Goyeneche
Juan de Goyeneche: The Creator
The Navarrese Juan de Goyeneche (1656–1735) left his homeland early, in the Baztán valley, to move to Madrid. There he began his thorough education at the College of the Society of Jesus, where he came into contact with some of those who would become influential members of the intellectual and power circles of the turn of the century. Among them was Father Bartolomé Alcázar, whose influence as a teacher would be decisive in shaping Goyeneche’s intellectual character, leading him later to become one of the founders of the Royal Spanish Academy in 1714.
His education and intellectual concerns led him, from a very young age, to be among those reformers, renewers or novators, who advocated and pursued the political, economic, scientific and cultural renewal of Spain as the only possible solution to the decline into which the country had fallen from the reign of Philip III onwards.
From Navarre to Madrid, the entrepreneur’s first steps
Goyeneche held a prominent position at the court of Charles II as treasurer, and it was during this period that his activities as a writer, editor and newspaper entrepreneur can be placed.
In 1685, he published a work on the antiquity and coats of arms of the Baztán Valley (“Executoria de la Nobleza, Antigüedad y Blasones del Valle del Baztán”), in tribute to his native valley.
In 1668 and 1692, respectively, he sponsored the printing of the writings of Sor María de Agreda and Antonio Solís’s work “Varias poesías sagradas y profanas”, and in 1697 he founded the Gaceta de Madrid, a periodical publication that had a group of correspondents and translators who helped introduce European developments into Spain—while also reflecting his resolute support for the cause of the Duke of Anjou in the succession disputes that arose after the death of the last Habsburg, Charles II, in 1700.
Birthplace of the Goyeneche family in the Baztán Valley
The thinking of a visionary
Goyeneche had been very closely linked to the old dynasty, but his character and his ideas on national renewal placed him at the political forefront, openly aligning himself with the future Philip V of Bourbon.
His stance was based on the advantages that could arise from a Bourbon reigning in Spain, since France was a leading power at that time. His sympathies were not with Louis XIV, but with the former finance minister Jean Baptiste Colbert, whose economic and financial theories changed the French tax system and boosted the country’s industrial and commercial take-off. These ideas, known as Colbertism, soon resonated in some European nations and within certain progressive Spanish circles. One of its representatives, the Count of Oropesa, attempted, unsuccessfully, to apply such an economic policy in the final years of Charles II’s reign.
Goyeneche, Philip V and the conception of a town
All of this, together with his new connection with Philip V, led him to become a key figure in the future monarch’s campaign: in the battle against the English fleet, and in the passage of French troops. In support of the monarch in a time of need, Goyeneche set up the Cloth Factory to supply uniforms to the General Clothing Store for the Troops, so that they would not have to be imported from France.
It was the year 1710, and Goyeneche chose a settlement relatively close to Madrid to establish his industry, in the former Olmeda de las Cebollas, now Olmeda de las Fuentes, a place mainly devoted to agricultural work and suffering from a severe depopulation problem.
Little by little, he sketched out the concept on which he based the creation of Nuevo Baztán, an urban complex located on his estates in Olmeda de las Fuentes, run by him and intended to provide a timely solution to two major problems in Spain at the time: demographic recession and the very serious deindustrialisation, evident since the early 17th century.
Juan de Goyeneche returned to Colbert’s plans and those of the Count of Oropesa to bring these ideas to life, counting on the advantages that the triumph of the French claimant would bring to his aims. But his intentions went beyond the public sphere: he worked on the idea of applying Colbertism to a private enterprise, as an exemplary experiment that would stimulate later initiatives, official or private.
The founding of the manufacturing project
The establishment of the factories, newly built, envisaged the installation of a manufacturing complex that would attract population, with sufficient capacity for growth to stimulate the surrounding area both economically and demographically, and to generate a production of luxury goods that could compete with foreign markets, reduce imports and restore a rather battered economy.
He invested his efforts and his personal fortune in it, and secured the favour of the new monarch, Philip V, who granted him the exemptions, privileges and franchises that Minister Alberoni had laid down in his policy to promote industrial activation. Thus, the ambitious Colbertist programme began in 1715 with the setting up of a factory for munitions hats, textile items and leather goods, which still served to supply, though not exclusively, the General Clothing Store for the Troops.
In the following years, the complex expanded with new paper and glass factories, spirits manufacturing, candle-making, confectionery, tanning, shoemaking, silk textiles, ribbons, handkerchiefs and perfumes, all highly specialised activities that attracted a good number of technicians in each field, as well as unskilled staff and a certain number of farmers, who were responsible both for producing food for the small population and for supplying some of the raw materials needed for the manufactures.
A short time after its founding, the factories were running at full capacity, the population had already risen to around 500 inhabitants, and demand for the products was such that it made it possible to provide work to the inhabitants of nearby towns. Such success led Goyeneche to expand the manufacturing complex once again, this time with a crystal factory, a luxury manufacture that aroused the interest of Philip V, who showed his support through franchises and exemptions in the nature of a monopoly. It was the culmination of his work, the greatest expression of his political ideals.
After getting Nuevo Baztán up and running, Goyeneche set out to raise the standard of living of the surrounding area, bringing other settlements such as Illana into the picture. For by a Decree of 23 October 1718 he established in La Olmeda de la Cebolla and in Illana two “cloth factories, for chamois leather, hats and other goods…”, all products that had previously been brought in from outside Spain. Likewise, in Nuevo Baztán he set up a factory for spirits, chamois leather, buckskin and hats, tanneries… to make “silk fabrics, handkerchiefs, perfumes and ribbons…”, and he even installed a factory for fine crystal and glassware, bringing craftsmen from France and the Netherlands. In other towns he added small factories: specifically in Almonacid de Zorita and in Chinchón, with mills and tanneries on the banks of the Tagus and the Tajuña.
Goyeneche in other localities
In addition to this truly enlightened and beneficial work—industrial and demographic—Juan de Goyeneche also built, from a personal and family standpoint, various palaces. After the construction of the Nuevo Baztán Palace, he began building his palaces in Illana, Saceda de Trasierra and Almonacid de Zorita, all of which are currently preserved in better or worse condition. Specifically, the one in Illana, with a sober façade design whose main lines were undoubtedly laid out by José de Churriguera, is today very badly damaged. All that remains of it (it was once used as a Guardia Civil barracks) are the façade and the beautiful coat of arms that crowns it.
In Madrid he also left an important mark with the construction of the Goyeneche Palace, a work by Churriguera, on Calle de Alcalá, now the headquarters of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando. His principal attorney and nephew, Juan Francisco de Goyeneche, Marquis of Ugena, bequeathed to his uncle’s descendants the Palace on Calle Huertas, until recently the headquarters of the Madrid Chamber of Commerce.
In 1684, as a sign of his religiosity, he was a co-founder of the Royal Congregation of San Fermín de los Navarros, on whose board he accepted the role of Overseer of the Poor. His aforementioned nephew and his sons were Prefects of the Royal Congregation, a prefecture later assumed by the Kings of Spain.
The memory of Goyeneche
The lord of Nuevo Baztán—he did not want noble titles or honours—had the rare merit of being the trusted man of the last Habsburg and the first Spanish Bourbon, whom he supported financially, risking his wealth in the War of the Spanish Succession. He backed the Bourbons because he believed his homeland needed modernisation.
He died a Christian death in his place of Nuevo Baztán on 12 April 1735, after making his will in 1733, and was buried in the vault of the Church of San Francisco Javier, beneath the central dome. His wife had died earlier, in 1728.
All those who have studied the figure of this Navarrese notable have agreed in praising him for his virtues, intelligence and determined will. As an example, here is the phrase W. Callahan devotes to him in his excellent work Don Juan de Goyeneche, published in “The Business History Review”, XLIII, no. 2 (1969), which tells us that “there can be no doubt that [Goyeneche] sincerely accepted the view held by many Spanish economists of his time that the nobility was obliged, more than any other class, to contribute to the nation’s economic progress”.
Goyeneche was indeed one of those who best understood this moral obligation of the nobility, and he put it into practice precisely in La Alcarria, and more specifically in Nuevo Baztán. As a finishing touch to Goyeneche’s stature, Philip V addressed these words to his confessor: "If I had two vassals like Goyeneche, I would very quickly put Spain in a position where it would not depend on foreigners; indeed, I would instead bring them to depend on Spain."
