As a politician he briefly headed the Carlist regional party organization in Castile, though he is recognized rather as an architect of political rebranding of Carlism in the late 19th century.

Count of Doña Marina; he was moderately active as a Carlist and held high posts in the realm of archives and museums during the Republic and early Francoism.

[35] Works which earned Doña Marina a reputation of an erudite and intellectual are medium-size academic or semi-academic studies, published as articles in scientific and literary reviews, as stand-alone booklets or as sections of larger compilation books.

[41] Historical works focus on early modern period and are usually formatted as biographical studies,[42] with some pieces clearly forming part of genealogy[43] or heraldry;[44] many exploit author's own family links.

[66] As its director[67] he maintained Traditionalist profile of the paper, in the early 20th century ridiculed by opponents as "fracasado periodiquero" and representative of die-hard despotic Carlism.

[69] Like in Biscay, also in Gipuzkoa the editorial enterprise did not last longer than a decade; at unspecified time Doña Marina withdrew, and El Correo disappeared in the early-1910s.

[70] Most authors do not associate him with any other periodical; one scholar, however, claims that in the late 1910s Doña Marina one way or another controlled a Toledo daily El Porvenir, a very ephemeral episode marked by attempt to champion a Mellista line.

[73] Eguizábal managed[74] to shape political outlook of the adolescent Liñán; it was furtherly reinforced by the latter's maternal uncle, José Cavanilles, who served as secretary to the legitimist claimant Carlos VII during the Third Carlist War.

[76] As a result, he embraced Traditionalism in the most unusual period: in the aftermath of the war which produced military defeat and profound crisis of Carlism, the time marked by defections rather than by new adhesions.

His motives are not entirely clear; possibly an acute and largely personal conflict with the key Biscay Integrist José de Acillona y Garay determined his choice.

[82] For the Integros Liñán was a traitor, and previously flattering references in their daily El Siglo Futuro gave way to venomous ridicule;[83] on the other hand, Carlos VII did not hesitate to express his appreciation.

[87] His endeavors were partially successful, at least in terms of preserving integrity and autonomy of the Vasco-Navarrese structures, built in the early 1890s;[88] however, among Carlist leaders Liñán was rather isolated[89] and depending on financial party support for his daily El Basco, he could have not afforded inflexible stand.

Due to family ties related to Aragón, because of his editorial duties active in the Vascongadas realm and residing permanently in Madrid, he is not mentioned as standing for the Cortes in any of those areas.

[96] Already in the mid-1890s Doña Marina forged close relationship with the new party political leader and chief architect of the activist strategy, marqués de Cerralbo.

Both shared not only the Madrid residence but also aristocratic standing, interest in history and archeology, penchant for letters, passion for collecting art and generally a refined intellectual format.

Doña Marina was among chief exponents of the new slogan, "carlismo es una esperanza, no un temor", intended to change popular perception of the movement from a bunch of fanatic troublemakers to a respected established party.

Though after 1900 de Cerralbo was forced to step down as political leader, Doña Marina remained loyal to the claimant and in 1905 was even lambasted by opponents as representative of "cesarismo carlista".

[120] Once in 1913 his friend regained the party leadership Doña Marina became one of his closest aides, considered "semisecretario de Cerralbo"[121] and counted among „promellistas más relevantes”.

[122] Events of the Great War played into the hands of de Mella and his supporters, as the claimant Don Jaime was left non-contactable in his house arrest in Austria.

Falling short of pursuing a pro-German line[124] Doña Marina campaigned for neutrality,[125] especially as in 1917-1918 the odds were turning against the Central Powers and the Spanish government was tempted to declare war on Berlin.

[128] The Mellista political project was bogged by internal controversy; while de Mella opted for a close ultra-conservative alliance, Víctor Pradera advocated a loose minimalist coalition based on the lowest common denominator.

Doña Marina tended to side with the latter,[129] though as usual he preferred to stay in the back row and is not listed among key protagonists of the disputes, taking place in the disintegrating Mellista camp at the turn of the decades.

[130] The 1923 advent of the Primo de Rivera dictatorship brought national political life to a standstill and marked an attempt to build a new system.

The process climaxed in 1928; Doña Marina publicly acknowledged Alfonso XIII as a legitimate king, arguing that pledges embracing Catholic principles rendered him fit for rule also from the Traditionalist perspective.

[138] Since 1911 Doña Marina was involved in Sociedad Nacional de Credito,[139] an enterprise founded by José Larracea, the banker and father of his daughter-in-law.

[143] A member of numerous scientific institutions related to history and archeology,[144] occasionally he was referred to as "academico"[145] and "catedrático",[146] though despite a number of attempts to land a university job in 1886-1912 no source confirms he has ever assumed academic teaching duties.