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Francisco Javier Castaños
General Francisco Javier Castaños (Museo del Prado).jpg
Castaños (c. 1830) wearing the uniform of the Africa Regiment with the Order of the Golden Fleece and the Grand Cross and band of the Order of Charles III and the Laureate Cross of Saint Ferdinand and band.
President of the Regency Council
The Duke of Bailén
In office
1 February 1810 – 29 May 1810
Monarch Fernando VII
Preceded by Office established
Succeeded by Pedro de Quevedo y Quintano
1st Speaker of the House of Peers
In office
10 April 1834 – 12 July 1835
Preceded by Office established
Succeeded by The Duke of Ahumada
Personal details
Born
Francisco Javier Castaños Aragorri

22 April 1758
Madrid, Spain
Died 22 April 1852(1852-04-22) (aged 93)
Madrid, Spain
Resting place Pantheon of Illustrious Men (1852–1963)
Parish Church of the Incarnation, Bailén (1963–present)
Profession Army general and politician
Awards Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece
Grand Cross of the Order of Charles III
Military service
Allegiance  Spain
Branch/service Spanish Army
Years of service 1774–1852
Rank Captain general
Battles/wars War of the Pyrenees
Anglo-Spanish War (1796–1808)
Napoleonic Wars
Peninsular War
La Rendición de Bailén (Casado del Alisal)
The Surrender of Bailén, by José Casado del Alisal, Prado Museum, Madrid, Spain. Castaños is in the white uniform.

Francisco Javier Castaños Aragorri, 1st Duke of Bailén (22 April 1758 – 24 September 1852) was a Spanish general and politician who excelled during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. From July to September 1834, he served as the first president of the Senate of Spain, at that time called the House of Peers.

Castaños was one of the most important military officers during the Peninsular War, presiding the Regency Council of Spain and the Indies, (de facto head of state), in 1810. In 1833, Queen Regent Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies, in the name of her daughter, Queen Isabella II, granted him the title of Duke of Bailén, to honour his actions during the Peninsular War and, especially, at the Battle of Bailén, where the Napoleonic army was defeated in the open field for the first time and which led to King Joseph having to abandon Madrid at the end of that same month.

Castaños is remembered for his victory over the French under Dupont, whom he surrounded and compelled to surrender at the decisive Battle of Bailen in 1808. Just months later he led his army to a decisive defeat at the Battle of Tudela. After this he served under Wellington in several engagements, and was commander of the Spanish army, if required, to invade France in 1815.

Biography

Early career

He was promoted, in October 1802, to lieutenant general in the same promotion as other notable Spanish military commanders of the Spanish armies during the Peninsular War, including the Duke of the Infantado, Manuel Lapeña, Juan Carrafa, Juan Pignatelli, Francisco Taranco, Francisco Eguía, and Arturo O'Neill, among others.

Peninsular War

Post-war career

Following Napoleon's flight from Elba, and the start of the Hundred Days, Castaños was given command of the Army of Observation of the Right and crossed into Roussillon. With Napoleon defeated at Waterloo, Castaños was appointed captain general of Catalonia.

In 1837 he was appointed senator for the province of Barcelona, seat he held until 1845, apart from the period 1841–1844. In 1845 he was appointed senator for life.

Castaños died in Madrid in 1852. Isabella II attended the funeral service and her husband, the king consort Francisco de Asís, Duke of Cádiz accompanied the coffin from San Isidro el Real to Nuestra Señora de Atocha, where the Duke was entombed.

See also

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