Salvador de Madariaga Rojo


Category: Professor and writer
Birth Date: 23rd July 1886 (†13th December 1978)
Birth Place: A Coruña
 Curriculum

In 1898, his family moved to Madrid and he moved to Paris to study in 1900. In 1906, he entered the Polytechnical School and the School of Mining Engineers in 1908, moving to Scotland two years later. When he returned to Spain, he worked as a technician in the Company of the North Railway in Madrid until 1916. It was then that he began to write in several newspapers about French and English politics. In 1917, he moved to London to work and met the King Alfonso XIII there. In 1928, he was nominated as Professor of Spanish Literature at Oxford University. In 1931, he was nominated as ambassador in Washington and deputy in A Coruña, two years later ambassador in Paris and Minister of Public Instruction in 1934. When the Civil War broke out, he went to France into exile, although he also visited other European countries.

 Work & Activities

In 1917, he published his first book La guerra vista desde Londres. In 1920, he published Shelley y Calderón (a collection of articles). In 1925, he published the essay Ingleses, franceses y españoles and the novels La jirafa sagrada and El enemigo de Dios. In 1926, he published Guía para el lector del Quijote and four years later, in 1930, he published his most important work España. Ensayo de historia contemporánea. He also wrote Anarquía o jerarquía, Ojo vencedores, Vida del muy magnífico señor Cristóbal Colón, Vida de Hernán Cortés, Cuadro histórico de las Indias, El toisón de oro, El corazón de piedra verde, Elegías en la muerte de Unamuno y García Lorca, Rosa de cieno y ceniza, El auge del imperio español en América, a biography of Simón Bolívar, a translation of Hamlet, Don Juan y la donjuanía, Bosquejo de Europa, Ramo de errores, La camarada Ana, Guerra en la sangre, Una gota en el tiempo, El semental negro, El sol, la luna y las estrellas, Romances para Beatriz, La que huele a Tomillo y a Romero, Presente y porvenir de Hispanoamérica, De la angustia a la libertad, La explosión del Partenón, De Galdós a Lorca, Los estudiantes de Salamanca, Sanco Panco, La cruz y la bandera, Mujeres famosas, Amanecer sin mediodía (first volume of his memoirs) and Españoles de mi tiempo ( a collection of biographies). He also gave many lectures all over Europe and America.

 Other Interesting Aspects

He was awarded many prizes and decorations such as the Great Cross of the Honourable Legion, granted by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1934). He was conferred the title of 'doctor honoris causa' at Oxford University (1966). In 1967, he got 'Goethe' Prize for his services in Europe. In 1970, he became a member of the Academy of History and got 'Charlemagne' Prize at Aachen University in 1972. En 1976, he returned to Spain and was awarded the gold medal of 'José Cornide' Institute in A Coruña. In May 1976, he took possession of the academician chair in the Spanish Academy (he had been chosen in the 40's). In 1977, he was awarded the Merit Cross and the Cross of the Order of Alfonso X, the Wise in 1978.