Guerrillas and bandits in the Serranía de Ronda, 1810–1812

Abstract

The Spanish Guerrilla (1808–1812) which has given its name to ideologically motivated insurgencies is usually portrayed as a patriotic uprising against the French occupation forces of Napoleon. It was that, in part, but also many other things besides. This case study illustrates its overlap and convergence with banditry but also with social unrest turned into uprisings directed by poor Spaniards against their creditors, as in the storming of Ronda by insurgents in 1810. From the propaganda of the day to the subsequent Spanish patriotic historiography, there has been a tendency to exaggerate the amplitude of events and also the damage that was done to the French forces and the casualty figures inflicted on them.

Keywords::

• Andalucía
• guerrilla warfare
• Napoleon Bonaparte
• Peninsular War
• The Spanish War of Independence, Ronda
• Spain, organised crime

Notes

^1. El Observador, 24 August 1810, 134–5, Biblióteca Nacional (henceforth BN), Colección Gómez Imaz, R60632.

^2. For a discussion of these apologia in particular, cf. Martín de Molina, ‘La guerrilla en la Serranía’ vista por cinco de sus protagonistas.” In Cuadernos del Bicentenario, 10 (2010): 191–207.

^3. E.g. Henegan, Seven Years' Campaigning, 2: 166–9.

^4. E.g. Haythornthwaite, In the Peninsula with a French Hussar, 156.

^5. E.g. Martínez Laínez, Como lobos hambrientos, 394.

^6. For a description of the Serranía de Ronda on the eve of French occupation, cf. Jacob, Travels in the South of Spain, 323–50.

^7. Díaz Torrejón, Guerrilla, contra-guerrilla, Vol. 3, 3: 164–8.

^8. Martín de Molina, Gaucín, 114–21; cf. also Serrano Valdenebro, Manifiesto, 12–13. BN. CGI. R61110.

^9. Gutiérrez Tellez, Biografía de D. José Serrano Valdenebro, 80–1.

^10. J. Serrano Valdenebro to A. Jacomet, 5 May 1810, Archivo Histórico Nacional (henceforth AHN), Sección Diversos-Colecciones, legajo 94, No. 1; J. Serrano Valdenebro to A. Jacomet, 2 June 1810, ibid. Haythornthwaite, In the Peninsula with a French Hussar, 134–5; Henegan, Seven Years' Campaigning, 1: 199–200.

^11. Cf. Lavaux, Mémoires de campagne, 153–6. Proclamation of B. de Aranza, 8 May 1810, AHN, Sección de Estado, legajo 2994. In this action, Algodonales does indeed seem to have been treated very harshly: in 1814 the then parish priest compiled a list of no fewer than 239 of the inhabitants who had perished in the attack, including a child just three days old; cf. Díaz Torrejón, Guerrilla, 3: 163.

^12. Díaz Torrejón, Guerrilla, 3: 225–40 passim.

^13. Henegan, Seven Years' Campaigning, 1: 171–2.

^14. Haythornthwaite, In the Peninsula with a French Hussar, 163.

^15. J.D. Soult to A. Berthier, 8 February 1811, Service Historique de la Défence, Section de Terre, T. C8–147, ff. 32–5.

^16. Cf. Martinien, Tableaux.

^17. I owe these figures to my good friend and colleague, Jorge Planas Campos. It should be noted, however, that an absence of officer casualties does not necessarily equate to an absence of any officers whatsoever. From documents in Soult's correspondence, then, we know that the operations against Algodonales cost 45 dead and 108 wounded; cf. J.D. Soult to A. Berthier, 8 May 1810, Service Historique de la Défence, Section de Terre, C-146, ff. 245–7.

^18. F.J. de Castaños to J. Blake, 28 March 1810, Instituto de Historia y Cultura Militar, Colección General Blake, legajo 3, carpeta 25.

^19. A. de la Cuadra to F. Abadia, 13 June 1810, ibid.

^20. Ibid.

^21. Blayney, Narrative of a Forced Journey, 13–14. NB According to Blayney the presence of Miller and the other officers, of whom the most prominent appear to have been two lieutenant colonels named Basset and Warrington, was the work of the Duque del Infantado, the latter having prevailed on the British government to send a number of British officers to organise the serranos. Ibid., 26–7.

^22. ‘Reglamento para la formación de cuerpos patríotas que hagan el servicio de guerrilla en el Reino de Granada interín su ocupación por el enemigo’, AHN, Sección de Diversos-Colecciones, legajo 124, No. 28.

^23. A. de la Cuadra to F. Abadia, 13 June 1810, Instituto de Historia y Cultura Militar, Colección General Blake legajo 3, carpeta 25.

^24. Haythornthwaite, In the Peninsula with a French Hussar, 150–1.

^25. Moreti, Historia de L.M.N.Y.M.L Ciudad de Ronda, 598–9. It was not just legal documents that were burned: also consigned to the flames was a large quantity of bulas de cruzada that were seized in the house of Antonio Gómez Barroso, the latter being the official responsible for their sale; cf. Conde de Montarco to J.M. Sotelo, 12 February 1812, AHN, Sección de Consejos, libro 1745, f. 104.

^26. Serrano Valdenebro, Manifiesto, 18.

^27. J. Serrano Valdenebro to J. M. Carvajal, 4 April 1811, citing Diario de Algeciras, 24 April 1811, pp. 357–61, Hemeróteca Municipal de Madrid, AH227. Viriato – more commonly, Viriatus – was a leader of resistance to the Roman Empire among the tribes of modern-day Portugal.

^28. Ibid.

^29. Ibid.

^30. Díaz Torrejón, Guerrilla, 3: 233.

^31. Bunbury, Reminiscences, Vol. 1: 97–8.

^32. Ballesteros, Respetuosos descargos, 21–2.

^33. For an extended discussion of both the social structure of antiguo régimen Andalucía and the experience and impact of the Peninsular War, cf. Esdaile, Outpost of Empire, 41–132.

^34. Cf. ibid., 323–4. All this said, it is important to note that by no means all gangs of bandits ended up fighting the French: on the contrary, at least some offered their services to the invader and were transformed into auxiliary counter-guerrilla units, while it is also clear that many individual malhechores gave up their lives of crime to join such cuerpos francos; cf. ibid., 288–90.

^35. Capitanía General de Andalucía: Noticia de las partidas de guerrilla o cuerpos francos que se formaron en los Reinos de Sevilla, Córdoba y Jaén en los años de 1809, 1810, 1811, 1812 y 1813 en la pasada campaña, 1 August 1817, AHN. Diversos-Colecciones, 124, No. 50.

^36. Díaz Torrejón, Guerrilla, 3: 26–31. There is another side to this story. Thus, in a series of manifestos, Ortiz denied being guilty of any wrongdoing and was eventually cleared of all the charges that had been laid against him. However, given the atmosphere that reigned in Cádiz at the time of his trial, an acquittal meant nothing, for by this time Ortiz had become a convinced supporter of political and social reform, and was therefore being championed by the clique of radicals responsible for pushing through the constitution of 1812. This did not prevent both Southey and Schepeler from supporting Ortiz's innocence and making a variety of more-or-less exaggerated claims in his favour, but his case remains dubious at best, the fact being that, as Díaz Torrejón suggests, there is just too much evidence against him for everything to be explained away in terms of conspiracy on the part of rivals and political enemies. Meanwhile, it is no credit to Ortiz at all that he seems to have been behind the disastrous attempt to disembark a force of British troops at Fuengirola that led to the capture of Lord Blayney.