José Selva Mergelina

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In this
Spanish name, the first or paternal surname
is Selva y Mergelina and the second or maternal family name is Mergelina y Llorens.
The Most Illustrious
The Marquess of Villores
Spanish
Occupationlandowner
Known forpolitician
Political partyComunión Tradicionalista (also known as Comunión Legitimista and Comunión Católico-Monárquíca)
Signature

José María de Selva y Mergelina Mergelina y Llorens, 5th Marquess of Villores (1884–1932) was a Spanish

Carlist
politician.

Family and youth

Villena, Casa Selva

José María de Selva y Mergelina Mergelina y Llorens was a descendant of two

Joaquín Lloréns Fernández[9] and related to a number of noble families.[10]

Like his 6 siblings José María[11] was brought up in a fervently Catholic ambience. Following initial home schooling, as an older child he frequented Colegio de San José, a prestigious Valencian institute established in 1870 by Agustin Cabré and run by the Jesuits;[12] he completed the teenage education there in 1900.[13] Selva continued his scholarship at Universidad de Valencia to study law, philosophy and letters,[14] having graduated in 1905.[15]

Riff War, 1911

José Selva married María Josefa Salvador y Núñez Robres (1909),[16] descendant of an aristocratic Valencian family holding a number of estates across Levante[17] and daughter of José Salvador de la Figuera Barroso de Frías y Mezquita, 4th marquis of Villores.[18] The couple had 4 children, Enrique (1910), José Maria (1911), María Dolores (1913) and Rafael (1914).[19] Following the premature death of his wife in 1916, in 1918 Selva married her older sister, María Vicenta Salvador y Núñez Robres.[20] Since her father had no male descendants,[21] she had arranged to inherit the marquesado;[22] following the marriage, José Selva was also entitled to the honour as marqués consorte. His second marriage produced no children. The family lived in their rural Xàtiva estate.[23]

Villores' younger brother,

Falangist Consejo Nacional in 1943;[32] their sister Dolores was active in the Carlist relief organization, Socorro Blanco.[33] Villores’ oldest son, Enrique Selva Salvador, became the next Marqués de Villores[34] and was an active Carlist during the Republic already;[35] he later lobbied for the Traditionalist cause in the Franco years[36] and became president of the Carlist circulo in Valencia.[37]

Early public activity

University of Valencia

José Selva commenced his public activity at the university, getting engaged in the very active Valencian branch of Liga Católica.[38] He took part in local elections, running on a broad monarchist ticket, and was elected to Valencia city council.[39] He later served in the Valencian regional government as Deputy mayor.[40]

Having inherited a fundamentally Catholic and ultraconservative outlook, Selva entered the structures of the local Carlist organization quite early. With his father vicepresident of the Junta Provincial and his maternal uncle one of the national Carlist leaders, Selva soon grew in the Levantine party structures. He became the young lieutenant of

Don Jaime.[42] At that time Carlism, already increasingly marginalized in Spanish politics, was also paralysed by conflict between the Carlist king and the top Carlist ideologue, Juan Vázquez de Mella. When de Mella was expelled in 1919 and left to build his own branch of Traditionalism, many party leaders, regional jefes (including Simó Marín in Valencia) and otherwise distinguished figures decided to join the secessionists; Don Jaime was left with very few recognized personalities by his side.[43] Impressed by Selva, who since 1918 appeared as marqués de Villores, the Carlist king entrusted him with leadership and re-organisation of the Valencian Carlism.[44]

Carrer del Marqués de Villores in Mislata

The 34-year-old commenced his duties enthusiastically; he toured the region reconstructing the circulos and launched a new regional weekly, El Tradicionalista;[45] since during his youth he demonstrated a penchant for letters[46] he also contributed as an author.[47] His three years of work were appreciated when in late 1921, following transitional leadership tenures of Pascual Comín Moya and Luis Hernando de Larramendi, Don Jaime had to choose his new political representative. Apart from few senile but still loyal leaders[48] there were many potential candidates among politicians from the older[49] or younger generation, who had already served a few terms either in the Cortes or in the Senate.[50] However, for reasons which are not entirely clear,[51] the claimant opted for Villores; nominated secretario general politico,[52] he became the youngest Carlist political leader ever.[53]

Jefe

S. M. Jaime III

The most immediate task faced by de Villores was reconstruction and consolidation of the movement, shattered by defections to the Mellistas. Trying to rebuild local structures of the party, at that time also known as Comunión Legitimista,[54] he shuttled across the country promoting new local and regional jefes. However, at the beginning of his tenure he suffered a heavy blow by failing to prevent the closure of El Correo Español. The daily, established back in 1888, was a semi-official and most effective Carlist public tribune, its editorial board decimated during the Mellist crisis.[55] The new Carlist leader did not manage to sustain the ailing newspaper, which closed in 1922.[56] Public accusations continued to circulate[57] and Villores failed to set a new press tribune; the mainstream Carlism had to do with no nationwide newspaper until 1932.[58]

In terms of an overall political strategy Villores followed the course set by Jaime III: abandoning grand designs, he focused on grassroots work. Jaimismo was to assume a definitely regional and foral shape.[59] Some scholars refer to this approach as a new Carlist policy, based on federalist program merged with the idea of social and economic justice.[60] Possibly as part of this strategy in 1923 for the first time in the 20th century the Carlists abstained from racing to the Cortes;[61] the official reason quoted was disillusionment with “farsa parlamentaria”.[62]

Alfonso de Borbón, Primo de Rivera

The Carlists received the

Asamblea Nacional Consultiva;[70] he failed to prevent further defections,[71] though he managed to avert spontaneous insurgency attempts.[72]

The political bewilderment of

Alfonsine system.[74]

Final months of leadership

Republic declared, 1931

The final period of de Villores’ leadership term was even more turbulent than the initial one, marked by advent of the Republic and death of Jaime III. Initially de Villores was disoriented like most Carlists were: delighted to see the loathed Alfonsist monarchy toppled, but detesting the republican democracy even more.[75] He followed the initial conciliatory manifesto of the claimant, who ordered his followers to assist the provisional government in maintaining order and defending Catholic sites until a genuine national assembly is elected.[76] After the boycotted elections of 1923 Villores was finally able to lead the Carlist drive for the Cortes, but the actual campaign seemed rather disorganised.[77] The outcome was 5 deputies,[78] the performance worse than the worst results achieved during the Restauración.[79] For Villores personally the campaign took a deeply humiliating turn;[80] competing in the urban Valencian district he was trashed by leading candidates and recorded a disastrous result.[81]

Contempt for militantly secular Republic drew three competitive branches of Carlism closer; Villores seemed to support consolidation, as in June 1931 he took part in massive public gatherings calling for unity.[82] The cause was facilitated by unexpected death of Jaime III and assumption of the Carlist claim by Don Alfonso Carlos in October.[83] Villores represented the mainstream Carlism in re-unification negotiations,[84] which in early 1932 merged the Integristas, the Mellistas and the Jaimistas[85] in the Comunión Tradicionalista, with de Villores agreed as its leader.[86]

Talks with the Alfonsists proved to be definitely more difficult. Though the deposed Alfonso XIII and Jaime III (represented not by Villores, but by José María Gomez de Pujadas[87]) seemed to agree a vague dynastical compromise,[88] its version edited by de Villores was rejected by the Alfonsinos.[89] Another royal agreement, known as "pacto de Territet", was greeted with ice-cold welcome among the Carlists.[90] By that time de Villores, for months suffering from deteriorating health,[91] was already unable to take part in the debate. His funeral in May 1932 proved to be another opportunity for public display of rapidly swelling Carlist zeal across a few cities in Spain.[92]

Reception and legacy

Palacio de Villores, S. Mateu

In historiography the figure of Marquess de Villores does not generate major controversies. He earned no monography so far – be it either a major work or a minor article[93] – and is treated marginally even in works dedicated to history of Traditionalism. Though most scholars concede that 1920s produced the most dramatic decline of Carlism since its birth, they do not necessarily agree whether Villores could have prevented it. Some (Clemente) consider him a good leader who instead of internal power struggle brought stability and consolidated the party.[94] Some (Blinkhorn) call his leadership “flaccid” suggesting that he lacked the vision and the energy.[95] Both seem to agree that he was executing the policy engineered by Don Jaime rather than drafting designs on his own.

There are streets commemorating “Marqués de Villores” in many Spanish villages and cities (including his native Villena), but none of them indicates which marquis in sequence is meant. A few buildings in the Valencia region are advertised as related to de Villores family;[96] the building where José Selva was born and raised serves as host to an unrelated Museo Festero.[97] A Carlist circulo of Albacete is named after Marqués de Villores.[98] The marquesado itself is still functional.[99]

See also

Footnotes

  1. ^ La casa de los Selva, [in:] Villena cuéntame available here
  2. ^ Joaquín de Mergelina Selva was a Spanish naval officer who took part in the battle of Trafalgar, see Antonio de la Vega, Joaquín de Mergelina Selva, un marino desconocido, [in:] Revista de Historia Naval 7 (1989)/27, pp. 19-32, available here Archived 2014-11-12 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ see geneanet service here
  4. Fernando VII
    , which seems unlikely given he was born in 1820
  5. ^ See de la Vega (1988), p. 31
  6. ^ geneanet; the obituary in La Epoca 22.03.23, available here, also a blog here
  7. ^ El Cabecilla 08.02.90, p. 3, see here
  8. ^ geneanet
  9. ^ Trinidad Mergelina Llorens was a daughter of Trinidad Mergelina y Cerver and Juana Llorens Bayer; the latter was a daughter of Joaquin Llorens Chiva and sister of José Llorens Bayer, who was in turn the father of Joaquin Llorens Fernandez
  10. ^ See Rafael Bernabeu Galbis, Apéndice documental, [in:] Los escudos nobiliarios de Ontinyent, available here
  11. ISBN 8486792894
    , p. 190
  12. ^ El Colegio de los padres Jesuitas, [in:] Asociación Antiguos Alumnos Jesuitas – Valencia, available here Archived 2014-09-10 at the Wayback Machine
  13. ^ see Buscador de Alumnos [in:] Asociación Antiguos Alumnos Jesuitas – Valencia available here Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine
  14. ISBN 9788498947014
    , p. 291 claims that Selva was "alumno de derecho y filosofía". Probably he studied at two faculties, Derecho and Filosofia y Letras
  15. ^ Perales 2009, p. 291
  16. ^ ABC 10.05.09, available here
  17. ^ See for instance José Vaquer Roca, La Torre del Palomar, [in:] Antropologia Sant Mateu, available here, or Historia del Pueblo, at the Villores web page, here Archived 2015-04-23 at the Wayback Machine
  18. ISBN 9788461489435, pp. 157-159, available here
  19. ^ "Diego de SELVA - Geneanet".
  20. ^ See for instance La Epoca 08.07.1918 available here or La Nacion 09.07.1918 available here
  21. ^ geneanet
  22. ^ Jose Salvador de la Figuera Barroso de Frias y Mezquita, 4th Marqués de Villores, died in 1912
  23. ^ Boletín Oficial. Somatén Nacional de la 3. Region, 10/1924, available here, p. 2
  24. ^ Heraldo Militar 21.03.10, available here
  25. ^ La Correspondencia Militar 18.07.10, available here
  26. ^ La Correspondencia Militar 26.11.10, see here
  27. ^ Diario Official del Ministerio de la Guerra 29.12,14, see here
  28. ^ La Correspondencia Militar 13.12.27, see here
  29. ^ El Sol 28.09.1932, available here
  30. ^ Pepe Romero, Extracto de las memorias de Guerra de Miguel Vergara Gimeno, Miguel Peñarrocha Taroncher y Miguel Asensio Martínez Requetés voluntarios en el Tercio, [in:] La Guerra Civil en Llíria, at here
  31. ^ ABC 21.10.41 at here, also Abanderats i abanderades de la nostra historia available here Archived 2014-09-10 at the Wayback Machine
  32. ^ 1943: homenaje Chapí XXXIV Aniversario, [in:] Villena cuéntame available here, see also Indice Histórico de Diputados here
  33. ^ Pepe Romero 2007
  34. ^ following the 1952 death of his aunt and the second wife of his father, María Vicenta Salvador y Núñez Robres
  35. ISBN 8487863949
    , p. 83
  36. ^ Manuel Martorell Pérez, La continuidad ideológica del carlismo tras la Guerra Civil [PhD thesis], Valencia 2009, p. 338
  37. ^ Celebración del 50 aniversario del círculo, [in:] Portal Avant!, available here Archived 2016-09-14 at the Wayback Machine
  38. ISBN 8480213485
    , 9788480213486
  39. ^ Fuentes, Piqueras 2003, p. 520
  40. ^ Oro de Ley 25.03.17 see here, Oro de Ley 01.04.17, see here
  41. ^ El Siglo Futuro 11.04.13, see here
  42. ^ Fuentes, Piqueras 2003, p. 520
  43. Joaquín Lloréns Fernández, Tomás Domínguez Romera (Conde de Rodezno) and Miguel Junyent i Rovira
    were probably the most experienced and distinguished loyalists
  44. ^ Fuentes, Piqueras 2003, p. 520. Since Garcia Guijarro joined the Mellistas the potential counter-candidate for Valencian leadership was Narciso Batlle y Baro, already 4 times elected to the Cortes. However, he swayed towards independent regionalism
  45. ^ Giménez Guarinos 2011, p. 159. The weekly is described as “minor” though still mentioned as part of the national Carlist press network by Eduardo 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; for a sample from mid-1920s see here
  46. ^ as a student he wrote poems, see Perales 2009, p. 291
  47. ^ under the pen-name of El Ermitańo, see Giménez Guarinos 2011, p. 159
  48. ^ like Francisco Martín Melgar, marquis of Tamarit, Cesáreo Sanz Escartín or Joaquín Llorens Fernandez
  49. ^ Don Jaime's first choice was Blas Morte, a 70-year-old local Navarrese politician
  50. Joaquin Baleztena (3 terms), Tomás Domínguez Arévalo (2 terms), Bartomeu Trías i Comas
    (2 terms as deputy and 2 as senator) or Miquel Junyent i Rovira (1 term as deputy and 1 term as senator); except Junyent (born 1871) all of them were in their late 30s or 40s
  51. ISBN 8483741539
    , 9788483741535, p. 71, who seems to suggests that Villores, totally loyal to Don Jaime, ensured unity and cohesion, with focus on grass-root work as opposed to previous, allegedly pompous grand designs
  52. ISBN 8499671713
    , 9788499671710, p. 310
  53. Carlos Hugo 38 (1968), Javier Garisoain 48 (2018), Telmo Aldaz
    50 (2020)
  54. ^ Jacek Bartyzel, Karlizm, [in:] haggard website here Archived 2014-09-07 at the Wayback Machine
  55. ^ its editor-in-chief, Miguel Fernández Peñaflor, joined the Mellistas and left the editorial board in 1919, see Agustín Fernández Escudero, El marqués de Cerralbo (1845-1922): biografía politica [PhD thesis], Madrid 2012, p. 471
  56. ISSN 2172-671X
    , p. 139
  57. ^ compare a letter from the former El Correo Espańol manager, Gustavo Sánchez Márquez, published in ABC of 04.12.23, see here; on Sánchez and his increasingly hostile stance towards Jaime III see also Fernández Escudero 2012, pp. 465 onwards and 500 onwards, see also Sánchez obituary in ABC 02.01.63, see here
  58. Vascongadas and Catalonia. Carlism regained its nationwide newspaper in 1932, when the re-united Integristas brought El Siglo Futuro
    with them
  59. ^ Clemente 1999, p. 71
  60. ISBN 9788495414243
    , pp. 26-28
  61. ^ the last boycott took place in 1899, when the Carlists considered another insurgency
  62. ^ ABC 13.03.23; the claimant allowed only individual candidatures, noting that „futuras Cortes habrá Jaimistas diputados, pero no una minoria jaimista”, see here. Eventually, there were 4 Jaimist deputies elected
  63. ISBN 9780521207294
    , 9780521086349, pp. 39-40
  64. ^ ABC 04.10.23; Don Jaime wrote to de Villores that “movimiento que, en definitiva, no significa otra cosa en sus propósitos iniciales que un acercamiento a nuestras doctrinas” is of “espirtu netamente Tradicionalista”, see here
  65. ^ Julio Prada Rodríguez, El Fenix que siempre renace. El carlismo ourensano (1894-1936), [in:] Espacio, Tiempo y Forma, Series V, Historía Contemporánea 17 (2005), p. 125
  66. ^ as leader of the militia in the county he resided in, Boletín Oficial. Somatén Nacional de la 3. Region, 10/1924, see here, p. 2
  67. ISBN 9788499709758
    , pp. 68-69
  68. ISBN 8496467341
    , 9788496467347, p. 41
  69. ^ the claimant explicitly barred his followers from entering UP in 1925, compare El Eco de Gerona 05.12.25, available here
  70. ^ this, for instance, was the case of Esteban Bilbao
  71. ISBN 842450707X
    , 9788424507077, p. 191
  72. ^ like this in Seo de Urgel in 1928, Clemente 1995, p. 191, on other plans of terrorist actions against the dictatorship see also Clemente 1999, pp. 73-74
  73. ^ Alberto Garcia Umbon, Las proyectadas elecciones del general Berenguer en Navarra (1930), [in:] Cuadernos de Sección Historia y Geografía, 10 (1988), pp. 213-219
  74. ^ Segura stressed an “obligación de participar en la res publicae, los católicos podían militar en los partidos existents o fundar otros confesionales, siempre que no fuesen antidinásticos”, to which Villores replied in private letter that “debe haber sido una mala interpretación del corrector de pruebas, no el pensamiento de Va Emma Rdvma, de quien me costa, sois un antiliberal convencido, y por consecuencia, incapaz de sostener esa tesis”. Quoted after Santiago Martinez Sanches, El Cardieal Pedro Segura y Saenz (1880-1957) [PhD thesis], Pamplona 2002, pp. 149-151
  75. ^ Blinkhorn 2008, p. 41
  76. ^ Antonio Manuel Moral Roncal, 1868 en la memoria carlista de 1931: dos revoluciones anticlericales y un paralelo, [in:] Hispania Sacra, 59/119 (2007), p. 342
  77. ^ in some electoral districts the Carlists formed different alliances, in some they opted for stand-alone campaign; it looks that the decision was taken by regional Carlist leaders, see Blinkhorn 2008, pp. 51-57
  78. Oriol
    (Alava), Rodezno (Navarre) and Urquijo (Gipuzkoa), Blinkhorn 2008, p. 56
  79. ^ when Carlists took part as an organised force, compare here
  80. ISBN 0874173442
    , pp. 194-198
  81. ISBN 8495379147
    , pp. 137-154
  82. ^ e.g. in Pamplona in June 1931, see Moral Roncal 2007, p. 355
  83. ^ Villores established good relations with the new Carlist king. Confirmed as the political leader, he even wrote a prologue to Alfonso Carlos’ recollections, see here
  84. ^ E.g. with the Integrista leader, Juan Olazábal; see interview with Manuel Fal Conde by José Carlos Clemente Muñoz in Tiempo de historia 39/4 (1978), pp. 13-23, referred after here
  85. ^ In October 1931 renamed to Comunión Católica Monárquica, Jacek Bartyzel, Karlizm, [in:] metapedia, see here Archived 2014-08-14 at the Wayback Machine
  86. ISBN 8424508157
    , 9788424508159, p. 67; at that time Villores was already defunct
  87. ISBN 8495379597
    , 9788495379597, p. 415-416
  88. ISBN 8460589323
    , pp. 96-99
  89. ^ Gonzales Calleja 2003, p. 415-416
  90. ^ some scholars claim that it was the Carlist leaders who balked at the agreement, see Gonzales Calleja 2003, p. 417, the others point to opposition among the rank-and-file, see Clemente 1999, p. 79
  91. ^ news of his malady was regularly appearing in the press throughout the first few months of 1932, but none of the sources consulted explains what exactly was the nature of his health problems
  92. ^ El Siglo Futuro 24.05.32, see here
  93. ISBN 8400090136
    , 9788400090135
  94. ^ Clemente 1999, p. 71
  95. ^ he also calls de Villores, at that time in his early 40s, “elderly Delegate”, see Blinkhorn 2008, pp. 40, 57
  96. ^ E.g. Palacio del Marqués de Villores in Sant Mateu, see here, or Torre El Palomar near the same town, see here
  97. ^ "turismovillena". Archived from the original on 2014-12-08. Retrieved 2014-09-06.
  98. ^ their Facebook profile here
  99. ^ for the current holder of the title see La hija mayor de la fallecida marquesa de Villores reclama el título por edad, [in:] levante-emv available here

Further reading

External links
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