Bernardino Fernández de Velasco

This article is about the writer and politician Bernardino Fernández de Velasco. For the military leader and politician, see Bernardino Fernández de Velasco y Mendoza .

Bernardino Fernández de Velasco Benavides , Duke (Duque) of Frías , (* 1783 , † May 28, 1851 ) was a Spanish officer , writer , politician and Prime Minister of Spain ( Presidente de Gobierno ) .

Life

Military service and Spanish War of Independence

At the age of thirteen he entered the military as a cadet in 1796 . In 1802 he was promoted to lieutenant and used as an officer in the French expeditionary army in Portugal . However, he later deserted to fight in the resistance movement during the Spanish War of Independence against the rule of King Joseph Bonaparte from 1808 to 1813. He was also in opposition to his father, a supporter of Bonaparte and co-editor of the Bayonne Constitution ( Estatuto de Bayona ), which was passed in 1808 .

Absolutism under Ferdinand VII and the Spanish Revolution of 1820

After the reinstatement of King Ferdinand VII and his oath on the Cádiz Constitution passed in 1812 , he was promoted to colonel in 1813 . In the following years he was not politically active, despite the king's increasing absolutism .

Only after the revolution of 1820 and the subsequent three-year liberal government ( Triennio Liberal ) did he take on political tasks as an ambassador in London and as an advisor to the government ( Consejero de Estado ) as a member of the liberal military organization ( Los Anilleros ). After King Ferdinand VII took absolute power again after the French invasion of Spain in 1823, he went into exile in Montpellier and did not return to Spain until 1828.

Reign of Isabella II and Prime Minister

After the death of Ferdinand VII and Queen Isabella II's accession to the throne, Prime Minister Francisco Martínez de la Rosa sent him to Paris in 1834 as a negotiator to ask for France's support during the First Carlist War . In fact, on April 22, 1834, he succeeded in negotiating the Quadruple Alliance ( Cuádruple Alianza ) between Spain, France , Portugal and Great Britain , which included the sending of expeditionary troops.

From 1834 to 1835 he was initially the Queen's Senator . On October 4, 1837, he was elected senator to represent the province of León .

Fernández de Velasco was then appointed Prime Minister of Spain ( Presidente de Gobierno ) on September 6, 1838 . As such, he tried unsuccessfully to negotiate with the absolutist ruled countries of Europe ( Austria-Hungary , Prussia , Russian Empire ) in order to persuade them to give up supporting Carlism . Domestically, his reconciliation efforts failed because of the various political camps and the army, especially because of the growing disputes between the captain general of Old Castile and the commander of the reserve army, Brigadier General Ramón María Narváez , and the former prime minister and successful commander during the First Carlist War, General Baldomero Espartero . When he finally failed to get a common position among the Cortes against the uprising of Luis Fernández de Córdova in Seville , he finally had to resign on December 8, 1838. During his tenure, he was also Foreign Minister ( Ministro de Estado ) and from December 2, 1838, Minister of War ( Ministro de Guerra ).

Although he then largely withdrew politically, he took part in political life again at least as Senator for life ( Senador Vitalicio ) from August 15, 1845.

writer

"Los poetas contemporáneos" by Antonio Maria Esquivel y Suarez de Urbina (1846)

In addition to his political career, however, he was increasingly active as a writer and poet , especially in the last years of his life .

On May 12, 1802, he was appointed honorary member and honorary member of the painting section of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando ( Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando ), whose adviser ( Consiliario ) he finally became on November 19, 1815 .

In 1839 he was appointed a member of the Royal Spanish Academy ( Real Academia Española ), where he occupied the armchair L until his death, the current owner of which is Mario Vargas Llosa . On April 30, 1847, he became a member of the Royal Historical Academy ( Real Academia de la Historia ).

As a poet, he had a medium importance on the poetry of his time and was literarily largely influenced by the neoclassical and later romantic style of Juan Nicasio Gallego . In 1857 the Royal Academy published his poetic works under the title "Obras poéticas" with a foreword by Ángel de Saavedra .

One of his more famous poems is the sonnet "Encantadores Valles" .

Web links

• Biography (spanish)
• Literature by and about Bernardino Fernández De Velasco in the catalog of the Ibero-American Institute in Berlin
• The cabinets during the tenure of Ferdinand VII (1808–1833) ( Memento from May 3, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
• The cabinets during the tenure of Isabella II (1833–1843)
• The governments of the Kingdom of Spain from 1833 to 1868 ( Memento of February 24, 2012 in the Internet Archive )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Members of the Spanish Senate
2. ↑ García Sepúlveda, María Pilar / Navarrete Martínez, Esperanza: Relacíon de Miembros pertenecientes a la Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando (1752-1983, 1984-2006). Madrid 2007, pp. 150, 162 ( Memento from May 25, 2005 in the Internet Archive )
3. ^ Officials of the Real Academia de Bellas Artes 1752–2006, p. 13 ( Memento of May 24, 2005 in the Internet Archive )
4. ↑ Members of the Real Academia Española - Sillón L ( Memento of the original of December 13, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
5. ↑ Members of the Royal Historical Academy ( Memento of the original from July 11, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
6. ^ "Obras poéticas" - 1857 - LA REAL ACADEMIA ESPAÑOLA
7. ↑ "Encantadores Valles" (Sonnet) ( Memento of the original from December 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  

predecessor	Office	successor
Narciso Heredia Begines	Prime Minister of Spain 1838	Evaristo Pérez de Castro Brito