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José María Bernaldo de Quirós y González de Cienfuegos

1840–1911

Born
15 Apr 1840, Oviedo
Country of birth
Spain
Died
24 Apr 1911, palace of Camposagrado (Langreo)
facts
8
sources
1
images and files
0

Facts and their sources

Tap a fact to see where it comes from.

  • Birth15 Apr 1840, OviedoProbableDisputed1 competing claim1 source
  • TitleSpanish ambassador to the Russian Empire, 1881–1892Confirmed1 competing claim1 source
  • Death24 Apr 1911, palace of Camposagrado (Langreo)Probable1 source
  • Titlemember of the Congress of DeputiesConfirmed1 competing claim1 source

A life in time

  1. Born · Oviedo

    Birth, Oviedo

  2. Child born: Ana Germana Bernaldo de Quirós

    Birth, Palencia

  3. Event · Spanish ambassador to the Russian Empire

    Event

  4. Died · palace of Camposagrado (Langreo)

    Death, palace of Camposagrado (Langreo)

What was it like?

The world around Oviedo, 1840: who ruled, who else was alive, how people lived. This is general history, not a record about the family, and every item shows where it comes from.

José was born the same year as Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Franco Faccio, and Giulio Ricordi.

Known for

Titles held

  • Spanish ambassador to the Russian Empire1881–1892
  • member of the Congress of Deputies
Born the same year

  • Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

    Russian composer (1840–1893)

  • Franco Faccio

    Italian composer and conductor (1840-1891)

  • Giulio Ricordi

    Italian musician (1840-1912)

  • Émile Zola

    French novelist, journalist, playwright, and poet (1840–1902)

  • Claude Monet

    French painter (1840–1926)

  • Auguste Rodin

    French sculptor (1840–1917)

Fashion

Limited Wardrobes for Humble Women

Many humble women owned only two outfits: one for daily work and one for Sundays or feast days.

Long Skirts and Sandals

In the mid-19th century, Spanish women often wore skirts long enough to reach the floor, hiding their feet, although some began to show them while wearing sandals tied with blue ribbons.

Music

Rise of regional dances and castanets

During the mid-19th century, popular regional dances like the bolero, cachucha, zapateado, and fandango gained significant prominence, becoming a source of national pride. Performers even traveled to Paris in the 1830s, where their performances, particularly the use of castanets, fascinated European audiences.

Instruments and style in Levante

In the Spanish Levante region, popular music was often performed at home or during festivals using a variety of instruments, including the guitar, bandurria, violin, and traditional percussion like castanets, tambourines, and triangles. These performances were often simple and characterized by a melancholy, genuinely Moorish tone.

Getting around

Lower Travel Costs for Stagecoaches

Between 1822 and 1854, the price of stagecoach services fell by 57 percent, making long-distance travel more accessible.

Around 1831–1831

Crowded Travel in Covered Wagons

Travelers in the 1830s described extremely crowded conditions in covered wagons, or galeras, where passengers were packed so tightly that moving required everyone to agree to shift in unison.

Daily life

Limited daily meals for the poor

In poor households, meals were often limited to eating once a day, consisting of simple items like garlic soup, a handful of figs, or a tomato with salt.

Schooling interrupted by child labor

Poor children often missed school to work as shepherds or errand boys, struggling to learn because they fell behind whenever they were pulled away for labor.

Food
Around 1850–1874

Gender inequality at the dinner table

In rural Spanish households during the mid-19th century, men often sat at the table to eat while women served them standing, frequently eating separately in the kitchen later.

Around 1850–1874

High spending on alcohol by families

In some industrial mining regions, families spent over 25 percent of their total food budget on alcohol, specifically wine and aguardiente.

Prices and wages

Daily wages for laborers and artisans

In this period, laborers typically earned about four reales per day, while skilled workers could earn up to ten reales.

High cost of basic food basket

A family of four could spend nearly 70 percent of their daily income of ten reales just on basic food, including bread, oil, and beans. Meat was expensive and excluded from the daily diet of ordinary people.

Work

Common occupations were farming, labor, and service.

Agriculture was the dominant occupation, while in urban areas, work often involved manual labor in ports, crafts, or domestic service. Domestic service was a primary job for rural women moving to cities.

Long working days and simple meals.

Working days were often dictated by sunlight or extended by artificial light in factories, sometimes reaching 12 to 14 hours. Miners and laborers might eat simple meals like garlic soup, costing about 3 reales per day.

During their lifetime

  1. 1848

    Inauguration of the first railway, 1848

    The first railway line in peninsular Spain, connecting Barcelona and Mataró, was inaugurated in 1848.

  2. 1853

    1853: Mass emigration to Latin America starts

    From 1853 to 1882, 325,000 Galicians emigrated, marking a period of intense, large-scale migration to Latin American countries like Cuba and Brazil.

  3. 1855

    1855: Major Railway Expansion Law enacted

    The 1855 General Railway Act spurred massive construction, with 460 km built annually from 1856 to 1866, connecting the country.

  4. 1857

    1857: Moyano Law mandates primary schooling

    The 1857 Moyano Law mandated school attendance for all children aged 6 to 9, aiming to improve basic literacy.

  5. 1898

    1898: Spain loses overseas colonies

    In 1898, the Spanish-American War resulted in the loss of Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines, deeply affecting the national psyche.

  6. 1900

    1900 Work Accident Law established employer responsibility

    The 1900 Work Accident Law made employers legally responsible for workplace accidents, marking a major shift in labor rights.

Family

Spouses

Children

Ancestors and children

Open the full tree

Four generations back to the right, the children to the left. The number beside a child counts the generations of descendants known after them.