Román Oyarzun Oyarzun (1882–1968) was a Spanish political activist, publisher, diplomat, entrepreneur and historian. He is best known as author of Historia del Carlismo (1939), for half a century a key reference work on history of Carlism and today considered the classic lecture of Traditionalist historiography. He is also acknowledged as member of the Spanish consular service, briefly editor of a daily El Correo de Guipúzcoa and a Carlist militant himself.
Family and youth
The Oyarzun family originated from Valle de Atez, an area in Prepirineos of Northern Navarre. Ethnically Basque Román's ancestors formed part of the agricultural working class, holding plots around the hamlet of Olagüe. His father, Juan Miguel Oyarzun Seminario (1856-1908), ran a petty rural merchant business; though in the 1890s struggling when transporting goods on his mules across the hostile terrain, in the early 20th century he was already operating a few shops. He married a local girl, Patricia Oyarzun; nothing is known either about her family or about a possible kinship between the two. The couple settled in Olagüe; it is not clear how many children they had, apart from Román the other two known are Martina and Victoriano. It seems that they were brought up in a fervently Catholic, militant ambience, perhaps flavored by Integrism; in the early 1890s the parents and children alike are recorded as signing up various letters, e.g. protesting reported mistreatment of the Pope, and printed later in an Integrist newspaper El Siglo Futuro.
None of the sources consulted offers any information on early education of Román. Already during his childhood he developed a knack for letters; in 1893 he sent a contribution to the Pamplonese daily El Pensamiento Navarro. Signed "U.E.", it was published and the author was invited to contribute more before his identity was finally revealed. In 1902 he was recorded as excellent student at the Pamplona Instituto Provincial, which might suggest that following bachillerato he trained to be a teacher. At unspecified time he commenced university studies at Universidad Central in Madrid. He first enrolled at law, the curriculum completed "brillantamente" in only two years, to study philosophy and letters later on. Date of him graduating in law is not clear; in philosophy and letters he graduated in 1905. In 1906 he applied for chair of Catédra de Psicología, Lógica, Etica y Rudimentos de Derecho at state colleges in Lerida and Teruel, but was not successful. In 1908 he commenced editorial duties in a San Sebastián daily, El Correo de Guipúzcoa.
In 1911 Román Oyarzun married María de la Concepción Iñarra Sasa (1884-1979); nothing is known about her family. The couple settled in Pamplona, where at that time Román practiced as a lawyer. They had 5 children, born between 1912 and 1923. Román Oyarzun Iñarra served as alférez provisional in the requeté Tercio de Zarate; he and his brother Francisco Javier joined Ministry of Foreign Affairs during the early Francoist era and held various posts in Spanish diplomatic service, assigned to missions across the world though mostly in Latin America. Since the late 1960s serving as ambassadors, they retired in the 21st century; Francisco Javier tried his hand also as historian. María Oyarzun Iñarra served as archivist. Socorro Oyarzun Iñarra was a painter. Teresa Oyarzun Iñarra was a translator and simultaneous interpreter. The son of Francisco Javier, Román Oyarzun Marchesi, followed in the footsteps of his father and grandfather and entered diplomacy, since the 2010s serving in the rank of ambassador.