Antonio Maura

Maura was born in Palma on island of Mallorca. Maura studied law in Madrid.[1] In 1878, Maura married Constancia Gamazo y Calvo, sister of Germán Gamazo. They had several sons and a daughter together, many of whom have been prominent in Spanish and European history.

He entered the Cortes Generales in 1881 as a liberal delegate for Majorca, but later joined the Conservative Party. In 1886 Maura was elected as vice president of the Congress of Deputies.

As prime minister, he created the Spanish Institute of Provision and he attempted to carry out a reform plan, but this was opposed by the liberals. He fell from power after his suppression of an uprising in Barcelona in 1909, called the Tragic Week. The execution of Francisco Ferrer, who was charged with leading the Tragic Week uprising, provoked a European-wide outcry which contributed to Maura's downfall.

Maura was a hero of a youth movement, the Mauristas, who wanted him as a new head of state of Spain at a time of substantial resentment of King Alfonso XIII. This and Maura's ambition caused him to fall out with the King. Maura later headed coalition cabinets with other parties (1918, 1919, 1921–22), but he did nothing to advance unconstitutional methods. Many of his followers later supported the dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera, but he remained aloof from both Primo de Rivera and King Alfonso XIII. Maura had first entered the political arena to fight the "caciquismo" culture, which he considered a cancer of Spanish political culture and the main obstacle towards authentically democratic institutions.

When he was Prime Minister during the reign of Alfonso XIII, he spent summers at the estate of Can Mossenya, historically part of the Valldemossa Charterhouse in Mallorca. Chopin and George Sand had stayed there in the previous century. Azorín traveled from the continent to meet Maura there.[2] Maura became a prolific watercolorist, often painting scenes of nature or old buildings from past eras.

He died in Torrelodones, Madrid, in 1925. The International Foundation Can Mossenya named an entrance to its historic estate the "Gate of Friendship – Azorín and Maura" after the men's encounter.[3]

• Gabriel Maura y Gamazo (son) – historian and Minister of Labour
• Honorio Maura y Gamazo – playwright and monarchist deputy, killed by leftist militia in 1936
• Miguel Maura y Gamazo (son) – Minister of Security
• Susana Maura y Gamazo (mother of Jorge and Carlos Semprún)
• Constancia de la Mora Maura (granddaughter) – writer, Foreign Press Officer (Spanish Republic)
• Jorge Semprún y Maura (grandson) – writer, communist and Minister of Culture
• Carlos Semprún y Maura grandson) – writer and journalist
• Jaime Semprún (great-grandson) – writer
• Ricardo Semprún (great-grandson) – diplomat
• Pablo Semprún (great-grandson) – professional paddle tennis player
• Luisa Isabel Álvarez (great-granddaughter)
• Jaime Chávarri y de la Mora (great-grandson) – film director

• History of Spain
• Politics of Spain
• Prime Minister of Spain

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Antoni Maura.

• International Foundation Can Mossenya – Friends of Jorge Luis Borges
• Newspaper clippings about Antonio Maura in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW