Jesús de Cora y Lira, 1st Count of Cora y Lira (1890–1969) was a Spanish soldier and a Carlist politician. In the navy juridical arm he rose to general auditor, a rank equivalent to counter-admiral. He is known mostly as political leader of Carloctavismo, a branch of Carlism which during early Francoism advocated a claim to the Spanish throne raised by Carlos Pio Habsburgo-Lorena y Borbón.
Family and youth
Along his paternal line Jesús Cora y Lira was descendant to an established, noble Galician family. The Coras have been for centuries related to the province of Lugo and the comarca of Viveiro. Their first representative was noted in the 15th century and some grew to local regidores;Xosé Manuel Abel Expósito, Cora. torre de Xerdiz Ourol Lugo entry [in:] xenealoxía.org service, 13.03.2003, available here also during late Restauración a distant Jesús' relative,Purificación de Cora Más Villafuerte and Jesús' father were cousins sharing the same grandfather, Miguel de Cora y Bolaño, Abel Expósito 2003 Purificación de Cora y Más Villafuerte, apart from setting up a local daily El Progreso served also as a civil governor.though not in the Lugo province; he held governmental jobs in Albacete, Ciudad Real and Cuenca, see Nicolas Vidal Lopez, Purificación de Cora y Más Villafuerte, da prensa de partido ao xornalismo como empresa: historia e periodismo en Lugo 1908 a 1940, Santiago de Compostela 2009, , also Cristina Barreiro Gordillo, Los diarios gallegos ante el estallido de la Primera Guerra Mundial (1914), [in:] Aportes 88 (2015), pp. 29-54 Jesús' great-grandfather, José María de Cora Aguiar y Maseda, was a military and participated in wars of the Napoleonic era. His son and Jesús' grandfather, Dario de Cora y Cadórniga, joined the Carlists during the First Carlist War.Santiago F. Pardo de Cela, Carlos Adrán Goás, La Milicia Honrada de Viveiro en 1810, [in:] Galicia Digital 03.05.2013, available here His son and Jesús' father, Jesús Cora y Cora (died 1928),El Progreso 26.10.28, available here served in the navy, though not in combat units but as an official in its juridical branch. Specializing in crew contracting issuesVida Marítima 20.11.05, available here he grew to teniente coronel auditorEl Orzán 16.10.28, available here and as head of Cuerpo Jurídico de la ArmadaEl Progreso 20.08.19, available here became a distinguished figure in the entire Galicia, not infrequently reported in societé columns of the local press. At unspecified time he married Elisa de Lira y Montenegro; they settled in Viveiro.
The couple had 7 children, Jesús born as the second and the last son.Abel Expósito 2003 All were brought up in fervently Catholic ambience;El Progreso 14.10.28, available here the eldest of the siblings José was also a CarlistJosé Carlos Clemente Muñoz, El carlismo en el novecientos español (1876-1936), Madrid 1999, , p. 135; he was personally mentioned by Don Alfonso Carlos in his 1933 letter; the Carlist king queried about his health and the two youngest sisters became nuns.Abel Expósito 2003 The young Jesús was first educated in the neighboring Ferrol, where he frequented Colegio del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús, a local middle-class school.Paul Preston, Franco. A biography, London 2011, , p. 6 It is in the college that he met Francisco Franco, two years his junior, the acquaintance which was to last for decades to come.El Progreso 02.06.40, available here It is not known when the adolescent Cora completed his Ferrol education; he then moved to Madrid and enrolled at Universidad Central, pursuing law studies at Facultad de Derecho. He graduated at unspecified year though no later than in 1910;ABC 05.06.35, available here he then followed closely in the footsteps of his father, applying to Cuerpo Jurídico of the navy and having been nominated aspirante.El Progreso 21.10.11, available here Also at unspecified time prior to the mid-1920s Jesús Cora y Lira married María do Cármen López Prieto;Abel Expósito 2003 nothing is known about his wife except that she outlived her husband.ABC 08.04.69, available here It is not clear whether the couple had any children. None of the sources consulted explicitly claims they had no issue, though no descendants are listed on genealogical sites,Abel Expósito 2003 when discussing whereabouts of the Cora family on the societé columns the local press has never acknowledged any childrene.g. when acknowledged during summer holiday of 1926, when he was 36, Xoán Ramón Fernández Pacios, A praia de Foz imán turístico 1850 a 1930, [in:] O gabinete de Foz 04.04.2015, available here and none are mentioned among many relatives listed in Cora's obituary.ABC 08.04.69
Military career
In 1911 Cora was listed as asesor in the naval Cuerpo de Aspirantes, assigned to Viveiro.El Progreso 21.10.11, available here Having passed in 1918 to Cuerpo Jurídico de la ArmadaLa Epoca 02.05.18, available here he assumed duties in Cartagena.La Correspondencia de España 05.05.18, available here In 1920 he was promoted to teniente auditor de cuarta clase,La Correspondencia Militar 04.06.20, available here two years later reaching the third class. He left Cartagena and was assigned to Asesoría General in Madrid.Guía Oficial de España 1922, p. 565, available here His career continued with the 1923 advancement to teniente auditor de segunda clase;Guía Oficial de España 1923, p. 578, available here at unspecified date but prior to the spring of 1925El Progreso 07.04.25, available here he was already comandante auditor,Fernández Pacios 2015 a rank equivalent to capitán de corbeta or major in most European armies. He is not listed as engaged in any naval combat operations, especially during the Riff War; it seems that until the fall of the monarchy he served performing office jobs in Madrid.
The Republican government embarked on reform of the army; the naval Cuerpo Jurídico was to be turned into a civil service.Ordenanzas militares post, [in:] todoexpertos service 16.01.2003, available here In September 1931 Cora was promoted to teniente coronelABC 27.09.31, available here only to be released from the staff job and assigned to Ferrol.El Progreso 23.10.31, available here In December 1931 he was already listed as retired, which permitted his return – already as a civilian – to Madrid; it is not clear whether he resigned voluntarily or was pushed into retirement.El Progreso 08.12.31, available here Until the July 1936 coup he was not a single time noted in the press as holding a military assignment.when mentioned, Cora is usually referred to as "abogado" or "juez"
On July 12, 1936 Cora with his wife left Madrid for his native Viveiro; none of the sources consulted identifies him as involved in military conspiracy and the press acknowledged that he was to commence summer holidays.El Progreso 12.07.36, available here Details of his activity during the first months of the Civil War are not known; in October 1936 Cora was again in the navy.María José Barreiro, Manuel Barreiro Rey, [in:] Sociedad Benéfica de Historiadores Aficionados y Creadores service 2009, available here He formed part of the Ferrol juryEl Progreso 01.11.36, available here which court-martialled officers from the light cruiser , charged by the rebels with mutiny; he co-signed the death sentence of teniente Luis Sánchez Pinzón, jefe de servicios radiotelegráficos of the cruiser, who was executed shortly afterwards.Marcelino Laruejo, Juan Sandalio Sánchez Ferragut, comandante del crucero "Almirante Cervera", que fue fusilado en Ferrol, [in:] Asturias Republicana service, available here Cora spent the rest of the civil war as Fiscal de la Auditoria de la Base Naval Principal de El Ferrol;Boletín oficial de la provincia de Caceres 02.01.37, available here, Melchor Ferrer, Historia del tradicionalismo español, vol XXX, Sevilla 1979, p. 37 following the Nationalist victory in the summer of 1939 he was promoted to colonel.El Progreso 09.07.39, available here
Late 1939 Cora was assigned to an unspecified navy job in Madrid;El Progreso 20.01.40, available here three years later he was nominated consejero of Consejo Supremo de Justicia Militar.ABC 19.09.42, available here Also in 1942 Cora was promoted to general auditor, a rank equivalent to contralmirante,ABC 05.08.42, available here in 1945 awarded Gran Cruz del Mérito NavalABC 02.10.45, available here and in 1947 Gran Cruz del Mérito Militar.Hoja Oficial del Lunes 09.06.47, available here When serving as General Auditor de la Armada he was at least 3 times, in 1945,Pensamiento Alaves 04.05.45, available here, ABC 04.05.45, available here 1948Imperio. Diario de Zamora 13.05.48, available here and 1956Imperio. Diario de Zamora 16.02.46, available here, ABC 16.02.56, available here officially received by Franco. Having reached the regular retirement age, in early 1956 Cora was moved to reserve,ABC 14.01.56, available here, ABC 22.01.56, available here enabling his return as a retiree to Viveiro.La Vanguardia Española 09.04.69, available here Retaining his General Auditor rank he was officially assigned "a las órdenes del señor Ministro",Imperio. Diario de Zamora 05.12.57, available here and continued with honorary duties as consejero togado of Consejo Supremo de Justicia MilitarImperio. Diario de Zamora 19.01.61, available here into the early 1960s.ABC 06.01.62, available here
Early politics: carlista, regionalista, upetista and carlista (before 1933)
Having Carlist antecedents among his ancestors, he adhered to the Carlist cause from an early age. While he was studying in Madrid he was the secretary of the local Carlist Youth and pronounced speeches at Carlist feasts."Por la noche. Velada en el Círculo", El Correo Español 05.11.1906, available here Back in Galicia, the newspaper he contributed to is by one scholar noted as leaning towards Jaimismo.Barreiro Gordillo 2015, p. 41 In the 1910s he was vaguely associated with the right wing; in 1918 Cora presented his bid for the Cortes from his native Mondoñedo district, by some sources referred to as a Mauristasome authors report him as elected, Barreiro Gordillo 2015, p. 41 and by some as a regionalista.El Progreso 21.02.18, available here Both denominations might have been correct, though the question proved pointless as he lost to a Liberal candidate.see the official Cortes service, available here None of the sources consulted records his renewed bid until the fall of Restauración liberal democracy.
Following the advent of dictatorship Cora engaged in the emerging primoderiverista institutions and remained active also during declining phases of the regime. It is not clear when he engaged in Unión Patriótica, but in the late 1920s he grew to mid-range positions of the Madrid organization; in 1928 active in its Sección de Propaganda,La Nación 25.06.28, available here, also ABC 09.09.28, available here in 1930 he entered the UP executive of the Congreso district.Unión Patriótica 02.07.30, available here During political thaw of the dictablanda Cora engaged back in the re-established Carlist party of the mainstream Jaimista branch. In the first months of the Republic he was already Jefe of the Madrid provincial organization of the Jaimist Partido Católico Monárquico,El Siglo Futuro 13.12.31, available here in early 1932 re-united with offshoot branches in Comunión Tradicionalista.La Nación 05.01.33, available here