Miguel Junyent Rovira () (1871–1936) was a Spanish Catalan publisher and politician. He is best known as director of El Correo Catalán, the newspaper he periodically owned and managed between 1903 and 1933. As a politician he was active within Carlism; he remained the regional Catalan party leader in 1915–1916 and in 1919–1933. He twice served in the Cortes, in 1907–1910 as member of the Congress of Deputies and in 1918–1919 as member of the Senate. He is counted among moderate Carlists, who favored alliance with conservative Catalanists and opposed the violent faction within his party.
Family and youth
The Catalan Junyent family was first noted in the 13th centuryJunyent entry, [in:] HeraldryInstitute service, available here and a few of its representatives distinguished themselves in the history of Spain, yet it is not clear whether any counted among the forefathers of Miguel. None of the sources consulted provides any information on his distant ancestors; the only one identified along the patriline is his father, Salvador Junyent Bovés (1836–1900).Salvador Junyent i Bovés entry, [in:] Geneanet service, available here He spent all his life in the Catalan town of Piera and it seems that he ranked in the local bourgeoisie, listed as one of the local propietariosAnuario Riera 1896, p. 599, available here and at times among the "more important" ones;Anuario Riera 1903, p. 859, available here. None of the sources consulted tackles the inconsistency which stems from his presumed 1900 death and being listed as a "propietario" in 1903 he owned an estate known as Can Perevells.Cèlia Cañelles Julià, Rosa Toran, Els governs de la ciutat de Barcelona (1875-1930): Eleccions, partist i regidors, Barcelona 2013, page unavailable, see here Salvador married a girl from Cornella de Llobregat, Prudencia Rovira Oller (1837–1914),Prudéncia Rovira Oller entry, [in:] Geneanet service, available here possibly related to a local industrialist family.compare Casa Rovira entry, [in:] PoblesDeCatalunya service, available here It is not clear how many children they had; it is known that Miguel had at least one sister.Prudencia Junyent Rovira (1874-1960), see La Vanguardia 09.10.60, available here
Nothing is known about the childhood of Miguel in general or about his early education in particular. At unspecified time though probably in the late 1880s he entered the law facultyCésar Alcalá, Diálogos sobre la Guerra Civil, Barcelona 2000, p. 11 of the Barcelona University;J.R.G., Tres periodistes anoiencs dels segles XIX i XX, [in:] Diari d’Igualada 29.01.94, p. 25, available here he graduated in jurisprudence shortly before or in 1895.La Dinastía 12.03.95, available here He formally entered the Barcelona colegio de abogados in 1897Diari d’Igualada 29.01.94 and in the very late 19th century he was officially recorded as a practicing lawyer.Anuario Riera 1899, p. 275, available here In 1901 he was listed among juzgados municipales, noted as fiscal in Sant Gervasi de Cassoles;Anuario Riera 1901, p. 122, available here, p. 193, Anuario Riera 1903, p. 193, available here in the early 20th century he acted as defense attorneyLa Dinastía 28.03.01, available here and specialized in civil law.Antonio M. Moral Roncal, La cuestión religiosa en la Segunda República Española: Iglesia y carlismo, Madrid 2009, , p. 91
At unspecified time though prior to 1898the first child of Miguel and Joaquína was born 1898, see Miquel Junyent Rovira entry, [in:] Geneanet service, available here Miguel Junyent married Joaquína Quintana Padró (1874–1912);Joaquima Quintana Padró entry, [in:] Geneanet service, available here, see also La Vanguardia 05.03.12, available here close to nothing is known about her or her family.her father was Domingo Quintana Dalara (1839-1924); nothing closer is known of him, La Vanguardia 05.04.24, available here The couple settled in Barcelona and had 3 children.La Vanguardia 05.03.12, available here As a widower and sometime before 1916La Vanguardia 20.11.16, available here Junyent remarried with a widow, Mercedes Canalías Vintró (died 1934);when marrying Junyent she was a widow to Francisco Anfrúns Manés, José Miguel de Mayoralgo y Lodo, Movimiento Nobiliario 1941, p. 50, available here the couple had no own children.La Vanguardia 02.11.34, available here The oldest daughter of Miguel and Joaquína died in early childhood.born 1898, unlike her siblings María Junyent Quintana was not listed in death notice of her mother of 1912 Their son, José María Junyent Quintana (1901–1982),Enric Gallén, Guillermo Díaz-Plaja, director de l’Institut del Teatre durant el primer franquisme, [in:] Franquisme & transició 3 (2015), p. 63 already in the 1930s was a locally known Carlist politician;as a Carlist Junyent Quintana ran in the 1932 local elections; he complied with the 1937 Unification Decree and afterwards remained active in FET, Robert Vallverdú i Martí, La metamorfosi del carlisme català: del "Déu, Pàtria i Rei" a l'Assamblea de Catalunya (1936-1975), Barcelona 2014, , pp. 116, 121. In the 1940s he was active in the Carloctavista faction of Carlism, Francisco Manuel de las Heras y Borrero, Un pretendiente desconocido. Carlos de Habsburgo. El otro candidato de Franco, Madrid 2004, , p. 76. See Junyent Quintanta kissing hand of his king on NoDo newsreel, NO-DO #136A footage (09:47 to 09.54), available here he briefly served in the Barcelona ayuntamiento in the 1940s,La Vanguardia 07.04.46, available here but he made his name mostly as periodstahe was active in the re-launched El Correo Catalán, other press titles and local radio broadcasting, La Vanguardia 15.01.82, available here and partially as a writer,compare the list of his publications in Jaime del Burgo, Bibliografia del Siglo XIX, Pamplona 1978, p. 551 assuming distinguished positions in the Catalan press corps of the 1950s.La Vanguardia 24.12.57, available here The younger daughter María de Montserrat Junyent Quintana (1905–1985) married Juan Baptista Roca Caball, a well-known Catalan Christian-democratic politician of late Francoism.see Montserrat Junyent Quintana entry, [in:] Geneanet service, available here Among Junyent's grandchildren Miguel Roca Junyent became one of the most recognized politicians of early post-Francoist era, counted among "fathers of the 1978 constitution";Los Padres de la Constitución de 1978, [in:] El País 24.07.12, available here Miguel Junyent ArmenterasLa Vanguardia 17.09.39, available here grew to high executive positions in the world of Catalan commercial finance.he was manager of Banco General del Comercio y la Industria in the 1970s, La Vanguardia 21.09.75, available here
Early public engagements (1894–1906)
None of the sources consulted provides information on political preferences of Junyent's ancestors, though it seems that his father was a Traditionalist, possibly close to Integrism.he subscribed to one of the initiatives of the Integrist daily El Siglo Futuro, see El Siglo Futuro 01.10.89, available here The young Miguel already during his academic period was active in conservative organizations; in 1891 he acted as secretary of Junta Directiva del Asociación de San Luis GonzagaLa Dinastía 28.01.91, available here and engaged in the Barcelona branch of Juventud Carlista, growing to its vice-treasurer prior to 1894.El Correo Español 11.04.94, available here In the mid-1890s noted in various religious initiativesLa Dinastía 29.11.95, available here, and La Dinastía 01.12.97, available here he was also speaking at local Carlist círculos, reportedly applauded by the public and by some party heavyweights.El Correo Español 09.11.93, available here This is how he attracted attention of the regional Carlist jefé Luis Llauder y Dalmases, also the owner and manager of the unofficial regional party mouthpiece, El Correo Catalán. Llauder invited Junyent to contribute to El Correo, which soon turned into a permanent collaboration. At the turn of the centuries Llauder's health was already seriously deteriorating; following his death the daily was taken over by Fomento de la Prensa Tradicionalista, a Carlist institutional outpost. In 1903 its president duque de SolferinoCésar Alcalá, D. Mauricio de Sivatte. Una biografía política (1901-1980), Barcelona 2001, , p. 10 appointed Junyent the new director of El Correo;La Dinastía 16.03.03, available here the caretaker manager Salvador Morales was nominated editor-in-chief but he served briefly and departed for Madrid shortly.Jordi Canal, El carlisme català dins l’Espanya de la Restauració, Vic 1998, , p. 145
As head of El Correo Catalán Junyent became one of the leading figures of Catalan Carlism and one of the key party propagandists nationwide. When attending Traditionalist Barcelona rallies or meetings of the mid-1900sEl Correo Español 29.07.15, available here Junyent started to appear alongside regional party tycoons like Erasmo Janer or Mariano Fortuny.La Correspondencia de España 18.05.03, available here Initially his political stand did not differ very much from the orthodox party line, exalting Catholic religion and hailing Traditionalist valuesEl Correo Español 06.05.04, available here though also lambasting Jewish conspiracyfor samples of anti-Jewish articles in El Correo Catalán from the Restoration period see Joan Pérez i Ventayol, Els debats sobre la question jueva a Catalunya (1917-1939) [PhD thesis Universitát Autonomá], Barcelona 2015, pp. 217-219. The Jewish thread became particularly prominent in El Correo after 1931, when Joan Tusquets grew to one of the key contributors to the daily; in a PhD work on anti-semitism in Catalonia El Correo Catalán is quoted 160 times, see Pérez i Ventayol 2015 and masonic designs.La Epoca 07.02.04, available here This did not spare him animadversion of the Integrists, who suspected Junyent of secret negotiations with the Maurista branch of the Conservatives and charged him with embracing liberalism.El Siglo Futuro 18.05.04, available here
In 1906 Junyent represented Traditionalists in talks with other Catalan political groupings when mounting a common front against Ley de Jurisdicciones, a newly adopted regulation which placed perceived offences against the army and state under the military jurisdiction; in Catalonia it was widely perceived as assault on the region and its identity.Montejurra 50 (1970) He emerged as one of the leaders of the movement, and together with Francesc Cambó Junyent was entrusted with a mission of travelling to Madrid and coordinating action with dissenting parliamentarians.La Epoca 19.03.06, available here Later that year the Catalan opposition took shape of Solidaritat Catalana, a block of local parties opposed to the Ley; within his party Junyent was lobbying for taking part in the coalitionJavier Barraycoa, 175 años del calrismo catalán, [in:] Barraycoa.com service 30.12.17, available here and was the only Carlist who signed the document which founded the alliance.José Luis Orella Martínez, El origén del primer catolicismo social español [PhD thesis UNED], Madrid 2012, p. 106, Albert Balcells, Joan B. Culla, Conxita Mir, Les eleccions generals a Catalunya de 1901 a 1923, Barcelona 1982, , p. 131 Together with Cambó and José Roca y Roca he also entered the informal triumvirate which ran SolidaritatStanley Payne, Carlism and nationalism, [in:] Revista de História de Ideas 29 (2008), p. 395 and entered its Comité Executiu, later together with Solferino co-signing on part of the Carlists.Xavier Tornafoch, Política, eleccions i caciquismo a Vic (1900-1930) [PhD thesis Universitat Autónoma], Barcelona 2003, p. 116
Versus catalanismo and pistolerismo (1907–1915)