El equipaje del Rey José - Facts

 The book is set in 1813. In the first chapter the French are ready to leave Madrid and King Joseph returns to France. The French evacuated Madrid in March 1813. Facing a powerful offensive led by the Duke of Wellington, King Joseph Bonaparte abandoned the capital—taking the city’s royal treasury and extensive plundered wealth—and made his final retreat.

The novel mentions Jourdan as one of the leading men. Jean-Baptiste Jourdan (29 April 1762 – 23 November 1833), was a French military commander who served during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. He was made a Marshal of the Empire by Emperor Napoleon I in 1804. He was also a Jacobin politician during the Directory phase of the French Revolution, serving as member of the Council of Five Hundred between 1797 and 1799. Repeatedly outmaneuvering the French, the Anglo-Allied army forced Joseph and Jourdan to fight at the Battle of Vitoria on 21 June 1813, during which his marshal's baton was captured by the British.

Salvador is a young man who is on the side of the French army. The afrancesado military personnel were Spanish army officers who collaborated with King Joseph I Bonaparte and the Napoleonic troops during the Peninsular War (1808–1814). Although the majority fought against the invasion, a faction of enlightened officers and high-ranking commanders swore allegiance to the new French regime.  Many believed that the Napoleonic government would bring the modernization and enlightened ideas that Spain needed. Following the military occupation, numerous officers were considered juramentados after accepting the new order to avoid reprisals or administrative collapse.

Salvador travels with his unit and stops at Puebla de Arganzón, where he has lived most of his life. La Puebla de Arganzón  is a municipality located in the province of Burgos. La Puebla de Arganzón and the adjacent municipality of Condado de Treviño together constitute the enclave of Treviño, part of the territory of Burgos, surrounded by the Basque province of Álava.

His mother is from Pipaón. Pipaón  is a hamlet and concejo in the municipality of Lagrán, Álava.

When Fernando Garrote and D Aparicio are arrested, they are taken to Ariñez. Aríñez is a hamlet and concejo in the municipality of Vitoria-Gasteiz, in Álava province.

The characters mention the Battle of Vitoria, which is the last battle before the French leave Spain. At the Battle of Vitoria (21 June 1813), a British, Portuguese and Spanish army under the Marquess of Wellington broke the French army under King Joseph Bonaparte and Marshal Jean-Baptiste Jourdan near Vitoria in Spain, eventually leading to victory in the Peninsular War. Many British soldiers turned aside to plunder the abandoned French wagons, containing "the loot of a kingdom". It is estimated that more than £1 million of booty (perhaps £100 million in modern equivalent) was seized.

The book mentions that General Maucune took some works of art, but they were recovered three years later. During the Peninsular War, French generals and marshals, including General Antoine-Louis Maucune, looted thousands of Spanish masterpieces. While many generals like Soult stole art for themselves, Maucune’s troops are historically noted for escorting a massive portion of the Crown's looted royal art toward Paris, successfully bypassing British troops at the time. A large amount of this stolen Spanish heritage ultimately ended up in France. However, after the fall of Napoleon, Spanish diplomat Miguel Ricardo de Álava actively led the retrieval of many plundered masterpieces, forcing their return to Spain where they are housed in institutions like the Museo del Prado.