Juan Vázquez de Mella y Fanjul (8 June 1861 – 18 February 1928) was a Spanish politician and a political theorist. He is counted among the greatest traditionalist thinkers and is sometimes considered the finest author of Spanish Traditionalism of all time. A politician active within Carlism, he served as a longtime Cortes deputy and one of the party leaders. He championed his own political strategy, known as Mellismo, which led to secession and the formation of a separate grouping.
Family and youth
Juan Antonio María Casto Francisco de Sales Vázquez de Mella y FanjulChristian names referred after Miguel Fernández (Peñaflor), Apuntes para una biografía, [in:] Obras completas del excmo. sr. D. Juan Vázquez de Mella y Fanjul, vol. 1, Madrid 1931, p. XXXI. Note that in contemporary press he might have appeared as Juan Mella, Juan V. de Mella, Juan Vázquez, Juan Vázquez Fanjul, Juan Vázquez y Fanjul, Juan Vázquez Mella, Juan Vázquez de Mella and Juan Vázquez de Mella y Fanjul was descendant to an old, though not particularly distinguished Galician family; its best known representative was a 15th-century-cardinal of Zamora.Peñaflor 1931, p. XXXI, for details see El cardenal Juan Alfonso de Mella. Notas biograficas acerca de el y de sus nepotes, pp. 500–528, [in:] Vicente Beltrán de Heredia, Cartulario de la universidad de Salamanca (1218–1600), vol. 1, Salamanca 2001, , pp. 501–529 There were mostly military men among Juan's ancestors along the paternal line,according to a newspaper obituary one of his ancestors fought Francis Drake in the 16th century and the other three fought at Trafalgar; the news should be taken with caution, as the same obituary contains clearly false information about his father, El Imparcial 28.02.28, available here related to various towns in Galicia;see José Raimundo Núñez-Varela y Lendoiro, El gallego don Antonio Varela Bermúdez de Castro, decimocuarto regente de las Real Audiencia de Canarias, [in:] XXXVI Congreso Nacional de Cronistas Oficiales, Las Palmas 2010, pp. 294–295 military were also his grandfather, Andrés Vázquez de Mella, a native of Filgueira,he married Antonia Varela, a native of Golon, Peñaflor 1931, p. XXXI and his father, Juan Antonio Vázquez de Mella y VarelaEstado Militar de España é Indias 1859, p. 120, available here (died 1874Boletín Oficial de la Provincia de Oviedo 31.01.77, available here; a contemporary scholar claims that he died when Juan Vázquez de Mella was 10 years old, which would set his death year at 1871, Fernanda Llergo Bay, Juan Vázquez de Mella y Fanjul: la renovación del tradicionalismo español [PhD Universidad de Navarra], Pamplona 2016, p. 101), born in Boimorto.Juan Vázquez de Mella, [in:] filosofía.net service, available here The latter, rising to teniente coronel,Juan Vázquez de Mella, [in:] filosofía.net service proved a rather restless figure and by some was described as exaltado.Peñaflor 1931, p. XXXII-XXXIII The man of clear Liberal convictions, for supporting the Espartero coups he was fired from the post of administrador de aduanas in 1840El Correo Nacional 05.10.40, available here and imprisoned in 1843.El Católico 03.11.45, available here Soon restored to previous post in Lugo,Diario Constitucional 25.06.46, available here in 1848 he was promoted to intendente provincial in Oviedo,Guia de Forasteros en Madrid 1848, p. 270, available here the same year posted to Sevillein 1848 he was nominated Presidente of Comisión especial de evaluación y reparto de la contribucion de inmuebles de la provincia de Sevilla, Eco del comercio 05.02.48, available here and later to Málaga.La España 25.02.56, available here In the late 1850s transferred to Covadonga,La España 25.02.56 he resigned from the army in 1860, once his application to join the troops fighting in Morocco had been rejected.El Imparcial 28.02.28 Active in the local Liberal realm,in 1864 in Cangas he took part in "banquete progresista", La Iberia 08.09.64, available here, and grew to local president of the Progressists, La Iberia 17.12.65, available here allegedly he declared the republic in Cangas in 1873;Llergo Bay 2016, p. 100 his son later denied that he had been a Republican.Peñaflor 1931, pp. XXXII–XXXIII
Juan Antonio married Teresa Fanjul Blanco (died 1893),La Unión Católica 25.04.93, available here a native of AmievaJuan Vázquez de Mella, [in:] filosofía.net service and descendant to a locally recognized family;El Siglo Futuro 27.02.28, available here her fatherAntonio Fanjul of Tiñana in Concejo de Pola, married to Teresa Blanco of Cangas ran a commerce and tanning business.Peñaflor 1931, p. XXXII The couple settled in Cangas and had only one child.Peñaflor 1931, pp. XXXII–XXXIII After death of her husband, the widow was first assisted by her brother, who inherited the family enterprises; following differences with her sibling she moved to live with her cousins in Galicia,Peñaflor 1931, p. XXXIV where Juan spent his childhood.in pious Catholic ambience, raised by "madre piadosa", Llergo Bay 2016, p. 128 It seems that he identified himself with Galicia rather than with Asturias.de Mella is at times referred to as "asturiano", compare Teófilo Rodríguez Neira, Fernando Vela y Asturias: evocación de situaciones y perspectivas, Oviedo 1985, , p. 58, Manuel Martínez López, Alicante, la historia a través de sus calles, Alicante 2008, , p. 97. Somewhat less frequently he is referred to as "gallego", compare José Andrés-Gallego, Historia General de España y América: Revolución y Restauración: (1868–1931), vol. XVI-2, Madrid 1981, , p. 471. There are scholars who prefer the denomination of "astur-galaico", compare Pío Luis Moa Rodríguez, El derrumbe de la segunda república y la guerra civil, Madrid 2011, , p. 204. For a study highlighting his links with Asturias see Martín Andreu Valdés-Solís, Don Juan Vázquez de Mella y Fanjul, recuerdo en el centenario de su nacimiento, [in:] Boletín del Instituto de Estudios Asturianos 15/42 (1961), pp. 172–178, for a study highlighting his links with Galicia see Antonio Taboada Roca, D. Juan Vázquez de Mella y Galicia, [in:] Cuadernos de estudios gallegos 18/55 (1963), pp. 235–243. According to the most explicit statement available he admitted a Galician rather than an Asturian identity, as "donde verdaderamente se formó fue en Galicia", José Francisco Acedo Castilla, En el LXX aniversario de Mella, [in:] Razón española 88 (1998), p. 161 According to opponents he was "born into opulence"; he rather admitted "en las perspectivas de la opulencia", which failed to materialize following death of his father; according to some, he spent most of his life bordering povertyLlergo Bay 2016, p. 100; the same author claims that he later lived "in extrema pobreza personal", Llergo Bay 2016, p. 128. Spartan de Mella's lifestyle elicited words of admiration and respect from Maura: "usted, que podía vivir como el mejor, regaladamente, ha preferido ser consecuente con sus ideas", quoted after Llergo Bay 2016, p. 129 and actually died in poverty.Unión Patriótica 01.03.28, available here; he spent the last years of his life "en pobreza franciscana, recluido en su hogar a causa de su desgracia física", Acedo Castilla 1998, p. 176. Another periodical mentioned modesty but did not note poverty, La Nación 21.04.27, available here
In 1874 the young Juan entered Seminario del Valdediós near Villaviciosa; though not an excellent student, he used to gain "diplomas de tercera clase" a few times.Peñaflor 1931, p. XXXIV-XXXV He demonstrated a penchant for letters, reading books and periodicals instead of playing with his classmates.Peñaflor 1931, p. XXXV; according to an anecdote this has even generated problems, see La Época 27.02.28, available here. The account should be treated with caution, as Vázquez de Mella's father had most likely died before his son joined the college, compare Llergo Bay 2016, p. 102 Having obtained bachillerato in 1877,Peñaflor 1931, p. XXXV. Some sources he frequented also Instituto de Oviedo, El año político 1928, p. 72, available here, El Siglo Futuro 27.02.28, available here he enrolled at Universidad de Santiago;Llergo Bay 2016, p. 102 he preferred to study Filosofia y Letras, but as such department did not exist in Santiago at the time, he settled for law, the subject he approached with disgust. As a result, he did not make a systematic student,Llergo Bay 2016, pp. 102–103 recorded rather for pursuing his own interest and spending more time in libraries than in lecture halls.Peñaflor 1931, p. XXXVIII, Juan Ramón de Andrés Martín, El cisma mellista: historia de una ambición política, Madrid 2000, , p. 27 The year of his graduation is not clear;La Hormiga de Oro 01.03.28, available here none of the sources consulted clarifies how he made a living in the early 1880s,de Mella claimed he had never practiced as a lawyer, La Nación 21.04.27, available here when he lived with his mother in Santiago.Llergo Bay 2016, p. 130 Tending to solitude from early childhoodPeñaflor 1931, p. XXXVI he has never married and had no children,Llergo Bay 2016, p. 130 though at one point he was supposed to marry a Pamplonesa, María Baleztena Ascárate.Javier Balezterna Abarrategui, El Jaimismo de los Baleztena, [in:] Premín de Iruña blog, entry of 17.10.11, available here
Provincial columnist to Madrid editor-in-chief (before 1890)
Juan was orphaned by his militantly Liberal father when entering the teenage period;some sources claim de Mella was orphaned by his father at the age of 10, some that at the age of 13 despite Carlist antecedents among his paternal uncles,brother of his father, Ramón, was comandante segundo of the Royalist Volunteers de Villa de Arzúa, another unnamed brother sided with Carlos V during the First Carlist War, Llergo Bay 2016, p. 100, Andrés Martín 2000, p. 27 there is neither any indication that he inherited Traditionalist outlook along the family line. Scholars tend rather to suspect that the young Vázquez de Mella embraced it during the academic period.Llergo Bay 2016, p. 101, Andrés Martín 2000, p. 27 For some time he served as secretary to professor José Fernández Sánchez,another scholar mentioned as possibly affecting juvenile de Mella is Gumersindo Laverde Ruiz an acquaintance of Marcelino Menéndez y Pelayo; de Mella had access to their lengthy correspondence and was exposed to the doctrine.Llergo Bay 2016, pp. 102–03 He left the university already as a Traditionalist; unlike most Carlists, he espoused the concept not by means of inheritance or intuition, but as a result of intellectual speculation. In the early 1880s he was first noted in public realm as an orator in the compostelan AteneoPeñaflor 1931, p. XXXIX, Llergo Bay 2016, p. 103 and in Academia Católica de Santiago.Andrés Martín 2000, p. 27