María Goyri

María Amalia Vicenta Goyri was born on 29 August 1873 in Madrid to a Basque family, she spent her early years in Algorta, a seaside village in the province of Biscay.

Due to her delicate health she was educated at home by her mother, who frequently gave her lessons outdoors in the Buen Retiro Park to help combat her tubercular arthritis.

[1] Ignoring the conventions of the time she enrolled María in a gym and when she was twelve she began business courses at the Association for the Education of Women.

When Concepción Arenal's presentation of her views on women's duties and rights provoked violent attacks, María stood up and vehemently defended the elderly activist.

María and Ramón devoted their lives to research on everything related to philology and the preservation of ancient Spanish history and ballads.

She also collaborated with the Protectorado del Niño Delincuente (Child Delinquent Protectorate), an organization founded in 1916 to help prevent the incarceration of youths under the age of 16.

She taught at the Institute of Free Education (Junta para Ampliación de Estudios) until the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War combining physical exercise along with intellectual studies.

The report sent to Burgos, the base of the Nationalist government, said that "Ramón Menéndez Pidal, Director of the Royal Spanish Academy, was weak of character and totally dominated by his wife, María Goyri, a cultured woman of great talent and extraordinary energy who has perverted her husband and children.

[6] Located at the olive grove garden of Olivar de Chamartin in the north of Madrid it is an indispensable source for scholars and is today considered part of the "National Treasure" of Spain.

Her niece was the writer and activist María Teresa León (daughter of her sister Oliva) and her grandson was the Spanish philologist Diego Catalán who presided over the "Fundación Ramón Menéndez Pidal".