly.

[50] Giovanni Antonio de Medrano taught him geography, history and mathematics, as well as military art and architecture during his stay in the cities of Florence, Parma and Piacenza.

During the reign of Carlos III, Freemasonry enjoyed wide liberties, where the most influential political leaders and social figures were distinguished members of the lodges (rumored to be the Rodríguez Campomanes, Esquilache, Wall, Azara, Miguel de la Nava, Pedro del Río, Jovellanos, Valle, Salazar, Olavide, Roda, the Duke of Alba, the Count Floridablanca and the Count of Aranda), managing to convince the king to limit the authority of the Spanish Inquisition (even being behind the Expulsion of the Jesuits), because the presence of Freemasonry was very influential in the Cortes of Carlos III and Carlos IV to encourage enlightened despotism, being almost omnipresent in the noble, literary and military aristocracies that surrounded him.

According to the Freemason Carlos José Gutiérrez de los Ríos, he believes that the increase in the number of people joining Freemasonry, during the reign of Charles III, was the product of the naivety of many Spaniards: [63] "The other initiates ignore it and enter in good faith for the attraction of fun and even flatter the recruits with mutual aid, they enjoy all the occasions of great ease to enter and find friends everywhere..."The rule of Charles III has been considered the "apogee of empire" and not sustained after his death.