3-081-420 - LTL/Heritage Images

Slaughter of friars, Madrid, 17 July 1834. Anti-clerical mutiny during the regency of Maria Cristina. Several convents in Madrid were stormed and dozens of friars were killed. In the summer of 1833 a cholera epidemic reached Spain, which spread rapidly in Madrid a year later. The epidemic caused hundreds of deaths in few days. A rumour was spread throughout the city blaming the Jesuits to poison the water in the fountains, causing a mob to massacre the religious on the afternoon of 17 July. Beheading of the friars, in the basilica of San Francisco el Grande. After the painting by Ramón Pulido. From "Historia General de España" (General History of Spain) by Miguel Morayta, Vol VII, Madrid, 1893.