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DON MANUEL JOSEPH MARTIN LOPEZ DE PRADO (November 2nd 1764 - April 20th 1809)
Don Manuel Joseph Martín López de Prado Rodríguez Díaz de Armesto y Varela is a progenitor of the House of Lemavia and its X Lord.
He was murdered by the French on April 20th 1809, at the age of 44, with other 1100 civilians, as part of the mass-killings carried out by Marshal Ney's 6th Corps in retaliation for the Battle of Lemos.
Following direct orders of Marshal Michel Ney, French troops assassinated 1,100 civilian residents of Lemos in a single day, April 20th 1809.
In his subsequent proclamation, Marshal Ney boasted of ''killing 1500 Spaniards and making no prisioners''[1]
BIRTH
Don Manuel López de Prado was born on November 2nd 1764 in the Palace of the Lamela, near Monforte de Lemos (Lugo, Spain). He was baptized on November 12th 1764 in the parish of San Christobal de Martín, in the family's domains of Lemos. His father was Don Lorenzo López de Prado y Díaz de Armesto, IX Lord of Lemavia. His mother, Dª Agustina Rodríguez Varela, came from an hidalgo family of Santa María Ferreira de Pallares (Lugo, Spain). His godparents were Licenciado Don Manuel Joseph Saco Gayoso y Quiroga, the Prosecutor at the Royal Courts in the Kingdom of Galicia (es: Real Audiencia), and his wife Dª María Manuela Montenegro Boán y Lemos, both from illustrious noble families of San Vicente de Ver (Lugo)[2].
Baptismal record of Don Manuel Joseph Martín López de Prado (November 12th 1764).
Don Manuel was the oldest of nine siblings, the others being:
D. Christóbal, born on December 12th 1766[3].
D. Juan Ignacio, born on June 3rd 1769[4].
Dª Ana María, born on August 9th 1771. She died an infant[5].
D. Ignacio Antonio, born on February 17th 1774[6].
Dª Josepha Manuela, born on May 22nd 1776[7].
Dª Ana María, born on April 3rd 1779[8].
D. Francisco. Died an infant.
Dª Rosa. Died an infant.
YOUTH
In the year 1798, he married Dª Vicenta Capón y Hurtado, from Santiago de la Vega, with whom Don Manuel had six children:
D. Juan María López de Prado y Hurtado, born on December 19th 1799, who would become the XI Lord of Lemavia at the age of 10[9].
D. Miguel Joseph, born on May 11th 1802[10].
D. Manuel María, born on August 11th 1804[11].
D. Joseph María, born on October 9th 1806[12].
Dª María Josepha, born on December 18th 1807[13].
Dª Ignacia, born on May 9th 1809, less than 3 weeks after the execution of his father by orders of Marshal Michel Ney[14].
Like most members of the House of Lemavia, Don Manuel had as sole occupations the management of the large Estate of his family, organizing charitable works and supporting his extensive family. The House of Lemavia was the third largest landlord of the Province of Lugo, after the Bishop of Lugo and the Counts of Lemos. Like all members of the House, he was a descendant of Louis IX, King of France[15].
DEATH
Don Manuel was murdered in the presence of his entire family, children included (the oldest being less than 10 years old, his younger daughter less than 15 months old). His wife's plead for her husband being administered the Catholic Rite of Extreme Unction before being executed was ignored. Less than 3 weeks later, his wife gave birth prematurely to the posthumous daughter of Don Manuel, named Ignacia[16].
Transcript of the death certificate of Don Manuel Joseph Martín López de Prado, preserved at the Archives of the Bishop of Lugo.
To this day, the French Republic continues to glorify the criminal figure of Napoleon and his mass-murder-boasting Marshals.
According to the report of Captain George McKinley, of the frigate HMS Lively stationed in Vigo, Marshal Michel Ney boasted in his Proclamation ''of having made no prisoners and of killing 1,500 Spaniards'' during the Battle of Lemos[17]. Historians Pedro de Frutos García and German Vazquez count 400 as the number of Patriots who fought in the battle. The other 1100 Galicians killed by Marshal Ney's 6th Corps correspond to civilians murdered in the days subsequent to the battle, Don Manuel among them. Brigadier General Don Manuel García del Barrio recorded in his memoires the monstrosities carried out by the French troops against the innocent civilians of Lemos on April 20th 1809[18].
The certificate of death of Don Manuel Joseph Martín López de Prado records the following:
On April 21st 1809 we buried in the Church of San Christobal de Martín the cadaver of Don Manuel Joseph Martín López de Prado y Rodríguez, resident of San Christóbal de Martín, assassinated by the damned and evil French without receiving any Sacraments. He was married to Doña Vicenta Capón y Hurtado, from the same parish, with whom he leaves 5 kids: Manuel María, Miguel, José María, María Josefa and Ignacia, all unmarried. For all to know, I sign this on the same day, and that he was assassinated on the 20th of the same month and year.
—Don Pedro Díez, parisher of San Christobal de Martín (Lugo). April 21st 1809.
EXTERNAL LINKS
Napoleon's Genocide on a par with Hitler: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/1504014/Napoleons-genocide-on-a-par-with-Hitler.html
The Battle of Monforte de Lemos: http://www.1808-1814.org/articulos/monforte.html
List of civilians assassinated on April 20th 1809 in the parish of Penela, one of many villages victim of mass-murders by Napoleonic troops: http://club.telepolis.com/apenela/HISTORIA.htm
[1] Public Record Office. ADM 1 / 2160, Captains In-Letters (M
1809). Letter from Captain George McKinley to WW Pole, on May 6th 1809 from HMS
Lively stationed in Vigo, received on May 22nd.
[2] Book III of Baptisms, page 160,
Parish of San Christobal de Martín. Archives of the Bishop of Lugo.
[3] Bautizado el
22-XII-1766, pág. 168, libro III. Padrinos: Don Joseph Rodríguez y Somoza,
presbítero, y Dª Rosa de Aguiar.
[4]
Bautizado el 12-VI-1769, pág. 178, libro III. Padrinos: Su tíos D. Ignacio López
de Prado, reverendo, y su tía Dª Andrea Díaz de Armesto.
[5]
Bautizada el 19-VIII-1771, pág. 2, libro IV. Padrinos: D. Manuel López de Prado,
presbítero, y Dª Ana Varela, de San Vicente de Ver. Murió Párvula
[6]
Bautizado el 22-II-1774, página 11, libro IV. Padrinos: Su tío D. Ignacio López
de Prado, presbítero. Abuelos difuntos.
[7]
Bautizada el 27-V-1776, pág. 15, libro IV. Padrinos: D. Joseph Losada y Doña
Bernarda Díaz, de Santa María de Baamorzo.
[8]
Bautizada el 11-IV-1779, pág. 23, libro IV. Padrinos: Su tío D. Ignacio López de
Prado, reverendo, y Dª Ana María Rodríguez, vecina de San Vicente de Ver.
[9] Bautizado el el 23-XII-1799, pág. 71, libro IV.
Padrinos: Don Juan López de Prado, Abad de Santa Catalina
de Anseán, vecino de la misma parroquia, y Dª Josepha Rodríguez, de esta
parroquia.
[10] Bautizado el
20-V-1802, pág. 77, libro IV. Padrinos: D. Miguel Carreira, presbítero, y su tía
Dª Ana Rodríguez, célibe. Lo bautizó su tío D. Manuel López de Prado.
[11] Bautizado el
13-VIII-1804, pág. 82, libro IV. Padrinos: Su tío D. Manuel López de Prado (presbítero)
y Dª María Díaz de Armesto.
[12] Bautizado el
10-X-1806, pág. 92, libro IV. Padrinos: D. Francisco López y Dª María López.
[13]
Bautizada el 21-XII-1807, página 97, libro IV. Padrinos: D. Miguel Carreira,
presbítero, y Dª Josepha Rodríguez.
[14] Bautizada el 11-V-1809, pág. 102,
libro IV. Su padrino fue D. Ignacio
Losada, presbítero vecino de Santa María de Baamorzo.
[15] Enciclopedia Genealógica y Heráldica García Carraffa, Vol. 72,
101-120.
[16] Chronicle of the House of Lemavia,
1808-1809.
[17] Public Record Office. ADM 1 / 2160,
Captains In-Letters (M 1809). Letter from Captain George McKinley to WW Pole, on
May 6th 1809 from HMS Lively stationed in Vigo, received on May 22nd.
[18] García del Barrio, Manuel (1811):
Sucesos Militares de Galicia en 1809, Editado en La Coruna en 1891 por Andrés
Martínez, pág 90-91.
