Aragón - History Lab

Announcement relating to the edict of expulsion of the Moors from the kingdom of Aragon

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:32:51 +0000

The expulsion of nearly three hundred thousand Hispanic Moriscos, decided by Philip III on 4 April 1609, was the culmination of the process of eliminating religious minorities that began in our country with the expulsion of the Jews in 1492 and put an end to the more or less peaceful coexistence that had been taking place since the Middle Ages between Christians and Mudejars. The compulsory conversion of the Mudejars, after the conquest of the Kingdom of Granada (1492), now known as Moriscos, brought the conflict to a standstill for a few decades, during which there was equal parts distrust and support, hostility and rapprochement. The different solutions proposed for the assimilation of the Moriscos, ranging from evangelisation to inquisitorial repression, show that doctrinal controversies also involved a political process of repression motivated by the context of the Hispanic Monarchy’s ongoing conflicts with the Turks and Barbary pirates in the Mediterranean. The uprising of the Moors in Granada (1568-1570) marked the end of illusions about the possibility of mutual understanding. The general expulsion sanctioned the triumph of an exclusive Catholicism in Spain. The vicissitudes in which the expulsion took place and the social and economic consequences of forced emigration were suffered throughout the 17th century and are detailed in thousands of documents recorded in volumes and bundles in the Archive of the Crown of Aragon.

The post Announcement relating to the edict of expulsion of the Moors from the kingdom of Aragon first appeared on History Lab.

Navarrese lay lordships with jurisdiction in the second half of the 15th century

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:32:25 +0000

At the beginning of the Modern Age, the different Hispanic kings, in their search for support, gradually ceded part of their jurisdiction to the nobility, but during the second half of the 15th century, the towns tried to take advantage of the wars between the Agramonteses and the Beaumonteses to gain the support of the monarchs. The intention of the towns, which did not resign themselves to losing their royal status, was to free themselves from seignorial jurisdiction, a fact that was maintained throughout the 16th and 17th centuries.
Navarre also underwent this process of cession of royal patrimony, with the high nobility receiving noble titles accompanied by extensive lordships with their corresponding rents and jurisdiction. Moreover, they tried to usurp these rights when circumstances were favourable to them.
This situation continued in Navarre until the 17th century, with the recovery of territories by the Crown interceding with new alienations in the search for resources for a royal treasury in crisis.

The post Navarrese lay lordships with jurisdiction in the second half of the 15th century first appeared on History Lab.

Chronological evolution of convent foundations in Aragon

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:20 +0000

The modern age witnessed an unprecedented expansion of regular convents. Until then, in the Middle Ages, this type of monastery had been limited. However, during the modern age, from the impulse of some regular orders such as the mendicant orders, numerous convents were founded throughout Spain, in which Aragon was no exception. The strength of this impulse is understandable when one considers that at the beginning of modernity there was a proliferation of regeneration movements within Catholicism, such as, for example, the Jesuit order, in addition to the aforementioned strengthening of the mendicant orders. In the same way, the political circumstances required it, since the beginning of the Protestant reform required a greater number of religious to give rise to what was known as the Counter-Reformation, where the regular orders played an important role in the regeneration of the Catholic Church

The post Chronological evolution of convent foundations in Aragon first appeared on History Lab.

Geographical distribution of military aldermen (1707-1788)

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:20 +0000

The importance of the military element in the War of the Spanish Succession was decisive for the Austracist and Bourbon forces. The prominence of the armies and militias in the field of operations was followed by the need for Philip V to control the territories of the Crown of Aragon, for which the army was a relevant element. After the collapse of the foral regime, new criteria were established for the selection of personnel for the regidurias, which until then had been recruited by means of insaculation. The militarisation of the Aragonese territory was due to the fact that most of them had sworn allegiance to Charles of Austria, which led to a distrust of the monarch, which is why a kind of alliance was established with the military corps to guarantee order and obedience. The military administration would be reinforced in these territories practically until the second half of the 18th century, specifically until 1768-1769, as José Antonio Nieves Moreno says, when the trend began to change with a progressive victory of civilianism over militarism.

The post Geographical distribution of military aldermen (1707-1788) first appeared on History Lab.

Legal proceedings against Aragonese marriages in the 18th century

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:20 +0000

During the 18th century in Aragon, a series of power conflicts between renowned families and institutions in rural environments were reported. The role of the fathers of the great families in maintaining order in the communities clashed with their children’s desires for social advancement and their personal interests, so it was the institutions that had to mediate in order to achieve a certain consensus. Relatives usually claimed to be acting for the good of the community, but the reality was simpler and more individualistic.
Free marriage was one of the most important tools available to young people who wanted to move up the social ladder. The problem for the community arose when two people with clear social differentiation or whose marriage deprived them of fulfilling the role that both the community and their own family had given them.
Parents had various ways of obstructing the marriage of their children if they considered it to be a cause of dishonour for their family, by first advocating in the private sphere of the home, and then escalating to institutions if they were overwhelmed by circumstances. The lawsuits mentioned in the appeal are shown to be pre-marital, i.e. originating from the couple’s word of marriage. A large proportion of the cases were between parents and children, even involving coercion and physical violence.

The post Legal proceedings against Aragonese marriages in the 18th century first appeared on History Lab.

Nuptiality in mainland Spain estimated from the 1787 census

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:28:52 +0000

The Christian model of marriage and the development of the family constituted a strong common link in European societies. This model was configured as a strongly hierarchical model where the family was the primary institution where the process of culturalisation and socialisation of the child took place. Its importance was reinforced by the fact that it was, from an economic point of view, a unit of consumption. In addition to its sacred and indissoluble character, marriage was assigned stability and rigidity, where the belief system limited women’s actions to the domestic sphere, as they had to take responsibility for the upbringing of their offspring and the care and maintenance of the unit. However, in the northern peninsular area, extensive and polynuclear family aggregates predominated, with an abundance of solitary domestic groups and no family structure. The trunk family in the north and northwest of the Iberian Peninsula was accompanied by patrilocal or matrilocal post-marital residence patterns. The greater presence of the simple family is confirmed in large areas of the peninsular interior, normally associated with hereditary formulas where egalitarian distribution prevailed. In addition to this, Mediterranean Spain is the most difficult to analyse synthetically, although it is a long way from the complex structures found in other areas of Mediterranean Europe. Thus, the Iberian Peninsula, in addition to the complex family and the patrilocal rule, seems to be associated with late marriage -with the exception of Catalonia-. By making it difficult for sons who wished to marry to stay at home, the trunk family invited a certain percentage of men to leave the farm, which is evident in the higher emigration rates in the North and North-West, which increased in the following century. In much of inland Spain and in the south, women married earlier and this was often associated with a strong nuclear predominance. This led to the existence of a system of high demographic pressure with very high levels of fertility and mortality.

The post Nuptiality in mainland Spain estimated from the 1787 census first appeared on History Lab.

Life expectancy at birth (second half of the 18th century in mainland Spain)

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:28:52 +0000

Life expectancy is a synthetic indicator that measures the average lifespan of a generation. During the 18th century, life expectancy was around 28 years, although other authors have suggested the possibility of 27 or 25 years. Infectious diseases were mainly responsible for the short lifespan, and were a scourge of Spanish villages, towns and cities. In addition, 1796 saw a fundamental event in the fight against infectious diseases: Jenner’s discovery of antivariol vaccination, which was quickly and favourably known. However, the above figures do not reflect Spanish levels. There are strong disparities between the territories, always within the parameters of the Ancien Régime. Similarly, there is a wide area of moderate mortality, consisting of a large part of coastal Spain, with a life expectancy of between 29 and 32 years.

The post Life expectancy at birth (second half of the 18th century in mainland Spain) first appeared on History Lab.

Infant mortality in Spain (per thousand children born). 18th century in mainland Spain

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:28:52 +0000

Life expectancy is an indicator of the average lifespan of a generation. During the seventeenth century, this was around 28 years, although different authors suggested the possibility of 27 or 25 years. Infectious diseases were responsible for the short lifespan, as they were a scourge for Spanish villages, towns and cities. In addition to this, 1796 saw a fundamental event in the fight against infectious diseases: Jenner’s discovery of antivariol vaccination, which was quickly and favourably known. Infant mortality rates are between 200 and 230 per thousand, with intermediate mortality in regions such as the Balearic Islands, Navarre and Aragon and life expectancy below the Spanish average. The analysis of mortality from the end of the 16th century until the beginning of the demographic transition reveals the existence of trends that favoured the periphery over the interior of the peninsula, becoming more noticeable in the 1860s.

The post Infant mortality in Spain (per thousand children born). 18th century in mainland Spain first appeared on History Lab.

Infant mortality in Spain (per thousand children born), 18th century

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:28:33 +0000

In general terms, infant mortality in Ancien Régime Spain obeyed high-pressure demographic dynamics. However, there was a regional variability that can be traced well into the contemporary period. These trends favoured the Spanish periphery to the detriment of the interior: Catalonia, Valencia, Aragon, Galicia, Cantabria, the Balearic Islands, the Basque Country and Navarre were found to have between 209 and 251 deceased children per 1,000 born in the first half of the 18th century, a range of 42, while by the second half of the century this range had decreased to 17. Inland Spain, on the other hand, infant mortality went from 303 to 320, an increase of 17 between the first and second half of the century. The data on the evolution of the Spanish territories also show a contrast between them; while the average for peripheral Spain is 203, the average for inland Spain is 320. What were the possible causes of regional variability? In addition to family trends and socio-economic structure, there were health (epidemics), climatic (bad harvests) and environmental aspects.

72742d2c07ae9683d3456cf84c2964f61 Download

The post Infant mortality in Spain (per thousand children born), 18th century first appeared on History Lab.