Francisco Estévanez Rodríguez (1880–1953) was a Spanish politician, publisher, philanthropist, agrarian syndicalist and religious activist. He is best known as deputy to the Cortes during two terms between 1931 and 1936. Politically he was a Traditionalist, first member of the Integrist branch and then active within Carlism. He also published two small Burgos periodicals, continuously donated money and supported various charity schemes, strove to build rural trade unions which unite landholders and farmers, and was involved in numerous Catholic initiatives usually related to the Burgos archbishopric office.
Family and youth
The Estévanezmany press titles preferred the "Estébanez" spelling, also with reference to "Francisco Estébanez", see e.g. La Libertad 20.03.36, available here. Also some present-day scholars prefer this spelling, see e.g. Robert Vallverdú i Martí, El Carlisme Català Durant La Segona República Espanyola 1931-1936, Barcelona 2008, , pp. 84, 101, 149 and more. The death certificate and death notices in the press, published by the family, preferred the "Estévanez" spelling, it is also the version adopted in the official Cortes service family was related to northern Castile, to the area at the confluence of Santander, Burgos and Palencia provinces; the paternal grandfather of Francisco,in the 1930s a popular weekly suggested that Estévanez was the grandson of Nicolás María Rivero, minister of interior during the First Republic. Rationale behind this speculation is not clear, but it appears to be entirely false, see Mundo Gráfico 11.11.31, available here Valentín Estévanez Sainz de Baranda y Terán, originated from Soncillo.María Cruz Ebro, Memorias de una burgalesa, 1885-1931, Burgos 1952, p. 163 Social status of the Estévanez is not clear. It seems that they either belonged or aspired to petty nobility, the hidalguia.an individual named Vicente Estévanez y Terán from Soncillo, who appears to be the brother of Vícente and paternal granduncle of Francisco, in the mid-19th century formally asked the appropriate tribunal for confirmation of his status of the hidalgo, Adolfo Barredo de Valenzuela, Vicente de Cadenas y Vicent, Vicente de Cadenas y Vicent (eds.), Revista Hidalguía 44 (1961), p. 55 On the one hand, Valentín was noted as owner of an unspecified estate; on the other, he practiced as a physician.Cruz Ebro 1952, p. 163 His daughter and the aunt of Francisco, Margarita Estévanez Mazón, was a nun and grew to abbess of the Augustine convent in Burgos.Diario de Burgos 08.06.21, available here His son and the father of Francisco, Aquilino Estévanez Mazón (died 1901),El Siglo Futuro 18.12.01, available here studied medicine in Madrid and also became a doctor.Cruz Ebro 1952, p. 163 One more son of Valentín was a pharmacist.Boletín oficial de la provincia de Santander 05.10.98, available here
In the 1870s Aquilino married María Rodríguez, descendant to a noble and much better positioned Rodríguez family from Burgos. Her aunt, María Benita Rodríguez Macho, in 1867-1870 served as abbess of the iconic Real Monasterio de las Huelgas abbey;Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer, La Abadesa de Las Huelgas: estudio teológico jurídico, Madrid 1988, , p. 161, see also Lista de abadesas, [in:] Monasterio de Las Huelgas service, available here her uncle, Tiburcio Rodríguez Calderón de Thorices, was first a catedrático of theology in Colegio Español in Rome, then canónigo peniternciario serving in the Burgos cathedral,Cruz Ebro 1952, p.162 and finally a Jesuit scholar.Amancio Rodríguez Lopez, El Real Monasterio de las Huelgas de Burgos y el Hospital del Rey, vol. 1, Burgos 1907 (reprint 2011), , p. 227 It is not clear where Aquilino and María settled initially; later they were related to Burgos, ValdeoleaAquilino Estévanez resided in Valdeolea in the late 1890s, Boletín oficial de la provincia de Santander 07.03.98, available here and Mataporquera.Aquilino Estévanez died in Mataporquera, El Siglo Futuro 18.12.01, available here The couple had at least 5 children including Francisco, probably 3 of them boys and 2 girls.Diario de Burgos 17.12.52, available here One brother of Francisco became a lawyer;Diario de Burgos 02.01.72, available here one sister entered a monastery and served as a Catholic nun.Diario de Burgos 17.12.52, available here
None of the sources consulted provides any information on early education of the young Francisco. In 1897 he was called into the army and if served indeed he was posted to a garrison on the peninsula.Boletín oficial de la provincia de Santander 27.10.97, available here According to one rather unfriendly source Francisco intended to be a religious and studied in an unspecified seminary, but he fell in love and when forced to choose between priesthood and marriage he opted for the latter.the source is not highly credible as it provided also clearly false information on Estévanez' grandfather. However, given the high rate of religious servants in the family, the seminar episode of Francisco appears to be credible. The newspaper which floated the news compared him to Marcones, a character from the La Puchera novel of José María de Pereda, see Mundo Gráfico 11.11.31, available here. Indeed, Marcones "aún era libre, aún estaba en el mundo, aún era un hombre como todos los demás, aún era dueño de elegir, si el obstáculo se atravesaba, entre la Iglesia... y el matrimonio", José M. de Pereda, La Puchera, Madrid 1901, p. 244, available online here It is certain that he studied law, but details are not clear; most likely he pursued academic career in Salamanca in the early 1900s.in 1901 Estévanez sought and was admitted residence in Salamanca, El Adelanto 29.08.01, available here Following graduation he was sworn as abogado in Burgos in 1904 and commenced the law practice in the city.Diario de Burgos 11.03.04, available here
Estévanez was rumored to marry an unnamed "distinguida señorita" in 1904,El Lábaro 18.07.04, available here but he actually wed in 1911. The bride was Carmen Obesso PalacioCruz Ebro 1952, p. 163, see also Diario de Burgos 27.12.53, available here; in some sources her surname is spelled as "Obeso Palacios", see e.g. El Cantábrico 29.06.11, available here, or "Obesso Palacio", see Diario de Burgos 27.12.53, available here (1885-1976),Diario de Burgos 23.03.76, available here, Diario de Burgos 24.03.76, available here it is not clear whether the same girl as he had been reported to marry 7 years earlier. Related to Mazandrero and Aguilar del Campóo,Diario de Burgos 03.01.20, available here she was descendant to a prestigious local family of landownersEl Cantábrico 21.07.11, available here and was Estévanez' distant relative.Cruz Ebro 1952, p. 163 The couple settled in Burgos at Calle Nuño Basura 16, in the immediate vicinity of the cathedral.El Correo Español 08.11.11, available here They had no own children.see Estévanez' death certificate, available here However, Francisco and Carmen acted as godparents to tens if not hundreds of children from poor families, which implied financial aid and general assistance; they were first noted in such role in 1914,Diario de Burgos 04.04.14, available here and later also in 1923,Diario de Burgos 17.05.23, available here 1944Diario de Burgos 08.04.44, available here and 1947.Diario de Burgos 09.09.47, available here
Early Integrist engagements
Both paternal and maternal ancestors of Estévanez were Carlists. His maternal uncle Tiburcio Rodríguez could have been involved in the 1869 assassination of the Burgos anticlerical civil governor Isidoro Gutiérrez;the crowd, rising the cries of Viva Carlos VII!, was instigated by an anonymous canónigo and other religious, and lynched the governor inside the Burgos cathedral, El asesinato del Gobernador de Burgos, [in:] La Aventura de la Historia service, available here he was later persecuted"perseguido con ocasión del asesinato del gobernador" and "a quien persiguieron por carlista", Manuel Revuelta González, La Compañía de Jesús en la España Contemporánea, vol. 3, Madrid 2008, , pp. 53, 1028 and joined headquarters of Carlos VII during the Third Carlist War. It is there where he met the father of Francisco, Aquilino,Cruz Ebro 1952, p. 163 a young medic serving in the Carlist general staff.Luis Castro Berrojo, Capital de la Cruzada: Burgos durante la Guerra Civil, Barcelona 2006, , pp. 29-30; Estévanez is wrongly indexed as "Francisco Estévanez Calderón", see p. 374 However, in the 1880s Aquilino Estévanez joined the Carlist breakaway faction, first known as Nocedalistas and later as the Integrists. The young Francisco was growing up as an Integro; already as a boy he was listed along his father and brothers as financially contributing to the homage of Félix Sardá y Salvany, one of the chief theorists of the group.El Siglo Futuro 02.04.87, available here In his teen years he started publishing in the Integrist Madrid daily El Siglo Futuro; the first piece identified comes from 1897.it was a correspondence covering a local pilgrimage in Valladolid, El Siglo Futuro 19.05.97, available here In 1901 in an open letter to the Integrist leader Ramón Nocedal he fully embraced the intransigent and vehemently anti-liberal politico-religious program of the group."El liberalismo e s pecado y peor ex genere suo que el robo, el asesinato y el adulterio (...) ¡Fuera caretas! El liberalismo es muerte, ruina, desolación y síntesis de todos los atropellos yfieros males", El Siglo Futuro 13.03.01, available here
Prior to 1904 Estévanez purchased a local Burgos daily El Castellano, founded in 1900Melchor Ferrer, Historia del tradicionalismo Español, vol. XXX/2, Sevilla 1979. p. 136 as "diario católico de información general".Castro Berrojo 2006, p. 140 He turned it into a belligerent Integrist press tribuneEduardo González Calleja, La prensa carlista y falangista durante la Segunda República y la Guerra Civil (1931-1937), [in:] El Argonauta Español 9 (2012), p. 5 which vehemently advocated adamant Catholic stand.Mundo Gráfico 11.11.31, available here His zeal produced conflicts and incidents;in 1904 Estévanez was slapped by conde de Berberana, who felt offended by one of his articles, El Lábaro 12.03.04, available here at one point he resigned from the director jobin 1904 Estévanez ceased as director and nominated José Miguel Oliván, El Lábaro 03.08.04, available here but he kept contributing, not a step deviating from the fixed line which hailed great Christians confronting sinister Liberalism. Some of his pieces were re-printed in other periodicals,compare La Lectura Popular 01.06.05, available here yet it seems at one point – perhaps as late as in the 1910s – he either sold or otherwise lost control of El Castellano.in the early 1920s Estévanez sued the director of El Castellano over defamation, Diario de Burgos 16.05.25, available here Another thread of his religious activity was charity, to become his trademark later on; from his teens engaged in organizations like Congregación de San Luis GonzagaEl Lábaro 02.12.97, available here he took part in numerous juntas and committees.Diario de Burgos 20.01.12, available here Energetic in the Burgos Integrist organization, in 1906 he grew to secretary of Junta Integrista Regional for the entire Old Castile region.El Siglo Futuro 27.08.06, available here