Burgos - History Lab

Trade routes and customs in the exterior of Burgos, 1469-1559

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:32:18 +0000

The map focuses on the period during which the lords of the house of Velasco, constables of Castile, managed the tithes of the sea through the Cantabrian ports, and more specifically that of the area outside Burgos. This position was fundamental, as it was the main source of income from Castilian foreign trade in these waters and one of the tools in the splendour of the wool trade experienced in Burgos as the main exporter of wool in Castile.
The tithes from the sea obtained by the Velasco family must be interpreted as royal in nature, as they were collected on the crown’s foreign trade, but they were collected on behalf of a lordly power, so that through this movement the crown had a powerful alliance of mutual interest in the north of the peninsula, dividing in a certain way the Castilian interior as the destination and consumption of imports with the area of Galicia, Asturias and Cantabria as the link between the markets and the ocean.
With Burgos as the main hub, it controlled the customs offices of San Vicente, Santander, Laredo, Bilbao and San Sebastián, as well as other locations further inland such as Tolosa and Calahorra. Everything was structured through the three main communication routes that formed the backbone of Burgos’ foreign trade, the north towards Santander, the northeast towards San Sebastián and the east, which passed through Logroño.

The post Trade routes and customs in the exterior of Burgos, 1469-1559 first appeared on History Lab.

Distribution of foreign textiles through the port of Bilbao between 1710-1714

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:32:12 +0000

The resource deals with the distribution of foreign fabrics imported from the port of Bilbao during 1710 and 1714, the years in which the War of the Spanish Succession took place. Fabrics destined for Madrid and Toledo paid customs duties in Valmaseda, Orduña, while those bound for the Cantabrian mountain range did so in Vitoria. Taxes were directly proportional to the quality of the fabric: the higher the quality, the higher the tax. From the port of Bilbao they were distributed to wide areas of the peninsular monarchy: the Upper Ebro Valley, the Duero Valley, the Iberian System, Logroño, Soria and Toledo as its extreme points. Where did most of the textiles come from? In the years prior to the war, Holland and England were the two largest exporters (90% of the linen came from Holland). The Royal Order of 3 December 1710 prohibited the importation of Dutch fabrics, thus favouring the British. In the distribution network, Madrid, Toledo, Segovia and Valladolid were the provinces with the highest import ratio, followed by Ávila, Burgos, Palencia, Soria and Logroño. The authors warn us that, due to the war situation, the distribution could have altered with respect to previous years. The Royal Treasury tried to reduce some costs by suspending the payment of pensions, subsidies and other benefits, or by delaying the payment of bureaucratic salaries; this meant that certain privileged groups saw their incomes reduced. At the same time, in Castilian territory, the tax burden on the population was increased. The high taxes and reduced purchasing power led to a lower demand for foreign fabrics.

The post Distribution of foreign textiles through the port of Bilbao between 1710-1714 first appeared on History Lab.

Average value of arms in Burgos households, 18th century

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

The possession of weapons in the city of Burgos during the 18th century reveals that, although they were in the minority, they were stored in those households with the greatest social preeminence. The author provides us with a resource based on the average value of firearms and bladed weapons. There is no surprise when it comes to establishing the relationship between the socio-professional categories of households and the price of the artefacts they owned: from the spinners of Burgos to the nobility, passing through farmers, artisans, merchants, public services, bureaucrats and clerics, the price is shown to be ascending in the social stratification. Special mention should be made of the military who, because of their profession, had expensive equipment far removed from ordinary weapons. If we follow this ascending process as a whole, we observe divergences in terms of the basic armament category: the highest price of court weapons predominates in the artisan, merchant and militia groups, while firearms predominate in the nobility, clerics, bureaucrats, public services and farmers, although the latter account for a very insignificant percentage of the sample. The price of the weaponry reveals its quality: poor, functional but frugal shotguns for the humblest strata compared to the luxurious weapons of the wealthy classes, either in terms of their material quality or their ornamentation. In short, the post-mortem inventories reveal shotguns, pistols, blunderbusses, swords, rapiers and sabres well differentiated in quantity, quality and effectiveness, distributed in a hierarchical manner.

The post Average value of arms in Burgos households, 18th century first appeared on History Lab.

Typology of snowfalls in Burgos (1651-1810)

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

Chart based on access to different sections of archives: AMB. AG, AA and JPA. This is a study from 1651-1810 on snowfalls in Burgos, which also specifies the intensity of the snowfall (none, normal, a little, a lot) expressed in percentages.

The post Typology of snowfalls in Burgos (1651-1810) first appeared on History Lab.

Secret protests in Burgos (18th century)

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:48 +0000

In the documentation of the notarial protocols for the 18th century in Burgos, the so-called secret protests appear. These are writings legally close to the notarial power in which the main parties involved in legal proceedings sought to defend their interests against the complainant. The secret protest, therefore, is a type of appeal against the complaint being brought against them through legal channels.
It cannot be said that this was a homogeneous recourse, since during the first third of the 18th century, 42.2% of the samples collected were collected, 39.2% between 1730 and 1769, and at this point they dropped radically to 18.6% between 1770 and 1799. One of the most widespread hypotheses is that this was a tool that arose due to the extreme judicialisation that affected society as a whole, and its use diminished as the Spanish justice system reduced this fact during the years around the turn of the century.
The main agent involved in secret protest was the clergy (68.2%), with the remaining 31.8% being drawn up by scribes at the request of lay individuals. As for the motives investigated using this legal circumstance, it can be perceived that they are associated with the social problems of the time. For example, compared to the 1.2% of the total represented by appeals about the amount of urban rents during the 18th century, between 1770 and 1789 this amount rises to 6.7% of the total for this period. Other secret protests appeared for reasons of inheritance distributions or access to parish benefices.

The post Secret protests in Burgos (18th century) first appeared on History Lab.

Presence of chocolatiers in Burgos households during the 18th century

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

During the 18th century, the consumption of chocolate was increasingly present in the material culture and in the diet of a large part of the population, and chocolate was found in Castilian households on a regular basis, but it did not reach everyone equally. According to the professions and income levels, chocolate could be found to a greater or lesser extent in homes, as we will see below.
As far as the presence of chocolate makers is concerned, a steady increase can be seen in 18th century Burgos households, which points to a growing consumption of this product with the tools to prepare it already in place in the homes. It is not just a question of the mere ingestion of chocolate, but of trends that affect the material culture of the eighteenth century in a contrasting way.
The use of chocolate pots and their introduction and enjoyment in the different social classes shows great contrasts, with the most privileged showing a clear fever for eating chocolate – reaching 100% of households – while the humblest families, with fewer possibilities of acquiring foods considered exotic, did so in a more sustained way. Clergymen were the most likely to incorporate these foods into their diet, rising from 60% of households between 1700 and 1730 to no less than 94.7% by the end of the century.

The post Presence of chocolatiers in Burgos households during the 18th century first appeared on History Lab.

Distribution of the wealth of merchant families in Burgos, 1752-1850 (in reales and percentages of the value of the stock of inventoried goods)

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:07 +0000

The city of Burgos during the 18th century, after the long decline suffered since the 1570s, recovered a large part of its demographic numbers, experiencing a 42% increase in population between 1752-1787. The economic recovery experienced in the last third of the 17th century shows a scarce presence of merchants that resurfaced in the following century, derived from the advance of agricultural production based on the increase in cultivated land and commercial development with the new export of wool. Analysing the internal structure of the patrimonial wealth, movable goods comprised 79.9% of the total patrimony, directly related to mercantile activity. After the importance of movable goods, explained by the exercise of the activity, in second place comes the possession and exploitation of livestock with 10.7%, dedicated to personal service, preferably mules for travelling. The third position is occupied by dwellings and complementary dependencies that exemplify the interest of the bourgeoisie in a type of investment considered fundamental for establishing and developing their businesses (houses and markets). As in the national average, the acquisition of farmland was of interest, with 4.4% indicating the family’s inclination towards investments considered attractive not only for their degree of security – as far as investment is concerned – but also for their strong social sense as a mirror of business success.

The post Distribution of the wealth of merchant families in Burgos, 1752-1850 (in reales and percentages of the value of the stock of inventoried goods) first appeared on History Lab.

Firearms and bladed weapons in domestic interiors in Burgos, 18th century

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:07 +0000

The resource shows the presence of firearms and bladed weapons in the homes of eighteenth-century Burgos. The author, through post-mortem inventories, systematises the number and valuation of these artefacts according to professional categories. Thus, we can see that the households of the bureaucrats and the noble rentiers had the greatest number of firearms, with 77 and 57 respectively, with a total price of 4,878 and 5,941 in reales de vellón. The figures are equally higher in these groups for bladed weapons (119 and 50). In a comparative methodology between firearms and bladed weapons, we observe differences: of all the weapons, the farmers had 80% firearms and 20% bladed weapons. Although they were, in sum, a tiny number (5 weapons), the trend also stood out in another professional category that was widely equipped with firearms: the militia (66.7% compared to 33.3%). In the city as a whole, of the 236 households analysed, the majority had more accessible bladed weapons (54.9%), while firearms accounted for 45.1%.

The post Firearms and bladed weapons in domestic interiors in Burgos, 18th century first appeared on History Lab.

Place of residence of the distributors of foreign textile products in the port of Bilbao (1710-1714)

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:28:40 +0000

During the Modern Age, the importation of textiles into the Crown of Castile was a constant feature. The main importing country was England. Through the ports of Bilbao and Cadiz, a large volume of products such as sagra, cloths, linen and cloths arrived, but who were the Castilian merchants who imported the products? In relation to the port of Bilbao, an analysis of the place of residence reveals that the vast majority of merchants who distributed products in Madrid, Segovia and Toledo were, between 1710 and 1714, from Burgos (62.34%), followed by Álava (19.65%) and Segovia itself (5.05%). The authors point out that none of the transporters were from Bilbao, the port area, but from neighbouring territories; it was those from Burgos who specialised most in the distribution of textiles. The predominance of merchants from Burgos in the whole distribution network, with no major links between merchant, receiver and transporter from the same province, reflected a network of trust not based on family ties or proximity, but based on social capital; on the status and trust shown by the social group from Burgos.

The post Place of residence of the distributors of foreign textile products in the port of Bilbao (1710-1714) first appeared on History Lab.

Number of merchants detected in several Castilian cities between the second half of the 15th century and the beginning of the 16th century

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:28:27 +0000

The economy experienced growth in the Crown of Castile during the transition from the Middle Ages to the Modern Age. The statistics and merchant trajectories of its four main cities (Burgos, Valladolid, Toledo and Seville) reflect this. Burgos, despite having a population of 10,000 inhabitants, its geopolitical and economic power meant that its merchants were the most powerful in the whole of Castile. These merchant families perpetuated themselves in the trade and predominated in finance and business. They took advantage of their influence to assert themselves in the organs of local power and became part of the dominant oligarchy. They also developed marriage policies to reproduce themselves socially and maintain their privileges. The merchants of other cities such as Toledo or Seville followed similar dynamics to gain access to the local oligarchies, although on most occasions they found themselves unable to gain access to power and were left in a situation of subordination. Another causality in the actions of the merchants can be found in Valladolid. Although it had a population of 30,000 and considerable economic activity, its merchants were not able to gain access to local power so easily, as the oligarchy was more determined to avoid the interference of external agents who could displace them, directing their influence to other parts of the Peninsula.

The post Number of merchants detected in several Castilian cities between the second half of the 15th century and the beginning of the 16th century first appeared on History Lab.