Jose María Moscoso de Altamira Quiroga, Count of Fontao

José María Moscoso de Altamira, conde de Fontao, by José María Galván y Candela. (Senate of Spain).

José María Moscoso of Altamira Quiroga, Count of Fontao (Mondonedo, May 25 of 1788 - Madrid, March 1 of 1854) was a Spanish politician.

Biography

Born José María Moscoso and Quiroga (the "Altamira" would be added later to his name), his father was the Hidalgo Don Jose Maria Moscoso and Miranda, VII Señor (Lord) of Fontao, and his mother Doña María del Carmen Quiroga and Quindós, daughter of the Señor of Herves and granddaughter of the III Marquis of San Saturnino.

Begun the War of Spanish Independence in 1808, he was appointed representative of the nobility of Lugo at the congress of La Coruna gathered due to the French invasion and later commander in the militia of Mondonedo. After the war, he was elected Regidor of that city, and yet during the Trienio Liberal, President of the Parliament on 1 June 1821. On 28 February 1822 was named Minister of the Interior of the Peninsula at the Government of Francisco Martinez de la Rosa. Moscoso was dismissed after one year. With the restoration of the absolute monarchy in 1823 the king Fernando VII ordered his exile in Lugo. The death of the King and the rise to power of the moderate liberals, their fellow comrades, facilitated his rehabilitation and the Queen Regent Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies appointed him Minister of Fomento General Minister replacing Javier de Burgos. He was dismissed a year after having developed huge road projects in Galicia and Aragon.

When it was created the Senate of Spain in 1837 he was elected on November 1 of that year his first President and he was equally so in the legislatures of 1838, 1839, 1840, 1844 and 1845.

He was granted with the title of Count of Fontao (after the old Lordship of his family) on 8 January 1840. He was also Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Charles III, Knight Grand Cordon of the Legion of Honor of France, Knight of the Order of Malta, member of the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando and Knight of the Real Maestranza of Ronda. Benito Perez Galdos in his novel “The 7th of July” part of the collection of Episodios Nacionales mention the Minister Moscoso calling him “the Apprentice”.

Sources

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