José Díez de la Cortina y Olaeta, 2nd Count of la Cortina de la Mancha (1856–1937) was a Spanish politician and military. He is best known as leader of Andalusian Carlism and as member of the national party executive in the early 20th century. Having fought on the insurgent side during the Third Carlist War and as militia volunteer during the Philippine Revolution, in the Carlist army he rose to general de división; the Madrid government recognized him as comandante.
Family and youth
The Díez de la Cortinanote that in contemporary press the name could appear in different spelling versions, e.g. "Díez de la Cortina", "Díez de la Cortina", "Díez de Cortina", "Díez de Cortina", "Diaz de la Cortina", "Díaz de la Cortina", "Diaz de Cortina" or "Díaz de Cortina". The version followed here is the one adopted in official governmental documents, compare BOE 01.02.03, available here family originated from Cantabria, related to the town of Liébana; the first representative is noted in the 16th century.Ramón Luis Retamero Díez de la Cortina, Raíz de los Díez de la Cortina procedentes de Marchena, s.l. 2013, p. 5 Modest members of the hidalguia, none of the family grew into a public figure until in the mid-18th century one of its branches moved to the Andalusian Marchena;Retamero 2013, p. 5 they settled as arrendatarios in estates of Duque de Osuna. The great-grandfather of José, José Antonio Díez de la Cortina Gutiérrez,named José Antonio Díez de la Cortina Gutiérrez de Caviedes was born in the Cantabrian PotesRetamero 2013, p. 26 and upon arrival in Marchena he built a house, which was later to become a family hub.in the 1990s the building was declared part of local historical patrimony and covered with appropriate regional protection scheme, see Marchena. Plan espacial de protección del conjunto histórico, Ficha No. 16: Casa palacio de José Díez de la Cortina, available here. However, it did not prevent further dilapidation; currently there are only few walls standing, compare google.maps service, available here José's grandfather, Juan Díez de la Cortina Layna Pernia (1782–1854),Juan Díez de la Cortina Layna entry, [in:] ariasdereyna service, available here as the oldest surviving son became the family heir; in the 1830s he was already one of top local taxpayers.José Fernando Alcaide Aguilar, Marchena durante la regencia de María Cristina. Aspectos políticos, sociales y económicos, [in:] Actas de las IV Jornadas sobre Historia de Marchena 1999, pp. 31, 38 In the 1840s he formed part of the emerging "burguesía agraria",Alcaíde 1999, p. 54 a group of local hidalgo families which grew into major proprietors as duque de Osuna was selling out his estates.Adrian Shubert, José Luis Gil Aristu, Historia social de España (1800-1990), Madrid 1991, , p. 110, Rafael Mata Olmo, Pequeña y gran propiedad en la depresión del Guadalquivir, Madrid 1987, , pp. 110-112 Though not comparable to grand Andalusian landholders,few of them owned an estate larger than 1,000 ha while Duque de Osuna, a typical case of grand Andalusian landowner, possessed some 8,000 ha, Mata 1987, p. 108 they soon assumed leading role in the local agricultural regime.which rendered Marchena a rather exceptional county; in most of Andalusian counties it was the grand properties which prevailed: "la gran propiedad de Marchena en 1860 constituye, frente al caso cordobés analizado, un buen exponente de latifundio más evolucionado y próximo al capitalismo agrario pleno", Mata 1987, p. 105, general discussion pp. 105-125
The oldest son of Juan and the father of José, José Díez de la Cortina Cerrato (died 1874), owned some 400 ha and rented further 700 ha, which rendered him the 6th largest arrendatario in Marchena.Mata 1987, p. 117 At unspecified time he married Elena Olaeta Bouyon, a native of San Fernando;see the scan of Díez de la Cortina birth certificate at family.search service, available here none of the sources consulted provides any information on her parentage,except that her father was José Olaeta from San Fernando, and her mother was Elena Bouyon from Cádiz, see family.search service, available here though she was probably descendant to two very distinguished Cádiz families of navy commanders and public servants; both the Olaetascompare e.g. El Comercio 11.03.50, available here and the BouyonsGuillermo C. R. G. Perez, Honorato Bouyon Serze, [in:] Contando Historias Antiguas blog, 23.12.14, available here made their names in Spain and in the New World. José and Elena had three children, all of them sons, born between 1855 and 1859; José was born as the second oldest one.[Ramón Luis Retamero Díez de la Cortina?], Informe Genéalogico Completo de Juan Díez de la Cortina, s.l. 2013, p. 15
Nothing is known about education of José. At unspecified time he married Carmen Torres Ternero, a local girl he was distantly related to as her great-grandmother descended from the Díez de la Cortina family; her grandfather, José de Torres Díez de la Cortina, was alcalde of Marchena and a cattle-breeder.Informe Genéalogico 2013, p. 15, Retamero 2013, p. 37 The couple had no children.the claim made on January 17, 2012 by Mariano Ternero Caro at network54 forum, the post can not be linked due to Wikipedia blacklisting the network54 service; if going there at your own risk, copy-paste and replace "www.etwork" with "www.network" of "http:www.etwork54.com/Forum/66218/message/1326795688/Re-+Díez+de+la+cortina+olaeta" address. The same person claims that José had an extramarital son, though nothing is known about him. The claim appears to be corroborated by the fact that in the 1920s José Díez de la Cortina and his wife lived separately; he resided in Madrid and she remained in Marchena, compare La Opinión 23.08.23, available here. However, one source claims that he had an unnamed daughter, who in turn was the mother of Francisco de Alvear y Gómez de la Cortina, Javier M. Pérez-Roldan y Suanzes-Carpegna, Francisco de Alvear, conde de la Cortina, [in:] El Boletín Carlista de Madrid 101 (2009), p. 14. Genealogic chart indicated that maternal grandfather of Francisco de Alvear was José Justo Gómez de la Cortina, see 5ta Condesa De La Cortina María Joaquina Gómez de la Cortina Rodríguez Rivas entry, [in:] Genealogiafamiliar service, available here The best known relative of José Díez de la Cortina is his younger brother Rafael, who in the early 1880s migrated to the United States; in New York City he set up a language school which soon developed into a successful business; himself he became a pioneer of modern teaching of foreign languages, with a number of works published and Cortina Institute of Languages well operational until today.compare the Cortina Institute web page, available here The Torres Díez de la Cortina relatives made their name developing the bull-breeding business and gained acknowledgement in the late 19th century.the ganaderia was sold in the late 19th century, see García Jiménez, Hermanos entry, [in:] ganaderias.toroslidia service, available here José's distant relative was José Gómez Acebo y Cortina, a conservative politician who held various ministerial jobs during final years of the Restoration. The Carlist title of Conde de la Cortina de la Mancha, conferred upon José's father in the 1870s,exact year is unclear, the options possible being 1873, 1874 and (unlikely) 1872 was recognized by the Madrid court in 2003 and currently rests with Mariano Ternero Caro.BOE 01.02.03, available here; great-great-grandmother of Mariano Ternero Caro, Rocio Diez de la Cortina y Layna Pernia, was the sister of Juan Diez de la Cortina y Layna Pernia, father of the first Count of la Cortina de la Mancha, Informe Genealógico Completo de Rocio Díez de la Cortina Layna Pernia, s.l. 2013, available here
Civil War (1872-1876)
There is no information on political preferences of the Díez de la Cortina family until the mid-19th century;during the First Carlist War Marchena was briefly taken by the Carlists but there is no note of any Díez de la Cortina involved; later on the alcalde claimed in report to higher authorities that there were no Carlist supporters in the area, Alcaide 1999, pp. 46-47 in the 1860s various members of the family, including José Díez de la Cortina Cerrato, his wife and sons, started to appear as signatories of various open letters printed in Neo-Catholic and Carlist papers; they pledged loyalty to the Catholic Church and lambasted "corrupción de las ideas y de costumbres", especially in education.El Pensamiento Español 13.07.64, available here Later his son recollected that it was the 1868 revolution and its aftermath which triggered Díez de la Cortina Cerrato's access to Carlism;José Díez de la Cortina, El fracaso de un plan, [in:] Tradición 16 (1933), p. 387, available here in 1870 he already declared his "completa adhesión al señor Duque de Madrid".La Regeneración 25.05.70, available here When the Carlist insurgency rocked Vasco-Navarrese provinces in 1872 he pondered upon joining the rebels, the idea which soon became his obsession.Díez de la Cortina 1933, p. 387 In June 1873 the 17-year-old José was dispatched North to agree the logistics and learn the war craft; he left home for Cádiz, then sailed to Marseille, crossed the Pyrenees and in July joined the Carlist troops, nominated cadete and assigned to Regimente de Caballeria del Rey.Díez de la Cortina 1933, pp. 387-388
Throughout the summer of 1873 Díez de la Cortina took part in victorious campaign across central Navarre.in July he was engaged in combat at Cirauqui, Ortigosa, Arrayoz and Dicastillo, in August present among troops laying siege to Estella and Viana and in September fighting at Oyón and Lumbier, own account referred after Díez de la Cortina 1933, pp. 387-388 In October he made it back to Marchena, where together with his father, both brothers, a cousin, few associates including a family chaplain, some servants and a handful of volunteersin Andalusia their group was a quite unique, compare "algunas de las partidas formadas en el sur tuvieron que desplazarse a otros puntos más propicios para poner el combate por la causa carlista. Así ocurrió, para poner un caso curioso, con la partida de José Díez de la Cortina, formada en octubre en la localidad sevillana de Marchena e integrada por tres de sus hijos, un sobrino, los criados y servidores, el abogado, el capellan y tres voluntarios del pueblo", Jordi Canal, El carlismo, Madrid 2000, , p. 185 they formed a 20-men group,"sumando un total de veinte hombres, perfectamente armados, montados y equipados", B. de Artagan [Reinaldo Brea], Principe heroico y soldados leales,. Barcelona 1912, p. 118 soon heading North.Díez de la Cortina 1933, p. 388, Melchor Ferrer, Historia del tradicionalismo español, vol 25, Sevilla 1955, p. 175 In two weeks they covered some 350 kilometers across the provinces of Córdoba, Jaén, Ciudad Real and Cáceres, finally joining the 300-men columnalmost all of them cavalrymen, Ferrer 1955, p. 168 of general Vicente Sabariegos.Díez de la Cortina 1933, p. 389