Evaristo Martelo Paumán

Evaristo Martelo y Paumán del Nero Nuñez y Zuazo-Mondragón, 6th Marquess of Almeiras (1850–1928), was a Spanish aristocrat, writer and politician. He is known chiefly as a poet who contributed to emergence of the literary Galician and who is counted among protagonists of the so-called ''Rexurdimento''. He perceived '' galego'' as a royal language of ancient rulers, framed in the Celtic mythology, and opposed the concept of Galician as a rural folk speak. Martelo engaged in few organisations related to the Galician culture and was a member of the Royal Galician Academy. Politically he supported the Traditionalist cause and served as leader of the Carlist provincial organisation in La Coruña; he has never engaged in buildup of the Galician nationalism.

Family and youth

Martelo descended from numerous old Galician families, though more prestigious were lines of his grandmothers. The Martelos originated from France; the paternal grandfather, Luis Martelo de Lema Núñez, was a Laxe landowner and holder of various local official jobs. The paternal grandmother, Josefa Núñez Romero, along the Moscoso line was related to a 15th-century knight Conde de Altamira. The maternal grandfather Juan Paumán del Nero married Mariana Zuazo Fajardo; her father Antonio Zuazo de Mondragón y Rendón was regidor perpetuo of La Coruña. In 1780 Carlos III made him Marqués de Almeiras; he claimed also the title of Vizconde de Andeiro. Her mother was heiress to the Fajardos, landowners of Rianxo; she was distantly related to "caballero y poeta de la mar océana" Paio Gómez Chariño and to Condes de Traba.

Evaristo's father Ramón Martelo Núñez de Leys Romero y de Moscoso (1804-1873) was a military and magistrado; he served as Jefe Político of La Coruña province in the 1840s and as deputy to the Cortes in 1854–1856. The mother, María Dolores Paumán de Nero Zuazo de Andrade Fajardo y Sotomayor (1815-1850), died 6 days after giving birth to their only child. Since his father did not remarry, Evaristo was growing as the only heir to numerous estates scattered across Galicia; they included "Casa do Pombal" in Boaño, "O Chariñó" or "Casa de Faxardo" - later to be known as "Pazo do Martelo" – in Rianxo, "Casa do Arco" in Laxe, "Solar dos Andeiro" in Cambre, "Palacio de Almeiras" in La Coruña and especially Castillo de Vimianzo.

Evaristo spent his early childhood between Laxe, Rianxo and Vimianzo. In 1862-1868 he frequented Insituto Local de Segunda Enseñanza in La Coruña and Santiago de Compostela, obtaining bachillerato in arts in 1868. The same year he entered the navy academy in Ferrol, but having been promoted to guardiamarina he abandoned military career. He then enrolled at law in Santiago; however, following death of his father, in the early 1870s he left the university to take care of the family economy. He would complete the academic education in 1888–1889, when he majored in law.

In 1873 Martelo married Josefa de la Maza y Agar (1852-1932), daughter of the Pontevedra diputación president Ramón de la Maza y Quiroga, by her mother Petra de Agar y Roldán related to Conde de Tablada. The coupled lived on numerous family estates, during cold season in their houses in La Coruña, and during summers in the Vimianzo castle. They had 3 children, born between 1874 and 1880; the youngest son died at 2 years of age, while the other two, Dolores and Ramón Martelo y de la Maza Paumán del Nero y Agar, did not become public figures. It was neither the case of his grandchildren; among the great-grandchildren the best known is a lawyer Marcial Martelo de la Maza García. He is also the current holder of marquesado de Almeiras, the title claimed by and confirmed to Martelo in 1920.

Writer

Martelo is best known as a poet. He published 6 volumes: ''Poesías líricas'' (1871, in Spanish), ''Os afiliados do demo'' (1885, in Galician), ''Líricas gallegas'' (1894, in Galician), ''El siglo XX. Cuatro verdades'' (1902, in Spanish), ''Landras e bayas'' (1919, in Galician) and ''Andeiro, poema histórico brigantino da Unión Ibérica'' (1922, in Galician). Since he started writing to periodicals already as a child his earliest poetic contributions might not be identified; his signed writings appeared in local press throughout 40 years, scattered across titles like ''Galicia'', ''Santiago'', '' Follas Novas'', ''Coruña Moderna'', ''Boletín Oficial del Centro Gallego'', ''Revista Gallega'', ''El Ideal Gallego'' or ''El Compostelano''. Martelo fathered also one drama in Galician, ''Rentar de Castromil'', actually staged in La Coruña in 1904, few articles, and 2 juridical