Marià Vayreda

Marian Vayreda i Vila (1853–1903) was a Carlist soldier and activist, a painter and a Catalan writer. He is recognized as key representative of Catalan cultural renaissance of the late 19th century. He is particularly acknowledged for his 1904 novel, La Punyalada, declared one of the best Catalan literary works of all time. Politically Vayreda is considered a typical case of an identity located in-between Carlism and emerging Spain's peripheral nationalisms.

Family and youth

Marian Francesc Bartomeu Vayreda i Vila was descendant to noble Catalan families. His paternal ancestors were related to the Alt Garrotxa town of Olot. During the legitimist siege in course of the First Carlist War the family house was set ablaze, which forced Marian's grandfather Francesc to move to Girona. It is there that his son and Marian's father, Francesc Vayreda i Busquets (1814–1870), fell in love with Maria Rosa Vila i Galí (1817–?). She was descendant to a far more prestigious local Vila Cavaller family, holding a number of estates and owning Cavaller de Vidrà, an iconic Catalan mansion.

The couple married in 1840 and in 1844 they settled in the reconstructed family house in Olot. Francesc's maternal uncle was municipal military commander and Francesc possibly took part in activities against the local trabucaires. He inherited estates co-possessed with his relatives and is referred to as "propietario rentista". As the two families maintained good relations, Francesc temporarily administered Porqueres holdings of his junior Vila nephews and the Vila family periodically managed the Vayreda estates. Francesc and Maria Rosa had 6 children, three of them becoming recognized figures. Apart from Marian, Joaquím (1843–1894) made his name as a painter and Estanislau (1848–1901) as a botanic.