Castelar y Ripoll, Emilio

Castelar y Ripoll, Emilio (āmē`lyō kästālär` ē rēpō`lyə), 1832–99, Spanish statesman and author. A professor of history and philosophy at the Univ. of Madrid and a republican leader, he was foreign minister and then president (1873–74) of Spain's first republic. Ruling virtually as a dictator, he was partially successful in restoring order to the war-torn country, but he, and the republic, were overthrown by a military coup. After the restoration (1875) of Alfonso XII he was a member of the political opposition in the Cortes. A great orator, he also wrote historical, political, and literary works.

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Castelar y Ripoll, Emilio 

Born Sept. 8, 1832, in Cádiz; died May 25, 1899, in San Pedro del Pinatar. Spanish politician, leader of the right-wing republicans, writer, and historian.

In 1853, Castelar y Ripoll graduated from the University of Madrid. From 1858 to 1866 he was the director of the university’s faculty of Spanish history. After the unsuccessful Republican rising of 1866, he emigrated to France, where he lived until the beginning of the Spanish Revolution of 1868–74. He opposed the monarchy and advocated the establishment of a republic in Spain.

Upon his return to his homeland, Castelar y Ripoll became a deputy to the constituent cortes. He was the minister of foreign affairs from February to June 1873, the chairman of the cortes from August to September 1873, and the president of the republic from Sept. 7, 1873, to Jan. 3, 1874. After the restoration of the monarchy in 1874, Castelar y Ripoll was elected a deputy to the cortes. He opposed the monarchist constitution of 1876. In 1888 he retired from political life. Castelar y Ripoll wrote a great number of historical works, novels, memoirs, and travel chronicles.

WORKS

Historia de Europa en el siglo XIX, vols. 1–6. Madrid, 1895–1901.
Cuestiones políticas y sociales, vols. 1–3. Madrid, 1870.
Historia del movimiento republicano en Europa, vols. 1–2. Madrid, 1873–74.
Historia del descubrimiento de America. Madrid, 1892.
La Rusia contemporánea…. Madrid, 1881.
Obras escogidas, vols. 1–12. Madrid, 1922–23.

J. GARCÍA