Banqueros - History Lab

Payment of loans by Charles V in the mid-16th century

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:56 +0000

Carlos V’s monetary management was characterised to a large extent by regular recourse to loans from Genoese, German, Castilian and Flemish bankers. Some of these loans were repaid on a regular basis, some were repaid with ecclesiastical revenues, and a third led to delays and non-payments by the Spanish Royal Treasury.
Contributions from ecclesiastical institutions were a very important figure in legitimising a relatively secure guarantee of repayment between them and the king vis-à-vis the bankers. In contrast to the secondary role played by Castilian lenders, ecclesiastical contributions – mainly through the Crusade – did stand out as a key tool for the crown.
It can be seen how in the period between 1547 and 1550 the figures for loan payments fall, largely because they were not so necessary at this peaceful time, rising again between 1551 and 1554, showing the preeminence of Genoese bankers when it came to financing the Spanish monarchy. It should be borne in mind, however, that despite being very clear and definitive data, these may suffer some variation in the royal sphere because some entries showed that the monarch used the bankers as intermediaries to transfer money between his kingdoms, thus increasing the share of these entities.

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Estimates of metals and coins transported by bankers in Spain between 1601 and 1675

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:41 +0000

During the Modern Age, the availability of real physical money was of great importance for the Royal Treasury when it came to making payments without the need for another financial instrument such as bills of exchange. The transport of this money was conditioned by the strategies and organisation that the banquerons deployed when offering credits and making investments in America, Spain, Europe and Asia. The resource presented here shows the estimate of metals and coins transported by bankers in Spain between 1601 and 1675. The different coins and their quality were due to the type of currency used in each territory: while in Castile it was the real de vellón, in the Crown of Aragon, such as the cities of Barcelina, Zaragoza and Valencia, the metal used was silver and double silver. The author warns us that the documentary sources used are confined to Madrid, so the results are filtered through the filter of Madrid activity. The sample he has collected totals 8,760,000 ducats, equivalent to the annual expenditure of the Monarchy at the beginning of the 17th century. Of the total, 79% were coined silver reales, 10.8% uncoined silver, 9.4% fleece coins, and 0.8% gold coins. This reflects the large internal trade in metals that the Monarchy had on the peninsula.

The post Estimates of metals and coins transported by bankers in Spain between 1601 and 1675 first appeared on History Lab.

Level of wealth of the bourgeoisie of León, 18th-19th centuries

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:13 +0000

During the 18th century and the first half of the 19th century, different bourgeoisies developed in the city of León according to their professional specialisation: the commercial, financial, administrative and liberal professions bourgeoisie. The average wealth of all of them was 504,000 reals; 464,000 liquid if we discount debts and liabilities. However, there were large differences between sectors. The 3 families of the financial bourgeoisie, with an average of 893,883 reais, had 8 times more wealth than the bourgeoisie associated with the liberal professions: 116,489 reais on average for 9 families. The margins are completed with an average of 463,980 and 216,669 reais for the commercial and administrative bourgeoisie, respectively. In comparative methodology, the León bourgeoisie had lower values than those of Valencia, Cadiz or Vitoria, due to a less powerful domestic market than the port market.

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Economic reproduction of bourgeois families in León, 18th-19th centuries

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:13 +0000

One of the most effective reproduction strategies of social groups was marriage. A good marriage could mean consolidation within a group, or promotion. The bourgeois families of the city of León were no strangers to the reality of their time. The resource shows the different average contribution of the spouses according to the sector to which they belonged within the bourgeoisie: commercial, financial, administrative or liberal professions. Overall, the average contribution of the spouses exceeded 200,000 reals, reaching 1,462,001 in the case of the financiers. The spouses brought most of their assets to the marriage, except in the case of liberal professionals. These well-matched couples saw their wealth increase not only with the marriage itself, but also with the commercial performance of their businesses. In fact, contributions to the marriage represented an average of 25.8% of their total wealth. Did second marriages follow the same trends? In this case, imbalances were observed in favour of the husband (if the wife was a widow or younger than the husband) or the wife (if the widow had younger children and owned a business).

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