Title

Baldomero Espartero enters Barcelona, 14 July 1840

Description

Just weeks after chasing the remaining army of the absolutist pretender to the throne out of Spain and ending the seven-year-long Carlist War (1833-1840), Baldomero Espartero (1793-1879), the commander of the constitutional army and soon to be Regent of the country, was greeted by some 80,000 people as he entered Barcelona on 14 July 1840. That evening, the city council staged a serenade outside the house where he was staying. The songs included Verses about Peace in Spain dedicated to D. Baldomero Espartero, which was sung to the music of the great liberal anthem, the Hymn of Riego.

Accounts of the serenade were later published in at least two different romances. The one shown here is illustrated with Espartero holding a laurel leaf towards Queen Isabel and her mother, the Queen-Regent María Cristina, surrounded by medallions saying 'Peace / Constitution of 1837 / National Independence' and a list of his military victories.

Romances were inexpensive printed flysheets or short pamphlets, often sold in the streets by vendors who hung them from strings, and were a crucial part of Spanish popular culture. This is only one of many that glorified Espartero. The number of such publications and their large, popular audiences gave Spaniards a rare degree of familiarity with Espartero’s appearance. His face was probably the best known in the country and led to other aspects of the Espartero cult in daily life: men copied his signature facial hair, known as a luchana, after his great victory in December 1836; the more affluent could own silver cigar cases with his image on them; and children would be dressed 'Espartero style' for special occasions.

Temporal Coverage

14 July 1840

Date

1840-07-14

Creator

Prof Adrian Shubert
Department of History
University of York
Toronto, Canada

Rights Holder

Arxiu Historic de la Ciutat de Barcelona

Contributor

Prof Adrian Shubert
Department of History
York University
Toronto, Canada

Spatial Coverage

Barcelona, Spain

Subject

ideologies

liberalism

people

popular literature

songs