page_title: Matías Barrio y Mier
section_title: Family and youth
hierarchical_section_title: Matías Barrio y Mier / Family and youth
caption_attribution_description: English: deputy
context_page_description: Matías Barrio y Mier was a Spanish law academic and a Carlist politician. He served as a scholar of jurisprudence at various universities, though mostly in Oviedo and Madrid, and authored manuals used by students until the 1930s. He is best known, however, as the Carlist political leader. As a Traditionalist he served 9 terms in the Cortes, initially during the rule of Amadeo I and then during the Restoration period.
context_section_description: Matías Barrio y Mier was born in a mountainous village of Verdeña (Province of Palencia). His paternal grandparents, Manuel Barrio and Teresa Vuelba, were local hidalgos. His maternal grandparents, Simon Morante and Tomasa de Mier, belonged to petty nobility from the nearby San Juan de Redondo. His father José Barrio Vuelba married Dolores de Mier y Terán; the couple had no children. Following her premature death, in 1836 Barrio Vuelba married the niece of his defunct wife, Susana de Mier. The couple had 4 children, Matías coming third and the only son. At the age of 8 he moved to Toledo, where his maternal uncle served at the prestigious post of the Cathedral dean; he looked after Matías when the latter attended Latinidad y Humanidades course at the local Instituto Provincial de Segunda Enseñanza (periodically also private colleges in Madrid), until the young Barrio became Bachelor of Arts in 1859 (cum laude).  As a teenager Matías intended to join the military, but dissuaded by his father, he eventually agreed to pursue a career in law.
  In 1859 Barrio moved to Valladolid, where studied Filosofia y Letras and Derecho Administrativo simultaneously. He completed the law studies first, obtaining bachillerato in 1863 and graduating (cum laude) the year after. In 1865 he started doctoral research in Derecho Civil y Canónico at Central in Madrid; his PhD title was awarded in 1866. He pursued his Philosophy and Letters studies to obtain bachillerato (from Valladolid) 1867, graduating (from Central) in 1868 and reaching for PhD laurels in 1872, still at Central. He followed a number of other classes, getting certified as archivist and librarian from Escuela Especial de Diplomática; he also studied theology in Madrid and Vitoria, though sources differ as to the grade he reached. Barrio completed also some courses abroad; at the Paris École des Hautes Études he studied sanscrit, perfected in Madrid in the late 1870s. When the Spanish revolution of 1868 broke out Barrio was already a formidable prospective scholar, with one PhD, four licenciaturas and six carreras completed.
  In 1871 Matías Barrio married an Asturiana from Llanes, Maximina Marcos Sánchez. Nothing is known about her or her family, except that it was "one of the most distinguished ones" in the city and that she outlived her husband at least by 14 years. The couple had 4 children, José, Carlos, Jaime and Blanca; the family moved across Spain, following the professional lot of Barrio and his subsequent academic assignments. The oldest son, José Barrio Marcos, died as a student in 1900, Blanca perished at 26 years of age in 1910. Carlos grew to head of fiscal administration in Valladolid in the mid-1930s; he was dismissed by the Francoist administration in late 1936; the dismissal was related to the decree which envisioned release from state service officials who demonstrated antipatriotic behavior. There is nothing known about one more son, Jaime; there is neither any information available on any of Barrio's grandchildren.
caption: Barrio as a young catedrático, around 1870
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