# Don José Malespina — Trafalgar character guide

> Don José Malespina in Trafalgar by Benito Pérez Galdós.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Malespina, Don José, Don José María, Don José María Malespina, young Malespina

**First appearance:** 0000-i

## Snapshot

A young artillery officer and groom-to-be whose eyewitness account of Trafalgar brings the battle's horrors home to Don Alonso's parlor.

## Who they are

Malespina is distantly related to Don Alonso and engaged to Rosita, which makes him both a family intimate and a link to the wider war. He returns from the fleet with news of Churruca's death and the defeat, and his narrative of the fighting holds the household spellbound. His presence complicates the wedding plans and gives the novel its most direct channel from the domestic world to the catastrophe at sea.

## In the story

### [V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/trafalgar_se/chapters/v)

Young artillery officer, Rosita's fiancé, from a family of Medina-Sidonia, distantly related to Don Alonso.

### [VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/trafalgar_se/chapters/vi)

Visits to take leave; announces he must serve on board ship as an artillery officer; takes tender leave of Rosita.

### [The Secret Departure](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/trafalgar_se/chapters/vii)

Son of the old colonel; he meets Don Alonso on the road and listens gravely to his father's boasts, visibly pained by the lies.

### [The Departure of the Fleet](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/trafalgar_se/chapters/ix)

Referenced as having spoken about the causes of the war at Don Alonso's house, which Marcial later parodies.

### [XIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/trafalgar_se/chapters/xiii)

Malespina is on the Santa Ana and narrates the detailed account of Churruca's defense and death.

### [XV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/trafalgar_se/chapters/xv)

Boards the Rayo searching for his son Rafael, boasting of his military past and a grandiose scheme for 300-pounder guns. He is evacuated with his son.

### [XVI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/trafalgar_se/chapters/xvi)

The narrator inquires about Malespina but no one knows his fate.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/trafalgar_se/characters/don_jose_malespina
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/trafalgar_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/trafalgar_se/characters