Madrid: A Traveller’s Reader

413 Pages·2018·2.82 MB·English

by  Hugh Thomas

Hugh Thomas was an English historian, writer and life peer in The House of
Lords. Best known for The Spanish Civil War (1961), for which he won the
Somerset Maugham Award, Thomas wrote a number of political works and
histories. By the end of his life, Thomas had been appointed Commander of the
Order of Arts and Letters by the French government, and received the Grand
Cross of the Royal Order of Isabella the Catholic from Spain as well as the
Mexican Order of the Aztec Eagle.
Other titles in the series
Moscow: A Traveller’s Reader
Laurence Kelly
Istanbul: A Traveller’s Reader
Laurence Kelly
Venice: A Traveller’s Reader
John Julius Norwich
Edinburgh: A Traveller’s Reader
David Daiches
St Petersburg: A Traveller’s Reader
Laurence Kelly
Prague: A Traveller’s Reader
Jan Kaplan

This book is dedicated to all my friends in Madrid,
particularly the hall-porters of
the Victoria, Palace and Ritz Hotels
Contents
Illustrations
Acknowledgements
Map of the city
Introduction
ARRIVAL IN MADRID
DIFFERING VIEWS OF THE APPROACHES
1 Saint-Simon (1721)
2 Casanova (1767)
3 M.J. Quin (1822)
4 The Marquis de Custine (1830)
5 Edmondo de Amicis (1869)
6 Nina Epton (c. 1950)
GENERAL IMPRESSIONS
7 Sir Richard Wynn (1623)
8 Alexander Stanhope (1679): the mule-trains from the Americas
9 Entry of allied troops (1706)
10 Entry of Charles of Habsburg (1710)
11 Napoleon I to his brother King Joseph Bonaparte (1809)
12 Joseph Bonaparte opposes force (1810)
13 A British military surgeon’s enthusiasm (1812)
14 Wellington’s letters (1812)
15 Wellington’s declarations to Stanhope (1836)
16 George Borrow (1836)
17 ‘Count Paul Vasili’ (1886)
18 Ramón y Cajal (c. 1900)
19 Arturo Barea (c. 1920)
20 Manuel Azaña’s scepticism (c. 1920)
21 Ernest Hemingway (c. 1930)
MADRID
THE STREETS
22 The complaints of Camillo Borghese (1594)
23 Sir Richard Wynn (1623)
24 Bertaut (1664)
25 Beaumarchais reports on the effects of Charles III’s ‘clean air’ policy
(1764)
26 Henry Inglis (1830)
27 Marquis de Custine (1831)
28 Théophile Gautier (1840)
29 Alexandre Dumas, père (1846)
30 De Amicis on serenos (1869)
31 Pérez Galdós on the quartier near Santo Domingo el Real (1884)
32 Arturo Barea’s childhood games
ALCALÁ
33 The French army enters Madrid (1808) – General Bigarré
34 Henry Inglis (1830)
35 George Borrow (1836)
36 1898: the news of the catastrophe
ARENAL
37 Pío Baroja (1906)
CABALLERO DE GRACIA
38 The murder of Ascham (Clarendon 1650)
CALLE DE FUENCARRAL
39 Foundation of Anarcho-Sindicalism: Anselmo Lorenzo (1868)
CALLE MARQUÉS DE CUBAS
40 The murder of Prim (1870)
CALLE MAYOR
41 The murder of Escobedo in 1576 (Gregorio Marañón)
42 An attempt on King Alfonso XIII (1906)
PASEO DEL PRADO
43 View in 1543 (Pedro de Medina)
44 Philip II received in the Prado (1569)
45 The Prince of Wales woos the Infanta María (1623)
46 Quevedo’s view (1630)
47 Wellington in the Prado (1812)
48 Gautier (1840)
49 Pérez Galdós’s view through the eyes of Rosalía Bringas (late nineteenth
century)
50 Songs heard by Pío Baroja (c. 1900)
PUERTA DEL SOL
51 Royal decree, 28 July 1541
52 The murder of the Conde de Villamediana (Lope de Vega, 1622)
53 The Habsburg candidate’s portrait burnt (1706)
54 Gil Blas in the Puerta del Sol (c. 1715)
55 The battle of 2 May 1808: Pérez Galdós’s description
56 Murat to Napoleon 1, 2 May 1808
57 George Borrow sees the ‘Revolution of La Granja’ (1836)
58 Pérez Galdós’s memories (c. 1865)
59 De Amicis’s impression (1870)
60 A Communist’s surprise: M.N. Roy (1921)
61 The fall of the monarchy: Miguel Maura (1931)
62 An Anarchist’s plans: Ramón Sender (c. 1933)
63 Post-war impressions: V.S. Prichett (c. 1950)
PLAZA MAYOR
64 The execution of D. Rodrigo Calderón (1621)
65 A bull-fight (Clarendon, 1650)
66 A French ambassador’s wife’s view of the auto de fe of 1680
67 Saint-Simon’s visit (1721)
68 An auto de fe in the eighteenth century
69 Description of the fiesta upon the occasion of Charles III’s public entry into
the capital, 15 July 1760
70 The battle of July 1822
71 Alexandre Dumas, 1846
CHAMARTÍN
72 Napoleon’s stay (1808)
73 The French fail to impress the madrileños (1808)
74 Napoleon asks what possesses the Spanish people (1808)
75 Napoleon leaves (1808): letter to the Empress Josephine in Paris
LAVAPIÉS
76 Manolería (Mesonero Romanos)
77 Gautier meets the last manola (c. 1840)
78 Barea (1920)
OTHER SQUARES
79 El Rastro: Baroja (1910)
80 La Moncloa: Azaña’s regrets (c. 1928)
81 Plaza de la Cebada: the Marquis de Custine attends an execution (1831)
82 Plaza de Oriente: a corrida in 1455 (Mesonero Romanos’s description)
83 Plaza de la Paja: a speech of Cardinal Ximénez (1516)
84 Plaza de Santa Ana: Mérimée takes leave of the Condesa de Montijo (1840)
THE HOUSES
85 Seventeenth-century houses (according to Angel Fernández de los Ríos)
86 An English Embassy of the seventeenth century (Clarendon, 1650)
87 Calle Clavel (1802)
88 Inglis (1830)
89 Gautier’s observations (1840)
HOTELS, CAFÉS, TERTULIAS
90 A bottleshop of the eighteenth century: Gil Blas
91 Alexandre Dumas père’s hotel, 1846
92 Borrow in a café (1836)
93 Gautier’s visit to the cafés (1840)
94 De Amicis at the Café Fornos (1870)
95 Ramón y Cajal at the Café Suizo (c. 1900)
96 Pre-war tertulias (c. 1930): Agustín de Foxá
97 Ritz Hotel: Salvador Dalí’s visit
PALACES
98 Palacio de Alba: St Teresa rebukes the King (1569)
99 Palacio de Buenavista: the Duquesa de Alba’s ball (1790)
100 Palacio de Buenavista: the death of the thirteenth Duquesa de Alba (1804) –
the one tribute
101 Palacio de Liria (Berwick): Joseph Townsend (1786)
102 Palacio del Infantado: Lady Holland’s visit
103 Palacio de Medinaceli (1803)
104 Palacio de Medinaceli: fighting around the palace in 1808 (the account of
Savary)
ROYAL PALACE – ALCÁZAR
105 A visit of French ambassadors to the court of Juan II in Madrid in the
fifteenth century: Mesonero Romanos
106 The Comuneros Revolt (Sandoval, 1520)
107 King François I visited by Emperor Charles V (1525)
108 King François I tries to escape dressed as a black slave (1525)
109 Arrest of Don Carlos (1568)
110 The death of Queen Elizabeth of Valois
111 A Nuncio’s visit: Camillo Borghese (1593)
112 The Prince of Wales’s visit (1623)
113 Letter of the Conde Duque de Olivares to Rubens (1628)
114 Rubens reports on his stay (1628)