Historiography on Carlism during the Francoist era
During 40 years of post-Francoist Spain there have been some 200 works published on Carlist history during the Franco regime ; there are some 100 authors who have contributed. The number of major studies – books or unpublished PhD works - stands at around 50, the rest are articles in specialized reviews. Except some 15 titles, almost all have been published in Spain. The interest was scarce in the late 1970s and early 1980s, it grew in the late 1980s and since the early 1990s it remains stable, with some 30 titles published every 5 years.
Overviews and synthetic works
A student unfamiliar with the subject should probably start with a large chapter dedicated to post-Civil War Carlism in general historical synthesis by Canal : comprehensive and non-partisan, it provides a good overview. Definitely less valuable is a booklet of Dongil, dedicated almost exclusively to the period in question and equally general, but flawed by a loose essayist style. Alternatively, there is an article intended to provide a helicopter-view summary, but overfocused on internal fragmentation of the movement, written by Brioso, a sketchy overview in a section of the book of Alférez and final chapter of Blinkhorn's study, written during commencing transition and burdened with illusions of the author. There are 3 works to be followed as exhaustive, general in-depth attempts to capture the Carlist history during Francoism, all resulting from PhD research. The works of Caspistegui and Martorell are splendidly documented, though the former focuses on the 1960s and 1970s rather than the 1940s and 1950s, while the latter pursues a partisan, Progressist claim. Exactly the opposite, Traditionalist claim is pursued in the thesis of Rodón, the work founded on scarce own research. Final pages of Sagarra and Andrés provide an illustrated and geography-focused overview. Works recommended only to students familiar with the subject and armed with appropriate criticism are writings on late Carlism by Clemente, chapters in the general overview of Pérez-Nievas and last essays in the volume of Miralles Climent. A general synthesis on right-wing politics during Francoism by Gil Pecharromán contains many paragraphs on Carlism.
Regional studies
Carlism has been traditionally most active in 3 areas: Vascongadas, Navarre and Catalonia. Unfortunately, there is no attempt to capture the post-1939 movement history in the Basque Country in general; either specific sub-periods or specific issues are covered in scarce passages of the available books by López, Estornes and Garate or the articles of Toquero, Luengo, Sánchez, Calvo, Molina, and Vázquez de Prada. For Navarre, apart from a very sketchy overview of Miranda, there is excellent book of Villanueva, which, however, together with her minor contributions deals only with the so-called „primer franquismo”. Mid-Francoism is covered by Vázquez de Prada. There is one major work and few lesser ones which deal with political struggle to control the Pamplona ayuntamiento. A handful of articles traces cultural changes in Navarrese Carlism, almost all written by Caspistegui. The very last period is tackled in a partisan book by Errea, which nevertheless provides detailed info on El Pensamiento Navarro and the Pamplonese realm. The best covered area is Catalonia thanks to an exhaustive study of Vallverdú, with a minor piece provided also by Thomàs, Cubero, Canals and Campás. One book partially deals with the Francoist period in Valladolid another one in Valencia and one in Castellon. Seville has been covered in a recent PhD work, so far unavailable for consultation and probably to be published as a book ; one can only inspect an article written during the research.
Biographies and similar
There are a number of works which focus on individuals, though some, as general biographical studies, only partially deal with Carlism and politics. Perhaps the first one to be listed is definitely hagiographical biography of Don Javier by Borbón, Clemente and Cubero. His son, Don Carlos Hugo, is featured twice by Clemente in 1999, and 2000, apart from a book by Heras Borrero, which discusses also Don Javier, Don Sixto and other Borbon-Parmas and chapters in a book by Ferrer and Puga and Balanso. Maria Teresa de Borbon is presented by Clemente. The longtime political leaderManuel Fal earned hagiographical booklets by Fidaldo and Burgueño and Martínez, apart from an article by Clemente. Another leader José María Valiente has been dedicated one article by Vázquez de Prada. The claimant Don Carlos Pio earned no biography as such, but his bid for the throne and Carloctavismo in general is dealt with in three books and four articles. Jaime del Burgo is discussed in one book by his son and in one article. Alcala published a partisan but highly recommended book on Sivatte, which provides lots of information on Sivattismo and Catalan Carlism as well; far less interesting are books of Monserrat on Joaquín Bau, Ballestero on José M. Oriol, Zavala on Antonio Arrue, articles on the latter by San Martín, Martorell and Sudupe, and another one by Wilhelmsen on Lizarza Inda. Rather peculiar contributions are the album of Piñeiro with paintings of Boveda and the work of Carmona, discussing how Alfonso Comín turned from a Carlist to a Communist. Rodezno, Arauz de Robles and Elías de Tejada are discussed in one article.
Sub-periods covered
The so-called early Francoism has recently been treated in major work of Miralles Climent.. Apart from studies on Navarre listed earlier there are two books which focus on the Civil War, the period not covered here, and contain minor passages related to the following years, namely the works of Peñas and Peñalba. Mid-Francoism was targeted in particular by a 2016 book of Vázquez de Prada, her minor works of 2005 and 2009 and a manuscript by Cubero. Special attention is needed when reading the works of Lavardín, Massó and Ipiña, insider stories from the project of launching Carlos Hugo in 1957-1966. Late-Francoism is covered in two recent PhD works. The one written by García Riol is largely repetitive though also highly focused, non-partisan, based on newly available documents and pursuing a handful of interesting concepts. The one written by Miralles Climent is a first-hand account from a Partido Carlista militant, perhaps the most instructive work written so far when it comes to understanding the rise of "socialismo autogestionario"; it contains also some 300 pages of documentary appendices. Minor works on late Francoism are articles offered by Cubero, Sánchez, Raguer, del Burgo, Campas and Ferrer, specific episodes are addressed in works of the Zubiaurs, Rodón and the book by Domingo-Arnau. A number of works, though generally studying Francoism and extreme-Right groupings in the early 1970s, offer some insight into the Carlist realm as well, especially the books of de la Cierva, Rodríguez and the articles by Gallego and Casals. Carlism and late Francoism was the subject of a series of lectures, organized in late 2018 in Pamplona.
Key threads
In terms of key threads followed there are clearly two which attract most attention: Carlist position towards the Francoist regime and internal conflicts within Carlism, sometimes both merged as having been closely interrelated. Most of the works quoted earlier deal with these topics one way or another. All scholars – also those writing from Traditionalist and Progressist perspective - advance the thesis of intrinsic hostility between Carlism and Francoism, but there is no major scholarly work which systematically and comprehensively captures the problem of mutual relations between the two. The works approaching the topic are a collection of 3 essays by Martorell and Miralles, a brief study of Calero Delso, an analysis of the 1942 crisis by Thomas and of the 1956 deadlock by Zaratiegui and Garcia. In case of internal conflict it is quite the opposite: there are many works dedicated almost entirely to the problem, but they offer competitive visions emphasizing either change or continuity. The first one is championed by already noted book of Caspistegui; apart from minor works listed earlier, it is presented also in some sketchy overviews. Blinkhorn, Vázquez de Prada, Caspistegui and MacClancy, tend to view the change sympathetically, while Bartyzel builds a case-study, striving to present a unique European phenomen of a large and historically grounded political movement turned into its own ruinous negation. The key work adhering to the continuity reading is already noted PhD thesis of Martorell and the booklet of Pérez-Nievas. Countless and highly repetitive books of Clemente, dealing with the history of Carlism in general, advance the same theory, also from the Progressist perspective. There is historiographical work which adheres to the continuity theory from the Traditionalist perspective, though the book of Gambra seems to fall rather into philosophy. A particular and very focused case-study is an article of Vázquez de Prada on Carlism and the Francoist law on religious liberty.
Studies on theory and theorists
There are a number of works which are useful to a student of Carlist history during Francoism, but intended rather as studies on philosophy and political science. The Progressist perspective, overrepresented in historiography, is hardly present here; the only work noted is a treaty by the claimant himself. On the other hand, there are abundant studies dedicated to Traditionalist thinkers of the era and written almost entirely from hagiographic or at least sympathetic positions. Elías de Tejada was dedicated a book by Ayuso and a one edited by Sánchez ; smaller pieces dedicated to the extremeño keep appearing in Annales de la Fundación Elías de Tejada and other periodicals or books. Rafael Gambra earned a book by Ayuso and a commemorative issue of Annales de la Fundacion Elías de Tejada, plus articles in other reviews. Similar intra-Traditionalist approach is a general study with many chapters dedicated to the Francoist era, written by Bartyzel. Unique non-partisan works are a general analysis with some sections on post-Civil-War Carlism by Novella, González and his later brief encyclopedical entry. A work somewhat broader in scope as focusing on Traditionalism rather than on Carlism is a PhD thesis of Rodríguez Núñez.
Specific approaches
In historiography on Carlism during Francoism there is a tendency to depart from political analysis and focus on culture and anthropology. It is championed especially by MacClancy with his somewhat tilted but extremely interesting book and an article, though also by Caspistegui with a number of his contributions, apart from studies on Navarre listed earlier. The phenomenon of Montejurra, apart from both mentioned authors, is discussed also by Clemente and - with regard to 1969 - by Martorell. The press is focused on by Cubero, Clemente and Alquézar, while cinema is treated by Moral. Finally, other perspectives are offered by Blinkhorn, Calvo and Miralles. Structural framework is at the foreground in very few works which study specific dedicated Carlist organizations; the one which attracted most attention is GAC, discussed in books by Onrubia and Clemente and articles by MacClancy and Porro. MOT earned a minor piece by Cubero and a major volume - composed mostly of documents, with rather brief analytics - by Miralles, which discusses also AET; the latter is separately treated by Vazquez de Prada and Juncosa, while FARC was addressed by Onrubia. An ex-combatant organisation is approached by Nonell. The ETA war against Carlism, partially covering the late Francoist period, is discussed by Ibáñez. Unfortunately, there is no socio-economic approach to history of Carlism during Francoism, though incursions into the area may be found in the article of García Riol and the paper of Miralles Climent.
Meta-historiography
Two works are documentary compilations and might serve as printed sources; the key one massive series by Santa Cruz and another is a book edited by Clemente. There have been already a few meta-historiographical works published. Perhaps the one to start with is a bibliography prepared by Rubio and Talavera, which does not cover works published beyond Spain and those after 2012; moreover, the authors do not quote ISBN numbers and overlooked some of the titles listed here. Another group of works are reviews of published works and attempts to discuss recent trends in Carlist historiography, partially covering also the Francoist era. A fairly old one is a 16-year-old chapter in already quoted work of Canal and similarly outdated articles of Larramendi, Martorell and Gonzalez ; later essays, almost entirely irrelevant for students of Francoism, are those of Boyd Molina, Canal, Somé and Olábarri. Appallingly relevant remains a note by Bullón de Mendoza. The same question – related to partiality and bias – is tackled head on and specifically with regard to Carlism by Martínez. Some proposals for future research were formulated - and partially met - 30 years ago by Blinkhorn and more recently, by Caspistegui.
