Víctor Balaguer i Cirera (; 11 December 1824 – 14 January 1901) was a Spanish politician and author, was born at

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

(

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a '' nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the nort ...

, Spain) on 11 December 1824, and was educated at the university of his native city.

Biography

His first dramatic essay, ''Pepín el jorobado'', was placed on the Barcelona stage when he was fourteen years of age, and at nineteen he was publicly "crowned" after the production of his second play, ''Don Enrique el Dadivoso''. From 1843 to 1868 he was the chief of the Liberal party in Barcelona, and as proprietor and editor of ''El Conseller'' did much to promote the growth of Catalan patriotism. But it was not till 1857 that he wrote his first poem in Catalan--a copy of verses to the Virgin of Montserrat. He was the author of ''Historia de Cataluña y de la Corona de Aragón'' in 5 volumes (Barcelona: Salvador Manero, 1860–63). Henceforward he frequently adopted the pseudonym of "Lo Trovador de Montserrat"; in 1859 he helped to restore the "

Jocs Florals Floral Games were any of a series of historically related poetry contests with floral prizes. In Occitan, their original language, and Catalan they are known as '' Jocs florals'' (; modern Occitan: ''Jòcs florals'' , or ''floraus'' ). In French ...

", and in 1861 was proclaimed ''mestre en gay saber''. He was removed to

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

, took a prominent part in political life, and in 1867 emigrated to

Provence Provence (, , , , ; oc, Provença or ''Prouvènço'' , ) is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the Italian border to the east; it is bor ...

. On the expulsion of Queen

Isabella II of Spain Isabella II ( es, Isabel II; 10 October 1830 – 9 April 1904), was Queen of Spain from 29 September 1833 until 30 September 1868. Shortly before her birth, the King Ferdinand VII of Spain issued a Pragmatic Sanction to ensure the successi ...

, he returned to Spain, represented Manresa in the Cortes, and in 1871—1872 was successively Overseas and Finance minister. He resigned office at the restoration, but finally followed his party in rallying to the dynasty; he was appointed vice-president of Congress, and was subsequently a senator. He died at

on 14 January 1901.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Balaguer, Victor 1824 births 1901 deaths Politicians from Barcelona Liberal Party (Spain, 1880) politicians Members of the Congress of Deputies (Spain) Members of the Congress of Deputies of the Spanish Restoration Members of the Senate of Spain Spanish male writers Renaixença writers Members of the Royal Spanish Academy Overseas ministers of Spain Government ministers during the First Spanish Republic

Biography

See also

References