Quick Facts
Biography
Enrique de Aguilera y Gamboa, 17th Marquis of Cerralbo (1845 – 1922), was a Spanish archaeologist and a Carlist politician.
Family and youth
Enrique de Aguilera y Gamboa came from the aristocratic family for centuries residing in the Salamanca province; his ancestors can be traced back to the 14th century, and it was in 1533 when his forefather was named marquis by Carlos I. His father, Francisco de Asís de Aguilera y Becerril, was the founder and director of Gimnasio Real de Madrid (Casón del Buen Retiro) and became known as promoter of physical exercises, supported with a number of machines he invented himself. Married to María Luisa de Gamboa y López de León, the couple had 13 children.
Enrique was first educated at the Madrid Colegio de las Escuelas Pías de San Fernando, later on to study Philosophy and Letters and Law at the Universidad Central. With the death of his father in 1867 Enrique as the oldest living son acquired the conde de Villalobos title, which ensured his place in the middle-range aristocracy and a comfortable financial status. His position changed dramatically in the early 1870s, when, following childless death of his two paternal uncles and death of his paternal grandfather, José de Aguilera y Contreras, Enrique became the most senior male in line. He inherited marquésado de Cerralbo, along with many other aristocratic titles, some of them ceded to his brothers. By virtue of the marquesado de Cerralbo and condado de Alcudia he became the double grandee of Spain. Enrique inherited part of his grandfather’s enormous wealth, including a number of estates in southern Leon, villa de Cerralbo and the San Boal palace in Salamanca. The heritage elevated Enrique into the highest ranks of the Spanish nobility and ensured lifetime opulence. He later multiplied his wealth by marriage, cautious investments on stock exchange and in the railway business, and by inheriting part of the fortune of marqués de Monroy, which allowed him to purchase new estates in Madrid, Santa María de Huerta and in Monroy.
In 1871 Enrique married the mother of his university colleague, Manuela Inocencia Serrano y Cerver from Valencia, thirty years his senior and widow of the military and senator Antonio del Valle y Angelín; she brought into the family the children from her previous marriage. Immediately afterwards the couple travelled extensively and started construction of the family residence in Madrid. In 1893 the family moved into the freshly completed building at calle Ventura Rodríguez, designed in eclectic style by renowned architects and from the outset intended to be also an art gallery, very much like the private pinacotecas seen across Europe. The building – usually referred to as a palace – served later also as a prestigious venue of social meetings, reported the day after by the Madrid press, and a location for political assemblies. The couple had no issue.
Early Carlist years
Though his paternal ancestors remained loyal to the Isabelinos, it was Enrique’s mother who influenced him towards Carlism, the leaning reinforced during the university years. According to himself always a Carlist, he joined the movement in 1869, the same year founding also the affiliated Juventud Catolica. As conde de Villalobos he unsuccessfully ran for the Cortes in 1871 from Ciudad Rodrigo, but obtained the mandate in the successive elections of 1872 from Ledesma. His service lasted only 2 months, since before the planned insurgency the claimant ordered his deputies to resign. There is no evidence that Enrique de Aguilera took part in the Third Carlist War and that he was exiled, though the issue is not entirely clear. In 1876 in Paris, already as marqués, he was introduced to Carlos VII. The two developed cordial relationship bordering personal friendship; de Cerralbo turned out - along Solferino - one of two grandees who sided with Carlism and automatically became one of its most distinguished figures.
Within Carlism de Cerralbo tried to champion the religious cause, but he proved no match for Cándido Nocedal. The conflict grew when Nocedal was nominated Jefe Delegado in 1879, Nocedal opting for immovilismo and Cerralbo for aperturismo. Another issue was Nocedal’s drive to emphasize the Catholic features at the expense of dynastical ones. As Carlos VII grew uncomfortable about power shifting away from his hands and as Nocedal’s leadership caused grumblings among many Carlists, Cerralbo engaged in few attempts to outmaneuver him, but since they remained fruitless, he pondered upon withdrawing from politics.
When Cándido Nocedal died in 1885 Cerralbo was widely rumored to succeed him, but Carlos VII decided to lead the movement personally. Quoting health reasons Cerralbo for some time distanced himself from Carlist politics, marked by further conflict between Ramón Nocedal and the pretender. By virtue of his grandeza he entered the Senate in 1885, where he was the only Carlist. In 1886 Cerralbo headed a makeshift Junta co-coordinating the Carlist electoral effort, though structures of the movement were increasingly paralyzed by conflict until the Nocedalistas were expelled in 1888. The same year Carlos VII decided to counter their El Siglo Futuro by ordering de Cerralbo to create the official Carlist daily El Correo Español, which commenced his lifelong friendship with Juan Vázquez de Mella. De Cerralbo engaged in many other Carlist cultural initiatives. As royal representative he travelled across Spain in 1889-1890, a novelty in terms of mass mobilization; during some of these visits he was assaulted by the Republicans. Eventually, following other royal favors, in 1890 Cerralbo was nominated Jefe Delegado, receiving the claimant’s political carte blanche.
First tenure
Cerralbo’s leadership was marked by conciliatory course towards political groupings of the Right, with intransigence reserved only for the Integrists, labeled traitors and rebels. He shifted focus from conspiracy to parliamentary activity, though the results obtained in elections of 1891 and 1893 were rather poor. Apparently aware of the forthcoming mass culture age, he worked to develop the Carlist propaganda machinery, introducing first attempts to co-ordinate the Carlist press, but including also a network of libraries and publishing houses, combined with other means of public activity like lectures, feasts, erecting monuments, setting up prizes and creating honorary member lists. A novelty in his propaganda was the systematic usage of images, as he arranged for portraits and photographs of Carlist leaders (including himself) to be printed in countless editions. He also tried to build economic foundations of the movement, issuing shares of various Carlist-controlled institutions.
Perhaps the most important of de Cerralbo’s achievements was building a nationwide Carlist organization, which transformed the movement from a 19th-century “party” of loosely organized leaders with their local following into a formal institutionalized structure. During his tenure there were some 2000 juntas and 300 circulos created. Though some of them existed only on paper and the organization was limited chiefly to Northern and Eastern Spain, Carlism became the most modern political party of the time, as two major partidos de turno remained rather electoral alliances, dormant between the polling periods. The transformation of Traditionalism under de Cerralbo led many to label the movement “carlismo nuevo”.
De Cerralbo, though not an ideologue himself, presided over the works on Acta de Loredán, the Carlist doctrinal statement released early 1897. The document confirmed the ultraconservative profile of Carlism and confirmed its commitment to religion, dynasty, and decentralized state, the relative novelties having been an effort to accommodate the social teaching of the Church and to lure back the Integrists by highlighting the principle of Catholic unity.
As the crisis in Cuba mounted, the liberal press was repeatedly warning against a new Carlist insurgency, allegations usually refuted by Correo Español. Small Carlist groups indeed resolved to violence and de Cerralbo tried to prevent the phenomenon. The pretender seemed decided not to weaken the country while at war with the United States, but the situation changed following the disastrous peace of 1898, as Carlos VII made some moves interpreted as preparation to another Carlist war. Cerralbo, widely considered the leader of the pigeons and confronted by the hawks like Llorens, was rumored to be dismissed soon. Quoting health reasons he left Spain and distanced himself from the conflict, finally handing his resignation as Jefe Delegado in late 1899. The notice was accepted by Carlos VII, who nominated Matías Barrio y Mier as the new political leader.
Break in leadership
De Cerralbo left Spain mid-1900 and was absent during La Octubrada, the failed Carlist insurrection in Badalona of October 1900. Surprised by the coup he condemned it as premature, though in principle he did not exclude a violent action. He did not withdraw from the Senate. It is not clear whether de Cerralbo, like many Carlist leaders, was expulsed from Spain, the only measure confirmed two police search raids on his Madrid residence. He returned early 1901 and resumed his duties in the Senate. His relationship with Carlos VII remained correct, but the two were getting more and more apart, especially following dismissal of conde de Melgar (Cerralbo’s friend) as the claimant’s political secretary, and the growing influence of his second wife, Berthe de Rohan. Cerralbo remained loyal to the pretender and his Jefe Delegado Barrio y Mier, taking part in Carlist initiatives and feasts of Madrid. He was also ready to enter Junta Central, the collective governing body designed but eventually abandoned in 1903. He forged a friendly relationship with the son of Carlos VII, Don Jaime, as the two shared historical and archaeological interests. Following the period of poor health and limited public activity, in mid-1900s de Cerralbo increased his engagements becoming head of the Carlist parliamentary minority. When Matías Barrio died in 1909 de Cerralbo was widely rumored to return to the Jefe Delegado position, but as one of his last political decisions Carlos VII nominated Bartolomé Feliú Perez instead, the move welcomed by some and protested by the others.
Second Tenure
The 1909 death of Carlos VII turned political fortunes of de Cerralbo, who consulted by the new claimant Don Jaime advised that as a Carlist king he should adopt the name of Jaime III. Many distinguished Carlists pressed the pretender to dismiss Feliú and re-appoint Cerralbo. The claimant bowed to the pressure in 1912, creating a collective governing body, Junta Superior Central Tradicionalista, with de Cerralbo as its president. A number of authors claim that de Cerralbo was the de facto Jefe Delegado and the press, like many contemporaries, presented him as such. The competitive theory maintains that de Mella, sensing the forthcoming clash with Don Jaime, assumed that aging and sick Cerralbo, his old-time friend, would be easier to manipulate; some claim that following the appointment it was actually de Mella who was running the party.
De Cerralbo returned to his conciliatory policy towards other conservative parties; he also resumed tours across Spain, and re-organized the party by creating 10 commissions. A novelty in party tactics was an attempt to emphasize its public presence by organizing romerías, aplecs and pilgrimages, also abroad. It was during his second tenure that Requete was born, shaped by Llorens as the paramilitary organization. De Cerralbo remained perfectly loyal to the claimant, though Don Jaime was increasingly uneasy about the growing position of de Mella, which led to clashes related to management of Correo Español.
As the European war broke out in 1914 de Cerralbo favored Spanish neutrality, though he sympathized with the Central Powers, considering their monarchical model closer to Carlist ideal and traditionally opposing Great Britain, viewed as arch-enemy of Spain. He had to face a hard task of maintaining Carlist unity, as some in the movement, including the claimant himself, favored the Allies. Another dispute de Cerralbo had to defuse took place in Catalonia and was related to politics towards local nationalism, resulting in Miquel Junyent i Rovira appointed the local jefe. The most difficult issue, however, was the growing conflict between de Mella and Jaime III. Unable to sort out the loyalty dilemma, plagued by health problems and embittered by attacks of his former friends, in the spring of 1918 de Cerralbo quoted health reasons and resigned.
When the Mellistas broke away in 1919, De Cerralbo, already outside the Carlist leadership, did not take a clear stand; instead, he withdrew from politics altogether. Though Don Jaime refrained from open criticism, privately he did not spare de Cerralbo harsh words, repeated in public by other prominent Jaimistas; it was de Mella who spoke in his defense. Cerralbo did not take part in the 1919 Magna Junta de Biarritz, a congregation entrusted with marking the future direction of Carlism. His last public nomination was appointment to alcalde of the Madrid district of Argüelles in 1920.
Archaeologist and historian
Since his university days de Cerralbo has developed keen interest in culture and history; his first encounter with archaeology took place in the Madrid site of Ciempozuelos in 1895. He started to collect objects retrieved from various demolitions and organized archeological excavations himself: the first ones were those in upper Jalón valley, commenced in 1908. His key success was discovery of the Celtiberian site of Arcóbriga, listed as Arcobrigensis in the Roman sources and sought by generations from the 16th century; based on multi-faceted analysis Cerralbo correctly narrowed the search area and discovered the site, where excavations were to continue for tens of years to come. In 1909, following numerous notes about odd findings, he commenced excavations in Torralba del Moral and Ambrona, continued until 1916, at that time considered the most ancient human settling discovered so far in Europe. El hombre fossil by Hugo Obermaier (1916), a paleontological reference book for generations, was partially based on de Cerralbo’s findings. Remained a promoter, sponsor, director and assessor on many other sites.
Though de Cerralbo’s excavation methodology is now considered outdated, he introduced new techniques like photography both on site and in laboratory or complex indexing methods. He co-operated with specialists like geologists, cartoonists, historians, engineers, photographers or paleontologists, sharing discoveries on many scientific fora. Cerralbo became member of many scientific institutions. He was visited in Madrid and Soria by a number of world-class archaeologists. In 1912 he was recognized for 5 volumes of his monumental Páginas de la Historia Patria por mis excavaciones arqueológicasby Premio Internacional Martorell and applauded for his work on Torralba by International Congress of Anthropology and Archaeology in Geneva the same year. He was invited by the Ministry of Education to work on new law on excavations, which, adopted in 1911, prevented objects from being taken out of the country and created Junta Superior de Excavaciones y Antigüedades y Comisión de Investigaciones Paleontológicas y Prehistóricas. Headed a number of archaeological institutions himself. Published studies on María Henríquez de Toledo, archbishop Rodrigo Ximénez de Rada and the Santa María de Huerta monastery. In 1908 he entered Real Academia de Historia (invitation pending since 1898), to join Real Academia Española in 1913. Before his death de Cerralbo donated part of his archeological collection to museums.
Hobbyist, collector, man of culture
From youth de Cerralbo contributed to Madrid periodicals, like Fomento Literario and La Ilustración Católica. Active in La Alborada, a literary society founded by the son of his wife Antonio del Valle, he authored small pieces of prose and poetry; his El Arco Romano de Medinaceli has even made it to a contemporary Spanish poetry anthology. His style, like this demonstrated in Leyenda de Amor, merged classical perfection of verse with romantic sentiment, appealing to contemporary taste though nowadays probably looking banal and bombastic. Spending lots of time in his preferred rural residence in Santa María de Huerta, de Cerralbo practiced gardening and farming, in particular horse breeding. He attempted to create a new lineage, a mixture of a pure English and a pure Spanish breed; in 1882 his yeguada won Primer Premio at the Madrid Exhibition, in 1902 his horses won prizes in Madrid and in Barcelona.
Since his childhood de Cerralbo was infected by coleccionismo, initially focused on numismatics, but gradually broadened to collecting paintings, arms, armor, porcelain and ceramics, rugs, tapestries and curtains, marbles, watches, lamps, sculptures, furniture, candles, drawings, rare books, stamps and other antiquities. A tireless collectables hunter, Cerralbo traced them at auctions, antiquities shops and museums across Europe, purchasing also entire assortments from other people. He amassed around 28,000 objects, his collection considered one of the most complete in Spain at the time. The contemporary press dubbed him El marqués coleccionista, though his zeal was popular among the wealthy bourgeoisies. Before his death de Cerralbo set up Fundación Museo Cerralbo, which displays most of the objects until today. The collection remains a good example of the 19th century private collectionist passion, somewhat undisciplined but delivering a sense of search for beauty and, possibly, quality of life. In contemporary guidebooks the place is referred to as “a study in 19th-century opulence”, jammed with “fruits of the collector’s eclectic meanderings”.
Legacy
De Cerralbo is credited for his archaeological contribution, consisting mostly of some key discoveries and introduction of modern excavation methods. As a politician he is praised for employing new means of public mobilization and for conciliatory strategy, rather atypical for Carlism. Finally, he is recognized as benefactor who donated part of his collection to public museums and who founded a museum himself. The critics note that he adhered to backward ideology and refused to take sides during the moments of crisis (Third Carlist War, nocedalista conflict, La Octubrada, mellist schism), quoting poor health as an excuse. They play down his collection as a chaotic and banal means of venting off his wealth. He is charged with turning archeology into a vehicle of pursuing a nationalist discourse. Finally, some indicate that de Cerralbo formed part of the oligarchy responsible for archaic social and economic conditions of Spain, also personally taking advantage of his privileged position versus the poor.
