Cádiz - Facts

 

The book starts in February 1810.

When Amaranta mentions Lord Gray to Gabriel, he says that he is a friend of Lord Byron, but the latter has gone to Levante. From 1809 to 1811, Byron went on the Grand Tour, then a customary part of the education of young noblemen. In Spain he travelled to Seville, Jerez de la Frontera, Cádiz, and Gibraltar.

Doña María holds soirees that many important men attend. One is the poet, Manuel Quintana. Manuel José Quintana y Lorenzo (April 11, 1772 - March 11, 1857), was a Spanish poet and man of letters.

Another poet was Beña. Cristóbal de Beña (Madrid, 1777 - 1833) was a Spanish poet. He helped in the drafting of the constitution in Cadiz in 1812 and wrote in the Cadiz newspaper "Tertulia Patriotica".  

Another regular was Pablo de Xerica. Pablo de Jérica (1781–1841) was a Spanish writer and journalist. In 1804 he printed his Humorous stories in different Castilian meters (Valencia, 1804) and moved to Cadiz to run the family business. There he created a dramatic translation of Picard's The puppets, or what can interest from the French (Cadiz, Quintana printing press, 1807), and learned Italian, English and Portuguese.

Don Francisco Martínez de la Rosa also attended the soirees. Francisco de Paula Martínez de la Rosa y Cornejo (March 10, 1787 – February 7, 1862) was a Spanish statesman and dramatist and the first prime minister of Spain to receive the title of President of the Council of Ministers. During the struggle against Napoleon he took the patriotic side, was elected deputy, and at Cadiz produced his first play, Lo que puede un empleo, a prose comedy in the manner of the younger Leandro Fernández de Moratín. La Viuda de Padilia (1814), a tragedy modelled upon Alfieri, was less acceptable to the Spanish public.

Gabriel is in the unit that Mariano Renovales leads. Francisco Mariano Renovales Rebollar Santelices y Mollinedo (Arcentales, Vizcaya, 30 July 1774 – La Habana, 21 May 1820) was a nobleman and Spanish army officer who had an oustanding role in the Independence War. 

On 24 September 1810 the parliament opened at the Cortes Theatre in San Fernando. The General and Extraordinary Cortes that met in the port of Cádiz starting 24 September 1810 "claimed legitimacy as the sole representative of Spanish sovereignty", following the French invasion and occupation of Spain during the Napoleonic Wars and the abdication of the monarch Ferdinand VII and his father Charles IV. When the Cortes convened for the first time on 24 September 1810, 104 deputies were present, 30 representing overseas territories.

Gabriel attends the opening and he mentions the people who he sees as part of the parliament. 

Juan Nicasio Gallego was a Spanish priest and poet. He was born in Zamora, Spain, 14 December 1777, and died in Madrid, 9 January 1853. With intensified liberal tendencies, Gallego presented himself for election and was returned a deputy to the Cortes Generales. 

Antonio de Capmany y Montpalau (24 November 1742 – Cadiz, Andalusia, 14 November 1813) was a Spanish polygraph. He was elected deputy for the Principality of Catalonia in the Cortes of Cádiz, one of 51 deputies of Catalonia in that Constituent Assembly.

Agustín Argüelles (18 August 1776 in Ribadesella, Asturias – 26 March 1844 in Madrid) was a Spanish liberal politician. In 1809, he was appointed secretary of the patriotic Royal Junta of the Treasury and Legislation. He was a member of the Cortes of Cádiz and was selected for the Constitutional commission, playing thus a key role in the drafting of the Constitution of 1812. 

José Mejía Lequerica (Quito, 24 May 1775-Cádiz, 27 October 1813) was a Peruvian politician of Spanish origin, who had an outstanding role as a depty in the Cortes of Cadiz.

Francisco Javier Borrull y Vilanova (Valencia, 1745-1838) was a Spanish writer and politician, who was elected deputy for Valencia in the Cortes of Cadiz. 

Diego Muñoz-Torrero y Ramírez-Moyano (Cabeza del Buey, January 21, 1761 - Oeiras e São Julião da Barra, March 16, 1829) was a Spanish priest, professor, and politician who played a prominent role in the drafting of the Spanish Constitution of 1812. As a deputy in the Cortes of Cádiz, he was the main architect behind the end of the Spanish Inquisition and one of the strongest advocates for freedom of the press.

Manuel Mateo Luxán y Ruiz (Castuera, 1770-Cádiz, 1813) was a Spanish politician. He was elected to serve as the first secretary of the Constituent Cortes of Cádiz.

Ramón Lázaro de Dou y de Bassols (February 11, 1742 – December 14, 1832) was a Spanish professor and priest who was the first President of the Congress of Deputies after being elected by the majority of the Cortes of Cádiz. Lázaro was member of the Cortes representing the Principality of Catalonia from September 19, 1810, to January 15, 1814. He was noted for his pioneering work in the systematization of administrative law.

Gabriel mentions the regents.

Francisco Javier Castaños Aragorri, 1st Duke of Bailén (24 September 1758 – 22 April 1852) was a Spanish Army officer and politician who served in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. He presided over the Regency Council of Spain and the Indies (de facto head of state), in 1810. 

Francisco Saavedra de Sangronis (1746–1819) was a Spanish government official and soldier. He was designated as Regent of the Kingdom during the French occupation. 

Antonio de Escaño y García de Cáceres (Cartagena, Murcia, 1750 - Cádiz, 12 July 1814) was a Spanish military officer and government official. He served in several naval battles including the Battle of Trafalgar. He was Spain's Minister of the Navy and a member of the Council of Regency.  In 1810 he was elected to be a member of the Council of Regency of Spain and the Indies. When this body resigned after the convening of the Cortes of Cádiz, he was the only member who was authorized to continue to reside in the city and became a member of the Cortes which developed the Spanish Constitution of 1812.

Miguel de Lardizábal y Uribe (Tepetitla de Lardizábal, Tlaxcala, Nueva España, 24 January 1744 - Bilbao, 29 January 1823) was elected to be a member of the Council of Regency of Spain.

There were some deputies who were hostile to the constitution. 

Blas Gregorio Ostolaza y Ríos (Trujillo, Peru, 1771 - Valencia, 1835) was a Spanish ecclesiastic and politician with absolutist tendencies.

Joaquín Tenreiro Montenegro y de la Hoz was a Spanish aristocrat and politician, the first Count of Vigo, Viscount of Bañobre, Militia Colonel, and Deputy for Santiago in the Cortes of Cádiz in 1810.

Gabriel mentions that Ancha Street in Cadiz was the place where everybody went. 

The characters mention Francisca Larrea, wife of Bohl de Faber, who also held important soirees. Francisca Javiera Ruiz de Larrea y Aherán (1775–1838), better known as Frasquita Larrea, was a Spanish writer who largely influenced the famous romantic gatherings "del Cádiz de las Cortes".

At the end of the book Gabriel is a wanted man, and Don Juan María Villavicencio wants to arrest him. Juan María Villavicencio y de la Serna (Medina Sidonia, February 22, 1755 - Madrid, April 25, 1830) was a Spanish military officer and politician, who served as the political and military governor of Cádiz and as Captain General of the Spanish Navy.

Tadeo Calomarde is a man Gabriel meets at Doña Maria's. Francisco Tadeo Calomarde y Arría, 1st Duke of Santa Isabel (10 February 1773 – 19 June 1842) was a Spanish statesman.

The girls often lied and said that they had gone to Carmen Descalzo church. 

When Gabriel and Ines have to flee, it is when the Constitution is passed. The Political Constitution of the Spanish Monarchy (Spanish: Constitución Política de la Monarquía Española), also known as the Constitution of Cádiz (Spanish: Constitución de Cádiz) and nicknamed La Pepa, was the first Constitution of Spain and one of the earliest codified constitutions in world history. The Constitution was ratified on 19 March 1812 by the Cortes of Cádiz, the first Spanish legislature that included delegates from the entire nation and its possessions, including Spanish America and the Philippines.