page_title: Francisco Elías de Tejada y Spínola
section_title: Family and youth
hierarchical_section_title: Francisco Elías de Tejada y Spínola / Family and youth
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Paysage d'Extremadura (après modification horodatage)
context_page_description: Francisco Elías de Tejada y Spínola Gómez was a Spanish scholar and a Carlist politician. He is considered one of top intellectuals of the Francoist era, though not necessarily of Francoism. As theorist of law he represented the school known as iusnaturalismo, as historian of political ideas he focused mostly on Hispanidad, and as theorist of politics he pursued a Traditionalist approach. As a Carlist he remained an ideologue rather than a political protagonist.
context_section_description: The Tejada family originated from Genoa; its branch moved to Naples and in the late Middle Ages to the Spanish La Rioja, settling at Muro de Cameros. In the early modern period its descendants transferred to Extremadura and few generations later they were already considered extremeños. Francisco's distant ancestor was the 17th-century knight Sancho de Tejada, whose son Elías excelled during the siege of Breda and got his name incorporated into the family surname. In the early 19th century the family, referred to as terratenientes hidalgos, held estates mostly in Castuera and Zalamea de la Serena. Francisco's grandfather made his name as a lawyer. Francisco's father, José Maria Elías de Tejada y de la Cueva (1891-1970), also practiced as abogado in Castuera. In 1913 he married Encarnación Spínola Gómez (1891-1953), heir to a wealthy local landowners family. It was at her Rinconada estate near Granja de Torrehermosa where Francisco and his only brother spent most of their childhood, raised in the profoundly Catholic ambience. Though born in Madrid, he considered Extremadura his mother region.
  Since early childhood consuming sophisticated books and gifted with excellent memory, the young Francisco was first educated in the Jesuit college of Nuestra Señora de Recuerdo in the Madrid quarter of Chamartin. After its premises were ransacked in May 1931 and the order was expulsed soon afterwards, he continued his learning in the Portuguese Estremoz, still with the Jesuits. In 1933 Tejada obtained bachillerato, nostrified by University of Seville. Inspired by his Jesuit mentor Fernando María de Huidobro he decided to study law, though at Universidad Central in Madrid he pursued also philosophy and letters. Having graduated in both in 1935 he left to study in Germany. Outbreak of the Civil War caught him in Berlin; Tejada returned to Spain to learn that tens of his relatives were executed by the Republicans in Granja. In September in Calera de la Sierra he enlisted to Nationalist troops, first advancing to Toledo and then as artillery man serving during the battle of Madrid. In February 1937 he was admitted to Alféreces Provisionales school in Seville, soon abandoned due to health reasons. In May 1937 he intended to join aviation, but in August he was nominated alférez asimilado at a logistics unit in Seville, remaining at this post until the end of the war.
  Though described as heavily attracted to females, Elías de Tejada married as late as in 1962, at the age of 45. He wed an Italian 20 years his junior, Gabriella Pèrcopo Calet (1937-1986), descendant to a distinguished Neapolitan family of immense intellectual heritage, fluent in Spanish, perfectly familiar with the Spanish cultural realm and the PhD herself. Throughout the rest of his life she supported Tejada on all possible fields, as a secretary, proofreader, editor, erudite partner, co-author, organizer, academic inspiration and a soul mate. The couple had no children. Francisco Elías de Tejada Lozano, a Spanish diplomat in the 21st century serving as ambassador and high Foreign Ministry official, is descendant to Elías’ brother.
caption: summer in rural Extremadura
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "SONY", "Image Model": "CYBERSHOT", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2003:08:22 00:32:30", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "218", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail Make": "SONY", "Thumbnail Model": "CYBERSHOT", "Thumbnail Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail DateTime": "2003:08:22 00:32:30", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "851", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "2956", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/2000", "EXIF FNumber": "28/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0210", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2003:08:22 00:32:30", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2003:08:22 00:32:30", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "2", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FocalLength": "8", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1280", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "960", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "642", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed"}