Cabrera, Ramón

▪ Spanish political leader

in full  Ramon Cabrera Y Grino  

born Dec. 27, 1806, Tortosa, Spain

died May 24, 1877, London

 influential Spanish Carlist general and later one of the party's most controversial figures.

      After the death (1833) of Ferdinand VII, those who supported the claim to the throne of Ferdinand's brother, Don Carlos, against that of Ferdinand's daughter, Queen Isabella II, rose in rebellion; Cabrera became a leading insurgent, soon dominating the Carlist bands in Catalonia and inspiring terror by his relentless cruelty, which rose to a climax after the liberals shot his mother (1836). He gained several notable victories, including that of Morella (1838), for which he was created Count de Morella. Cabrera refused to recognize the Convention of Vergara (1839), which ended the war in the Basque provinces, but in 1840 was driven with 10,000 soldiers over the French border. In exile, first in France and later in England, he objected to the “abdication” (1845) of Carlos in favour of his son, the Count de Montemolín. From 1846 to 1849 Cabrera again commanded Carlist bands in Catalonia. In 1860 he married an English Protestant, Marianne Catherine Richards, and settled down in England, gradually growing to advocate a peaceful rather than a military propagation of Carlist views. He was expelled from the Carlists by an assembly held at Vevey, Switz., in 1870, and recognized the legitimist Spanish king, Alfonso XII, in 1875.

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