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Juan Bravo Murillo
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Juan Bravo Murillo (Fregenal de la Sierra, June 9, 1803[2] – Madrid, January 10, 1873)[2] was a Spanish politician, jurist, theologian and philosopher of liberal ideology. He belonged to the Moderate Party and held various political offices during the reign of Isabella II.
During the Moderate Decade he stood out for his tenure at the head of various ministerial portfolios, such as Justice, Development and Finance; above all his political offices, his period as President of the Council of Ministers (1851–1852) stands out.
After the Progressive Party came to power in 1854 with the revolution brought about by General O'Donnell, Bravo Murillo was removed from the front line of national politics, his only notable role, during the first years of the Liberal Union government, being that of President of the Congress of Deputies in 1858.
Origins (1803–1815)
On June 9, 1803, Juan Bravo Murillo was born in Fregenal de la Sierra —at that time in Seville, today in the Province of Badajoz— the son of Vicente Bravo Méndez and María Manuela Murillo y Ortega, in a modest home on calle la Jara (today calle Bravo Murillo). The child, when baptized the following day in the parish of Santa Ana, received the name Juan Manuel José Primo Bravo Murillo Méndez. It is worth noting that the house of his birth, where today several plaques stand in recognition of the illustrious politician from his native town and from the Island Council of Gran Canaria, did not belong to the Bravo family, but was a building used as a school by Bravo Murillo's father, Vicente Bravo Méndez, where lessons in Latin were given to children. This school remained in use until well into the 20th century. Today it is the seat of the House of Culture of Fregenal.
Studies (1815–1825)
He began his studies of philosophy, at only twelve years of age, in the educational facilities of the Convent of San Francisco in Fregenal, a building very close to the house where he was born. Two years later he moved to continue his studies in Seville, the city on which Fregenal depended politically, where he finished his philosophy studies in just one year, since he had completed the first two in his native town. In the five years he remained at the University of Seville, from October 1815 to 1820, he not only completed his studies in philosophy but also studied theology and began the study of law, which would later lead him to move to Salamanca. When Bravo Murillo arrived at the Sevillian university, it was considered the second most important in Spain,[citation needed] both for the selection of its professors and for its number of students, although it is true that the teaching of more innovative subjects had stagnated at that time.
The constant political changes of the period, which were especially pronounced in Andalusian lands, forced Bravo Murillo to move in 1820, coinciding with the pronunciamiento of Colonel Riego in Las Cabezas de San Juan, to the University of Salamanca, where he would complete his studies of Law and where he finally obtained his degree in 1825.
Professional career (1825–1836)
On finishing his studies Bravo Murillo moved back to Seville, with the intention of teaching at the Sevillian university, where he began giving lessons in philosophy in October 1825. He held his chair for nine years, until 1834, although by then he also had his own law office in Seville, which at times obliged Bravo Murillo to delegate his duties to his brother José Joaquín.
This practice brought the young lawyer from Fregenal great fame in Seville, where in 1831 he would win a resounding victory. His reputation led to his being appointed, in 1834, on the death of Ferdinand VII, crown prosecutor of the Audiencia Provincial of Cáceres, by the Minister of Grace and Justice, Nicolás María Garelly, who held his portfolio within the moderate cabinet of Martínez de la Rosa.
The Audiencia Provincial of Cáceres had been created during the reign of Charles IV, and administered justice for the whole region of Extremadura, to which Fregenal de la Sierra, Bravo Murillo's birthplace, had been attached after the territorial reform of 1833 by the government of Francisco Cea Bermúdez, by which Fregenal became part of the Province of Badajoz. Very possibly this was one of the reasons why the renowned lawyer had accepted the post, besides its being a position of high standing in society.
He remained at the Cáceres audiencia until 1835, when by order of the minister Álvaro Gómez Becerra he was to transfer to the Audiencia of Oviedo, which meant a setback in his career, since the audiencia of Oviedo was considered of lower rank than that of Cáceres. Faced with this situation, the then prosecutor decided to resign his post and move to Madrid.
Once settled in the capital of Spain, he began to make his way in his profession as a lawyer, despite not enjoying the fame he had acquired during his time in Seville. From this period his initiative is noteworthy which, supported by his friend and fellow lawyer Joaquín Francisco Pacheco, led the two future politicians of note to found the Boletín de Jurisprudencia y Legislación in 1836, a periodical that sought to be at once theoretical and practical, publishing doctrinal works on the various branches of law and, at the same time, legislation and judicial rulings, knowledge of which was so necessary for lawyers.
Beginnings in politics (1836–1843)
When the Government presided over by Mendizábal fell in May 1836, a cabinet headed by Francisco Javier Istúriz was formed which, together with Alcalá Galiano, sought to reverse the progressive policies of the previous government and to carry out all kinds of measures of a moderate character. Bravo Murillo's former professor at the University of Salamanca, Barrio Ayuso, joined this government as Minister of Grace and Justice. The new minister wanted the collaboration of his friend and disciple in the ministry, offering him a post as an official, which he did not hesitate to accept.
Istúriz, seeking a majority in the Congress of Deputies, which at the time belonged to the progressive side, managed to get the regent María Cristina de Borbón to sign a decree dissolving the Cortes, and new elections were called in 1837, in which Bravo Murillo stood as the Moderate Party candidate for Seville. Although elected as a deputy, he did not take his seat, since the army staged a mutiny at La Granja which forced the regent María Cristina to dismiss the Istúriz cabinet and to put the Constitution of Cádiz back into force.
Meanwhile a new Government was formed, presided over by the doceañista José María Calatrava, which convened Constituent Cortes with the intention of renewing the Constitution of 1812. From this whole process the new Constitution of 1837 was born, which brought with it a new political system that would last until 1844. Bravo Murillo preferred to keep away from this constitutional process, returning to his career as a lawyer, although this period would be brief.
The Cortes met again in November 1837, where Bravo Murillo took his seat for Seville. His interventions as a representative were few and these referred, rather than to problems of politics in general, to technical and especially legal matters. Bravo Murillo could have been part of the cabinet in Government, presided over by the Count of Ofalia, but circumstances led him not to accept the post, since he would have occupied one of the ministerial portfolios that had been abandoned under pressure from General Baldomero Espartero, who did as he pleased backed by his victories against the Carlists.
Once again a ministerial post was offered to Bravo Murillo, this time by the Duke of Frías upon his coming to power in 1838, a post that he again refused, as he found himself in the same situation, with General Espartero still dominating the political scene. Espartero's hostility toward the Duke of Frías brought about the dismissal of the Government before the end of the year.
Another new Government was appointed, in accordance with Espartero's interests, this time presided over by Evaristo Pérez de Castro, who did not hold the position of greatest power, since almost the entire weight of the government fell on the Minister of War, General Alaix, who enjoyed Espartero's complete confidence. From this period, Bravo Murillo's intervention before the Cortes over the disturbances that took place in Seville in January 1839 stands out. That same year the First Carlist War came to an end.
In 1840, with the aim of favoring the power of the progressives and above all that of General Baldomero Espartero, elections were called, in which Bravo Murillo was again elected deputy, this time for the Province of Ávila, in the ranks of the Moderate Party, which managed to consolidate itself in the Cortes, opened by the regent María Cristina in February of the same year. It was during this period that Bravo Murillo delivered his first speeches on public finance in Spain, which would later make him so famous.
Finally, in October 1840, Baldomero Espartero at last attained the regency, having managed to expel the regent María Cristina and seize supreme power in Spain. In this situation Bravo Murillo again withdrew from the political struggle, as he had done in 1837, to devote himself exclusively to the practice of law. In these years of exclusive dedication to his profession, Bravo Murillo began to forge close ties with the most prominent figures of the Madrid aristocracy, who entrusted him with their lawsuits.
In government (1843–1854)
In July 1843 the prediction of Queen María Cristina was fulfilled, when on leaving Spain after renouncing the Regency she announced that the fall of General Espartero would be swift. In that hot summer, in which political passions also reached their highest temperature, the Duke of la Victoria in turn embarked for exile, escaping his pursuers. The regent had managed to unite the moderates, led by Narváez, and the progressives, led by Salustiano Olózaga and Joaquín María López. Bravo Murillo did not take part in the insurrection that led Baldomero Espartero to leave Spain; but he showed himself nothing but pleased at the news of the regent's departure from office.
Faced with this situation of misgovernment, the Cortes, convened for October 15, agreed to bring forward the coming of age of Queen Isabella, who at the time was only thirteen years old. In this way it would not be necessary to elect a new regent. Now, however, the problem lay in who would manage to gather sufficient support and the Queen's confidence to form a government.
When the elections came, Bravo Murillo presented his candidacy, this time for the Province of Badajoz, to which Fregenal de la Sierra belonged, again winning his seat. On October 15, 1843, the opening of the new Cortes was held in the hall of the Teatro de Oriente, since the convent of the Espíritu Santo was still being demolished in order to build the new Palace of the Congress of Deputies. In that session the Moderate Party had obtained not only the Queen's declaration of majority but also the majority of the seats. All the moderates had as their guide the new arbiter of national politics, Captain General Ramón María Narváez. Indeed, on November 10, when Queen Isabella II was to swear the Constitution before the Cortes, the victorious Narváez occupied one of the most prominent places at the ceremony.
The government was in the hands of the progressive Joaquín María López who, finding himself facing Cortes with a moderate majority, decided to leave power. Thus the new government was formed by Salustiano Olózaga, also of progressive ideology, who tried to obtain from the Queen a decree dissolving the Cortes. After being accused of using force against the young Queen to achieve his purpose, he was dismissed and fled to Portugal. From this whole situation a new moderate Government was born, with Luis González Bravo as president, which was constituted in May 1844. In July of that same year new Cortes were convened by Royal Decree for October 10. In these elections Bravo Murillo was again elected deputy for Badajoz for the Moderate Party, which won a large majority of the seats, not without arousing suspicions of every kind. The Extremaduran politician took a very active part in the electoral process.
In these newly elected Cortes the debate on the renewal of the Constitution of 1837 arose, in which not all the moderates rallied around a single position. Politicians as influential as Pacheco, Pastor Díaz and Istúriz opposed the reform, which was, however, defended by Bravo Murillo. In the end only some reforms were made to the preamble and some articles, giving rise to the new Constitution of 1845, promulgated during the government of Narváez. Bravo Murillo took part in the debates on the new Constitution, actively defending the position that senators should be appointed by the Queen and for life, and not, as until then, by election and for a limited term. His friend and party colleague Donoso Cortés, who held a seat on the committee drafting the Constitution, opposed this policy. In the end Bravo Murillo's idea was not taken into account for this constitution, though it would be accepted and imposed through a law in 1857. The politician from Fregenal also intervened regarding the article that imposed on the Queen the opinion of the Cortes on her marriage, an article that was changed thanks to Bravo Murillo's intervention, supported by that of Pacheco.
In 1847, during the government of Francisco Javier Istúriz, new elections were held. The year before, Queen Isabella II had married. These new elections were carried out under the new Electoral Law, which replaced the system of provincial constituencies with one of districts, which allowed Bravo Murillo to be elected deputy for the district of Fregenal de la Sierra, his native town.
Bravo Murillo's candidacy for President of the Congress of Deputies was supported by the Istúriz government, but the wear on this cabinet caused him to lose the vote in favor of Castro Orozco. Finding himself without support, Istúriz submitted his resignation and that of his entire cabinet, which brought to power Carlos Martínez de Irujo, who chose Bravo Murillo as Minister of Grace and Justice.
Minister of Grace and Justice (1847)
Along with Bravo Murillo, the moderate politicians Santillán, in Finance; Seijas Lozano, in the Interior; Oliván, in the Navy; Roca de Togores, in Development; and General Manuel Pavía y Lacy, who would be replaced by General Oráa, in the Ministry of War, joined the Council of Ministers. All of them were led by Carlos Martínez de Irujo. The Government was widely accepted across the parliamentary spectrum, but false accusations came from the royal court about the true intentions of this government, accusing it of wanting to continue the same policies as the previous Government.
All this meant that the politician from Fregenal's time in government lasted only the brief span of three months. During this term Bravo Murillo defended, from his post as minister, his own position and that of the entire cabinet, upholding the unity of the whole conservative sector of the chamber, which at that time was suffering a severe setback with the breakup of the moderates, which would eventually lead to the later Liberal Party. One of the strongmen of this split was Bravo Murillo's party colleague and friend Joaquín Francisco Pacheco, who would preside over the Council of Ministers after the fall of the government headed by Martínez de Irujo.
The new Government presided over by Pacheco sought a rapprochement between the moderates and the progressives. One of the most significant events of this government, which only lasted five months in power, was the lifting of the sentence of exile on Olózaga, although he continued living outside Spain until his death.
Minister of Development (1847–1849)
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Seeking political stability in Spain, and after two governments of very short duration, Queen Isabella II decided to form a cabinet presided over by Ramón María Narváez, who on November 10, 1847, handed the Development portfolio to Bravo Murillo. The official name of the ministry at that time was the Ministry of Commerce, Instruction and Public Works, and Narváez had placed General Ros de Olano in that post, who would leave it in favor of the Extremaduran politician.
It was a recently created ministry, and when Bravo Murillo arrived at it, its foundations had not yet been established. The obligation then fell on him to establish a solid model with which to direct the new portfolio. This was possibly one of the reasons that led him to hold this post for two years.
Among the first policies he carried out was the creation of the Boletín del Ministerio de Comercio, Instrucción y Obras Públicas, whose mission was not only to publish the official provisions of the Department but also to inform public opinion on the important matters it covered. He introduced other reforms concerning the areas handled by his ministry, such as the one he carried out in the Normal Schools through a decree in 1849, with the intention of improving the teaching of farming in those educational centers. He also intervened in university education, without introducing major changes, seeking to achieve the efficiency and order of the plans already established. Above all he wished to give greater importance to the teaching of Medicine, which spread throughout the country thanks to the ministry's support.
At this time the regularization of Public Works began. To this end Bravo Murillo divided the national territory into six parts from which the proper use of public funds for carrying out the works was supervised. During his term the roads from Madrid to Badajoz, from Madrid to Valencia and Vigo, and from Soria to Navarre were completed. At the same time he began work on the road from Salamanca to Hueva, which crossed the region of Extremadura from north to south, until then lacking major communication routes such as this. In this way the map of Spain's communications was completed, thanks to the completion of all the radial roads.
Worth noting is the impetus Bravo Murillo gave to the railroad and to joint-stock companies, which would serve as the basis for drafting the corresponding laws on these matters, albeit during the Progressive Biennium. It is nonetheless true that during Bravo Murillo's term in the Council of Ministers a strong impetus was given to the various railroad lines. Bravo Murillo maintained, in turn, that responsibility for building the railroad should belong to the State and that the State itself should begin railroad operation, as in other European countries.
Among the policies carried out by Bravo Murillo during his term at Development, the initiative for the construction of the Canal de Isabel II stood out. The need for water in the capital of the kingdom was palpable in a city of 250,000 inhabitants where the daily consumption of this precious resource was six liters. With Bravo Murillo's arrival at the head of the government, this work would be fully endorsed by Royal Decree on June 18, 1851.
Through Bravo Murillo's initiative, the decimal metric system was officially introduced in Spain in 1849; it had already been adopted in many other countries and unified all the systems used up to that time into a single one.
Minister of Finance (1849–1850)
Later he was again appointed by Narváez, as Minister of Finance, from August 19, 1849, to October 18, 1849. As head of the Ministry he was a fundamental pillar of the General Administration of the State, this period being one of the most important of his political career.
Indeed, under his ministry the Accounting Law of 1850 was issued. He established the term Ministry to replace the classic one of Secretariat of State and of the Office. He organized the Department on a modern bureaucratic model. The authority of the minister over the directors general was reinforced. Under him the directorates general of Direct and Indirect Taxes, of Accounting —the forerunner of the present-day General Intervention of the State—, of the Debt and also of Litigation were established as classic bodies of the Public Treasury.
In addition, Bravo Murillo also promoted the creation of the Caja General de Depósitos (General Deposit Fund), an instrument initially designed to free the State from dependence on the banks when obtaining new loans. But in the end it did not have the expected effects.
Under his ministry every aspect necessary for the proper administration and defense of the nation's fiscal resources was addressed. Bravo Murillo's organic and bureaucratic reforms endured practically for the remainder of the 19th century.
The fall from power of Narváez gave a boost to Juan Bravo Murillo's career as President of the Council of Ministers, who in 1850, with the support of Queen Isabella II, of the parliamentary majority of the Moderate Party and of the influence of Pope Pius IX, succeeded in being appointed head of the new cabinet.
President of the Council of Ministers (1850–1852)
As the culmination of his entire political career, in 1850 he was appointed President of the Council of Ministers of Spain, a post he would hold again between 1851 and 1852. Backed by the large parliamentary majority enjoyed by the Moderate Party, Juan Bravo Murillo came to government determined to impose his ideology and his technocratic style of government on the entire nation.
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One of the first measures he carried out during his government was the ratification by the Council of Ministers, by Royal Decree, of the project he had supported years earlier as Minister of Development: the construction of the Canal de Isabel II. Bravo Murillo thus managed to bring water from the Lozoya River to Madrid, so that the city would not have to subsist on the waters of the Manzanares River. The work could not have been carried out without the support of a report by the engineers Rafo and Rivera, who maintained that with the construction of the canal up to 32,000 cubic meters of water a day could be brought to Madrid. The costs rose to eighty million reales, a very high sum for the time, but necessary for the daily life of the capital. The official inauguration took place on June 24, 1858, when on the calle Ancha de San Bernardo water flowed for the first time from one of the new fountains built to receive the water of the Lozoya. Not all the credit then went to the true forerunner of the project, who had to resign himself to watching the inauguration from among the public. To this day the Canal de Isabel II continues to supply water to the people of Madrid.
But without doubt, one of the most important processes carried out by Bravo Murillo's government was the signing of the Concordat of 1851 with the Holy See. Throughout the 19th century, from the Cortes of Cádiz to Mendizábal, an accelerated process of confiscation of ecclesiastical property had taken place. Taking advantage of the favorable moment of the Moderate Decade, which in 1845 had already passed the Law of Donation for Worship and Clergy that restored to the Catholic Church the confiscated but unsold property, he approved and signed with Pope Pius IX a concordat by which the Spanish State recognized the Catholic Church as the only one of the "Spanish nation" as well as its rights to own property. This was one of the objectives the Moderate Party had pursued since its return to power: the restoration of Church–state relations through the signing of a concordat. With the signing of the Concordat of 1851 the Catholic Church recovered a large part of the social and ideological power lost with the Liberal Revolution. Eight years after its signing there were in Spain 41 convents of male religious (with 719 professed friars) and 866 convents of female religious (with 12,990 professed nuns).[3]
That same year Bravo Murillo began to implement his measures aimed at settling the public debt,[4] as well as all kinds of policies aimed at reorganizing the central and peripheral services of the State. He also established the Directorate General of Litigation and promoted the founding of the Boletín Oficial del Estado. In 1852 he carried out a thorough overhaul of the operating framework of the public Administration, promulgating the new Civil Servants Law. That same year he also promulgated the new Free Ports Law of the Canary Islands, which would earn him great fame and affection from the inhabitants of the islands, where even today there are monuments, all kinds of honors and streets dedicated to his memory.
The events of the revolution of 1848, although of little impact in Spain, sowed a spirit of struggle and rebellion in the urban classes, who were inspired by the French revolutionaries, who had at last achieved their ultimate goal, universal male suffrage. All this led Juan Bravo Murillo to draft a Constitutional Project in 1852 with which he intended to eliminate at the root all the problems that arose in government, since an unpopular head of cabinet might not be supported by the Cortes and might thus find his work of government hampered. This led him to dissolve the Cortes on more than one occasion with the intention of doing as he pleased, and of being able to govern according to his ideology, which was becoming more authoritarian by the day. The constitutional project was very unpopular, since it was branded an absolutist Constitution intended to eliminate the liberal character of the Constitution of 1845.
The unpopularity of the President of the Council of Ministers led to the end of his term as such, since he too was implicated in the corruption affairs surrounding the court of Isabella II. He then moved to Paris, for two years after he left the government a Revolution led by General O'Donnell took place which returned Espartero to power, beginning the Progressive Biennium.
Last years in politics (1857–1858)
It was the year 1857, and Bravo Murillo had already spent five years living in Paris after the fall of his government, when Queen Isabella herself decided to summon him to the royal court for a consultation. The three strongmen of the 19th century, Baldomero Espartero, of progressive ideology, Leopoldo O'Donnell, founder of the Liberal Union, and Ramón María Narváez, of moderate ideology, had formed governments that had worn themselves out over time. The Queen was therefore faced with the dilemma of who should be the next President of the Council of Ministers. This episode is recorded in the Opúsculos, written by Bravo Murillo himself, which we transcribe below:
Being in Paris at the beginning of October 1857, I received a private telegraphic dispatch announcing to me that the Ministry of the Duke of Valencia had submitted its resignation and that H.M. the Queen wished to speak with me. I was not told the reason for the resignation, nor have I since learned what the true one was. Having promptly presented myself in Madrid and in the presence of the Queen, Her Majesty was pleased to ask me whether I considered useful and beneficial a Ministry that had no president other than the Queen herself, which Her Majesty believed would bring great advantage, inasmuch as it is less difficult to find persons sufficiently capable of heading the respective Departments than one who will direct general policy and with whom each and every one of the ministers will identify. If always and with regard to everyone I consider it a duty to speak truthfully and frankly, I believe it is very especially so when speaking with Kings. I answered Her Majesty, as I felt, that I did not consider the idea advisable; that even in the time of absolutism, her late father King Ferdinand had had a Council of Ministers, presided over by one of them; that in the system in force the existence of that Council was essential; that, there being one, that is to say, a meeting, a corporate body, it was indispensable that it should have a person to direct its sessions and discussions; that the president must indispensably be a subject responsible, with all the others, for his acts; that the Monarch, who is much more, who is not responsible and stands above all, is for that very reason unable to be so, in the same way that he is unable to be governor of a province or corregidor or mayor of a town.
This testimony shows the difficult situation the Queen faced, with Cortes having a moderate majority. She thus decided to appoint General Armero as President of the new cabinet, who did not have the majority of the support needed to form a government with complete stability. With all this, in the parliamentary session a new president of the Congress of Deputies had to be elected. It was a session in which Bravo Murillo came to represent the hardest core of the moderates. The government thus put forward Luis Mayáns as its candidate. And against him Bravo Murillo was put forward, without any intervention on his part, as a candidate against the power of the government. The man who had already been head of government was then elected President of the Congress of Deputies, as a show of support by the moderate benches and as a firm hint to the Queen that she should appoint him President of the Council once again. In the end the Queen decided to entrust the government to Istúriz.
Bravo Murillo definitively abandoned his political career in 1858, after twenty-two years of service to the Spanish Nation, from his beginnings as a deputy, going on to become Minister of Justice, later of Development and of Finance, and President of the Council of Ministers, ending his career as President of the Congress of Deputies.
Opúsculos and posthumous tributes (1858–1873)
His political career over in 1858, he withdrew into himself and put in order his notes and recollections of his fruitful life, devoting himself entirely to writing his memoirs, although he gave them the more modest name of Opúsculos (Madrid, librería de San Martín, 1863–1865, 5 vols.). The first volume appeared in 1863 and caused a great sensation in the political world, since his figure was faithfully followed by many politicians of moderate ideology. The works contained in the six volumes of Bravo Murillo's Opúsculos are, in effect, separate studies, but linked ultimately by the apologetic aim of explaining and defending before posterity his conduct as a statesman. Some of the important topics dealt with in the six volumes are titled: Atentado contra la vida de la Reina; La Desamortización; De los impuestos en su relación con la riqueza pública; El No de Negrete; Apuntes para la historia de la Unión Liberal; El pasado, el presente y el porvenir de la Hacienda Española; El proyecto de reforma de 1852 and El arreglo de la Deuda. The last of his Opúsculos, the sixth volume, reached us posthumously, since Bravo Murillo continued writing tirelessly until the end of his days.
In 1851 he was elected a member of the Royal Academy of History, being awarded medal number 36, but his modesty led him not to consider himself worthy of such a position and he resigned without taking up his seat, leaving his place vacant on November 30, 1855. When the Academy of Moral and Political Sciences was founded, Bravo Murillo was designated one of its members on September 30, 1857, being granted medal number 28. Nor did he take up this seat, and he repeatedly submitted his resignation until it was accepted, on March 4, 1862.
Bravo Murillo received many invitations to return to politics, which he repeatedly refused. This explains why, without any effort on his part, he was appointed senator of the Kingdom by Royal Decree of November 8, 1863.[5] He accepted, but was in no hurry to take his seat in the Upper House, which he postponed until May 22 of the following year, and although he occasionally attended the sessions and was obliged to take the floor in response to repeated allusions, he did so without any political ambition and in a pessimistic tone, given his dissatisfaction with the affairs of state of the time. He did not side with any of the moderate governments of the period.
The Queen's loss of power and the corruption scandals that splashed the royal court and the royal family itself brought about the end of the reign of Isabella II in 1868. It was then that many Isabelline politicians sought out Bravo Murillo with the intention that he use his influence to bring about the Queen's return. He then took on the defense of the Catholic and monarchist political position, even going so far as to found the magazine La Defensa de la Sociedad. However, a weary Bravo Murillo could do little to change the situation of Queen Isabella, who had gone into exile in Paris.
It was half past eleven in the morning on January 10, 1873, when the illustrious politician died in Madrid. Juan Bravo Murillo arranged to be taken to Fregenal to be buried beside his parents. An austere man, he did not want an ostentatious funeral. On other occasions he had already declined certain honors, such as appointment as Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece, which Queen Isabella wished to bestow on him, since his period in government coincided with the birth of the Infanta Isabella. He accepted only the Grand Cross of the Order of Charles III and that of the Order of Pius IX, after the signing of the Concordat of 1851.
Today his remains rest in the parish church of Santa Ana in Fregenal de la Sierra, where he had once been baptized.
See also
- Reign of Isabella II of Spain
- Presidency of the Council of Ministers
- President of the Congress of Deputies of Spain
- Moderate Party
- Fregenal de la Sierra
- Sanctuary of Our Lady of Los Remedios (Fregenal de la Sierra)
References
- ↑ «Juan Bravo Murillo.» www.congreso.es, official website of the Congress of Deputies.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Vida de Juan Bravo Murillo, official website of the Town Council of Fregenal de la Sierra.
- ↑ Artola, Miguel (1978). La burguesía revolucionaria (1808-1874). Historia de España Alfaguara V (in español). 1ª edición: 1973 (6ª ed.). Madrid: Alfaguara-Alianza Editorial. pp. 141–142. ISBN 84-206-2046-7.
- ↑ Arreglo de la deuda pública de 1851.
- ↑ Senado de España, Expediente Personal del Senador. "Bravo Murilo, Juan" (in español). Retrieved August 20, 2020.
Bibliography
- Bullón de Mendoza, Alfonso (1950). Bravo Murillo y su significación en la política española. Estudio histórico (in español). Madrid: Gráficas Valera S.A.
External links
