Enrique de Aguilera y Gamboa, 17th Marquess 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;Eduardo Valero, Salamanca y la Casa de Cerralbo, [in:] Historia Urbana de Madrid, available here his ancestors can be traced back to the 14th century, and it was in 1533 when his forefather was named marquis by Carlos I.Eduardo Valero, Genealogía de un marqués, [in:] Historia Urbana de Madrid, available here, see also museo de cerralbo , geneanet, and geneallnet (none of the above complete). Official marquesado document is quoted in: Agustín Fernández Escudero, El marqués de Cerralbo (1845-1922): biografía politica [PhD thesis], Madrid 2012, pp. 18-19 His father, Francisco de Asís de Aguilera y Becerril, was the founder and director of the Gimnasio Real de Madrid (Casón del Buen Retiro) and became known as a promoter of physical exercises, supported with a number of machines he invented himself.Eduardo Valero, Retrato de juventud, [in:] Historia Urbana de Madrid, available here Married to María Luisa de Gamboa y López de León, the couple had 13 children.Eduardo Valero, La España que recibe a Enrique de Aguilera y Gamboa, [in:] Historia Urbana de Madrid, available here
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.Historia del Museo y su Fundador, [in:] Museo Cerralbo, available here With the death of his father in 1867, Enrique as the oldest living son acquired the conde de Villalobos title,Agustín Fernández Escudero, El XVII marqués de Cerralbo (1845-1922). Primera parte de la historia de un noble carlista, desde 1869 hasta 1900, [in:] Ab Initio: Revista digital para estudiantes de Historia, 2 (2011), , p. 136 which ensured his place in the middle-range aristocracy and a comfortable financial status. His position changed dramatically in the early 1870s, when, following the 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.Escudero 2011 (1), p. 136, museo de cerralbo site He inherited the marquesado de Cerralbo, along with many other aristocratic titles,The other titles inherited were 10th conde de Alcudia con Grandeza de España, 12th marques de Almarza, 9th marques de Campo Fuerte, conde de Foncalada, conde de Sacro Imperio, see here and obituary here some of them ceded to his brothers.like marques de Flores D’Avila, see Historia del Museo y su Fundador By virtue of the marquesado de Cerralbo and condado de Alcudia, he became a double grandee of Spain. Enrique inherited part of his grandfather's enormous wealth, including a number of estates in southern Leon,in Aranda de Duero, Ciudad Rodrigo, Vitigudino and Alba de Tormes districts villa de Cerralbo and the San Boal palace in Salamanca.though the heritage was divided among 17 descendants and Enrique inherited only some 7% of the wealth, see Sánchez Herrero, Miguel, El fin de los “buenos tiempos” del absolutismo: los efectos de la revolución en la Casa de Cerralbo, [in:] Ayer 48 (2002), pp. 85-126. 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 the stock exchange and in the railway business, and by inheriting part of the fortune of the marqués de Monroy,Escudero 2012, p. 20, for the Monroyes see here which allowed him to purchase new estates in Madrid, Santa María de Huerta and in Monroy.Museo Cerralbo at Google Cultural Institute, available here; Jordi Canal i Morell, Banderas blancas, boinas rojas: una historia política del carlismo, 1876-1939, Madrid 2006, , 9788496467347 p. 120 claims that in 1876 de Cerralbo’s wealth was estimated at 21 mills reales, most of it in the Salamanca province
In 1871, Enrique married the mother of his university colleague, Manuela Inocencia Serrano y Cerver from Valencia,Historia del Museo y su Fundador thirty years his senior and widow of the military and senator Antonio del Valle y Angelín;Maria Ángeles Granados Ortega, Don Enrique de Aguilera y Gamboa (1845-1922), XVII marqués de Cerralbo, [in:] Museo Cerrabo, Guida Breve, p. 9, for Angelin see his bios here she brought into the family the children from her previous marriage.Historia del Museo y su Fundador, p. 9 Immediately afterwards, the couple travelled extensivelyThey toured France, Portugal, Italy, Germany, Great Britain, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Austro-Hungary, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the Balcans 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 styleGranados Ortega, p. 14 by renowned architects and from the outset intended to be also an art gallery, very much like the private pinacotecas seen across Europe.'Granados Ortega, p. 14 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,Eduardo Valero, Las fiestas en Palacio, [in:] Historia Urbana de Madrid, available here and a location for political assemblies. The couple had no issue.see genealogy, e.g. here
Early Carlist years
Though his paternal ancestors remained loyal to the Isabelinos, it was Enrique's mother who influenced him towards Carlism,The issue is far from clear. Consuelo Sanz-Pastor y Fernández de Pierola claims that Enrique has been born to the traditionalist family, see her El marqués de Cerralbo, político carlista, [in:] Revista de Archivos Bibliotecas y Museos LXXVI, 1/1973, pp. 231-270; Melchor Ferrer claims it was the influence of mother only, see his Historia del tradicionalismo español, vol. I, Sevilla, 1959, pp. 153-154 the leaning reinforced during the university years.where he met Francisco Martín Melgar and Juan Catalina García, see Escudero 2012, p. 25 According to himself always a Carlist,Escudero 2011 (1), p. 135 he joined the movement in 1869,Escudero 2012, p. 22-23 the same year founding also the affiliated Juventud Catolica.The organization focused on art and archaeology, see Escudero 2012, p. 25 As conde de Villalobos he unsuccessfully ran for the Cortes in 1871 from Ciudad Rodrigo,Escudero 2011 (1), p. 136, Escudero 2012, p. 33 but obtained the mandate in the successive elections of 1872 from Ledesma.He made no intervention during that period, see Escudero 2012, pp. 34-35 His service lasted only 2 months, since before the planned insurgency the claimant ordered his deputies to resign.Escudero 2011 (1), p. 136, Escudero 2012, p. 35 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.Escudero 2012, pp. 41-48 finds no evidence that de Cerralbo either did or did not participate, though possibly his goods were periodically embargoed and he was one way of another forced to move out of Spain for some time, though it is not clear whether the measure amounted to exile In 1876 in Paris, already as marqués, he was introduced to Carlos VII.Escudero 2011 (1), p. 136, Escudero 2012, p. 35 The two developed cordial relationship bordering personal friendship;Escudero 2012, p. 36 de Cerralbo turned out - along Solferino - one of two grandees who sided with Carlism and automatically became one of its most distinguished figures.Raymond Carr, España 1808-2008, Madrid, 2009, p. 298; during the first carlist war 20% of aristocrats sided with Carlism, see Francisco y Bullón de Mendoza, Alfonso, Carlismo y Sociedad 1833-1840, [in:] Aportes XIX, Zaragoza, 1987, pp. 49-76. After the 1868 Revolution, it is estimated that some 170 members of Spanish aristocracy (i.e. some 12% of the total) supported Carlos VII, Julio V. Brioso y Mayral, La nobleza titulada española y su adhesión a Carlos VII, [in:] Aportes 1 (1986), pp. 13-27
Within Carlism de Cerralbo tried to champion the religious cause,and took part in the 1876 pilgrimage to Rome, see Escudero 2012, p. 51-52 but he proved no match for Cándido Nocedal.Escudero 2012, p. 30 The conflict grew when Nocedal was nominated Jefe Delegado in 1879, Nocedal opting for immovilismo and Cerralbo for aperturismo.Escudero 2011 (1), p. 137 Another issue was Nocedal's drive to emphasize the Catholic features at the expense of dynastical ones.Escudero 2012, p. 63; Nocedal suspected the pretender of leaning towards a compromise with the Alfonsinos at the price of accepting liberalism, see Jacek Bartyzel, Bandera Carlista, [in:] Umierac ale powoli, Krakow 2006, p. 274, see also Javier Real Cuesta, El Carlismo Vasco 1876-1900, Madrid 1985, , pp. 20-32 As Carlos VII grew uncomfortable about power shifting away from his hands and as Nocedal's leadership caused grumblings among many Carlists,Escudero 2011 (1), p. 137; Escudero 2012, pp. 49-58 Cerralbo engaged in few attempts to outmaneuver him,Like the ultimately abandoned 1882 romería to Rome, see Escudero 2011 (1), p. 137 but since they remained fruitless,Canal 2006, pp. 122-124; Escudero 2011 (1), p. 137; de Cerralbo many times confessed being uncomfortable with “dictadura nocedalista”, see Escudero 2012, pp. 58-69 he pondered upon withdrawing from politics.Escudero 2012, p. 69