Francisco Elías de Tejada y Spínola Gómez (April 6, 1917 – February 18, 1978) was a Spanish scholar and a Carlist politician. He is considered one of top intellectuals of the Francoist era, though not necessarily of Francoism. As theorist of law he represented the school known as iusnaturalismo, as historian of political ideas he focused mostly on Hispanidad, and as theorist of politics he pursued a Traditionalist approach. As a Carlist he remained an ideologue rather than a political protagonist. Family and youth The Tejada family originated from Genoa; its branch moved to Naples and in the late Middle Ages to the Spanish La Rioja, settling at Muro de Cameros. In the early modern period its descendants transferred to Extremadura and few generations later they were already considered extremeños. Francisco's distant ancestor was the 17th-century knight Sancho de Tejada, whose son Elías excelled during the siege of Breda and got his name incorporated into the family surname. In the early 19th century the family, referred to as terratenientes hidalgos, held estates mostly in Castuera and Zalamea de la Serena. Francisco's grandfather made his name as a lawyer. Francisco's father, José Maria Elías de Tejada y de la Cueva (1891-1970), also practiced as abogado in Castuera. In 1913 he married Encarnación Spínola Gómez (1891-1953), heir to a wealthy local landowners family. It was at her Rinconada estate near Granja de Torrehermosa where Francisco and his only brother spent most of their childhood, raised in the profoundly Catholic ambience. Though born in Madrid, he considered Extremadura his mother region. Since early childhood consuming sophisticated books and gifted with excellent memory, the young Francisco was first educated in the Jesuit college of Nuestra Señora de Recuerdo in the Madrid quarter of Chamartin. After its premises were ransacked in May 1931 and the order was expulsed soon afterwards, he continued his learning in the Portuguese Estremoz, still with the Jesuits. In 1933 Tejada obtained bachillerato, nostrified by University of Seville. Inspired by his Jesuit mentor Fernando María de Huidobro he decided to study law, though at Universidad Central in Madrid he pursued also philosophy and letters. Having graduated in both in 1935 he left to study in Germany. Outbreak of the Civil War caught him in Berlin; Tejada returned to Spain to learn that tens of his relatives were executed by the Republicans in Granja. In September in Calera de la Sierra he