Agustín Tellería Mendizábal

Agustín Candido Tellería Mendizábal (1884-1939) was a Spanish Basque politician and entrepreneur. Politically he supported the Traditionalist cause, mostly as a Carlist and for some time as a Mellista; since 1933 he was a member of the party provincial executive in Gipuzkoa. He is known chiefly as one of key people behind the anti-Republican conspiracy in the vasco-navarrese area in the spring of 1936; thanks to his position of a businessman and army supplier, he procured arms and munitions for the rebels. In 1937 he was for 5 months the provincial Gipuzkoan leader of the Francoist state party, the FET y de las JONS, but was shortly ousted as a zealous Carlist, non-compliant with the official regime ideology.

Agustín Tellería Mendizábal
Born
Agustín Tellería Mendizábal

1884
Antzuola, Spain
Died1939
Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain
NationalitySpanish
Occupationentrepreneur
Known forconspirator, industrialist
Political partyCarlism

Family and youth
Antzuola, early 20th c.

The Basque family of Tellería was first noted in the Gipuzkoan county of Vergara in the 16th century[1] and parish documents confirm their presence in the town of Antzuola since the early 18th century.[2] The first direct ancestor of Agustín which can be traced is his strictly paternal great-grandfather Silvestre Antonio Tellería Ugalde, married to Clara Ignacia Lascurain Argarate[3] and living in Antzuola in the early 19th century. His son and Agustín’s paternal grandfather, Miguel Ignacio Telleria Lascurain (born 1807),[4] married Maria Oyarzabal Idiazabal.[5] None of the sources consulted provides any information on what they did for a living; the couple settled in their native town and had at least 9 children, born between 1833 and 1854.[6] Their third son and Agustín’s father, Jose Cipriano Telleria Oyarzabal (1849-1938),[7] in 1877 married Micaela Ynurrita Gorosabel;[8] the couple had 2 children, both daughters.[9] Following early death of his wife in 1882,[10] one year later[11] Telleria Oyarzabal re-married with Maria Esteban Mendizábal Elgarresta[12] (died 1913),[13] a girl from the nearby village of Urretxu and descendant to a family which already had been related to the Tellerías.[14]

The couple formed part of the local bourgeoisie. Since the late 18th century Antzuola, though a fairly small town, was a provincial tanning centre. Tellería Oyarzabal owned one of 4 manufactures operational in the municipality and developed it into the most successful one, with branches in other Gipuzkoan locations;[15] it produced belts, footwear, holsters, saddles and other leather goods, mostly for the army.[16] Agustín was born into considerable wealth; it is not clear whether apart from two half-sisters from the first marriage of his father he had any other siblings; sources do not mention any.[17] It is neither known where he commenced education, whether he attended secondary school and whether he entered a university. Because he was later referred to as “farmacéutico” and because his father was running a chemistry-related business, it is likely that Tellería received some sort of chemical education, completed probably in the early 1900s.[18]

José Telleria Legorburu

At unspecified time prior to 1913[19] Tellería wed Maria Legorburu from the nearby Gabiria[20] (died after 1959);[21] close to nothing is known about her family, except that it was of distinguished noble past and that the families had already intermarried.[22] The couple settled in Antzuola and had at least 10 children: Mercedes, Blanca, María Luisa, Vicente, Juan, José, José Joaquín, Agustín, Luis and Ignacio Tellería Legorburu.[23] Like one of his uncles,[24] José served as mayor of Antzuola; he was killed as requeté in 1937.[25] Juan and José Joaquín entered a religious order. The only one who became sort of a public figure was Ignacio, a well-recognized Madrid physician.[26] Among Agustín’s grandchildren the best known is the Tellería Chávarri branch.[27] Isabel as a child briefly became a movie star with her role in El espiritú de la colmena (1973), which turned out to have been her only film.[28] Her sister Alicia is a movie production manager,[29] while María is spokesperson for EU-related human-rights organizations[30] and author.[31]

From Carlista to Mellista
Tirso Olazábal

The Tellería family was of Carlist political sympathies; Agustín's father served as officer in the legitimist ranks during the Third Carlist War, and also following defeat he remained a “modelo de perseverancia en el defensa de un ideal”.[32] Agustín inherited the Traditionalist outlook.[33] Together with the entire family in 1905 he co-signed a homage message, directed to the Pope Pius X and protesting alleged masonic manipulations in France.[34] In the mid-1900s he engaged in the Carlist youth organisation and over time grew to president of the Tolosa branch of Juventud Carlista; it is not clear why he was not active in his native Vergara arm of the structures. In 1908 he was already mingling with party executives in Gipuzkoa, e.g. he entered the committee headed by the provincial jefé Tirso de Olazabal and entrusted with organizing a grand regional Traditionalist rally in Zumarraga.[35] Also in the early 1910s Tellería was noted in the press for various protests in defense of religion and aimed against perceived blasphemous initiatives and incidents.[36]

In the late 1910s Tellería was not recorded either in Traditionalist or religious organizations, and studies on Carlism of the era do not mention his name.[37] At that time the movement was increasingly fragmented due to a conflict between the key theorist, Juan Vázquez de Mella, and the claimant Don Jaime. Most of the Gipuzkoan party leaders tended to side with the former, who advocated a grand ultra-right alliance with dynastic threads played down; Tellería followed the same path.[38] When the crisis erupted during a showdown of early 1919, he joined the rebels – to be known as Mellistas – and broke away. In late 1919 he agreed to represent the emerging new grouping in the race to the Cortes, and was officially reported as standing in the election campaign from the district of San Sebastián.[39] It is not clear whether he eventually withdrew or was defeated, as none of the press titles of the era provided details on the number of votes he could have gathered.

Mellista meeting, around 1920

In the early 1920s the Mellistas tried to build their own organisation, but the process went on slowly with many defections along the way. Tellería was not among the disillusioned. As late as in mid-1923 he was touring Gipuzkoa and spoke at party rallies. He counted among most-recognized provincial party leaders, along Víctor Pradera, Marcelino Oreja and Antonio Pagoaga.[40] Nonetheless, the Primo de Rivera coup brought political life in Spain to the standstill. It seems that Tellería’s party activity ceased; if referred in the press in the mid- and late 1920s, it is only on social columns[41] or in sporting sections, noted as sponsor of rowing teams.[42] He might have been involved in running the family tanning company, especially that his father was already a septuagenarian. However, it is more likely that he engaged in pharmaceutical business, as he was soon to be known as “farmacéutico”;[43] this reference is invoked also in present-day historiographic scientific works, yet it is not clear what it exactly stands for.[44]

From Mellista to Carlista
Carlist standard

Following the fall of Primo Tellería resumed political activity, from the onset oriented towards re-unification of Traditionalist factions: the Jaimistas, the Integristas, and the Mellistas. In early 1930 he animated an assembly in San Sebastián, which called for unity; his voice was heard on the other end of Spain, as in March the new Andalusian Integrist leader Manuel Fal Conde mentioned the Donostia session when launched his own call for “unidad del Tradicionalismo español”.[45] Late in 1930 the Mellista círculo of Antzuola declared that “it was not a procedural matter which separated us from Don Jaime, but rather the question of program ... Time has shown that there was no [Jaimist] attack on Traditionalist principles, which obliges us to re-enter the Jaimist party”.[46] In April 1931, two weeks following birth of the Republic, Tellería signed a joint manifesto calling for a common vasco-navarrese representation, aiming for “reivindicación de nuestras libertades y reconocimíento de nuestra personalidad historica”; other signatories included other traditionalists like Antonio Pagoaga, Julián Elorza, marqués de Las Hormazas and the Baleztena brothers, though there was no Basque nationalist who co-signed.[47] Later during the year he represented the Gipuzkoan Mellistas during a common rally in Pamplona,[48] campaigned with the “Jaungoikoa eta Foruak” slogan[49] and took part in Traditionalist feasts.[50]

In January 1932 Tellería was among key speakers at the grand rally in Pamplona, where re-unification was officially declared.[51] Within the organisation, named Comunión Tradicionalista, Tellería entered the Gipuzkoan executive as representative of the comarca of Vergara.[52] He entered also the broad, 50-member national executive body; as “jefe militar de Vascongadas, Navarra y Rioja” he was responsible for buildup of the Carlist paramilitary organization requeté in the key, vasco-navarrese area.[53] The press reported his frenetic[54] propaganda activity, at times also beyond Gipuzkoa[55] and even beyond Vascongadas,[56] though his paramilitary tasks were carried out in the shadow. However, there were some doubts as to his efficiency. At one point in 1933 the unofficial co-ordinator of nationwide requeté structures, colonel José Varela, relieved Tellería of his duties in Navarre, where Ignacio Baleztena took over.[57]

Antzuola, mid-1930s[58]

In October 1933 Tellería entered Junta Provincial, the Gipuzkoan party executive.[59] Apart from the usual propaganda activities,[60] in 1933 he stood in the province as a Traditionalist candidate for the Cortes;[61] though his 27,614 votes made a decent showing, he failed to make it to the parliament.[62] In 1934-1935 he kept going with his usual duties, at times speaking to large crowds,[63] and writing single pieces to Traditionalist periodicals.[64] In the national party executive, split between cautious followers of the former leader conde Rodezno and adamant supporters of the new jefé Fal Conde, he sided with the latter. While some grumbled about Fal’s iron hand,[65] Tellería publicly supported his stress on “disciplinia y lealtad”.[66]

Conspirator
Guardia Civil, mid-1930s

Following the electoral triumph of Popular Front in February 1936[67] the Carlists were already set towards a violent overthrow of the republican regime. However, the party executive was divided over the strategy to be adopted: Fal and his followers[68] were gearing up for a stand-alone, exclusive Carlist rising, while another group[69] preferred to join the military when they decide to move. Tellería was firmly with the former. Though he held some very vague preliminary talks with PNV on their participation in the plot,[70] his key task was securing the military logistics. As at the time he already owned the family tanning business[71] and was recognized as “hombre de gran solvencia industrial en Guipúzcoa”,[72] he was well suited for the role. As early as in March he engineered a hoax, which sent metalworking products ordered for a bogus Bilbao customer shipped to Belgium, while 17 cases with hundreds of pistols and rifles,[73] produced in the same Eibar plant and destined for Belgium, were delivered to Bilbao.[74] As the Carlist plan envisioned that at one point volunteers disguised as Guardia Civil would take control of key ministry offices in Madrid, Tellería took care of getting the uniforms ready. Also in early March and as official supplier of leather products for the army,[75] he managed to get hundreds[76] of benemerita uniforms, produced on his order in Zaragoza, to be delivered to a Carlist depot in Madrid. The republican security services got wind of the plan and stepped in; it did not take them long to identify Tellería as the key man behind the scheme. He was arrested either in May[77] or in early June;[78] the Carlist plan had to be abandoned.[79]

Tellería as CNT militiaman

Following some shuttling between the arrests in Pamplona and Zaragoza, in late June Tellería was transferred to the Dirección General de Seguridad arrest in Madrid.[80] He claimed non-guilty and maintained that he believed the uniforms were intended for Spanish units in Africa.[81] Moved to the Modelo prison, it is there where he witnessed the July coup. He survived the deadly fire of the prison of August 22-24 and then numerous repeated militia raids, usually ending with extraction of political prisoners and their ultimate execution. When facing a makeshift revolutionary tribunal he posed as a Basque nationalist guilty of petty crimes.[82] The strategy apparently worked, as in late August he was set free. He spent the next 3 months hiding at various friends and relatives in Madrid. He assumed a false identity, made friends with some CNT militiamen, started to pose as one of them and – according to his own account – has even penetrated into their offices. In early November he managed to arrange a travel to Valencia to obtain a passport, which in turn would enable him to return to Vascongadas. The plan worked out[83] and under the name of Múgica[84] Tellería legally crossed to France.[85] He took the train to Saint-Jean-de-Luz, where he saw the Carlist regent, and by mid-November he returned to Antzuola, since late September controlled by the Carlists.[86]

Between Carlism and Francoism
requeté in San Sebastián, 1936

In December 1936 the Fal-led Junta Nacional Carlista de Guerra, the war-time party executive, nominated Tellería one of 2 “inspectores jefe de servicio”, part of the infrastructure supposed to launch the Carlist-only Real Academia Militar de Requetés.[87] He resumed also his pre-war position of the provincial Gipuzkoan party leader.[88] The family Antzuola factory was now working for the Nationalist war machine[89] and in early 1937 he published[90] account of his days in the Republican zone as a booklet, El milagro de Agustín Tellería. De miliciano rojo a soldado de la España Imperial.[91] In March 1937 the Republican court in Bilbao in course of formal proceedings declared Tellería guilty of rebellion and sentenced him to prison;[92] the same ruling was applied to his son, one month earlier killed in action.[93]

Tellería’s position towards mounting Franco’s pressure for Carlist unification with Falange is not entirely clear. One scholar classified him as “carlista posibilista”.[94] However, in late March 1937, during heated internal debates within Carlism, Tellería seemed to side with the intransigent Falcondistas. In course of one of key meetings in Burgos[95] he questioned the legality of Consejo de la Tradición, a body formed by the Rodeznistas as part of their strategy to overpower Fal.[96] Shortly after declaration of the forced unification and watching a joint Carlist-Falangist juvenile parade in San Sebastián, he remarked: “this is shameful. This is intolerable. What is this all about? Tomorrow I go to Salamanca to speak to Rodezno”.[97] He did, and returned excited;[98] he got convinced that the arrested Hedilla conspired against Franco, that with marginalisation of Falange “the moment is ours, entirely ours”, and that the Carlists should seize it and align with the military. This is what he wholeheartedly recommended to the regent, Don Javier.[99]

Tellería on the Northern Front, outskirts of Vergara, 1937

In late April 1937 Tellería was nominated the first provincial Gipuzkoan jefe of the unified Falange Española Tradicionalista. At this role he tried to ignore the Falangists, to pay due respect to the army and to advance Traditionalism as the political cause; when leading preparations to the first anniversary of Nationalist troops taking San Sebastián, he tried to format the gala as an exalted Carlist spectacle. Since alarm signals were sent to Burgos, an “inspector nacional” and “inspector general” of FET arrived at San Sebastián and investigated;[100] in early September Tellería was promptly dismissed, before the anniversary celebrations took place.[101] However, Tellería did not fall out of grace entirely. In October he was allowed a radio speech, already as ex-delegado,[102] and in early 1938 he was confirmed by the military as “inspector de las comisarías de Requetés",[103] now formally under the army command. Little is known of activity at this role.[104] On March 20, 1939 he lost control over his car on a slippery, poorly maintained road in Betoño, near Vitoria; he survived the crash,[105] but perished the following day in a hospital.[106] The funeral was attended by Rodezno, civil and military governors, president of the Alavese diputación and the mayor of San Sebastián.[107]

See also

Footnotes
  1. Tellería entry, [in:] Heraldry Institute service, available here
  2. the first Tellería noted in the parish documents appears in 1716, see Tellería/Antzuola baptism certificates, [in:] Donostiako Elizbarrutiko Artxibo Historikoa service, available here
  3. Manuel Ygnacio, Telleria, Lascurain entry, [in:] Donostiako Elizbarrutiko Artxibo Historikoa service, available here
  4. Partida de Bautismo de Miguel Ygnacio Tellería Lascurain, [in:] Donostiako Elizbarrutiko Artxibo Historikoa service, available here
  5. Partida de Bautismo de Jose Cipriano Telleria Oyarzabal, [in:] Donostiako Elizbarrutiko Artxibo Historikoa service, available here
  6. the first one listed, Agapita María Tellería Oyarzabal, was born in 1833; the last one listed, Agustín Rufino Tellería Oyarzabal, was born 1854; see baptism certificates of Tellería Oyarzabal/Oiarzabal, [in:] Donostiako Elizbarrutiko Artxibo Historikoa service, available here
  7. Kepa Oliden Arrasate, Antzuola, un pueblo de zurradores, [in:] El Diario Vasco 31.03.13, available here
  8. Partida de Matrimonio de Jose Cipriano Telleria Oyarzabal con Micaela Ynurrita Gorosabel, [in:] Donostiako Elizbarrutiko Artxibo Historikoa service, available here
  9. see baptism certificates of María Josefa Telleria Ynurrita (1878) and Juana María Telleria Ynurrita (1880), [in:] Donostiako Elizbarrutiko Artxibo Historikoa service, available here
  10. Partide de Defunción de Micaela Ynurrita Gorosabel, [in:] Donostiako Elizbarrutiko Artxibo Historikoa service, available here
  11. Partida de Matrimonio de Jose Cipriano Telleria Oyarzabal con Maria Esteban Mendizabal Elgarresta, [in:] Donostiako Elizbarrutiko Artxibo Historikoa service, available here
  12. Partida de Bautismo de Agustin Candido Telleria Mendizabal, [in:] Donostiako Elizbarrutiko Artxibo Historikoa service, available here
  13. El Correo Español 23.08.13, available here
  14. the Tellerias and the Mendizabals from Gabiria and Segura used to intermarry since the late 18th century, see baptism certificates for Telleria Mendizabal, [in:] Donostiako Elizbarrutiko Artxibo Historikoa service, available here
  15. as part of their business the Tellerías operated also a tanning manufacture in Deba, a shoe factory in Bergara, and a trimmings workshop in Vitoria, Oliden Arrasate 2013
  16. Oliden Arrasate 2013
  17. parish documents indicate that in the 1880s there were 2 Tellería Mendizábal children born in the nearby village of Mutiloa, but it is not clear whether there was any relationship. No source has indicated Agustín Tellería Mendizabal had any siblings; notes from his funeral and press obituaries mention only his wife and children
  18. for references to Tellería's pharmaceutical engagements see José Luis de la Granja Sainz, Nacionalismo y II República en el País Vasco: Estatutos de autonomía, partidos y elecciones. Historia de Acción Nacionalista Vasca, 1930-1936, Madrid 2009, ISBN 9788432315138, p. 429; Roberto Villa García, Las elecciones de 1933 en el País Vasco y Navarra, Madrid 2007, ISBN 9788498491159, p. 71
  19. their son, José Tellería Legorburu, was born in 1913, see obituary of José Tellería Legorburu, [in:] Iñigo Ramirez de Okariz Tellería, Irinmodo blogs, 14.09.19, available here
  20. Pensamiento Alaves 24.03.39, available here
  21. ABC 16.09.59, available here
  22. the Tellerias and the Legorburu’s from Gabiria had intermarried in the early 19th century, see e.g. José Agustín Tellería Legorburu entry, [in:] Geni genealogical service, available here
  23. Pensamiento Alaves 24.03.39, available here
  24. in the early 1920s one of his uncles, Agustín Tellería, was alcalde of Antzuola, Iñigo Ramirez de Okariz Tellería, Irinmodo blog, 08.11.14, available here
  25. Oliden Arrasate 2013
  26. Hoja Oficial de Lunes 04.08.69, available here, also ABC 26.01.82, available here
  27. Ignacio Tellería Legorburu married Alicia Chávarri de la Mora, sister to a filmmaker and director Jaime Chavarri de le Mora, see e.g. Alicia Chávarri de la Mora entry, [in:] Geneanet genealogical service, available here
  28. Isabel Tellería entry, [in:] IMDB service, available here
  29. Alicia Telleria entry, [in:] IMDB service, available here
  30. María Tellería Chavarri profile, [in:] LinkedIn service, available here
  31. compare María Tellería Chavarri, Medios de comunicación al servicio del poder, Madrid 2005, ISBN 9788493455217
  32. Pensamiento Alaves 30.12.37, available here
  33. however, the Tellería family, branched as it was, favored various political options. In the summer of 1936, when Basques were taking sides either for and against the Republic, the Tellerías found themselves on both sides, see Juan Ramón Garaik, Josu Murgizu, 1936ko Gerra Bergaran, Bergara 2015
  34. El Correo Español 25.10.05, available here
  35. La Bandera Ragional 18.07.08, available here
  36. El Correo Español 30.03.11, available here
  37. a detailed work on Carlism of the early 20th century does not mention Tellería a single time, see Agustín Fernández Escudero, El marqués de Cerralbo (1845-1922): biografía politica [PhD thesis Complutense], Madrid 2012
  38. however, he was not a major protagonist of the conflict. A detailed study on the Mellista breakup does not list him a single time, see Juan Ramón de Andrés Martín, El cisma mellista. Historia de una ambición política, Madrid 2000, ISBN 9788487863820
  39. Heraldo de Madrid 25.05.19, available here, also El Sol 26.05.19, available here
  40. Heraldo Alaves 27.07.23, available here
  41. Heraldo Alaves 22.08.22, available here
  42. La Unión Ilustrada 06.06.26, available here, La Unión Ilustrada 08.09.27, available here
  43. El Cruzado Español 19.12.30, available here
  44. Granja Sainz 2009, p. 429, Villa García 2007, p. 71
  45. Ana Marín Fidalgo, Manuel M. Burgueño, In memoriam. Manuel J. Fal Conde (1894-1975), Sevilla 1980, p. 24
  46. El Cruzado Español 19.12.30, available here
  47. La Epoca 25.04.31, available here
  48. Jordi Canal, El carlismo, Madrid 2000, ISBN 8420639478, p. 293, Antonio M. Moral Roncal, La cuestión religiosa en la Segunda República Española: Iglesia y carlismo, Madrid 2009, ISBN 9788497429054, p. 50
  49. El Cruzado Español 11.09.31, available here. There is nothing known about Tellería's position on the question of Basque or Basque-Navarrese autonomy, and he is not listed in any major work discussing the issue, compare Jaime Ignacio del Burgo, La Epopeya de la Foralidad Vasca y Navarra. Principio y fin de la cuestión foral (1812-1982), s.l. 2015, ISBN 9788494503702, or Idoia Estornés Zubizarreta, La contrucción de una nacionalidad vasca. El Autonomismo de Eusko-Ikaskuntza (1918-1931) [extraordinary issue # 14 of Vasconia: Cuadernos de historia – geografía], Donostia 1990. During the 1933 elections he declared: "si católico y vasco fueran términos antagónicos, renunciaríamos sin titubear a nuestra condición de vascos, porque es para nosotros antes nuestro catolicismo", quoted after José Antonio Rodríguez Ranz, Guipúzcoa y San Sebastián en las elecciones de la II República, Donostia 1994, ISBN 9788471732293, p. 251
  50. El Cruzado Español 27.11.31, available here
  51. Leandro Alvarez Rey, La derecha en la II República: Sevilla, 1931-1936, Sevilla 1993, ISBN 9788447201525, p. 142, Robert Vallverdú i Martí, El carlisme català durant la Segona República Espanyola 1931-1936, Barcelona 2008, ISBN 9788478260805, p. 96
  52. El Cruzado Español 08.01.32, available here
  53. Moral Roncal 2009, p. 78
  54. in 1932 Tellería was already referred to as “infatigable propagandista” of the cause, El Cruzado Español 22.01.32, available here; in December 1932 he spoke in Tolosa, El Siglo Futuro 13.12.32, available here; in June 1933 June he was in a committee which organized a grand Zumarraga rally, El Siglo Futuro 07.06.33, available here
  55. for Bilbao see Pensamiento Alaves 13.03.33, available here
  56. for the Navarrese Escoriaza see Pensamiento Alaves 03.05.33, available here
  57. Javier Baleztena Abarrategui, Jefé de requetés de Navarra en 1933, [in:] Premín de Iruna blog 15.02.12, available here
  58. the photo, taken in 1934, shows a local Antzuola feast celebrating a medieval Battle of Valdejunquera, supposed to have taken place nearby (exact location has never been identified). Note easy access to firearms, as all males pictured are equipped with double-barreled shotguns
  59. Pensamiento Alaves 06.10.33, available here
  60. for Lesaca, November 1933 see La Nación 06.11.33, available here
  61. Granja Sanz 2009, p. 429
  62. El Siglo Futuro 21.11.33, available here; Ramiro Maeztu, who stood in the same district, got elected with mere 22,320 votes, see Maeztu Whitney, Ramiro de entry, [in:] official Cortes service, available here
  63. e.g. in June 1934 in Oñate Tellería spoke before a 10,000 crowd, Tradición 01.07.34, available here
  64. in 1934 Tellería wrote an editorial to Euskalerria, a short-lived Carlist periodical, El Siglo Futuro 07.06.34, available here
  65. Martin Blinkhorn, Carlism and Crisis in Spain 1931-1939, Cambridge 1975, ISBN 9780521207294, pp. 119-140
  66. El Siglo Futuro 09.08.35, available here
  67. Telleria did not stand in the 1936 elections; in Gipuzkoa the Carlists were represented by Jose Mugica, Antonio Pagoaga and Ricardo Oreja. All of them failed
  68. including Zamanillo, Martínez Berasáin, Sivatte, Zuazola, Roma and Bru, Mercedes Peñalba Sotorrío, Entre la boina roja y la camisa azul, Estella 2013, ISBN 9788423533657, p. 18
  69. including Rodezno, Pradera, Oriol, Olazabal, Tejera, Martínez de MorentIn, Arellano, Valiente, and Arauz de Robles, Peñalba Sotorrío 2013, p. 18
  70. Manuel Ferrer Muñoz, Carlismo y violencia en la II República. 1931-36: la organización del Requeté vasco-navarro, [in:] Sociedad Benéfica de Historiadores Aficionados y Creadores service, available here
  71. Oliden Arrasate 2013
  72. La Libertad 10.06.36, available here
  73. according to findings of the official investigation, launched in 1937 by the autonomous Basque authorities, Tellería had arranged for hundreds of pistols and rifles to be provided for the Carlist conspirators, see documents reproduced in Iñigo Ramirez de Okariz Tellería’s Irinmodo blogspot, available here
  74. Antonio Lizarza, Memorias de la conspiración, [in:] Navarra fue la primera, Pamplona 2006, ISBN 8493508187, pp. 53-54, Blinkhorn 1975, p. 223
  75. ABC 10.06.36, available here
  76. according to some sources the police unearthed some 100 uniforms, ABC 10.06.36, available here. According to other source, there were some 300 uniforms procured, Josep Carles Clemente, Ultima intervista con Fal Conde, available here
  77. Pedro Barruso, Verano y revolución. La guerra civil en Gipuzkoa, [in:] Gipuzkoakultura service, available here; May is given as the date of arrest in the official court document, reproduced in Iñigo Ramirez de Okariz Tellería’s Irinmodo blogspot, available here
  78. El Milagro de Agustín Tellería (1937), reproduced at Iñigo Ramirez de Okariz Tellería’s Irinmodo blogspot, available here
  79. Blinkhorn 1975, p. 240
  80. a contemporary blog quotes a Carlist publication Boletín de Orientación Tradicionalista, dated July 12, 1936, which reportedly contained Telleria's appeal to the youth, see Actos religiosos del 19 de julio de 2011, [in:] El Irrintzi blog 17.07.11, available here. The episode is unclear, as in July 1936 Telleria was in the Madrid prison
  81. La Unión 14.11.36, available here
  82. though Tellería was aware that the Modelo prison authorities have access to his police file, which described him as “Agustín Tellería Mendizábal: peligroso tradicionalista”, Pensamiento Alaves 10.11.36, available here
  83. when already in Barcelona on his way to France, Tellería unexpectedly found that he had to get his passport – issued by the official republican Ministry of Interior - authorised by Generalitat; he obtained the necessary approvals with the next few hours
  84. his distant relatives from the Vergara county were named Múgica
  85. La Unión 14.11.36, available here
  86. Tellería’s story was immediately publicized by the Nationalist press, the first account identified published on November 10, 1936, Pensamiento Alaves 10.11.36, available here
  87. Juan Carlos Peñas Bernaldo de Quirós, El Carlismo, la República y la Guerra Civil (1936-1937). De la conspiración a la unificación, Madrid 1996, ISBN 8487863523, pp. 236-237
  88. Javier Ugarte Tellería, El carlismo en la guerra del 36: la formación de un cuasi-estado nacional-corporativo y foral en la zona vasco-navarra, [in:] Historia Contemporanea 38 (2009), p. 72
  89. Oliden Arrasate 2013
  90. the text was reportedly written in December 1936. The narrative is in first person singular, but it is not clear whether Tellería wrote the booklet himself or there was any ghost-writer involved, especially that he had some friends who specialized in letters, the best known one Eladio Espartza, the longtime editor of La Voz de Navarra, Ugarte Tellería 2009, p. 74
  91. see El Milagro de Agustín Tellería (1937), reproduced in full at Iñigo Ramirez de Okariz Tellería’s Irinmodo blogspot, available here
  92. the proceedings were concluded in absence of the defendant; at the time Bilbao was in the Republican zone, while Tellería since early November 1936 resided in the Nationalist one
  93. Ramirez de Okariz Tellería, Gerra zbila (eta IV): Agustín Tellería eta antzuolako “Círculo Carlista”, [in:] Irinmodo blog, 14.09.19, available here, also Ramirez de Okariz Tellería, Gerra zbila (I): Agustín Tellería eta antzuolako “Círculo Carlista”, [in:] Irinmodo blog 25.08.19, available here
  94. Ugarte Tellería 2009, p. 72
  95. Tellería was not present during two other key Carlist meetings when unification was discussed, namely these in Insua and in Pamplona. Though member of the broad party leadership, apparently Tellería did not form part of the compact decision-making executive, compare Peñas Bernaldo de Quirós 1996, pp. 252-280
  96. Peñas Bernaldo de Quirós 1996, p. 255
  97. ”esto es una vergüenza. Es algo intolerable.¿Qué os parece? Mañana mismo salgo para Salamanca. Me va a oír Rodezno”, quoted after Felix Luengo Teixidor, La formación del poder local franquista en Guipúzcoa (1937-1945), [in:] Boletín Instituto Gerónimo de Uztáriz 4 (1990), p. 87
  98. upon return, Tellería told del Burgo: “ven un día a verme .. te contaré muchas cosas”. Del Burgo claimed that Tellería had never explained anything to him, and suggested that Tellería got sort of sold out to Francoism, Luengo Teixidor 1990, p. 87
  99. in a letter dated April 28, 1937 and directed to the regent Don Javier, Tellería wrote: “he vuelto de Salamanca completamente nuevo, y después de lo que he visto y me he informado, estoy convencido de que lo que parecía definitivamente perdido, puede estar muy prosto definitivamente ganado”. Then he went on to explain that Falangists were conspiring to stage a coup, and this is why Hedilla had been arrested; the falangistas allegedly lost any trust of the military, who started to appreciate “proverbial caballerosidad y la no discutida lealtad carlista”. Tellería concludes by stressing that “el momento es nuestro, completamente nuestro”, and that they way forwads is for Don Javier and Manuel Fal Conde to get closely aligned to Franco and seize the moment to ensure Traditionalist domination, Peñalba Sotorrío 2013, pp. 57-58, 133
  100. Luengo Teixidor 1990, p. 87
  101. Tellería was replaced by Julio Muñoz Aguilar. However, the anniversary celebrations, staged in San Sebastián, ended with anti-Falangist demonstrations anyway; the Carlist participants shouted vivas to their king and to Fal Conde, Iñaki Fernández Redondo, La fallida conquista del estado. Falange y el establecimiento de FET y de las JONS (1939-1973), [in:] Damián A. González, Manuel Ortiz Heras, Juan Sisinio Pérez Garzón (eds.), La Historia, lost in Translation? Actas del XIII Congreso de la Asociación de Historia Contemporánea, Albacete 2016, ISBN 9788490442654, p. 3558
  102. Pensamiento Alaves 13.10.37, available here
  103. Labor 10.03.38, available here
  104. it appears that Tellería did not participate in combat, as he is not mentioned (save for the 1936 Guardia Civil incident) in two massive volumes dedicated to requetés during the civil war, compare Pablo Larraz Andía, Víctor Sierra-Sesúmaga Ariznabarreta, Requetés: de las trincheras al olvido, Madrid 2011, ISBN 9788499700465, and Julio Aróstegui, Combatientes Requetés en la Guerra Civil española, 1936-1939, Madrid 2013, ISBN 9788499709758
  105. Tellería was travelling with his wife. The car slipped, crashed violently and caught fire. While Tellería got mortally injured, his wife was not gravely harmed, Pensamiento Alaves 21.03.39, available here
  106. Rodezno rushed from Burgos to visit Tellería in the hospital and apparently was on time to see him alive, Pensamiento Alaves 21.03.39, available here, El Día de Palencia 22.03.39, available here
  107. ABC 26.03.39, available here

Further reading
  • Juan Ramón Garaik, Josu Murgizu, 1936ko Gerra Bergaran, Bergara 2015
  • Felix Luengo Teixidor, La formación del poder local franquista en Guipúzcoa (1937-1945), [in:] Boletín Instituto Gerónimo de Uztáriz 4 (1990), pp. 83-95
  • El Milagro de Agustín Tellería. De miliciano rojo a soldado de la España Imperial, Burgos 1937
  • Javier Ugarte Tellería, El carlismo en la guerra del 36: la formación de un cuasi-estado nacional-corporativo y foral en la zona vasco-navarra, [in:] Historia Contemporanea 38 (2009), pp. 49-87
early Francoism in Antzuola
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