Exaltados

the members of a party of left-wing liberals in Spain during the revolution of 1820–23; also known as the New Liberals or the Liberals of 1820.

The exaltados included bourgeois and petit bourgeois urban elements, as well as certain officers, officials, and nobles. Their leaders were Flores de Estrado, Moreno Herra, Romero Alpuente, and R. Riego y Nuñez. Many of the exaltados were Masons. The extreme left-wing elements of the party broke away from the exaltados and formed the independent group known as the Comuneros.

The exaltados formed a government on Aug. 5, 1822. In May 1823 they achieved the passage of a law they had proposed to abolish seignorial rights, but they were unable to carry out the law because of intervention by France. The government of the exaltados, together with part of the Cortes and King Ferdinand VII, whom the exaltados held captive, moved to the Isla de León, where it surrendered on Sept. 30,1823. After the outbreak of the revolution of 1834–43, many of the former exaltados joined the Progressive Party.