Cataluña - History Lab

First Bourbon Court of Catalonia (1716)

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:33:11 +0000

After the War of the Spanish Succession, the Spanish internal order underwent changes aimed at establishing a centralised administration. The territorial privileges and privileges were left behind in much of the Peninsula and the defeated were removed from administrative responsibilities. The document is a reflection of this fact: on 15 April 1716 the Audiencia de Cataluña (replacing the Junta de Gobierno) was set up. The Council of Castile decided that both the Public Prosecutors and the Regent had to be Castilian, as did many of the Oidores. On the other hand, the Alcalde del Crimen would have to be Catalonian because of the work involved in their field. In total, of the 18 Ministros Togados of the Audiencia, 7 were Catalan, 8 Castilian, 2 Aragonese and 1 unspecified.

The post First Bourbon Court of Catalonia (1716) first appeared on History Lab.

Five rifles recovered from the siege of Rosas (Catalonia, Spain)

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

During the siege of the town of Rosas (Catalonia, Spain) in 1795, the Spanish naval force supported the troops ashore in an attempt to wear down the French rearguard. When the warship Triunfante was lost on 5 January, a 68-gun ship carrying a large number of rifles that failed to deliver to the troops besieged in Rosas.
Between 2008 and 2010, a major project by the CASC (Archaeology Museum of Catalonia) succeeded in excavating and investigating the ship Triumphant, which sank in the gulf that night. One of the most valuable elements were the five flintlock guns recovered by the archaeologists. The finds also indicate that the vast majority of the ammunition collected – around 80% – is 17 adarmes per pound, with the remainder being 21 adarmes per pound.
Identifying the remains of the rifles found, at the beginning of 1795, when the Triumphant was sunk, both the army and the navy used two types of 17-gauge rifles, the Model 1757 and the Model 1789. The main difference between them was the type of key used: while the Model 1757 used a “French-style” key, the Model 1789 was a “Catalan-style” key, difficult to clean, but safer and more resistant, in all other respects the two types of rifle are identical. The problem in the case of the Triumphant is the poor preservation of the iron of the keys and the barrels of the guns, but fortunately the E rifle appeared with a real spring that does not correspond to the French key, but identifies it as a Catalan key model.

The post Five rifles recovered from the siege of Rosas (Catalonia, Spain) first appeared on History Lab.

Epidemics of plague in Spain: 16th and 17th centuries

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

The plague epidemic had an early manifestation in Spain. There is evidence of outbreaks of plague along the Mediterranean strip of the peninsula as early as the 6th-8th centuries. During the 14th century, the Black Death appeared in Europe, an epidemic which, interspersed with others such as influenza and typhus, reappeared in the 15th and 16th centuries. In 1596 the plague reached the peninsula via Santander, a port area. It spread virulently through the territories of Extremadura and the two Castiles, especially the area around Madrid. The Cantabrian coast and Andalusia were also affected, as well as the area between Alicante and Valencia. It was in the latter city that another plague epidemic broke out years later, in 1647. From Valencia it spread to the northern part of the Crown of Aragon: Catalonia and the Aragonese territories themselves were affected. Andalusia was also hit again, with the city of Seville suffering significant human losses, where it is estimated that 45% of the population died. It was in Seville that another epidemic appeared in 1676. With no time to recover, cities such as Seville, Cordoba, Malaga, Cadiz and Jaen were the protagonists of the horror. They were joined by Cartagena, in the Kingdom of Murcia. These were the last large-scale epidemics to occur in the peninsular territories of the Hispanic Monarchy. Once the epidemic, demographic and food crises of the 17th century were overcome, the 18th century ushered in a period of generalised growth.

The post Epidemics of plague in Spain: 16th and 17th centuries first appeared on History Lab.

Collection of the Bolla Tax in Barcelona (1599-1695)

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

The so-called “derecho de bolla” was an indirect tax applied to all goods sold in Catalonia during the 16th century until 1769. Within the Catalan market, the textile industry was an important sector. The graph shows a decrease in the collection of the bolla tax from 1599 to 1695. Undoubtedly, as the author points out, the decline of the Catalan textile sector meant lower revenues. The industry of this product lost competitiveness as a result of the counterfeiting that took place, both in the fabric and in the dyes. This was compounded by the massive influx of fabrics from central and northern Europe. Even with margins for modernisation of the sector, the “War of Separation or the War of the Reapers” between 1640 and 1659, with the incorporation of Catalonia into French sovereignty after the betrayal of the Catalan elites to the Spanish Monarchy, led to the numerous imports of French products into this territory, increasing the level of tax collection of the bolla duty despite the detriment of the local product. The demographic decline also led to lower consumption and production; nevertheless, the level of tax collection was bicephalic. Thus, the level of consumption was just as important as the effective collection capacity of the authorities, a capacity that led to collection problems due to political and social instability.

The post Collection of the Bolla Tax in Barcelona (1599-1695) first appeared on History Lab.

War funding in 17th century Catalonia (1640-1679)

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

When analysing the cost of the war against France by the Hispanic Monarchy in Catalan lands, one cannot ignore what it meant for the Catalan army itself, which by then was determined to contribute more directly to its own defence. Due to the great capital needs of the crown when it reactivated the war against Portugal in the mid-17th century, it could not efficiently take charge of the Catalan army and its task of reconstructing a stable frontier for the Catalan principality, at which point the Catalan contribution to its own defence became a key event.
From the resource, the income of the general pay of the Army of Catalonia and its monthly averages can be seen. The resulting information coincides with periods of scarcity for the crown, or when it considered other matters of higher priority than Catalan territory. While the Catalan War of Secession brought in the highest contributions of the years analysed, the Portuguese War led to a sharp drop between 1656 and 1671, making it extremely difficult for the Catalan viceroys to defend the new military frontier.
Due to the small number of troops left to garrison Barcelona and its squares, in February 1663 a voluntary donation was requested from the citizens, universities and ecclesiastical personnel of Catalonia to try to meet the defence costs of the Principality. With this move and in view of the pressing need for capital, the coffers saw their income increase from 3.5 million reales in 1662 to just over 9 million in 1667, continuing to grow to 12 million in 1679.

The post War funding in 17th century Catalonia (1640-1679) first appeared on History Lab.

Weaving establishments and number of looms in Catalonia, by judicial districts, in 1841

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:28:57 +0000

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Monthly wages in spinning and weaving in Catalonia according to the type of spinning, in 1841 (reals of fleece)

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:28:57 +0000

Until the 1970s, the eighteenth-century Indian factories had constituted the continuity of Catalan industry during the nineteenth century. In this sense, Catalan industrialisation did not respond to an exclusive Barcelona model, but rather emerged as a response to the diverse productive structures of the territory, combining the new fibre with new technologies. Nevertheless, cotton reinforced Barcelona in the industry by being the point of entry and distribution. Although there are certain inconsistencies in the different areas, the data are fairly homogeneous. In the area of spinning with mules, wages were much higher. Men earned 272-298 reais as opposed to women, who earned 116-146 while a child earned between 50-59 reais; in the berdagana zones men earned between 146-164, women 59.2-76.8 and children between 33.4-33.6.something similar happened with weaving, since based on the average of the prices of the different parties, men in the mule area charged 62% more than those in the berdeganas area, women 70% more and children 47% more. In weaving, men were paid 28.9% more, women 100% more and children 26.5% more. In Manresa, all salaries were in an intermediate position, while in Reus, weavers were close to Barcelona salaries. Therefore, there were significant wage differences from one area to another.

The post Monthly wages in spinning and weaving in Catalonia according to the type of spinning, in 1841 (reals of fleece) 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.

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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.