Gregorio Alonso: "The Bonfire of the Vanities. London, Hispanic exiles and the Imperial Race"

During the reign of Ferdinand VII (1808-1833) more than a thousand families moved to England fleeing the absolutist repression unleashed both in 1814 and 1823. The second wave was more numerous and included prominent figures such as Antonio Alcalá Galiano, Agustín Argüelles, José Joaquín de Mora and the brothers Lorenzo and José Joaquín Villanueva, who was the librarian of the Spanish Court. Despite the presence of these members of the elite, they also found among them common people, teachers, actors and bullfighters, who ran different fates.

Between 1808 and 1815 writers such as José Blanco White or the economist Álvaro Flórez Estrada also settled in the capital of the United Kingdom. His close relations with the agents sent by the insurgent leaders of the Latin American territories rebelled against Spanish rule, as well as with English parliamentarians of the Whig party like Lord Holland, have attracted the attention of historians, cultural analysts and philologists.

The professor of Spanish History of the University of Leeds Gregorio Alonso will address in his lecture the phenomenon of the Hispanic liberal exile, and not only Spanish; will contextualize the case by referring to the groups of Italian, Greek and French exiles with whom they lived in the London of the 1820s; and will make reference to some of its cultural activities, publishing companies and political initiatives both in Spain and in the American continent.

The talk will be in English language.

After the presentation by Gregorio Alonso there will be a reception with wine in the entrance area of ​​the Rupert Beckett Lecture Theatre in the Michael Sadler Building of the University of Leeds.