José María Araúz de Robles Estremera (1898–1977) was a Spanish Carlist and Alfonsist politician, businessman and bull breeder. He is recognized as a theorist of Traditionalist labor organisation and an advocate of gremialism, a counter-proposal to the Francoist vertical syndicates. His lineage of bulls was fairly popular in the 1950s and became a point of reference in the business, to go into decline in the 1970s.
Family and youth
The Biscay Araúz family arrived in the Alto Tajo mountains as miners and foundrymen.Herrera Casado, Casonas solariegas de Peralejos de las Truchas, [in:] Rumbo Guadalajara (1993); other sources also suggest a possible Indiano origin of the family, see Boletín de la Real Sociedad Geográfica, vol. 85, available here They settled in Peralejos de las Truchas and constructed Casa Grande de Araúz in 1816;El Santuario de Nuestra Señora de Ribagordia, vol. 3, Lérida 1948, p. 6 some joined the Carlists during the Carlist Wars.Marcos Arauz Gómez served as lieutenant under Carlos V, see El Santuario p. 36 The grandfather of José María, Simón Araúz Huerta,Jose María Arauz de Robles' certificate of birth, available here was a bull-breeder who in 1905 co-founded what is now Unión de Criadores de Toros de Lidia.See toroslidia site A branch of the family kept breeding bulls until 1931, when the Hermanos Araúz brand disappeared from the market.El Tronco Jijón [in:] Terralia 43 (2004) The father of José María, Enrique Araúz Estremera, studied at Colegio Molinés de Padres Escolapios in MadridEl Santuario... p.37 and practiced as a doctor in his native village, where he also served as alcalde;Monumento al Roble del Campillo, [in] Alustante (2008) also a Carlist, he remained sensitive to social issues and co-operated with the local workers' periodical, La Alcarria Obrera.El Señorío de Molina, [in:] La Alcarria Obrera (2009) In 1895 he published La hija del Tío Paco o lo que pueden dos mil duros.La Hija del Tio Paco, O, Lo Que Pueden Dos Mil Duros: Cuadros de Costumbres, reprinted in 1923 and 2013, Heavily influenced by José María de Pereda, the book fell into the costumbrismo trend.José Sanz y Díaz, Ha muerto Carlos Arauz de Robles [in:] Wad-al-Hayara: Revista de estudios de Guadalajara 11 (1984), pp. 411-412, At unspecified time he married María Robles Arnal, also from Molina.she was daughter to Vicente Robles and Dolores Arnal, see Jose María's birth certificate, available here
José María and his siblings were brought up in a profoundly Catholic ambience. Orphaned by father in 1905,El Santuario... p. 37 he moved to Madrid to attend the Salesian Colegio de San Juan Bautista.ABC 27.11.1977, available here He studied law in Universidad Central de Madrid to obtain his PhD laurels in 1919;Josep Carlos Clemente, Breve historia de las guerras carlistas, Madrid 2011, , p. 242; El Santuario... p. 38 in 1921 he became Abogado del Estado.El Santuario...p. 38 Drafted to the army he reduced his term as a soldier de cuotaFrancisco Saro Gandarillas, Los primeros anos de la Cruz Roja en Melilla, [in:] Periodico Melillense 31.05.2007 and served in Regimiento Inmemorial del Rey during the Moroccan campaign,Clemente 2011, p. 242 witnessing the battle of Annual in 1921. Upon his return married to Mercedes López Ramiro; the couple had 5 sons: Fernando, José Maria, Jesús, Javier and Santiago.ABC 04.10.1977, available here Javier married Ana Dávila,See for instance ABC 21.07.1990, available here daughter of the Falangist politician Sancho Dávila y Fernández. Santiago Araúz de Robles López, a lawyer by profession and a hunter by vocation,Santiago Arauz de Robles entry at the hunting site trofeocaza here apart from juridical contributionsSee e.g. Notas sobre el regimen jurídico del patrimonio de la RENFE, [in:] Revista de la administración publica 46 (1965), pp. 321-368, ; he served also as RENFE manager, see Una nota que puede caracterizarnos es que el cliente se convierta en amigo, [in:] Avance empresarial, March 2008 is best known as author of novels and essays revolving around rural life,Cuentos de Hombres (1973), De mi rincón, y otras compañías (1977), Los desiertos de la cultura: Una crisis agraria (1979), Con pasos tan sencillos (1980), Idoia (1981), La Agonia Florida de Carlos Brito: Bertin Delgado- La ciudad y los niños (1983), Memoria del paraiso: Uriarte y el general (1984), De cómo Enriquillo obtuvo victoria de su majestad Carlos V (1984), Pepe Luis: Meditaciones sobre una biografia (1988), Diario de preguerra (1991), La Pasión según un hombre de mundo (2000), Tello en varano (2004), ¿Qué hay, Marylin? y El Corpus Chico (2012) not an unusual Carlist thread.see Francisco Javier Caspistegui Gorasurreta, "Esa ciudad maldita, cuna del centralismo, la burocracia y el liberalismo": la ciudad como enemigo en el tradicionalismo español, [in:] En: Actas del congreso internacional "Arquitectura, ciudad e ideología antiurbana", Pamplona 2002, The brother of José María, Carlos Araúz de Robles Estremera, also a lawyer, became an author of multiple works in law/legislation, history and letters, including essays, poetry and novels,Cataluna y el Mediterraneo (1930), May y tierra (1939), La vuelta al clasicismo; ensayo crítico del liberalismo y su secuela socialista (1939), Universalidad (1944), Defensa del derecho privado (1949), Ensayo sobre una teleología del pensamiento jurídico contemporáneo(1952), Misión social de la cultura aria (1955), La filosofía del derecho público (1957), Teoria de la publicidad (1961), Cadiz entre la revolucion y el deseado. (Apuntes sobre el derecho publico y privado de la revolucion) (1963), Hojas sueltas (1976); see El Santuario... p. 38-9 also with the costumbrista leaning.Gareth Thomas, The Novel of the Spanish Civil War (1936-1975) , Cambridge 1990, , p. 52 The maternal cousin, Romualdo de Toledo y Robles, during early Francoism was a longtime high official in Ministry of Education.
Early public activity
Throughout the 1920s Araúz de Robles practiced law in Huesca, Sevilla, Ávila and Madrid,Clemente 2011, p. 242 serving also in the local Molina de Aragón ayuntamiento.Inauguracion del busto del capitan Arenas en el PCMMI de Guadalajara, p. 207, [in:] Memorial del Arma de Ingenieros 90 (2013), available here In 1922 he co-founded a Christian-Democratic Partido Social Popular, and became a member of its defensa nacional section.La Vanguardia 12.12.1922, available here, Clemente 2011, p. 242 In the mid-1920s he published a few short novels: Don Bernardo "el Idumeo" (1922), Si tu supieras! (1923) and Estrella errante (192?),See Araúz at books.google, available here written in a baroque version of costumbrismo,El Santuario...p. 38 though it was rather his wartime recollections Por el Camino de Annual (1924)See his Por el Camino de Annual. Apuntes y Comentarios De Un Soldado De Africa, Madrid 1924 that gained more popularity. In 1928 he organized local homages to the molinés soldiers fallen in the Rif War, attended by King Alfonso XII;La Vanguardia 06.06.1928, available here he also sponsored the monument built at Monte Arruit in Morocco.Inauguracion del busto... In the late 1920s Araúz co-founded Asociación Católica de Padres de Familia to become its secretary in the early 1930s.José Martín Brocos Fernández, Una pequeńa historia del Carlismo del siglo XX a través de tres semblanzas: Tomás Domínguez Arévalo, José María Arauz de Robles y Francisco Elías de Tejada, [in:] Arbil 120 (2005) During political disarray of Dictablanda, Araúz on various public meetings defended the monarchy and harangued against the republican designs, including these of a conservative format;ABC 11.11.1930, available here he donated money to families of those who died fighting the failed republican coup in Jaca.El Imparcial 13.11.1930 Lobbied for construction of the La Roda – Tarazona railway line, which would cross the Moncayo massif and benefit his native Molina region.Brocos Fernández 2005
During the first days of the Republic Araúz joined the Agrarian PartyJacek Bartyzel, "Hiszpański łącznik" Jędrzeja Giertycha, [in:] Organizacja Monacrhistow Polskich site, available here and as its candidate unsuccessfully ran for Cortes from the Guadalajara province in 1931.Brocos Fernández 2005 Late 1931 he co-founded the Alfonsist monarchist organization Acción Española and early the following year he set up its journal of the same name.Acción Española, 01.01.1932, available here Continuing with his interest in social issues, in 1932 Araúz co-organised Primer Congreso del Pensamiento Social Popular.Clemente 2011, p. 242, Martin Blinkhorn, Carlism and Crisis in Spain, Cambridge 2008, , p. 332 During 1931-1932 he took part in a number of broadly monarchist public meetings, often jointly with the Traditionalist leaders.Brocos Fernández 2005 Attracted by Carlist intransigence, he drew close to their Comunión Tradicionalista.Some authors point to early 1932, see Bartyzel, some point to December 1932, see Brocos Fernández 2005, some do not specify the date, see Clemente 2011, p. 242 In the months of 1933-34 Araúz participated in a series of Carlist public meetings, conferences and lectures,Brocos Fernández 2005 sometimes assuming a somewhat revolutionary tone.E.g. calling for "a new spirit ... to ventilate and purify the sources of life", quoted after Blinkhorn 2008, p. 178 He formally broke with the Agrarians in 1934; in a letter to its leader, Martinez de Velasco he pointed that political parties and inorganic democracy no longer suited the needs of Spain.Brocos Fernández 2005
Carlist against the Republic
Within Carlism, Araúz became a new rising figure.Blinkhorn 2008, p. 161 In the 1933 elections he successfully ran on the Carlist ticket from Granada.Brocos Fernández 2005; oddly enough, the official Cortes web service does not list him as elected under personal entry and he appears only on a joint list of Granada 1934 deputies, see here In the 1936 elections (also in Granada) he emerged victorious and was even nominated secretary of the Carlist parliamentary minority,Blinkhorn 2008, p. 231 but his mandate was cancelled due to alleged irregularities.Leandro Álvarez Rey, Los Diputados por Andalucía de la Segunda República 1931-1939, vol. 1, p. 128, Sevilla 2009, , 9788461313266; see also Miguel Pertiñez Díaz, Granada 1936: elecciones a Cortes, Granada 1988, , 9788433806109 Araúz conspired against the Republic as member of the La Ferme based Junta Nacional Carlista.Brocos Fernández 2005; Clemente 2011, p. 242 Following the outbreak of hostilities he joined the Burgos-based Junta Carlista de GuerraBrocos Fernández 2005 and became head of its Guilds and Corporations section,Jordi Canal i Morell, Banderas blancas, boinas rojas: una historia política del carlismo, 1876-1939, Barcelona 2006, , 9788496467347, p. 331; Blinkhorn 2008, p. 270; Fermín Pérez-Nievas Borderas, Contra viento y marea. Historia de la evolución ideológica del carlismo a través de dos siglos de lucha, Pamplona 1999; , 9788460589327, p. 108; sort of Carlist "ministry of labor" bent to build a syndical structure competitive to the Falangist scheme.Blinkhorn 2008, p. 274 Araúz co-engineered the raid of Aragonese Requetés who captured his native Molina de Aragon early August 1936; he later contributed to forming of the local Requeté battalion, Tercio de María de Molina.Julio Aróstegui, Combatientes requetés en la Guerra Civil española (1936-1939) , Madrid 2013, , p. 538