Joaquín Llorens y Fernández de Córdoba (1854 – 1930) was a Spanish Carlist soldier and politician. He is known as the longest serving Carlist deputy (1893 to 1919), the longest continuously serving Carlist deputy (1901 to 1919), and the most-elected Carlist deputy (11 times). He is also recognized for turning Requeté from a vague youth organization into a military force.
Family and youth
Joaquín Lloréns Fernández de Córdova was born to a distinguished Levantine family, originating from Nules but for generations settled in Villareal; his ancestors can be traced back to the 16th century.see Lloréns entry at ABC Genealogia, available here His grandfather, Joaquín Lloréns Chiva, was a judge and academic in Valencia,see Lloréns Bayer, José Joaquin entry at Aulamilitar, available here serving also as sindico general of the city in the early 19th century.ABC Genealogia His father, José Joaquín Lloréns Bayer (1807–1863), pursued a military career. As a 16-year-old he joined the Voluntarios Realistas militia and fought against the Liberals during the 1821-23 civil war.Aulamilitar In 1833 he volunteered to the Carlist insurgency; distinguished in a number of battles of the First Carlist War he rose to general brigadier and was twice awarded Cruz de San Fernando, also nominated marqués de Cordoba by Carlos V.ABC Genealogia Following the Carlist defeat in 1839 he accompanied Carlos V into exile, later on living in France and Russia; he returned to Spain in wake of the 1848 amnesty. During the Second Carlist War he sided with the Isabellinos and successfully fought the Carlist troops in Levante; in return he got his brigadier rank and military honors (though not his marquesado) recognized by the Isabella II government.Aulamilitar Served as mayor of Villareal.Federico Martínez Roda, Valencia y las Valencias: su historia contemporánea (1800-1975), Madrid 1998, , 9788486792893, p. 192 Married to Joaquína Fernández de Córdova e Ibáñez de Ocerín, the couple had 5 children.ABC Genealogia. José Joaquín Lloréns Bayer's sister, Juana Lloréns Bayer, was maternal grandmother of the Carlist political leader in the 1920s, Marqués de Villores Joaquín, their only son, was steered to become a military as well, though unlike his father not in the ranks of infantry. As a 14-year-old he joined Academia de Artilleríasee Joaquín Lloréns Fernández de Córdova entry at Euskomedia, available here in Segovia, promoted to alférez-alumno in 1871.Francisco de Paula Oller, Album de Personajes Carlistas con sus Biografias, volume II, Barcelona 1888, p. 190
Soldier
As a 19-year-old Joaquín Lloréns joined the insurgent troops at the outbreak of the Third Carlist War. He fought on the Northern front during the 1873 campaign in Navarre: soon promoted to teniente,Oller 1888, p. 191 he took part in the sieges of Viana and of Valcarlos. Following the inconclusive battle of Mañeru, which repulsed the Liberal troops during their march on Estella, and the likewise undecided battle of Montejurra, Lloréns contributed to clear victories at Belabieta and Dicastillo,Euskomedia which finally stabilized Carlist rule in Navarre and Gipuzkoa. Early 1874 he proceeded in line with the Carlist offensive in Vizcay, which climaxed in the siege of Bilbao.Oller 1888, p. 191 In February 1874 his unit was assigned to carry out an attack on the pocket of Republican Gipuzkoan resistance in Tolosa;Euskomedia in March it took part in the victorious attempt to prevent the Liberal relief of Bilbao during the slaughter at Somorrostro; Lloréns commanded the 120-mm cannon artillery.Oller 1888, p. 192 Continued to fight around Bilbao during the failed battle of San Pedro Abanto in the spring of 1874.
With the siege of Bilbao broken the Liberal troops continued their advance on Estella; Lloréns was fighting in the victorious Abárzuza and Oteiza battles in the summer of 1874, which eventually led to the stalemate period that followed.see Lloréns y Fernandez de Córdoba, Joaquin entry at Gran Eciclopedia Navarra, available here Struggled to sort out the Carlist artillery logistics, making sense of wide variety of artillery pieces available.Oller 1888, p. 193 He participated in the February 1875 battle of Lácar, which is sometimes considered the most brilliant and daring Carlist victory of the war and which threatened the new king Alfonso XII, present at the site, personally.Julio Aróstegui, Combatientes Requetés en la Guerra Civil Española (1936–1939), Madrid 2013, , pp. 189-190 He took part in one of the last confrontations of the conflict, the battle of Palomeras de Etxalar (February 1876).Euskomedia His performance during the assault on Lumbier (October 1875) gained him Cruz Roja del Mérito Militar, with the second one obtained for directing artillery fire during the battle of Mañeru.Oller 1888, p. 191 Wounded in action a number of times.ABC 12.11.1930, available here; the most serious wound was a bullet which hit him in the waist, see Oller 1888, p. 192 Following the battle of San Pedro Abanto he was nominated a captain,Euskomedia; Oller 1888, p. 193 claims he was nominated captain after the battle of Somorrostro following the battle of Salvatierra/Agurain he rose to a comandante,Euskomedia and he finished the war as a colonel.Euskomedia Following the Carlist defeat in 1876 he accompanied Carlos VII into exile and crossed the French border.Gran Eciclopedia Navarra; see also Oller 1888, p. 193
Civil Servant
Lloréns returned to Spain in the late 1870s. In 1879 he married Concepción Colomer y Conca and settled in her native town of Ontinyent, in the family residence at Carre Gomis in the city centre;J. Rafael Bernabeu Galbis, Los Escudos Nobiliarios de Ontinyent, [in:] Laploma, available here the couple had 2 sons and 2 daughters.ABC Genealogia Active in Juventud Católica, published three volumes of his war recollections.Oller 1888, p. 194 In the mid-1880s he produced the first designs to re-direct the Turia river near ValenciaBeniarrés, viatge al llarg dels temps [in:] Benafarrez blogspot, available here and to re-build the local maritime infrastructure accordingly,Oller 1888, p. 195 to create a park along the river banksJavier Domínguez Rodrigo, La ciudad de Valencia y el Mar: de Tosca a Sorolla, [in] Discurso de Apertura del Curso 2012–2013, Real Academia de la Cultura Valenciana, Valencia 2012, p. 29, available here and to expand the local tram network.Domínguez Rodrigo 2012, p. 30 He taught at the Valencian Academia de Matemáticas, becoming a recognized scholar also in astronomy.Oller 1888, p. 194 Occasionally contributed to newspapers,Gran Eciclopedia Navarra himself founded a satirical review El Centro,Oller 1888, p. 195 practiced oil painting and used to win honors in local exhibits.Oller 1888, p. 194 Lloréns invented a handgun which bore his name;ABC 12.11.1930, available here the patent was registered in 1897 and featured a repeating rifle with detachable magazine box,El Deber 27.02.1897, available here though apparently it has never entered production.
In 1909 he travelled – either in liaison with the military or as a military himself – to Morocco,Gran Eciclopedia Navarra most likely to assist in operations carried out during the rapidly escalating conflict between the Spanish and the Rif tribes in the Gurugú region.La Jota del Gurugú, [in:] Melilla – campaña de 1909, available here He published related correspondence in military periodicals and popular press titles like Correo Español.Luis Noval, el cabo que murió en Melilla, [in:] El Comercio 28.09.09, available here In 1908 Lloréns initiated action on the old dormant Cortes of Cádiz resolution to commemorate the 1808 war with a monument in Segovia, in front of the military barracks where he had studied 40 years earlier; the motion led to the memorial being unveiled by Alfonso XIII, though Lloréns did not take part in the 1910 celebrations.Diego Quirós Montero, Primer centenario del monumento a Daoiz y Velarde, [in:] El Adelantado [no date], available here He continued writing to the press, though in the 20th century to the Navarrese rather than Levantine papers, mostly the Carlist or foralist titles like La Lealtad NavarraEuskomedia (transformed in 1897 into El Pensamiento Navarrosee La Lealtad Navarra entry at Gran Enciclopedia Navarra) or Navarra Ilustrada.Javier Iturbide, Publicaciones periódicas estellesas 1866–1990, [in:] Principe de Viana 51 (1990), , p. 718
Deputy
In 1893 Lloréns, one of the leading Levantine Carlists,Oller 1888, p. 195 got elected to the Congress of Deputies from CastellónEuskomedia as one of the first Traditionalist deputies of the Restoration era.Lloréns y Fernandez de Córdoba, Joaquin entry at the official Cortes service, Indice Historico de Diputados, available here In course of his first tenure he actively engaged in defence of regional establishments during gamazada, an attempt on part of the Liberal government to modernise the administration and scrap the 1841 semi-autonomous fiscal Navarrese establishments; he was the only non-Navarrese deputy to vote against the proposal.Angel García-Sanz Marcotegui, La insurrección fuerista en 1893. Foralismo oficial vesus foralismo popular durante la Gamazada, [in:] Príncipe de Viana 49 (1988), , p. 696 12 years later he was rewarded with the title of Navarrese hijo adoptivo in return.Iturbide 1990, p. 718 In 1896 he successfully ran from the Catalan Gerona and was re-elected from the same constituency in 1898.Indice Historico de Diputados In 1899 the claimant Carlos VII decided not to field an official list permitting only individual candidatures,Jose María Remirez de Ganuza López, Las Elecciones Generales de 1898 y 1899 en Navarra, [in] Príncipe de Viana 49 (1988), , p. 382: “no habrá diputados carlistas en las próximas elecciones, pero podrá haber carlistas diputados” but Lloréns was engaged in staging insurgency rather than running for the parliament he just planned to overthrow.Eduardo González Calleja, La razón de la fuerza: orden público, subversión y violencia política en la España de la Restauración (1875–1917) , Madrid 1998, , 9788400077785, p. 184, 195