Granting of titles of nobility and access to the Royal Navy (1690-1829)

During the 18th century there was an enrichment of Cadiz merchants who came to rise socially acquiring noble titles, going from a family culture of merchants to seek new careers for their children through the income in the Royal Navy. One of the main aspects to be considered initially is the situation of trade, looking at the families still in the business and by studying their sources of wealth also at what level they aspired to in this situation.
With the selection of twenty-seven families from the Cádiz trade, it is possible to find out which of their descendants joined the Academies of Marine Guards from the end of the 17th century to the beginning of the 19th century. With the data collected, it is possible to establish the transformations that were taking place within the families themselves and the way in which they adapted to the changes experienced by Cádiz society.
The level of interest in the naval institution remained between three and four throughout the first half of the 18th century, growing exponentially in the second half of the century when the merchants of Cádiz received a greater number of noble titles, decreasing again in the early years of the 19th century, highlighting the strategy of ennoblement that marked the institution in these years.

Collection: Graphics

Project: 6. Under a cloak of terror: violence and armed conflict in Europe.

Chronology: XVII, XVIII, XIX

Scope: Secondary Education, Baccalaureate, University

Link: http://www.tiemposmodernos.org/tm3/index.php/tm/article/view/381

Resource type: Graph

Format: Line chart

Source: Ortega, P. (2015). "Ennoblecimiento y elitización de los comerciantes gaditanos entre los siglos XVIII y XIX: análisis a partir de los ingresos en la Real Armada", en Tiempos modernos, nº 30, p. 7.

Language: Spanish

Date: 2015

Owner: Roberto José Alcalde López (Modernalia)

Abstract: Line graph showing the granting of noble titles and access to the Academies of Marine Guards among the descendants of Cadiz merchants between 1690 and 1829

Image