III EDITION
Mr. Enrique Krauze
Mexican writer and historian Enrique Krauze was the winner of the III Edition of the Spanish Orders History Award. His candidacy was presented by the National Autonomous University of Mexico, the oldest in the Americas, for “his extensive career as a historian, essayist, editor and liberal thinker,” among other reasons.
The jury of the Award especially valued that “his work covers the whole of Mexican history as a nation, from a broad perspective that embraces both its actors and institutions. Based on research, he offers an independent vision of Mexican history that combines indigenous elements with the Christian culture received from Europe.
Krauze was born in Mexico City in 1947. An industrial engineer and Doctor in History from the Colegio de México, he is the founder of the publishing house Clío and the cultural magazine Letras Libres and has been a professor at Oxford and Princeton universities.
His production as a historian includes texts that have become classics and cover practically the entire history of Mexico as an independent nation. Among these are Biografía del poder, Siglo de Caudillos, De héroes y mitos, México: biografía del poder, Caudillos culturales en la Revolución mexicana, and Nacimiento de las instituciones.
He has been a member of the Mexican Academy of History since 1989 and of El Colegio Nacional de México since 2005. Other awards include the Comillas Biography Award 1993, Grand Cross of the Civil Order of Alfonso X El Sabio 2003, Grand Cross of the Order of Isabel La Católica 2009, the National History Award from the Mexican government (2010), and the doctorate Honoris causa from the University of Guadalajara in 2017.
Considered one of the most important Mexican historians of his generation, and one of the most relevant liberal intellectuals in Latin America, Krauze has stood out over four decades for his commitment to the defense of democracy and liberal values, and for denouncing dictatorships of all kinds, identity fanaticism, populism, and authoritarianism.
His Majesty King Felipe VI presided over the presentation of the Prize at a ceremony held on July 7, 2021 in the Chapter Rooms of the Royal Monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial (Madrid). The jury was chaired by H.R.H. Don Pedro de Borbón Dos Sicilias y de Orleans, and integrated, among other personalities, by Ms. Carmen Iglesias Cano, Director of the Royal Academy of History, who delivered the ‘laudatio’ of the laureate, at the ceremony that was attended by the then Minister of Justice, Don Juan Carlos Campo Moreno.
In his speech, Krauze emphasized, among other messages: “For a Mexican historian who has so many bonds of affection with Spain, receiving it in this year of 2021 entails, in addition to a very high honor, the responsibility of remembering the fifth centenary of the Conquest of Mexico”.
He also closed his speech with the wish: “that the vocation of knowledge may always prevail over the designs of power. May hatred never again impede dialogue. In this way, history will be able to fulfill its highest mission, that of being a path of understanding and harmony”.
The jury of the III Edition of the Award was chaired by H.R.H. Don Pedro de Borbón Dos Sicilias y de Orleans, Duke of Calabria.
Members:
- Ms. Llanos Castellanos Garijo, then President of Patrimonio Nacional.
- Ms. Carmen Iglesias Cano, Countess of Gisbert, Director of the R. A. de la Historia.
- Mr. Hugo O’Donnell Duque de Estrada, Duke of Tetuán, censor of the R. A. de la Historia.
- Mr. Feliciano Barrios Pintado, Director of the R. A. de la Historia.
- Mr. Luis Antonio Ribot García, academician of the R. A. de la Historia.
- Mr. Juan Manuel González Serna, President of the Siro Group Foundation.
- Mr. Carlos de Palacio Oriol, President of the Talgo Foundation.
- Mr. Raimundo Pérez-Hernández y Torra, Director de la Fundación Areces.
- Ms. Micaela Valdés y Ozores, censora Real Sociedad Económica Matritense de Amigos del País.
- El empresario D. José Miguel Isidro Rincón.
- Mr. Miguel Ángel Ladero Quesada, ganador de la II Edición del Premio de Historia Órdenes Españolas.
- Mr. Marcelino Oreja Aguirre, Marquis of Oreja, academic and Honorary President of the R. A. of Moral and Political Sciences.
- Mr. Manuel Gullón de Oñate, Count of Tepa and gentleman of His Holiness.
- Mr. Íñigo Moreno Arteaga, Marquis of Laserna, corresponding member of the R. A. of History.
Secretario:
- Mr. Álvaro Mariátegui Valdés.
Tesorero:
- Mr. Íñigo Churruca y Bonilla.
