Juan Bravo Murillo
Juan Bravo Murillo (24 June 1803 – 11 February 1873)[2] was a Spanish politician, jurist and economist. He was president of the council of ministers of Spain (equivalent to the present-day position of prime minister / president of the government) from 14 January 1851 to 14 December 1852 during the reign of Isabella II.
Juan Bravo Murillo | |
---|---|
Portrait by Gutiérrez de la Vega | |
President of the Council of Ministers of Spain[1][2] | |
In office January 14, 1851[1][2] – December 14, 1852[1][2] | |
Monarch | Isabella II |
Preceded by | Ramón María Narváez |
Succeeded by | Federico Roncali |
President of the Congress of Deputies of Spain[3] | |
In office 1858-01-11[1] – 1858-05-13[1] | |
Preceded by | Francisco Martínez de la Rosa |
Succeeded by | Francisco Martínez de la Rosa |
Member of Congress of Deputies[1] | |
In office 1837[1][2][3] – Various non-consecutive terms until 1858.[4] | |
Minister of Grace and Justice[1][3] | |
In office January 28, 1847[1] – March 28, 1847[1] | |
Prime Minister | Carlos Martínez de Irujo, Duke of Sotomayor |
Minister of Commerce, Instruction, and Public Works[3] | |
In office November 10, 1847[1] – August 31, 1849[1] | |
Prime Minister | Ramón María Narváez |
Minister of Finance[2][3] | |
In office August 19, 1849[1][2] – October 19, 1849[1][2] | |
Minister of Finance and Development[1][2] | |
In office October 20, 1849[1][2] – September 29, 1850[1][2] | |
Minister of Finance[1][5] | |
In office January 14, 1851[1][5] – December 14, 1852[1][5] | |
President deu of the Congress of Deputies of Spain[1][6][7] | |
In office January 11, 1858[1][7] – May 13, 1858[1][7] | |
Member of Spanish Senate[3] | |
In office 1863[3] – | |
Personal details | |
Born | June 24, 1803[1][2] |
Died | February 11, 1873[1][2] |
Political party | Moderate Party[2] |
Profession | Lawyer[2] |
Origins
Bravo Murillo was born in Fregenal de la Sierra[2][3] on 24 June 1803. After briefly studying theology,[8] he studied law at the University of Salamanca and the University of Seville, obtaining his licentiate from Seville in 1825. He practiced law for a time in Seville. After the death of Fernando VII in 1833 he was named prosecutor of the Audiencia Provincial of Cádiz, a position he held for two years before moving to Madrid, where he co-published a journal called Boletín de Jurisprudencia.[2] He was also a founder of the conservative newspaper El Porvenir.[8]
Political career
He was elected a deputy (member of the lower house of Spain's parliament) in 1837[2][3] and 1840 as a member of the Moderate Party.[2] However, his reactionary views kept him out of leadership during the decidedly liberal ascendancy of General Baldomero Espartero, regent during this portion of the minority of Isabella II. He emigrated briefly to France after the Spanish Revolution of 1841, but returned in 1843 after Espartero's fall,[2] the beginning of the década moderada.[8][9]
In January 1847 he was named Minister of Grace and Justice[3] in the government of Carlos Martínez de Irujo, Duke of Sotomayor.[2][3] General Ramón María Narváez later named him Minister of Commerce, Instruction, and Public Works,[3] then in 1849 Minister of Finance.[3] He was named President of the Council of Ministers of Spain,[3] effectively prime minister, taking office on 14 January 1851,[2] while serving as his own Minister of Finance.[3] The events of the Revolutions of 1848 throughout Europe led him to propose[9] an anti-parliamentarian, absolutist constitution for Spain in 1852, countering the moderate liberal tendency of the Spanish Constitution of 1845, but it proved unpopular and was rejected.[3][9] He lost his position as head of government 14 December 1852;[2] the onset of the bienio progresista some 18 months later led him to leave Spain, returning in 1856.[2] He served as President of the Congress of Deputies in 1858,[3][7] and was named to the Spanish Senate in 1863[3] as a senator for life.[10]
He is responsible for founding Canal de Isabel II, the public company that still brings water to Madrid,[11] the establishment of civil service exams (oposiciones),[9][12] the introduction of the metric system into Spain in 1849,[13] the Concordat of 1851 that settled differences between the Spanish government and the Holy See,[3] and the 1852 Law of Free Ports of the Canaries.[14] He was also responsible for a variety of measures in his capacity as minister of finance, and founded what later became the Boletín Oficial del Estado, which remains the Spanish government's official gazette to this day.[2]
The most interesting of his writings were published in six volumes entitled Opúsculos ("Pamphlets", 1863–1874). He died in Madrid 11 February 1873.[3]
Elections to Congress of Deputies
Bravo Murillo was elected to the Congress of Deputies on 12 occasions, and represented constituencies in five different provinces (sometimes two of them at the same time):
Election number | Election date | District | Province | Took office | Left office |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
09 | 22 September 1837 | At large | Seville | 19 December 1837 | 1 June 1839 |
11 | 19 January 1840 | At large | Ávila | 21 February 1840 | 11 October 1840 |
14 | 15 September 1843 | At large | Badajoz | 18 October 1843 | 10 July 1844 |
15 | 3 September 1844 | At large | Badajoz | 14 October 1844 | 31 October 1846 |
16 | 21 June 1846 | Fregenal de la Sierra | Badajoz | 3 January 1847 | 18 December 1848 |
16 | 21 June 1846 | Fregenal de la Sierra | Badajoz | 20 December 1847 | 4 August 1850 |
17 | 31 August 1850 | Fregenal de la Sierra | Badajoz | 6 November 1850 | 7 April 1851 |
17 | 31 August 1850 | Huelva | Huelva | 6 November 1850 | 15 November 1850 |
18 | 10 May 1851 | Elche de la Sierra | Albacete | 4 June 1851 | 17 June 1851 |
18 | 10 May 1851 | Fregenal de la Sierra | Badajoz | 4 June 1851 | 2 December 1852 |
19 | 4 February 1853 | Fregenal de la Sierra | Badajoz | 15 March 1853 | 10 December 1853 |
21 | 25 February 1857 | Fregenal de la Sierra | Badajoz | 6 May 1857 | 13 May 1858 |
Source:[4]
Ministers in his governments
First ministry
- President: Juan Bravo Murillo
- State: Manuel Bertrán de Lis y Ribes
- Finance: Juan Bravo Murillo
- Grace and Justice: Ventura González Romero
- Governance: Fermín Arteta
- War: Rafael de Arístegui (Count of Mirasol)
- Marine: José María Bustillo (Count of Bustillo)
- Development: Santiago Fernández Negrete
Source:[15]
Second (reorganized) ministry
- President: Juan Bravo Murillo
- State: Manuel Pando Fernández de Pineda (Marquis of Miraflores); later Manuel Bertrán de Lis Ribes returned to the position.
- Finance: Juan Bravo Murillo
- Grace and Justice: Ventura González Romero
- Governance: Manuel Bertrán de Lis Ribes, later Melchor Ordóñez and Cristóbal Bordíu
- War: Francisco Alejandro Lersundi y Ormaechea, later Cayetano Urbina y Daoiz
- Marine: Francisco Armero de Peñaranda (Marquess of Nervión), later Joaquín Ezpeleta y Enrile
- Development: Fermín Arteta, later Mariano Miguel Reinoso
Source:[15]
Preceded by Ramón María Narváez |
President of the Council of Ministers of Spain 1851–1852 |
Succeeded by Federico Roncali |
Notes
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Juan Bravo Murillo. |
- Bravo Murillo, Juan 21. Elecciones 25.3.1857, www.congreso.es, in the database of the Spanish Congress of Deputies. Includes an extensive list of offices he held (which is reproduced identically on other pages about elections). Retrieved online 2010-02-28.
- Biografía de Juan Bravo Murillo, Base documental d'Història Contemporània de Catalunya, xtec.es. Retrieved 2010-02-28.
- Relación histórica de Presidentes del Consejo de Ministros y del Gobierno 1846-1853 Archived 2010-04-11 at the Wayback Machine, la-moncloa.es, official site of the Spanish Presidency. Retrieved 2010-02-27.
- Bravo Murillo, Juan and linked records, in the database of Deputies on the official site of the Spanish Congress of Deputies. Retrieved online 2010-02-28.
- For the dates, Biografía de Juan Bravo Murillo, Base documental d'Història Contemporània de Catalunya, xtec.es. Retrieved 2010-02-28. For the fact that he served as his own Minister of Finance, Relación histórica de Presidentes del Consejo de Ministros y del Gobierno 1846-1853 Archived 2010-04-11 at the Wayback Machine, la-moncloa.es, official site of the Spanish Presidency. Retrieved 2010-02-27. Both the office and the dates can also be found on the official site of the Congress of Deputies.
- Both Biografía de Juan Bravo Murillo, Base documental d'Història Contemporània de Catalunya, xtec.es and Relación histórica de Presidentes del Consejo de Ministros y del Gobierno 1846-1853 Archived 2010-04-11 at the Wayback Machine, la-moncloa.es indicate that he held the office in 1858; neither cites for the precise dates, though these can be found on the official site of the Congress of Deputies.
- Bravo Murillo, Juan, www.congreso.es, in the database of Presidents of the Congress on the official site of the Spanish Congress of Deputies. Retrieved online 2010-02-28.
- Bravo-Murillo, Meyers Konversationslexikon (1888). Online at retrobibliothek.de. Retrieved 2010-02-28.
- Germán Rueda, La década moderada (España) Archived 2010-03-27 at the Wayback Machine, artehistoria.jcyl.es. Retrieved 2010-02-28.
- Expediente personal del Senador vitalicio D. Juan Bravo Murillo Archived 2010-08-29 at the Wayback Machine, www.senado.es (official site of the Spanish Senate). Retrieved 2010-02-28.
- Madrid - Canal de Isabel II (CYII) Archived 2011-07-07 at the Wayback Machine, MONSACRO.net Revista sobre Patrimonio y Arqueología Industrial. Divulgación tecnológica, 2007-02-12. Retrieved 2010-02-28.
- Juan Bravo Murillo Archived 2009-04-10 at the Wayback Machine, artehistoria.jcyl.es. Retrieved 2010-02-28.
- Gustavo Puente Feliz, El Sistema Métrico Decimal. Su importancia e implantación en España, Cuadernos de historia moderna y contemporánea, ISSN 0211-0849, Nº. 3, 1982, 95:126. p. 109 (15 of PDF). Retrieved 2010-02-28.
- Fernando De Ory Ajamil, Ciencia y presencia extranjera en las Islas Canarias (de la Ilustración a la primera guerra mundial), thesis for Department of History, University of La Laguna. p. 252 (241 of PDF). Retrieved 2010-02-28.
- Governs d' Isabel II. Dècada Moderada, Base documental d'Història Contemporània de Catalunya, xtec.es. Retrieved 2010-02-28. Los Gobiernos del Reino de España 1833 - 1868 Archived 2011-07-16 at the Wayback Machine, www.elisanet.fi/daglarsson generally confirms this and adds some information (e.g. it gives precise dates, and adds minister of Commerce, Instruction and Public Works) but seems to be a personal site privately maintained by an individual; it has not been used here as a source.