Alejandro Pidal y Mon

Alejandro Pidal y Mon studied at Universidad Central. The recorded working language is Spanish. The field of work recorded is politics and history. Places of work recorded in the authority are Madrid. Positions recorded include Member of the Congress during Sexenio Democrático and President of the Congress of Deputies. Distinctions recorded are Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St.

• Name — Alejandro Pidal • Office — Minister of Development • Term Start — 18 January 1884 • Term End — 27 November 1885 • Predecessor — Ángel Carvajal y Fernández de Córdoba • Successor — Eugenio Montero Ríos • Office2 — President of the Congress of Deputies • Term Start2 — 3 March 1891 • Term End2 — 5 January 1893 • Predecessor2 — Manuel Alonso Martínez • Successor2 — Antonio Aguilar y Correa • Term Start3 — 12 May 1896 • Term End3 — 26 February 1898 • Predecessor3 — Antonio Aguilar y Correa • Successor3 — Antonio Aguilar y Correa • Term Start4 — 3 June 1899 • Term End4 — 18 October 1900 • Predecessor4 — Antonio Aguilar y Correa • Successor4 — Raimundo Fernández-Villaverde • Office5 — Ambassador to the Holy See • Term Start5 — 5 November 1900 • Term End5 — 18 January 1902 • Predecessor5 — Rafael Carlos Merry del Val • Successor5 — José Gutiérrez de Agüera • Office6 — Director of the Real Academia Española • Term Start6 — 22 November 1906 • Term End6 — 19 October 1913 • Predecessor6 — Juan de la Pezuela y Cevallos • Successor6 — Antonio Maura • Office7 — Seat V of the Real Academia Española • Term Start7 — 29 April 1883 • Term End7 — 19 October 1913 • Predecessor7 — Joaquín Ignacio Mencos • Successor7 — Miguel Echegaray • Birth Name — Alejandro Pidal y Mon • Born — 26 August 1846 • Birthplace — Madrid, Spain • Died — 19 October 1913 • Place of death — Madrid, Spain Alejandro Pidal y Mon (Madrid, 26 August 1846 – Madrid, 19 October 1913) was a Spanish statesman and President of the Congress of Deputies of Spain during 5 non-consecutive years.

He was the second son of Asturian politician Pedro José Pidal and Manuela Mon y Menéndez, sister of Prime Minister Alejandro Mon y Menéndez. His elder brother was Luis Pidal y Mon, also a politician and academic. He graduated from the San Isidro Institute and the Law School of the Central University of Madrid. He joined a group of Neo-Catholics and, together with a number of like-minded people, founded the weekly magazine La Cruzada in 1867. In August 1872, he was elected to the Congress of Deputies for the first time. He was actively involved in legislative work on issues of the Catholic Church and the abolition of slavery in Puerto Rico. He was not elected to the Constituent Assembly of the First Spanish Republic, but in 1876 he became a deputy again after the Restoration of the Bourbon dynasty. From that moment until the end of his life, he was re-elected in a total of fifteen elections, adhering to conservative Catholic views. In 1881, he was one of the founders of the "Catholic Union", which sought to unite all Catholics in Spain, including Carlists. At the end of the year, in Rome, he met with Pope Leo XIII and then with King Alfonso XII, who were interested in attracting Spanish Catholics to their policies. In 1883, he was elected a full member of the Spanish Royal Academy. In 1884–1885 he was appointed Minister of Development. He paid special attention to education issues, signed a resolution directed against the reformist aspirations of university representatives, and also initiated the expansion of the public works system and the construction of a railway through the Puerto de Pajares. In April 1891 he was elected President of the Congress of Deputies. He held the presidency until 12 December 1892. He would be president for a second time from 12 May 1896 to 1 July 1897, and for a third time from 3 June 1899 to 3 April 1900. On 5 November of that same year he was appointed Spanish Ambassador to the Holy See. On 18 January 1902, he resigned as ambassador in response to the draft amendment to change the Concordat, promoted by the Sagasta government, and returned to Madrid. In 1906, despite attacks from a number of media outlets, he was appointed director of the Royal Spanish Academy. He was the author of two major monographs, on Thomas Aquinas and "The Triumph of the Jesuits in France" (1880). He was also a member of the Royal Academy of Jurisprudence and Legislation and of the Royal Academy of Moral and Political Sciences. He received the Order of the Golden Fleece, the Order of St. Gregory the Great, as well as numerous national and foreign decorations. Alejandro Pidal y Mon died on 19 October 1913 in Madrid, and was buried in Covadonga in Asturias.

In 1868 he married Ignacia Bernaldo de Quirós y González-Cienfuegos, daughter of the Marquis of Camposagrado, with whom he would have fifteen children, of whom thirteen survived, including: • Pedro Pidal, 1st Marquess of Villaviciosa de Asturias (1870–1941).