Agustín de Montiano y Luyando

Agustín Gabriel de Montiano y Luyando (Valladolid, February 28, 1697 – November 1, 1764) was a Spanish dramatist whose work is linked to Neoclassicism. He was a member of the Royal Spanish Academy and being also a noted historian, he founded the Real Academia de la Historia in 1735 and became its first director.He was a Secretary of "Cámara de Gracia y Justicia y Estado" , (some sort of Spanish High Court of Justice and King Council).

He was a brother of Manuel de Montiano y Luyando, Lieutenant General of the Royal Spanish Army, a defender in 1738 of the attacks by the English Crown to the FloridaPeninsule, held by the Spaniards since the first half of the XVI Century and later sold to the United States in the XIX Century by the Spanish Crown.

An orphan from both parents in his childhood, he was protected then by his uncle Francisco de Montiano, "Ministro de la Audiencia de Aragón", in Zaragoza, (some sort of High Court of Law for the former Kingdom of Aragón subjects), learning Jurisprudence with famed Ecclesiastical Law and History Blas Antonio Nasarre, but both, uncle and nephew have to abandon the town to go back to Valladolid because of the battles between the would be rulers of Spain during the Spanish Succession War, Felipe V of Spain and the Pretender Archduke Carlos de Austria, but instead of , eventually, seek the protection of the Archbishop of Salamanca, the conquest of Majorca by Felipe V troops led to his uncle being send as a "Presidente de la Audiencia" to Majorca.

While in Majorca, they created some sort of literary academy with the assistance, apparently, of the "Count of Mahon and Colonel of the Dragoon´s Regiment of Edimburgh", (???), writing an Opera in 1719, "La Lira de Orfeo" and a poem in octosyllabes named "El robo de Dina" in 1727.

In 1727, uncle and nephew were appointed residents in Madrid, his uncle being "Fiscal of the Exchequer Council" and later "Fiscal of The High Court of Law". On his uncle death he went to Seville, where, already seriously mentally ill King Felipe V of Spain, was living.

His deep knowledge of Law, French and Italian called the attention of the then powerful PM José Patiño, o (Milano, Italy, April 11, 1666 - November 3, 1736), being promoted to Secretary of the English - Spanish political meetings and truces being discussed there.

In 1734 he married Maria Josefa Manrique, daughter of General Field Marshal Diego Antonio Manrique, close friend of the Queen Consort and in 1735 he was invested in Madrid "Primer Secretario del Despacho Universal de Estado", (something like the Privy Royal Spanish Council), and on 6 March 1737 he became a Member of the Royal Spanish Academy, becoming a Director on 27th April 1738, publishing in 1739, "Cotejo de la Conducta de S. M. con la del Rey Britanico", which could be translated as "A comparison of the behavior of His Majesty against (the behavior) of the British King".

The ailing finances of the Society of History he founded and leaded came in danger of the eventual closing in 1744 as discussed by Montiano himself and, mercifully, on 25th October 1744, the alrady seriously mentally deteriorated King "gave notice" of his Royal Approval.No money was hoiwever available through the Spanish Military Efforts of those years in Poland, England, Austria and Italy, but in July 1745 Montiano was appointed "Perpetual Director of the Academy", for his lifetime and stressing the exceptional circumstames of this "lifetime" appointment, never to be repeated in the future.

Towards those dates he was a firm protector in Madrid of his young nephew Eugenio de Llaguno y Amírola, (Menagaray, Alava, 1724 - ????), later notorious political and intellectual Basque residing in Madrid. See for instance:

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugenio_de_Llaguno_y_Am%C3%ADrola

In 1750 and 1753 he published two books trying to prove that the structural unity of Greek Tragedies have been used consistently by some first rate XVI Centry literary men.

He was elected a member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences of Saint Petersburg, (Rusia), on 29th October 1759 by the President of such Academy Kiril Razumoski, a powerful ancestor of one of Ludwig Van Beethoven, (1770 - 1827), Patrons, Prince Razumovski .

He maintained literary correspondence with Louis Racine, (Paris, November 6, 1692 - January 29, 1763), the second son of the important French dramatist Jean Racine, (December 22, 1639 – April 21, 1699), and with Jean Fitou du Tillet, an author of "The French Parnasse"

References

G. TIRRY y TIRRY, (Marqués de la Cañada) : "Elogio fúnebre de Don Agustín de Montiano", (1765), 27 pages.

"Elogio de Don Agustín de Montiano y Luyando, Primer Director de la Academia de la Historia", leído ante la misma por Don Lorenzo Diéguez y Ramirez de Arellano, Nota: Edición digital a partir de Boletín de la Real Academia de la Historia, tomo 34 (1899), pp. 351-361.

http://descargas.cervantesvirtual.com/servlet/SirveObras/hist/03693874380358562979079/023206.pdf?incr=1

*CANDIDO MARIA TRIGUEROS, "Elogio Histórico de Don Agustín de Montiano y Luyando y Juicio Critico de sus Obras", Memorias de la Academia Sevillana de Buenas Letras, II, (1843), pages 69 - 94.

*F. UHAGON, MARQUÉS de LAURENCÍN :" Don Agustín Montiano y Luyando, primer Director de la Real Academia de la Historia", Madrid, (1926), 369 pages.
*http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agust%C3%ADn_Montiano

Article in Spanish on Montiano y Luyando, Wikipedia .