Tirso de Olazábal, 1st Count of Arbelaiz

Tirso de Olazábal y Lardizábal, 1st Count of Arbelaiz, 1st Count of Oria (28 January 1842 – 25 November 1921), was a Spanish noble and Carlist politician.

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Olazábal and the second or maternal family name is Lardizábal.
The Most Excellent
The Count of Arbelaiz
Formal photo portrait, 1921
Personal details
Born28 January 1842
Arbelaiz Palace, Irun, Spain
Died25 November 1921
San Sebastián, Spain
OccupationPolitician

Family and early life

Origins
Tirso as a child

Tirso Julián Francisco José Ramón María de Olazábal y Lardizábal[1] was born into a distinguished and aristocratic Basque family, with many of its members recorded in history of the region.[2] The Olazábal family is reputed to be one of the first settlers of the province of Guipúzcoa, taking part in the exploits of Cantabria. They also contributed to the restoration of Spain with Pelagius of Asturias and accompanied Ferdinand the Saint in the Siege of Seville and in several incursions into Andalusia. Considered to be a chief lineage or a lineage of "Elder Relatives" (Parientes Mayores) of Guipúzcoa, its founders owned the fief of Alzo, where they possessed the patronat of San Salvador Church. The first official document of the province of Guipúzcoa, dated 1025, attributes to the Olazábal family the property of 300 caseríos (villages) in the place of Alzo.

Tirso's ancestors can safely be traced back to the 14th century. More recently, his great-grandfather, Domingo José de Olazábal y Aranzate,[3] was alcalde of Irun in 1767 and 1778.[4] His son and Tirso's grandfather, José Joaquín Cecilio María de Olazábal y Murguía (1763–1804),[5] served in the navy and is listed as teniente de fragata.[6] His oldest son and Tirso's father, José Joaquín María Robustiano de Olazábal y Olaso (1794–1865),[7] between 1828 and 1845 was many times elected to the Guipuzcoan Diputación.[8] He is better known as a cartographer, which suggests that he was also a military, serving either in the army or in the navy.[9] In 1836 together with Francisco de Palacios he published a map of Guipúzcoa,[10] re-worked later in another version, issued in 1849.[11]

Tirso's mother was María Lorenza de Lardizábal y Otazu (1806–1889);[12] his maternal grandfather, Juan Antonio de Lardizábal y Altuna, XII Lord ("Señor") of Laurgain and VII Lord ("Señor") of Amézqueta, was among the largest landowners in Guipúzcoa. As head of the Lardizábal family, he inherited the palace of the same name located in Segura and owned other provincial estates.[13] His maternal grandmother, María Benita Ruiz de Otazu y Valencegui, also belonged to distinguished families of the Basque aristocracy. Among her ancestors are the Idiáquez of Azcoitia (later Dukes of Granada de Ega), the Counts of Peñaflorida and the Marquesses of Rocaverde. One of Tirso's maternal great-great-grandfathers, Manuel Ignacio de Altuna y Portu (1722–1762), was a major figure of Enlightenment in Spain. Encyclopedist and scholar, Altuna became known for his friendship with Jean-Jacques Rousseau (who mentions him in his Confessions, calling him the "virtuous Altuna"), to whom he was introduced in Venice during his Grand Tour in the 1740s. Along with the Count of Peñaflorida and the Marquis of Narros, he founded the Royal Basque Society of Friends of the Country (known as La Bascongada) in Bergara, in 1748. The three men came to be known as the "Gentlemen of Azkoitia" (Los Caballeritos de Azcoitia) or the "Triumvirate of Azkoitia" (Triunvirato de Azcoitia).

Early years
Young Olazábal

The young Tirso was first educated in the prestigious Jesuit college of de la Sauve[14] near Bordeaux, where he is reported to have pursued philosophy.[15] He completed his curriculum studying mathematics at the Lycée privé Sainte-Geneviève in Paris; no further details are known.[16] From his youth he developed keen interest in music, his favourite composer having been Mozart;[17] in the early 1860s he set up 18 local bands across Guipúzcoa, allegedly gathering musicians from all social strata.[18] In 1864 he won a gold medal on the Franco-Spanish art exhibition in Bayonne, directing an orchestra he created in Irun;[19] he also kept directing local orchestral bands during various provincial feasts in the mid-1860s.[20]

With the death of his father in 1865, Tirso inherited part of his considerable wealth. Among other properties located in Guipúzcoa (spread over Azpeitia, Beasain, Beizama, Idiazabal and Lazcano), his legacy included the Arbelaiz Palace and its formidable private garden, in Irun, which had remained in the hands of his family since the reign of Philip II of Spain. This ancestral estate, which hosted various historical figures (Henry III of France, Catherine de' Medici, Charles IV of Lorraine, Catherine of Braganza, Philip V of Spain and Charles X of France, etc.) and owes its name to the powerful family who built it in the sixteenth century, passed by marriage to the Olazábal family after the wedding of Tirso's great-grandmother, the Dowager Marchioness of Valdespina, Maria Teresa de Murguía y Arbelaiz,[21] XV Lady (Señora) of Murguía and VI Lady (Señora) of Arbelaiz, with the above-mentioned Domingo José de Olazábal y Aranzate, in 1756. From his father, he also inherited the assets of the majorat (mayorazgo) of Abaria, founded in the seventeenth century by Francisco de Abaria, of whom Olazábal descended through his paternal grandmother, María Brígida de Olaso y Abaria. This majorat (mayorazgo) included, primarily, the Abaria Palace, in Villafranca de Oria, which during the Third Carlist War, and on the occasion of the Carlist Meeting that were held there, would provide accommodation to Carlos VII.

Marriage and family
sons in the gardens at Villa Arbelaiz
sons in the gardens at Villa Arbelaiz

In 1867 he married[22] Ramona Álvarez de Eulate y Moreda (1846–1927),[23] also from a noble lineage[24] related mostly to Guipúzcoa and Navarre.[25] Ramona descended in the male line from Juan Álvarez de Eulate y Ladrón de Cegama, Governor of New Mexico between 1618 and 162 and later Castellan of Pamplona. Her father (like her grandfather), Rafael María Álvarez de Eulate y Acedo, was a military man; some sources describe him as infantry captain[26] and some claim he was a navy lieutenant.[27] He owned the Mirafuentes landholding and partially estates of Yturbe, Inurrigarro, Monasteriobide and Jaúregui,[28] located in south-western Navarre and eastern Álava.

Tirso and Ramona had 11 children; the eldest son, Ramón, married Maria Luísa de Mendóça Rolim de Moura Barreto,[29] related to the Portuguese royal family as Infanta Ana de Jesus Maria of Portugal's granddaughter and John VI of Portugal's great-granddaughter. They settled in Portugal, scarcely involved in Spanish affairs; two of the younger ones, Tirso and especially Rafael, were active in the Carlist movement until the 1950s.[30]

at wedding of his eldest son, 1899

In March 1934, Rafael, alongside Carlist monarchist Antonio Lizarza and Alfonsine monarchists Antonio Goicoechea and Emilio Barrera, met the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini and Italo Balbo, in Rome, in order to negotiate on a military agreement that would guarantee Italian support of their movements should a civil war erupt in Spain.[31] Since 1930s advocating a dynastical rapprochement with the Alfonsinos,[32] in 1957 Rafael declared Don Juan the legitimate Carlist claimant.[33] Their sister, Vicenta de Olazábal y Álvarez de Eulate, married Julio de Urquijo e Ibarra, a well known Carlist and especially Basque activist.[34] Many of the Tirso's offspring made their names in different areas in Spain, Portugal or worldwide;[35] his distant relative Pedro de Morenés y Álvarez de Eulate in 2015 served as the Spanish Minister of Defense.[36] Condado de Arbeiaiz is functional until today.[37]

Early career
Olazábal at Junta de Vevey
Olazábal at Junta de Vevey

Olazábal's political beginnings are not clear. None of the sources consulted offers any information on political preferences of his father or paternal grandfather; his maternal grandfather was a die-hard conservative.[38] Hence, it is not known what political mechanisms were at work when in Villafranca in 1865 Tirso Olazábal was elected to the Guipuzcoan provincial Diputación as representative of segundo partido judicial.[39] Given his very young age and total lack of experience, his mandate might have been political tribute to his late father.[40] Already as member of the Guipuzcoan Diputación he took part in homage welcoming Isabel II in Tolosa en route to her usual San Sebastián summer residence;[41] when offered the order of Isabella the Catholic he allegedly declined it as an undeserved honor.[42] His term lasted only one year, as in 1866 he was already listed as ex-diputado.[43]

In 1867 Olazábal ran for the Cortes and was elected from the San Sebastián district;[44] in the chamber he became one of the youngest deputies.[45] Present day author counts him among 17 neocatólicos,[46] contemporary press considered him a governmental candidate,[47] an 1869 informative publication claimed he ran as independent,[48] and an 1888 hagiographical Carlist publication hailed him as the youngest member of the Carlist minority,[49] the thesis repeated also by some scholars.[50] In 1868 Olazábal again welcomed Isabel II during what soon turned out to be her last summer journey to the beaches of Biscay;[51] he painfully acknowledged her deposition in course of the Glorious Revolution later that year.[52] During the 1869 elections to Cortes Constituyentes he joined the list of “candidaturas católicas” with “Dios y fueros” as their local Guipuzcoan war cry;[53] he was elected from the same district.[54] Little is recorded of his parliamentarian activity, except that he opposed opening casinos in San Sebastián.[55]

Léon Gambetta

Some time late 1869 or early 1870 Olazábal got engaged in the Carlist conspiracy, though it is not clear whether he neared the movement together with many neocatólicos or whether he had always sympathised with the legitimists. He left Spain in search of arms for planned insurgency and with the party finances entrusted, he patrolled France looking for an appropriate deal. Early 1870 he purchased some 20,000 rifles in Antwerp and arranged the shipment by sea.

Since himself he joined the grand Carlist meeting known as Junta de Vevey[56] and was unable to supervise the entire action, due to misunderstanding the cargo was not unloaded in Bilbao.[57] Olazábal followed the ship to Genoa, where he managed to deceive Italian police and got part of the cargo reloaded to another ship, this time successfully sent to Catalonia.[58] The subsequent installment was intercepted by the French, who feared a Prussian plot aiming at arming native tribes in French Africa.[59] Olazábal travelled to Tours, where he talked to Gambetta and got the transport released.[60] At this time his activities were already known to the Madrid government and there was legal action launched against him.[61]

Civil war
Deerhound

At the outbreak of hostilities Olazábal was in Switzerland, nominated gentilhombre of the claimant's wife Doña Margarita;[62] his task was to prevent her expulsion from the country, demanded by the Spanish government.[63] Another of his diplomatic missions was acting as a link to Ramón Cabrera.[64] Finally, nominated head of Comisión de armamento, he became sort of the Carlist minister of supply.[65]

Early 1873 Olazábal bought in Versailles 11,000 berdan rifles[66] and 2m cartridges,[67] now useless for France.[68] Soon afterwards[69] he arranged[70] two ships[71] to get the arms transported to Spain,[72] but his plot envisioned initial shipment to England to deceive the French.[73] Off the English coast the cargo was reloaded and during the night of July 13, 1873 the first installment[74] reached the Ispaster beach; it was secretly unloaded by Carlist conspirators. The same maneuver was repeated 2 weeks later in a daring action, this time Cap Higuer serving as point of delivery.[75] As following another shipment of August 13[76] the Carlist ship Deerhound was intercepted by the Liberal schooner Buenaventura,[77] Olazábal arranged for another ship, Orpheon, which broke the Liberal blockade and delivered arms[78] to Lequeitio, on the coastline now firmly controlled by the Carlists.[79] Two more missions, this time somewhat chaotic, were completed in October[80] and November[81] before Orpheon sunk due to a naval accident.

Engineering a wide fund-raising scheme[82] and arranging a new delivery from France to England, Olazábal was outsmarted by the Madrid agents who illegally seized the cargo in Newport.[83] He promptly filed a lawsuit;[84] eager to avoid a diplomatic conflict with the British, the Liberal embassy in London agreed to pay Olazábal a compensation fee, which by far exceeded the original cost incurred.[85] In 1874 he bought a French ship,[86] renamed it as London,[87] and co-ordinated delivery of artillery pieces[88] to Bermeo.[89] Later on that year he planned to deliver arms to Catalonia,[90] but that mission was made pointless as the Carlists withdrew from the Mediterranean cost.[91] London kept delivering arms[92] in successive missions,[93] with the last shipment in January 1876.[94] In the meantime Olazábal arranged for 34 artillery pieces to be manufactured in France and transported by land to the Carlist-controlled border in Irun,[95] before he was finally expulsed from France as urgently demanded by the Madrid government.[96]

Palacio de Arbelaiz[97]

In recognition of his merits[98] the Carlist artillery corps asked Carlos VII to nominate Olazábal honorary colonel;[99] contemporary scholar claims he delivered more than 50% of all artillery pieces used by the Carlist troops.[100] Exact scale of his engagement is unclear; some authors maintain that Carlists transported arms also from America[101] with English intelligence reporting a wide international delivery network.[102] The claimant acknowledged his role by conferring upon Olazábal condado de Arbeláiz.[103] His engagement in actual combat was rather symbolic.[104] He is remembered for his stance during the siege of Irun, when Olazábal directed artillery fire from the guns he procured at his family palace at Plaza de San Juan (San Juan Square), held by the Liberal troops.[105]

Idle years
Carlist dogs conspiring

Following the Carlist defeat Olazábal's return to Spain was unthinkable, though governmental reprisal measures did not affect him very much; in the late 1870s he was the first taxpayer of Irun.[106] He settled in Saint-Jean-de-Luz in the French province of Labourd, only 8 km from the Spanish border, where he acquired several properties. By the 1890s, he purchased a residential estate that would be known as "Villa Arbelaiz". According to Sûreté, which kept monitoring his activities, Olazábal joined a committee co-ordinating Carlist activities in France.[107] He was allegedly entrusted with new military purchases in England[108] and in fact he kept trafficking arms across the border.[109] In late 1876 Ejército del Norte, the occupation army in Vasco-Navarrese provinces, was put on alert as the news of Carlist war preparations mounted,[110] especially that in 1877 Carlos VII issued a manifesto pledging to defend the fueros, scrapped by the central government.[111] At that time Olazábal was already referred to by the Madrid press as “famous Tirso de Olazábal”[112]

As resumption of hostilities turned out to be nothing but rumors and Carlism was reduced to licking its wounds, Olazábal withdrew to privacy. Almost nothing is known about his public efforts in the early 1880s, his activities having been major financial contribution to Zumalacarregui monument, planned to be erected in Guipúzcoa,[113] press celebrations of pro-Carlist bishop of Plasencia[114] or congratulation letters to El Siglo Futuro on 10th anniversary of its launch.[115] In the mid-1880s he started to supply the newspaper with brief informative notes from Saint-Jean-de-Luz.[116] Though most of the above steps suggest he was on good terms with the Nocedalista faction, none of the studies discussing growing conflict within Carlism lists Olazábal as involved in increasingly bitter rivalry between immovilistas and aperturistas.[117]

Olazábal with his king and Carlist leaders in Saint-Jean-de-Luz, ca 1910

In early 1887 the provincial Guipuzcoan Carlist jefe[118] conde del Valle resigned; the claimant appointed Olazábal as his successor,[119] a choice far from obvious since the incumbent resided out of Spain;[120] at that time he was only paying brief visits to the province.[121] He immediately clashed with the Vascongadas jefe and his cousin, marqués de Valde-Espina, protesting appointments of non-local sub-delegates and claiming they should have been elected by local juntas.[122] This minor clash was dwarfed by the Integrist secession in 1888; though earlier associated with Neo-Catholics, forming the core of the rebels, Olazábal stayed loyal to Carlos VII[123] and emerged one of key politicians of the shattered Carlism. He did not prevent, however, all Guipuzcoan Carlist periodicals defecting to the Integirst camp, with the provincial El Fuerista leading the way.[124] In 1889 Olazábal was invited to Frohsdorf to take part in wedding of claimant's daughter, Blanca de Borbón;[125] also the Liberal press kept considering him one of the most insatiable and dangerous exiles, his Saint-Jean-de-Luz residence turned into a Carlist émigré headquarters.[126] He seemed to have been on good terms with the new Jefe Delegado, marqués de Cerralbo.[127] However, during periods of Valde-Espina's infirmity, it was Salvador de Elió and not Olazábal nominated his temporary replacement for the entire Vascongadas.[128]

Election years
Ramón Nocedal

Under de Cerralbo's leadership Carlism rejected intransigence; the 1891 election campaign to the Cortes was the first one that the movement officially decided to join. Olazábal opposed the plan, though not because he sided with the immovilistas; he rather seemed anxious that Carlism might deliver an embarrassingly poor showing.[129] He was overruled and entrusted with a prestigious task: in the Guipuzcoan Azpeitia district he was to defeat Ramón Nocedal, leader of the Integrist rebels. Carlos VII was frantic to see Nocedal humiliated[130] and remarked that in case of defeat, the name of Azpeitia would be recorded next to Vergara, Oroquieta and Valcarlos.[131] The Carlist propaganda machinery was put in motion with banquets attended by Carlist leaders,[132] the press declaring Azpeitia “indudable triunfo”[133] and Olazábal hailed as guardian of the Vascongadas’ honor.[134] Nocedal's victory was acknowledged as a disaster.[135] Olazábal blamed the hierarchy and the Jesuits, who allegedly favored the Integros; the theme reverberated in private correspondence until the late 1890s.[136]

The revenge time came 2 years later, though prior to the next campaign in 1893 local Integrists suggested forming a united Guipuzcoan front. Olazábal, apparently not much concerned with ideological differences, was inclined to accept the proposal, but he could not swallow the condition that Azpeitia would be left for them to grab the mandate.[137] Eventually he confronted Nocedal again and lost again, though initially the Carlist press congratulated him on victory,[138] the difference was mere 17 votes, and it was only following backstage haggling involving the government that in 1894 Olazábal was finally confirmed as defeated.[139]

Don Jaime en España: crónica del viaje de S.A.R.

Though Olazábal's prestige with the claimant diminished, it was still at its height. When in 1894 Don Jaime, the 24-year-old son of the claimant, was agreed[140] to pay his first visit to Spain, it was Olazábal appointed his tutor and cicerone. The trip lasted 37 days[141] and covered a route from San Sebastián to Vitória, Burgos, Santander, Covadonga, Oviedo, León, Madrid, Aranjuez, Toledo, Córdoba, Jerez, Málaga, Sevilla, Granada, Jaen, Valencia, Barcelona and Montserrat.[142] The event turned into a media scoop, discussed for months, accompanied by anecdotes[143] and with Olazábal becoming sort of a celebrity. In 1895 he published a booklet with a hagiographical account of the trip.[144] Though the press was speculating about differences between Olazábal and his king,[145] he felt fit to explain to the journalists the meanders of dynastical policy of the claimant.[146]

Recovering from sickness,[147] interviewed in Saint-Jean-de-Luz he declared prior to the 1896 elections that his only aspiration was to get back to health;[148] he soon changed the tone when claimed that in Azpeitia the Jesuits have finally recognised the authority of Carlos VII.[149] Though indeed Nocedal was defeated, it was at the hands of another Carlist candidate; Olazábal joined the race to the Senate and was elected from Guipúzcoa. He would have formed a 4-person minority[150] had he agreed to take oath of loyalty to Alfonso XIII; his electoral triumph turned into a pure prestigious gain,[151] acknowledged in the media.[152]

La Octubrada
Los Últimos de Filipinas

In September 1896 Olazábal travelled to Madrid[153] and signed Manifiesto de las minorías carlistas. The declaration followed Carlist withdrawal from the parliament and was preconfiguration of the 1897 program, conceived by the movements’ leaders gathered in Venice and known as Acta de Loredán.[154] Both declared non-belligerency but considered the Restoration system unacceptable and included mild pro-social tones.[155]

Already the 1896 manifesto made references to problems overseas; since the conflict evolved into war with the United States, Olazábal declared that Carlists planned no trouble and their priority remained integrity of Spain.[156] However, the government kept a close watch on him,[157] and in July 1898 his Saint-Jean-de-Luz residence was again reported as Carlist operations centre;[158] despite his continuous denials,[159] wild rumors related to Carlist war preparations started to circulate.[160] At that point Olazábal was already engaged in fund-raising campaign, with the same sources as 30 years earlier;[161] Carlist leaders suggested he should control all party funds and co-ordinate all party foreign activities.[162]

Though early 1899 Olazábal declared there was no reason to postpone the wedding of his daughter,[163] he was already busy trafficking arms. He bought 53,000 Gras rifles, arranging later for their industrial recalibration to fit the Spanish cartridge standard.[164] He delivered a portion[165] across the Pyrenees with his own network of smugglers,[166] though it is not clear whether arms were directed to Vascongadas or to Catalonia.[167] There were also plans to use Cap Higuer as a marine disembarkation point.[168] In midst of his hectic activities Olazábal engaged in planning Guipuzcoan electoral alliances of 1899, though it is unclear whether he engineered them or simply approved them ex-post.[169] When de Cerralbo[170] was rumored to resign, the press speculated it would be Olazábal replacing him.[171]

As Sûreté reported arms purchases in London, Brussels, Paris and Switzerland, early 1900 Olazábal delivered 300 rifles from Bayonne across the Pyrenees before the French government bowed to pressure from Madrid[172] and in February ordered him to settle North of the Loire.[173] Olazábal moved to Paris but appealed;[174] the Spanish embassy demanded rejection,[175] though eventually they concluded he would be better watched in Saint-Jean-de-Luz.[176] In October the embassy changed their mind and demanded Olazábal's internment. Though the French indeed interned other Carlist conspirators,[177] the Minister of Foreign Affairs Delcassé considered such action against a longtime legal inhabitant too violent.[178] As the Spanish government feared diplomatic conflict in wake of the Deroulede affair, they backtracked.[179]

Gras rifle breech

When a series of minor Carlist insurrections rocked Catalonia in October 1900, Olazábal together with many Carlist bigwigs stayed in Paris[180] and declared himself utterly surprised.[181] Whether he was indeed remains unclear; though he contributed to military buildup and harbored political hopes related to potentially rebellious Spanish generals,[182] scholars tend to assume that the rebels acted on their own and with no official order, if not clearly against it. Some partisan versions claimed that the affair was aimed at causing Madrid stock exchange perturbations.[183]

Early 1900s (The king is dead, long live the king)
Olazábal family playing cards at Villa Arbelaiz, 1910s
Olazábal family playing cards at Villa Arbelaiz, 1910s

The early 1900s are marked by relative Olazábal's inactivity; he is noted only for occasional Saint-Jean-de-Luz conferences with other Carlist leaders.[184] In pieces published by Spanish press envoys he was presented, “surrounded by his family”, as sort of a local tourist attraction.[185] By this time, Villa Arbelaiz became a social center of Saint-Jean-de-Luz welcoming close friends and relatives of the Olazábal family and notable personalities associated with legitimist movements. Among its regular visitors were Don Jaime de Borbón, the former Queen Natalie of Serbia, the Countess of Bardi, Princes and Princesses of Bourbon-Parma, Italian aristocrats, the Duchess of Cadaval, the Counts O'Byrne of Corville and several Carlist politicians.

During these years, Tirso and his family maintained their close relations with Carlos VII's family and were frequent visitors to the Palazzo Loredan in Venice. At least in 1905 he ventured to enter Spain, again accompanying Don Jaime during his visit to Covadonga.[186] Also later he kept feeding the press with news about royal whereabouts,[187] but during the 1907 trip it was already his son Rafael accompanying Don Jaime.[188] It seems that his sons have already started to assume some of his tasks and it is indeed difficult to tell which Olazábal is referred to in various press notes from that period.[189] Tirso is known to have exchanged vast correspondence with other Carlist leaders[190] and upon death of the then Jefe Delegado Matías Barrio in 1909 he was invariably reported by the press as one of his potential successors; though the job went to Bartolomé Feliu instead.[191]

Olazábal couple visiting their king in Venice, 1904

Olazábal was among major Carlist figures at the funeral of Carlos VII in Varese in July 1909;[192] when republican unrest rocked Catalonia later that year, he resumed his now customary arms trafficking role serving the new claimant, Jaime III.[193] The French security claimed that the Carlists were involved in massive contraband,[194] controlled by a team located in Saint-Jean-de-Luz.[195] The French prime minister Briand estimated that 5–6,000 rifles were smuggled through Cerdanya only between December 1909 and February 1910.[196] Contemporary scholars suspect that arms, including artillery pieces, originated mostly from England, with smaller amounts coming from Belgium, France and Austro-Hungary.[197] Disguised as farming hardware, railway equipment, agricultural machines or even pianos,[198] having passed carabineros and guardias civiles on the Spanish side they were stored in Zumárraga, Alsasua and Tudela. Madrid demanded that the French tightly control Olazábal and his son-in-law, Julio de Urquijo e Ibarra.[199] As Paris was upset with Olazábal's public criticism of the republican secular education system,[200] in October 1910 he was again ordered to move North of the Loire;[201] his duties were taken over by Urquijo, permitted to stay in the South.[202] It was only in May 1911 that he was allowed to come back to Labourd,[203] though some sources claim he was expulsed from France in 1912.[204] At that time another Carlist unrest, if indeed considered at any time, was nothing but a long gone illusion.

Final years
Juan Vazquez de Mella

In wake of the Ley del Candado crisis of 1910 Olazábal together with Fernando Manzanos became the Carlist representative in Comité Ejecutivo of a nationwide Catholic alliance.[205] Locally he joined not the Guipuzcoan, but the Biscay Junta de Defensa Católica;[206] one source claims he intended to run or actually ran for Senate from Biscay in 1910, the information not confirmed elsewhere.[207]

At that time Juan Vázquez de Mella was clearly emerging as the top Carlist personality, engineering a scheme which would depose the then Jefe Delegado, Bartolomé Feliu, and replace him with de Mella's friend, the aging marqués de Cerralbo. Though Olazábal was not in the front row of the plotters,[208] he sided with them and in 1911 wrote a letter to Jaime III, suggesting that de Cerralbo is nominated the new political leader.[209] In 1912 the claimant partially bowed to the pressure by creating an auxiliary collective junta, theoretically set to assist Feliu in his duties; within its structures, Olazábal was confirmed as jefe of the entire Vascongadas and La Rioja,[210] a move up the party structures from the previous provincial Guipuzcoan leadership. In early 1913, with Feliu removed already and under de Cerralbo's lead, there were 10 commissions formed within Junta Central Superior; Olazábal was nominated member of the electoral one.[211] His career at this job did not last long; in July 1913 he resigned all posts within Carlism and announced his withdrawal from politics.[212]

Carlist standard

There is scarce information on Olazábal's public activity in the very last years of his life; indeed it is not clear whether he retired due to his age or due to political differences. Within Carlism he was still celebrated as a prestigious figure,[213] though in 1917 he was reported as taking part in a local initiative clearly associated with Alfonso XIII and especially his wife Victoria.[214] Perhaps the sharpest political turn of his life came in 1919; when the long-developing conflict between de Mella and Jaime III escalated into secession of the so-called Mellistas, Olazábal supported the rebels. Having been a political retiree with no official duties, his gesture presented the secessionists with only a symbolic, prestigious gain. One source definitely claims he joined de Mella,[215] another is less bold and suggests some ambiguity, though with preference for the rebels.[216] Though mechanism behind the Mellist secession is rather well known in general,[217] none of the sources consulted offers any comment as to why, following almost 50 years of loyal service, Olazábal decided to abandon his king.[218]

Guipuzcoan jefe: legacy
Guipúzcoa

Olazábal was heading Guipuzcoan Carlism between 1887 and 1908,[219] during the period of dramatic social, economic and political change in the province. Some authors claim that his leadership style had enormous impact on Basque Carlism and contributed to final fate of the movement in the Vascongadas.[220]

Though he resided outside the province,[221] Olazábal tended to run the Carlist provincial affairs single-handedly. In theory, he should have been assisted by Junta Provincial; though formally created in 1889,[222] Olazábal has never assembled this body.[223] When de Cerralbo strove to build in-depth party structures nationwide, Guipúzcoa was one of the least-dynamic provinces;[224] the number of local juntas grew from 59 in 1892 to 87 in 1896, mere 47% growth rate compared to 63% of Biscay and 257% of Álava.[225] In 1899 there were fewer juntas in Guipúzcoa than in the Alicante province, hardly known for its Traditionalist zeal.[226] Olazábal did not appreciate modern means of political mobilisation introduced by de Cerralbo, commenting that his pompous trips across the country served no purpose but arrests of Carlist supporters.[227]

Olazábal's position versus rebellious Guipuzcoan Carlist branches was somewhat ambiguous. On the one hand, he was adamant ensuring full loyalty to the king and expulsing either those suspected of siding with rebellious Nocedal in 1888–1889 or evicting Victor Pradera and his collaborators in 1910.[228] On the other hand, he was rather flexible as to forging electoral alliances with the Integrists; it was the Guipuzcoan 1898 accord which ended the decade of hostility and inspired collaboration also in other provinces.[229] In terms of political strength measured by the number of Cortes mandates won, during Olazábal's tenure Guipúzcoa (9 mandates) was second only to Navarre (28); measured as ratio between seats won and seats available Guipuzcoan Carlists achieved a 20% success ratio,[230] compared to 44% in Navarre[231] and 19% in Álava.[232] By all means the province remained the Carlist national stronghold.[233]

Olazábal with Golden Fleece, 1910

Though Olazábal commenced his political activity under the “Dios y fueros” banner and though he protested to Carlist leaders against breaking with the foral tradition, he is not recognised as particularly concerned with regional rights. Some of his contemporaries[234] described him as “aforal” (though not “antiforal”).[235] Present-day scholar claims that until the early 1880s Guipuzcoan Carlism was offering a clear Catholic and foral line. Later on, mostly due to stance of provincial leaders, the movement stalled in "political ossification", with "tradicionalismo foralista" replaced—thanks to influence of de Mella and Pradera—by "doctrina españolista";[236] This resulted in Carlism failing to accommodate or to offer an alternative to the nascent Basque national movement.[237] Though Olazábal was related to José Ignacio Arana,[238] he probably failed to understand what process was at work when Daniel Irujo handed his resignation in 1908.[239] He had even less understanding of the Basque workers’ movement, which he firmly opposed like during the 1912 gathering in Eibar, ending in riots.[240]

In literature

Tirso de Olazábal appears in the Fifth Series (Spain Without a King) of Benito Pérez Galdós's Episodios Nacionales.

It is also possible that Olazábal has also been acknowledged in world literature; the 1919 novel of Joseph Conrad, The Arrow of Gold, features a person referred to as "Lord X", whose activities as arms smuggler resemble those of Olazábal.[241]

Issue
The family of Tirso de Olazábal. From left to right: Ramón; Vicenta (later Countess of Urquijo); Tirso; Francesca (Cichetta) Zileri dal Verme degli Obbizi (later Countess Emo Capodilista); Mercedes. From left to right, seated: Lorenza and José Joaquín. Saint-Jean-de-Luz, France, 1890s.

Tirso married Ramona Álvarez de Eulate y Moreda, from a noble lineage related mostly to Guipúzcoa and Navarre, in 1867. They had twelve children, eleven of whom survived infancy:

  • Mercedes de Olazábal y Álvarez de Eulate, who died unmarried
  • Margarita de Olazábal y Álvarez de Eulate, who died unmarried
  • Ramón de Olazábal y Álvarez de Eulate, married in 1899 to Maria Luísa de Mendóça Rolim de Moura Barreto, daughter of Augusto Pedro de Mendóça Rolim de Moura Barreto, 3rd Count of Azambuja, and his wife, the Portuguese heiress Maria da Assunção Ferreira. They had six sons and four daughters.
  • José Joaquín de Olazábal y Álvarez de Eulate
  • Tirso de Olazábal y Álvarez de Eulate, married in 1916 to María de la Concepción de Jaraquemada y Quiñones, daughter of Mateo Jaraquemada y Cabeza de Vaca, Marquis of Jaraquemada, and his wife, María Amparo de Quiñones y Gómez-Jara, 13th Marquise of Lorenzana. The couple had no children.
  • Vicenta de Olazábal y Álvarez de Eulate, married in 1894 to Julio de Urquijo e Ibarra, Count of Urquijo. The couple had no children.
  • Lorenza de Olazábal y Álvarez de Eulate, a Handmaid of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
  • Blanca de Olazábal y Álvarez de Eulate, a Handmaid of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
  • Rafael de Olazábal y Álvarez de Eulate, married to Ana Yohn y Zayas, daughter of Victoriano José Yohn y Urigüen and his wife, Maximina Casilda de Zayas y Celis. They had four sons and four daughters.
  • Ignacio de Olazábal y Álvarez de Eulate, married in 1918 to the Chilean heiress Ana Vives y Rámila. They had a daughter.
  • Pelayo de Olazábal y Álvarez de Eulate, married in 1928 to María Isabel Ruiz de Arana y Fontagud, 12th countess of Cantillana, daughter of Vicente Pio Ruiz de Arana y Osorio de Moscoso, 11th marquess of Castromonte, 21st count of Priego, Grandee of Spain, and his wife, Elena María Luisa Bertrán de Fontagud y Aguilera. They had two sons and five daughters.
  • Roberto de Olazábal y Álvarez de Eulate, who died as a child

See also

Footnotes
  1. not to be confused with another Carlist politician named Olazábal, both distantly related. Juan de Olazábal Ramery (b. 1702) and Domingo de Olazábal Ramery (b. 1703) were brothers; Tirso Olazábal Lardizábal was the great-great-grandson of the latter, while Juan Olazábal Ramery was the great-great-great-grandson of the former; for simplified genealogical tree showing relationship between the two, see here
  2. see the Olazábal family explained at Euskalnet service, available here, interesting sourced personal data at Enredo service available here, see also a gallery of famous Guipuzcoan Olazábals at Ingeba service available here
  3. see Domingo José de Olazábal y Aranzate entry at Geni genealogical service available here
  4. Antonio Gaytán de Ayala Artázcoz, Parientes mayores de Guipúzcoa: señores del palacio casa-fuerte de Murguía en Astigarraga, [in:] Revista Internacional de los Estudios Vascos, París 1934, p. 375
  5. see José Joaquín Cecilio María de Olazábal y Murguía entry at Geni genealogical service available here
  6. Emilio de Cárdenas Piera, Vicente de Cadenas y Vicent, Caballeros de la Orden de Santiago, siglo XVIII: Años 1778 a 1788, Madrid 1994, ISBN 8487204619, 9788487204616, p. 221
  7. see José Joaquín María Robustiano de Olazábal y Olaso entry at Geni genealogical service available here
  8. Xabier Lasalle, José Joaquín de Olazabal Arbelaiz entry, [in:] Auñamendi Eusko Entziklopedia, available here
  9. none of the sources consulted provides any information on his profession
  10. see Gallica digital library available here
  11. see Biblioteca Digital Hispanica available here
  12. Olazabal at Euskalnet, also María Lorenza Luisa de Lardizábal y Otazu entry at Geni genealogical service, available here
  13. named Vicuña and Plazaola, Anales De La Real Academia Matritense De Heráldica y Genealogía. Homenaje a Don Faustino Menéndez Pidal de Navascués 8/1 (2004), pp. 445–446
  14. Paul Albert, La propagande étrangère en Espagne dans le premier tiers du XXe siècle, [in:] Mélanges de la Casa de Velázquez 31 (1995) p. 122, also Biografías de los diputados á Córtes de la Asamblea constituyente de 1869, redactadas por una sociedad de literatos, vol. 1, Madrid 1869, p. 541
  15. Francisco de Paula, Album de Personajes Carlistas con sus biografias, volume 3, Barcelona 1888, p. 63
  16. de Paula 1888, p. 63; prior to 1891 elections he was once named "abogado", see La Union Católica 19.06.90, available here
  17. Biografías de los diputados á Córtes... 1869, p. 542
  18. Biografías de los diputados á Córtes... 1869, p. 542-3
  19. Biografías de los diputados á Córtes... 1869, p. 542
  20. La Esperanza 13.11.66, available here
  21. Antonio Gaytán de Ayala Artázcoz, Parientes mayores de Guipúzcoa: señores del palacio casa-fuerte de Murguía en Astigarraga, [in:] Revista Internacional de los Estudios Vascos, París 1934, pp. 373–375
  22. Tirso Olazábal Lardizábal entry at Geneanet genealogical service available here
  23. Ramona Álvarez de Eulate y Moreda entry at Geneallnet service available here
  24. see Eulate family explained at Euskalnet service, available here
  25. Pantxike Kontreras, Agurain – Alvarez de Eulate, [in:] Pantxike service 2014, available here
  26. Víctor Pastor Abáigar, Capilla de Santa Isabel y su retablo de la Visitación en la iglesia de Santa María de Los Arcos, [in:] Príncipe de Viana 68 (2007), pp. 783–787
  27. Kontreras 2014
  28. Kontreras 2014
  29. see Maria Luísa de Mendóça Rolim de Moura Barreto entry at Geni genealogical service available here
  30. Manuel Martorell Pérez, La continuidad ideológica del carlismo tras la Guerra Civil [PhD thesis in Historia Contemporanea, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia], Valencia 2009, p. 344
  31. Burnett Bolloten. The Spanish Civil War: revolution and counterrevolution. University of North Carolina Press, 1991. Pp. 11
  32. José Carlos Clemente Muñoz, El carlismo en el novecientos español (1876–1936), Madrid 1999, ISBN 8483741539, 9788483741535, p. 79
  33. Martorell Pérez 2009, p. 432; Tirso Olazabal Eulate is not listed among the signatories of the so-called Acta de Estoril, José Carlos Clemente Muñoz, Historia del Carlismo Contemporaneo 1935–1972, Barcelona 1977, ISBN 8425307597, 8425307600, p. 299
  34. Julio de Urquijo e Ibarra nació en Deusto el 3 abril de 1871, [in:] Euskonews 2011, available here
  35. his grandson, Javier Olazábal Mendoza, became a Jesuit and was founder of the worldwide known Anesvad charity network, Martorell Pérez 2009, p. 298
  36. he is Olazábal’s wife’s brother’s great-grandson, Kontreras 2014
  37. compare Official Bulletin of 1964 here and of 1990 here
  38. in the 1820s he commanded a platoon of the Guipuzcoan Voluntarios Realistas battalion, Estado que da à s. m. la ynspeccion general de voluntarios realistas del reino dela fuerza total de esta arma y nombres de sus gefes, Madrid 1829, p. 94
  39. La España 30.06.65, available here
  40. contemporary publication writes enigmatically that „esta eleccion, que sorprendió al mismo Olazábal, solo puede considerarse como una prueba del alto aprecio en que se le tenia, y de que ya se la miraba como una esperanza en el pais clásico de la nobleza, de la hidalguia, de las virtudes civicas y religiosas”, Biografías de los diputados á Córtes... Madrid 1869, p. 543
  41. La Epoca 08.08.65, available here
  42. Biografías de los diputados á Córtes... Madrid 1869, p. 543
  43. La Esperanza 23.11.66, available here
  44. see official Cortes service available here
  45. José Ramón de Urquijo y Goitia, Análisis prosopográfico de los Parlamentarios de Vasconia (1808–1876), [in:] Revista de Estudios Políticos 93 (1996), p. 118
  46. Begoña Urigüen, Orígenes y evolución de la derecha española: el neo-catolicismo, Madrid 1986, ISBN 8400061578, 978840006157, p. 267
  47. La correspondencia de España 19.01.69, available here
  48. Biografías de los diputados á Córtes... Madrid 1869, p. 543
  49. de Paula 1888, p. 63
  50. Coro Rubio Pobes, ¿Quéfue del «oasis foral» ? (Sobre el estallido de la Segunda Guerra Carlista en el País Vasco, [in:] Ayer 38 (2000), p. 78
  51. La España 18.08.69, available here
  52. Biografías de los diputados á Córtes... Madrid 1869, p. 544
  53. La Esperanza 14.01.69, available here
  54. de Paula 1888, p. 63, official Cortes service available here
  55. La Epoca 02.05.69, available here
  56. de Paula 1888, p. 64
  57. a local Bilbao agent misinterpreted a telegram and there was no claiming the cargo in the harbor, José Fernández Gaytán, La marina carlista en las guerras civiles del siglo XIX, [in:] Revista de historia naval 20 (1988), p. 14
  58. Fernández Gaytán 1988, p. 15
  59. de Paula 1888, p. 64
  60. de Paula 1888, p. 64, Fernández Gaytán 1988, p. 15; it is not known how Olazábal, representing probably the most reactionary European political movement, managed to convince radically Republican Gambetta
  61. La Epoca 13.10.70, available here, also La Epoca 18.12.70, available here
  62. Francisco Apalategui Igarzabal, Karlisten eta liberalen gerra-kontaerak, San Sebastian 2005, ISBN 8479074876, p. 144
  63. de Paula 1888, p. 65
  64. de Paula 1888, p. 65-6
  65. de Paula 1888, p. 65
  66. 8,000 according to Fernández Gaytán 1988, p. 16
  67. Fernández Gaytán 1988, p. 16
  68. originally purchased in America and intended for the war with Prussia, Juan Pardo San Gil, Las operaciones navales en las Guerras Carlistas, [in:] Itsas Memoria. Revista de Estudios Marítimos del País Vasco 5 (2006), p. 457, José Fernández Gaytán, La marina carlista en las guerras civiles del siglo XIX, [in:] Revista de historia naval 20 (1988), p. 16
  69. Pardo San Gil 2006, p. 457
  70. together with José Maria Lasuen and duque de la Unión
  71. named Queen of the Seas and Deerhound
  72. de Paula 1888, p. 66
  73. Pardo San Gil 2006, p. 457; for the French stance on the Third Carlist War see Edina Polácska, Franciaország és a karlizmus (1868–1874), [in:] Aetas 1 (2007), pp. 63–85, and Edina Polácska, La France et le carlisme (1872–1877) – Expulsion des réfugiés carlistes en Belgique, à Cuba et en Algérie, [in:] Acta Universitatis Szegediensis. Acta Hispanica 7 (2003), pp. 47–56
  74. of 3,000 rifles and 0,2m cartridges
  75. the coastline and the surrounding territory was controlled by the Liberals; Carlist conspirators severed Liberal communication, staged a deceiptive action and smoothly unloaded 6,000 rifles intended for the Navarrese units, Pardo San Gil 2006, p. 458
  76. also at Cabo Higuer; the disembarkation process was delayed by rough seas with only 500 rifles and 0.1m cartridges unloaded before dawn; the operation was interrupted and Deerhound left for the open sea, Pardo San Gil 2006, p. 458
  77. Deerhound sought refuge on French territorial waters but Buenaventura chased her anyway and forced to surrender, Pardo San Gil 2006, pp. 458–9; the French did not protest to the Madrid government, Fernández Gaytán 1988, p. 18
  78. 1500 rifles
  79. Pardo San Gil 2006, p. 459
  80. fire broke out on a ship carrying Carlist weapons; the crew abandoned her, while the fire extingushed itself. The drifting ship was discovered in the morning mist by fishermen near Ondarreta on October 19; as the locals were supporting the Carlists, men, women and children in 40 small fishing boats assisted in unloading 4,000 rifles and 1m cartridges, Pardo San Gil 2006, p. 459, Fernández Gaytán 1988, p. 17
  81. 0,5 cartridges, the last installment from what was purchased in Versailles, Pardo San Gil 2006, p. 459
  82. covering Cabrera, Longuerrue and conde de Samitier and spanning from Spain to Paris to London, de Paula 1888, pp. 65–6; see also Manex Goyhenetche, Antoine d’Abbadie intermédiaire social et culturel du Pays Basque du XIXe siècle?, [in:] P. Urkizu (ed.), Antoine d'Abbadie: 1897–1997, Bilbo-Donostia-Bayonne 1998, pp. 175–208
  83. Fernández Gaytán 1988, p. 18
  84. de Paula 1888, pp. 66–7
  85. Pardo San Gil 2006, p. 459
  86. named Notre-Dame de Fourviers
  87. altogether, there were 7 ships engaged in delivery: Deerhound, Queen of the Seas, Orpheon, Ville de Bayonne, Malfilatre, Nieves and London, all steamships except Malfilatre and Queen. London was the most successful of them. Pardo San Gil 2006, p. 463
  88. 19 brand new British guns straight from the manufacturer brand new and 8 older ones from Gibraltar
  89. Olazábal sailed on London from England to Bayonne, where he disembarked and crossed to Carlist territory by land; in Bermeo he directed the preparatory logistics and managed the unload when London arrived, Pardo San Gil 2006, p. 461; at that time the coast was patrolled by the Liberal corvette Consuelo, but thanks to news from Carlist oyalateros, watching Consuelo’s position from he coast, London evaded her pursuers, Pardo San Gil 2006, p. 461
  90. de Paula 1888, p. 68
  91. Fernández Gaytán 1988, p. 25
  92. 70 artillery pieces, 17,000 rifles and 2m cartridges, Pardo San Gil 2006, p. 461
  93. in Bermeo on 9.7.74 and 1.6.75, in Motrico on 05.10.74, 2.9.75 and 26.11.75, in Ondarroa on 5.2.75, Juan Pardo San Gil, Higuer, el puerto de los navarros», [in:] Oarso 29 (1994), p. 111
  94. Pardo San Gil 2006, p. 462
  95. de Paula 1888, p. 67
  96. de Paula 1888, p. 68
  97. after fire damages suffered during 1936 fightings for Irun
  98. Olazábal was reported as going to such details as setting the disembarkment guidelines; he recommended choosing steep cliffs of the coast, the first moonless night, and preferably fairly rough seas, so that the boats could hide between the waves; Gaëtan Bernoville, La cruz sangrienta: historia del cura Santa Cruz, Tafalla 2000, ISBN 848136181X, 9788481361810, p. 33
  99. de Paula 1888, p. 68
  100. Pardo San Gil 2006, p. 461; some say that “amost all” artillery pieces were procured by Olazábal, de Paula 1888, p. 68
  101. some authors claim that in June 1874 Carlists imported arms from Boston; when approached by Republican navy, the captain allegedly ordered transported artillery pieces to be set aboard, pretending to be a warship; they were downloaded at Bermeo on June 8, 74, Fernández Gaytán 1988, pp. 18–19
  102. according to the British, the scheme alleged was transport from US or Antwerp to Liverpool, using various agents and various ships, usually with false destination papers and owned either by commercial companies or by various individuals (especially the French legitimists) sympathetic to the Carlist cause, Fernández Gaytán 1988, p. 20
  103. de Paula 1888, p. 68; the condado was officially recognised by Madrid during the Franco era almost 100 years later, in 1964.
  104. Apalategui Igarzabal 2005, p. 101, though he was frequent visitor to Carlos VII's headquarters in Estella; a Polish visitor recollects him (referred to as "Tirso Olozabal") as a hooded rider travelling on horseback from France who knew everyone in Estella, Ignacy Skrochowski, Wycieczka do obozu Don Karlosa, [in:] Piotr Sawicki (ed.), Hiszpania malowniczo-historyczna, Wrocław 1996, ISBN 8322912153, pp. 157-174
  105. El Siglo Futuro 08.04.89, available here; slightly different version referred in Edina Polácska, Karlista emigráció Franciaországban (1872–1876) [PhD thesis University of Szeged], Szeged 2008, p. 148
  106. El Siglo Futuro 24.07.80, available here
  107. composed also of conde de Robres, Iturbe, Celestino Yturralde and Nemesio Latorre, Eduardo González Calleja, La razón de la fuerza: orden público, subversión y violencia política en la España de la Restauración (1875–1917), Madrid 1998, ISBN 8400077784, 9788400077785, p. 159
  108. González Calleja 1998, p. 159
  109. González Calleja 1998, pp. 159–160
  110. González Calleja 1998, p. 158
  111. González Calleja 1998, p. 160
  112. El Imparcial 08.06.76, available here
  113. while most donors offered 1–5 reales, Olazábal laid down 400, El Siglo Futuro 12.03.83, available here
  114. El Siglo Futuro 28.04.85, available here
  115. El Siglo Futuro 26.05.85, available here
  116. El Siglo Futuro 15.02.86, available here
  117. detailed work tracking the conflict of Cerralbo with the Nocedals first mentions Olazabal when discussing the year of 1889, see Martorell Pérez 2009, p. 173
  118. since 1880
  119. with Piñera y Orue appointed for Biscay and Ortiz de Zárate for Alava, Javier Real Cuesta, El Carlismo Vasco 1876–1900, Madrid 1985, ISBN 978-84-323-0510-8, p. 47
  120. Real Cuesta 1985, p. 105
  121. e.g. in 1889 he briefly visited Fuenterrabia with Carlos VII’s daughter doña Blanca, La Epoca 08.09.89, available here
  122. Real Cuesta 1985, pp. 242–3
  123. El Siglo Futuro 23.07.88, available here, La Union Católica 20.07.88, available here, and El Siglo Futuro 23.07.88 available here
  124. Real Cuesta 1985, pp. 107–8
  125. La Epoca 18.09.89, available here, Agustín Fernández Escudero, El marqués de Cerralbo (1845–1922): biografía politica [PhD thesis], Madrid 2012, p. 173; on his gift see La Hormiga de Oro 09.11.89, available here
  126. El Correo Militar 30.08.88, available here
  127. Fernández Escudero 2012, p. 199
  128. La Epoca 22.10.90, available here
  129. Real Cuesta 1985, p. 220
  130. Fernández Escudero 2012, p. 231; there were plans that instead of Olazábal it should be Menendez Pelayo or even de Cerralbo running; in case of the latter he would have to renounce his senate chair, Fernández Escudero 2012, p. 232
  131. Fernández Escudero 2012, p. 232, Jordi Canal i Morell, Las “muertes” y las “resurrecciones” del carlismo. Reflexiones sobre la escisión integrista de 1888, [in:] Ayer 38 (2000), p. 127
  132. Fernández Escudero 2012, p. 232
  133. La Unión Católica 29.12.90, available here
  134. Fernández Escudero 2012, p. 235
  135. Fernández Escudero 2012, pp. 241–2
  136. Fernández Escudero 2012, p. 244; also poor organization and lack of electoral juntas blamed, Real Cuesta 1985, p. 246
  137. Fernández Escudero 2012, p. 247
  138. Fernández Escudero 2012, p. 250
  139. Fernández Escudero 2012, p. 248
  140. probably during Olazábal’s visit to Venice in May 1894, see La Correspondencia de España 19.05.94, available here
  141. La Epoca 09.07.94, available here
  142. El Liberal 10.07.94, available here
  143. the friendly anecdote featured a train conductor en route to Burgos declaring himself a former Carlist cavalryman, Actualidades 1894, available here: the unfriendly one featured a comment allegedly heard from a passer-by: “oh, so this is Don Jaime? incredible, so young and already the son of Carlos VII!”, El Dia 04.10.94, available here
  144. Jordi Canal i Morell, La revitalización política del carlismo a finales del siglo XIX: los viajes de propaganda del Marqués de Cerralbo, [in:] Studia Zamorensia 3 (1996), pp. 269–70
  145. La Epoca 05.09.95, available here
  146. September 1895 he gave an interview to the Belgian Le Soir claiming that Carlos VII did not intend to abdicate in favor if Don Jaime, El Liberal 10.09.95, available here
  147. La Correspondencia de España 10.05.95, available here
  148. La Correspondencia de España 29.07.95, available here
  149. El Dia 12.08.95, available here
  150. with Luis M. Llauder elected and marqués de Cerralbo and duque de Solferino taking seats by virtue of their grandeza de España, Fernández Escudero 2012, p. 253
  151. see the official Senate service, available here
  152. the press was rushed to note that Olazábal travelled to Venice to see the claimant; the government felt it necessary to comment that he goes there every year and the event is deprived of any political significance, see La Correspondencia de España 05.09.96, available here
  153. La Iberia 08.09.96, available here
  154. Fernández Escudero 2012, pp. 320–1
  155. the Restoration system was described as based on caciquismo, rotten with corruption and inefficiency; Acta de Loredán called for a new Cortes, with representatives of all the classes, including agriculture, industry, army, clergy, scientific corporations, aristocracy and workers Fernández Escudero 2012, p. 322
  156. La Epoca 08.03.97, available here
  157. González Calleja 1998, p. 196
  158. La Epoca 28.07.96, available here
  159. El Pais 09.08.98, available here
  160. press reported that 8,000 barges with steel, intended for production of artillery pieces, were smuggled into Spain, La Epoca 08.08.98 available here
  161. his close collaborator was the English Jacobite Bertram Ashburnham, 5th Earl of Ashburnham, González Calleja 1998, p. 201, Fernández Escudero 2012, p. 353
  162. Fernández Escudero 2012, p. 354
  163. La Epoca 11.04.99, available here
  164. by an Arrese, Lacon & Société company
  165. 36 boxes, each with 29 rifles
  166. González Calleja 1998, p. 201
  167. González Calleja 1998, p. 200
  168. González Calleja 1998, p. 201
  169. in April 1899 Olazábal and Candido Orbe as representatives of Carlism agreed an electoral deal with the Integrists; Carlos VII issued a document stating that only he could grant mercy to the rebels, but it was already too late. The deal was officially signed not by Olazábal but by Francisco Ceverio and José María Alberdi. Real Cuesta 1985, pp. 190–1
  170. whom Olazábal met in Pau late 1899, González Calleja 1998, p. 200
  171. Fernández Escudero 2012, p. 373
  172. González Calleja 1998, pp. 211–212
  173. González Calleja 1998, p. 207
  174. claiming that he owned a property in Saint-Jean-de-Luz, had 11 children to take care of and was not subject to any legal action in Spain
  175. González Calleja 1998, p. 207
  176. González Calleja 1998, p. 207; already in July 1899 the Spanish press claimed that the French ordered Olazábal to settle north of Loire, see El Globo 24.07.99, available here, but the news was denounced soon afterwards, see El Pais 25.07.99, available here
  177. like Cavero and Costa, González Calleja 1998, p. 212
  178. González Calleja 1998, p. 212
  179. González Calleja 1998, pp. 212–3
  180. it was Olazábal’s 8th month in the French capital, see El Imparcial 10.11.00, available here
  181. Fernández Escudero 2012, p. 394
  182. Consuelo Sanz-Pastor y Fernandez de Pierola, El marqués de Cerralbo, politico carlista, [in:] Revista de archivos bibliotecas y museos 76 (1978), p. 259
  183. González Calleja 1998, p. 214
  184. Fernández Escudero 2012, p. 409
  185. La Epoca 26.08.06, available here
  186. El Imparcial 15.08.95, available here; the news was even reported in women's fashion magazine La Ultima Moda, see here
  187. Heraldo de Madrid 19.02.06, available here
  188. El Imparcial 09.08.07, available here. There was an interesting incident allegedly noted during a 1908 trip. A car with Alfonso XIII travelling North to Biarritz and a car with Don Jaime travelling South to Behovia met at a closed railway crossing near Urugne in France. While Don Jaime’s entourage, including Rafael de Olazábal and Julio de Urquijo, rose to pay their respect to member of the royal family, Don Jaime kept sitting and stared at Alfonso XIII, who did not know the Carlist prince. The train passed in-between, the crossing was opened and two vehicles parted each its own way. Referred after La Correspondencia Militar 30.07.08, available here
  189. compare the note on Carlist assembly in Guernica, El Liberal 05.07.09, available here
  190. Fernández Escudero 2012, p. 406
  191. Fernández Escudero 2012, p. 422; many Carlists claimed that Feliu’s appointed was enforced by Bertha de Rohan “and her camarilla”. However, it is difficult to imagine Olazábal as Jefe Delegado. This role was created as the claimant, residing abroad, could hardly lead the party in Spain and needed his national representative. Since Olazábal resided in France, his appointment would defy this logic
  192. El Imparcial 23.07.08, available here
  193. as the crisis was unfolding in August Olazábal spoke in San Sebastián, see El Imparcial 23.07.09, available here; probably during the same visit he met Carlist bigwigs there, allegedly discussing changes in Carlist executive, Fernández Escudero 2012, p. 431
  194. trafficking “100,000 armes”
  195. González Calleja 1998, p. 481
  196. invariably, Olazábal was supposed to be the brain behind the operation; the French intelligence identified even the contraband routes, leading through Quillan, Aix-les-Termes, Cerdeña, Andorra, Saint-Jean-de-Luz, St Etienne de Beigorry and Hendaya, González Calleja 1998, p. 484
  197. González Calleja 1998, p. 484
  198. González Calleja 1998, pp. 484–5
  199. González Calleja 1998, p. 481
  200. González Calleja 1998, pp. 481–2; the claimant accused Olazábal of asking for trouble when interfering in French religious issues, Fernández Escudero 2012, p. 449
  201. under the threat of exulsion, La Epoca 07.10.10, available here
  202. González Calleja 1998, p. 481
  203. La Correspondencia de España 16.05.11, available here, ABC 16.05.11, available here
  204. In July 1912 the press reported him was from France, see La Correspondencia de España 06.07.12, available here; the French authorities were suspecting him of conspiring against the Portuguese government; Fernández Escudero 2012, p. 449
  205. Cristóbal Robles, Cristóbal Robles Muñoz, José María de Urquijo e Ybarra: opinión, religión y poder, Madrid 1997, ISBN 8400076680, 9788400076689, p. 270
  206. José Andres Gallego, La politica religiosa en España, Madrid 1975, p. 464
  207. Germán Cortabarría Igartua, Tirso de Olazabal Arbelaiz Lardizabal entry [in:] Auñamendi Eusko Entziklopedia
  208. Olazábal is not mentioned in Juan Ramón de Andrés Martín, El caso Feliú y el dominio de Mella en el partido carlista en el período 1909–1912, [in:] Historia contemporánea 10 (1997), pp. 99–116
  209. Fernández Escudero 2012, p. 439
  210. Fernández Escudero 2012, p. 443
  211. with Solferino and Francisco Martinez, Fernández Escudero 2012, p. 458
  212. Fernández Escudero 2012, p. 474
  213. La Epoca 20.07.14, available here
  214. Tirso Olazábal formed part of a commission entrusted with planning a road from Azpeitia to the Loyola sanctuary, working under the auspices of Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg, wife of Alfonso XIII, which seemed rather unusual for a Carlist, see La Epoca 25.09.17, available here; in his 1921 obituary he was hailed for this very initiative by an Integrist daily, see La Constancia 26.11.21, available here
  215. see Idoia Estornés Zubizarreta, Victor Pradera Larumbe entry [in:] Auñamendi Eusko Entziklopedia available here; it is interesting that the same enciclopaedia does not mention this episode in the personal entry dedicated to Olazábal himself, see Cortabarría Igartua, Tirso de Olazabal Arbelaiz Lardizabal entry [in:] Auñamendi Eusko Entziklopedia
  216. José Luis Orella Martínez, El origen del primer Catolicismo social Español, [PhD thesis, Universidad de Educación a Distancia], Madrid 2012, pp. 182–3; he writes that “la posición de los notables no fue tan clara, Tirso Olazábal que se encontraba retirado de la vida pública, fue un ejemplo de notable local fiel al rey; sin embargo, su actitud le llevó esta vez a secundar a Vázquez de Mella. Guipuzcoanos, Vizcaínos y Catalanes fueron los que en mayoría formaron las huestes mellistas”
  217. apart from minor articles covering the issue or paragraphs in synthethic works on Carlism, the most detailed monograph is Juan Ramón de Andrés Martín, El cisma mellista. Historia de una ambición política, Madrid 2000, ISBN 9788487863820
  218. and induced many to do so in Guipúzcoa, as the province turned into "principal baluarte de los mellistas", Andrés Martín 2000, pp. 160–161; it happened so even though de Mella did not hold Olazabal in high esteem, claiming that "mientras no desaparezcan de la escena politica Feliu, Olazabal, Forner y Polo nada podia hacerse", Andrés Martín 2000, p. 51
  219. in 1908 the provincial jefatura was ceded to José María de Orbe y Gaytán de Ayala, 5th Marqués of Valde-Espina, El Correo Español 01.07.08, available here, though as regional jefe Olazábal was Valde-Espina's superior until 1913
  220. Real Cuesta 1985, pp. 155–8
  221. his counter-candidate as head of Guipuzcoan Carlism, Ramón Altarriba y Villanueva, the 4th largest landholder in Guipúzcoa, also lived outside the province, residing permanently in Madrid; it remains interesting that while according to the Carlist fuerista principles his place of residence disqualified him as a potential Guipuzcoan jefe—see Real Cuesta 1985, pp. 242–43—things did not work this way in case of Olazábal
  222. Olazábal was the president, Antonio de Elósegui and José de Muguruza were nominated vice-presidents, Ramón Ortiz de Zarate was appointed the secretary and 5 district sub-delegates were members, Real Cuesta 1985, pp. 145–6
  223. at least in the 19th century, Real Cuesta 1985, p. 140
  224. Olazábal opened new circles jointly with de Cerralbo, which might be indicative as to who was the moving spirit, Fernández Escudero 2012, p. 205
  225. Real Cuesta 1985, p. 147
  226. Francisco Javier Caspistegui, Historia por descubrir. Materiales para estudio del carlismo, Estella 2012, ISBN 9788423532148, pp. 32–33
  227. Fernández Escudero 2012, pp. 189, 263, Real Cuesta 1985, p. 139
  228. in May 1910 as Jefe of Vascongadas he expulsed Pradera, José Joaquín Castañeda and Félix Erviti as those staging unauthorised Casteneda’s candidature for the Cortes, El Siglo Futuro 03.05.10, available here, also Juan Ramón de Andrés Martin, Precedentes del proyecto ultraderechista mellista en el periodo 1900–1912, [in:] Boletin de la Real Academia de la Historia 202 (2005), pp. 124–125
  229. Jose María Remirez de Ganuza López, Las Elecciones Generales de 1898 y 1899 en Navarra, [in] Príncipe de Viana 49 (1988), p. 384
  230. 9 seats won out of 45 available in 9 successive elections taking place during Olazábals Guipuzcoan tenure
  231. 28 seats out of 63
  232. 5 seats out of 27
  233. it is not clear who succeeded Olazábal as the provincial party jefe; in the late 1910s it was Bernardo Elío y Elío who started to represent Gipuzkoa on various nationwide party gatherings
  234. like José Liñán, director of the El Basco periodical
  235. Real Cuesta 1985, p. 152
  236. Real Cuesta 1985, pp. 155–8; even more far-reaching conclusions in Jiří Chalupa, En defensa del trono y del altar. El ideario carlista en el siglo XIX, [in:] Acta palackianae olomucensis. Romanica XIX. Philologica 93 (2007), p. 54: "Pero ideológicamente el carlismo muere ya a finales del siglo XIX"
  237. a different conclusion offered is that in Guipúzcoa like in Catalonia, local Carlism tended to work hand in hand with peripheral nationalisms, which in turned triggered a response in form of growing espanolismo, forming part of the Mellista political toolset, Andres Martin 2000, p. 255
  238. Jose Ignacio de Arana, Francisco María Altuna Bengoechea, Aita Aranaren egunaria, Bilbo 2000, ISBN 978-84-85479-99-3, p. 51
  239. Jordi Canal, ¿En busca del precedente perdido?: tríptico sobre las complejas relaciones entre carlismo y catalanismo a fines del siglo XIX, [in:] Historia y Politica 14 (2005), p. 66
  240. Mundo Grafico 17.04.12, available here; the meeting was called in Eibar, centre of Basque socialism and republicanism, following earlier riots with two fatalities, including one Carlist, Antxon Narbaiza Azkue, Akilino Amuategi (1877–1919): XX. mende hasierako mitinlari sozialista euskalduna, Eibar 2002, ISBN 8489696314, 9788489696310, pp. 68–69
  241. Conrad himself claimed to have smuggled arms for the Carlists along the Mediterranean coast, but there are conflicting views on authenticity of these accounts; some doubt it, see Zdzisław Najder, Życie Conrada-Korzeniowskiego, Warszawa 1980, ISBN 9788306001716, pp. 45-50, and some accept it, see Marek Jan Chodakiewicz, Affinity and Revulsion: Poland reacts to the Spanish Right (1936-1939), [in:] Marek Jan Chodakiewicz, John Radzilowski (eds.), Spanish Carlism and Polish Nationalism: The Borderlands of Europe in the 19th and 20th Centuries, Charlottesville 2003, ISBN 9781412834933, p. 48. For historiographical review see Franciszek Ziejka, Conrad's Marseilles, [in:] Yearbook of Conrad Studies 7 (2012), pp. 51-67, available here

Further reading
  • Agustín Fernández Escudero, El marqués de Cerralbo (1845–1922): biografía politica [PhD thesis], Madrid 2012
  • José Fernández Gaytán, La marina carlista en las guerras civiles del siglo XIX, [in:] Revista de historia naval 20 (1988), pp. 5–32
  • Eduardo González Calleja, La razón de la fuerza: orden público, subversión y violencia política en la España de la Restauración (1875–1917), Madrid 1998, ISBN 8400077784, 9788400077785
  • Juan Pardo San Gil, Las operaciones navales en las Guerras Carlistas, [in:] Itsas Memoria. Revista de Estudios Marítimos del País Vasco 5 (2006), pp. 433–466
  • Javier Real Cuesta, El carlismo vasco 1876–1900, Madrid 1985, ISBN 8432305103, 9788432305108
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