Manuel Murguia

Manuel Antonio Martínez Murguía (Arteijo, May 17, 1833 - La Coruña, February 1, 1923) was a Spanish historian and writer. He is considered a prominent promoter of the Galician Rexurdimento, along with Rosalía de Castro, whose husband he was. He was the creator of the Royal Galician Academy.

Biography

Manuel Murguía was born on May 17, 1833 in the place of Froxel, in San Tirso de Oseiro, Arteijo, the son of Juan Martínez de Castro and María Concepción Murguía y Egaña, a Gipuzkoan. His father was a pharmacist on Garás street in La Coruña, who would soon establish himself in Santiago de Compostela. It would be in this exact place where Manuel witnessed the events of April 23, 1846 (a liberal uprising in Galicia that ended with the execution of the so-called Mártires de Carral), which he would narrate later in an article entitled "La Voz from Galicia" with a huge feeling; presumably this episode in the history of Galicia influenced his romantic-liberal ideology.

Murguía studied Humanities and Latin in Santiago de Compostela, obtaining a bachelor's degree in 1850, and at the same time pharmacy, a career he began at the wish of his father. However, Murguía was very clear about his preferences, and thus his interest in literature and history made him abandon his degree to dedicate himself fully to his work as a writer and researcher. In these years, the cultural life of Santiago revolved around the "Liceo de la Juventud", where students and intellectuals such as Eduardo Pondal, Aurelio Aguirre and Rosalía de Castro met. At seventeen he published his first novel, "From Heaven."

On June 1, 1854, Murguía published his first text in Galician, in Elena Avendaño's album, some seguidillas entitled «Nena das Soidades». Murguía also collaborated in newspapers and magazines of the time such as La Iberia and Las Novedades, in which he was very successful – which allowed him to publish serials with works such as «From the Cielo", "Mientras Duerme", "My mother Antonia", "The Angel of Death" and "Los Lirios Blancos", which made him appear as one of the literary promises of the moment.

Murguía, Rosalia and family.

Murguía met writers such as the brothers Valeriano and Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer, and also with Rosalía de Castro in Madrid, where he had moved to finish his degree. He made a critique of La Flor, the first collection of poems by Rosalía de Castro, in such a way that the relationship between the two grew closer to the point of getting engaged and marrying later (on October 10, 1858) in the Church of San Ildefonso. There is no doubt that Murguía was a piece of intellectual and social support for Rosalía. From the beginning, she encouraged her in her literary career and in the publication of works such as Cantares gallegos , considered the beginning of the Galician literary Rexurdimento , and even published any work of hers without her consent.

On the occasion of the birth of his first daughter in 1859, he published La Primera Luz, a school reading book structured into twenty topics of history and geography, which the Ministry of Public Works recommended for teaching in the Galician schools.

Manuel Murguía collaborated in the journalistic field of the time, in La Oliva, El Miño and La Patria Gallega, and directed The Newspaper of La Coruña and The Galician and Asturian Illustration. Something that should be considered as the first pillar of the Rexurdimento was the change that took place in Murguía when he left his creative work in 1860, after achieving great success, to dedicate himself entirely to historical research and the dissemination of this, as well as to disseminate the political ideas that emerged, mainly, from their investigations.

Incorporated anti-Semitism as a founding factor of Galicianism, delimiting an alterity of the Celtic and Suevian in the face of the «Semitic race», which would bring together the anti-values of galleguidad i>. Influenced by thinkers such as Gobineau, Gumplowicz, Thierry or Macauly, he expressed his racism in terms of "racial purity", "permanence of ethnic types" and "superiority of some races over others".

In 1862 Murguía finished his Dictionary of Galician Writers and in 1865 he went to live in Lugo, where he published the Historia de Galicia. In 1868 he was elected secretary of the revolutionary Junta of Santiago, becoming disillusioned after a few days. In 1870 he was appointed chief archivist of the Archive of the Kingdom of Galicia and later, in 1885, General Chronicler of the Kingdom. In 1886 (the year Rosalía died) he published Los precursores, a work in which he describes various characters from Galician cultural life, and began a process of mythologizing the figure of his late wife, linked to the Galician reaffirmation. In 1890, Murguía directed, together with Alfredo Brañas, La Patria Gallega, a newsletter where the first keys to what was to become, over time, Galician regionalist thought were given. Also in that same year, Murguía published a speech during a Floral Games in Barcelona that was widely applauded and led to his being named "Master of Gay Knowledge".^{[citation required ]} In this speech he talks about the differentiating historical and cultural feeling of Galicia. He was appointed president of the Galician Regionalist Association (ARG), the first political organization with a decidedly Galician sign. In the Floral Games of Tuy in 1891, organized by the ARG, the public use of Galician was claimed, the language in which Murguía would deliver the inaugural speech.

Manuel Murguía, Almanaque Gallego for 1900

At the age of 72, Murguía came up with the idea of creating a Galician Language Academy, an idea that he communicated to other writers who met in a bookstore in La Coruña known as A Cova Céltica. Interest in creating a dictionary of the Galician language also arose in Murguía, because he felt he lacked vocabulary; Perhaps the non-existence of this dictionary was decisive in why his work in Galician was so scarce. Once he left the archive of the Treasury Delegation of La Coruña in 1905, and at the request of Curros Enríquez and the Galician Center of Havana, he dedicated himself to the task of founding the Royal Galician Academy. On August 25, 1906, the creation of the Royal Galician Academy was approved, which he would preside over until his death.

Murguía burial.

Manuel Murguía died on February 2, 1923, at his house on Calle San Agustín in La Coruña. The Day of Galician Letters in the year 2000 was dedicated to him. The magazine of the Galician Association of Historians is called Murguía in his honor.

Work and influences

I'm looking for La Coruña.

Murguía was a prolific historian, fundamental to Galician historiography and Galician nationalism. Qualified by the historian Xosé Ramón Barreiro as the & # 34; first builder of the nation & # 34;, he was an important intellectual at the Galician and Spanish level, in contact with the latest European trends. In his historiographical work, he highlights his contribution to the history of Galicia with works such as Los Precursores and his Historia de Galicia . He incorporated anti-Semitism as a founding factor of Galicianism, delimiting an alterity of the Celtic and Swabian in the face of the «Semitic race», which would bring together the anti-values of galleguidad. He was influenced by thinkers such as Ernest Renan, Gobineau, Gumplowicz, Augustin Thierry, Thomas Macaulay, Herder or Carlyle, whom he frequently quoted. He manifested his racism in terms of "racial purity", "permanence of ethnic types" and "superiority of some races over others". race the backbone of the discourse of his work, to which he attributed all the historical energy of the Galician nationality.

In a letter from the historian Menéndez Pelayo to Gurmesindo Laverde, he made the following judgment: "I have read the extravagant book by Murguía, Los Precursores, an arch-romantic, sad and nebulous book and, what is worse, saturated with bad ideas of all sorts, among which stands out its ridiculous separatism, which I very much doubt will be reborn in Galicia". To which Laverde replied: "I'm not surprised by what you tell me about Murguía's book. From that foot all his works limp; he has a mania for celtism.& # 34;

The Compostela clergyman, author and seminary professor Emilio Villelga, considered Murguía and Menéndez Pelayo to be the most prestigious intellectuals in Spain at the time.

For the historian Ramón Máiz, «the most unique trait of Murguian thought is given by the radical overcoming of the traditional ambiguity and polysemy of the designation of GALIZA (province, region, nation, country...) in the preceding Galicianism (...), to clearly lean towards the fundamental consideration of its national nature».

Books

• The first lightVigo, Juan Compañel, 1860.
• Dictionary of Galician writersVigo, Juan Compañel, 1862.
• From the wars of Galicia in the fifteenth century and its true characterLa Coruña, 1861.
• History of Galicia, T. I, Lugo, Soto Freire,1865, T. II, Lugo, Soto Freire, 1866, T. III, La Coruña, Libr. de A. Martínez Salazar, 1888, Tomo IV, La Coruña, Libr. de E. Carré Aldao, 1891, T.V, La Coruña, 1911.
• Memory concerning the Regional Archive of GaliciaLa Coruña, 1871.
• Biography of Fr. M. Fr. Benito Geronimo FeijóoSantiago, Est. Tip. de El Diario, 1876.
• The forum, Madrid, Libr. de Bailly Bailliere, 1882.
• Art in Santiago during the 18th century and news of the artists who flourished in that city and centuriaMadrid, Est. Tip. by Fernando Fé, 1884.
• The Precursors, La Coruña, Latorre and Martínez Editores, Gallega Library, 1886.
• Galicia, Barcelona, Daniel Cortezo, 1888.
• Galician regionalismHavana, Imp. The Universal, 1889.
• Prose(contains the novel The handful), La Coruña, 1895.
• Don Diego Gelmírez, La Coruña, Imprenta y Librería de Carré, 1898.
• The Galician troubers, La Coruña, Imp. de Ferrer, 1905.
• Historical notes of the province of Pontevedra, folletin of the Season, Mondariz, Imp. of the Establishment, 1913.
• Politics and society in Galicia, Madrid, Akal, Arealonga, 8, 1974, ed. de X. Alonso Montero

Stories

• A can-can of Musard (count), 1853.
• An artist (count), Madrid, 1853; with the title of "Ignotus" in The Precursors (1886).
• From heaven, (novela), Madrid, La Iberia, 1854; Vigo, Imp. de La Oliva, 1856; Madrid, Biblioteca de Escritores Gallegos, 1910.
• Luisa (count), Madrid, 1855 and La Coruña, 1862.
• The Virgin of the Servilleta, (novela), Madrid, 1855.
• The wedding gift (novela), La Iberia, Madrid, 1855.
• My mother Antonia (novela), Vigo, La Oliva, 1856.
• Don Diego Gelmírez (novela), Madrid, La Oliva, 1856.
• The Angel of Death (novela), Madrid, La Crónica, 1857.
• The woman of fire (novela), Madrid, 1859.

Poems

• Nena d’as soidades (poem), La Oliva, 27-2-1856.
• Madrigal (poem), La Oliva, 8-3-1856.
• The flower and the air (poem), La Oliva, 19-3-1856.
• A pigeon (poem), La Oliva, 3-5-1856.
• To the ruins of Altamira Castle (poem), La Oliva, 31-5-1856.
• In an Album (poem), La Oliva, 31-5-1856.
• From (poema), Galicia (La Coruña), 1862, páx. 39.
• Three poems na antoloxía The Album of CharityLa Coruña, 1862. It's the poems. Madrigal, Nena d’as solitudees and Glory.
• Golden dreams (poema), in García Acuña (177) and before in the Album of El Miño.
• Ildara de Courel (poem), in García Acuña (177-178).
• Cela Pardo Sonnet (poema), in García Acuña (179).
• The verses were my first illusion (poem of 1903), Naya (1950: 104).