Catastro del Marqués de la Ensenada - History Lab

Map of El Ballestero (Albacete) in 1752

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:31:09 +0000

The Cadastre of the Marquis de la Ensenada, carried out in the middle of the 18th century, was a great impetus on the part of the government to increase fiscal and demographic control. Of all the areas concerned, such as professions, location, economic activities, number of inhabitants, churches, brotherhoods, and the surroundings of the municipalities, it is the latter which graphically revealed the context in which the households were settled.
This example of the village of El Ballestero, dependent as a hamlet on the town of Alcaraz during the Modern Age, had begun its urban configuration before its emancipation. In 1752 we see a total of 7 roads containing a total of 61 dwelling houses. The main areas of the town centre were located around the square and the church. The average size of all the buildings in El Ballestero ranged between 100 and 150 m2. The average household size was 3.6 tenants, and nuclear households accounted for 80% of the total.

The post Map of El Ballestero (Albacete) in 1752 first appeared on History Lab.

Female widowhood in the Kingdom of Granada in 1787 according to the Floridablanca Census. Data in %

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:36 +0000

This map shows the percentages of female widowhood in the kingdom of Granada at the end of the 18th century using as a basis the information from the Floridablanca Census (1787). This census is considered to be one of the most complete of the Enlightenment, as the information it collects is structured on the basis of knowledge of the population by means of the following questions: according to type of accommodation and sex; classification by marital status, age and sex; classification by occupation; number of charitable and health centres; and religious communities. As can be seen from the map, the differences between the different regions stand out, where the figure barely exceeds 8% in towns belonging to Almeria, while values close to 15% are reached in areas of Malaga. Thus, the data shown indicate the greater weight of widowed women in the Malaga region. Undoubtedly, there are several factors that influence this issue, among them the greater or lesser access to remarriage, as well as the incidence of high male immigration caused mainly by the enrolment at sea.

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The post Female widowhood in the Kingdom of Granada in 1787 according to the Floridablanca Census. Data in % first appeared on History Lab.

Life cycle and peasantry in the Sierra de Alcaraz (1753)

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:31 +0000

One of the most characteristic groups due to their mobility and social reproduction during the Modern Age were the labour and livestock labourers. The large number of this profession, together with that of labourer and farm labourer, marked the labour activities for young people up to 35 years of age in the Sierra de Alcaraz, a study area in central-southern Spain. Why did it increase so much up to that age? These activities were a good way to enter the world of work. Of the three dominant professional groups, from the age of 35 onwards, it was the young men who abandoned their work the most to seek another livelihood, normally sponsored by the clientele networks they had acquired in their old trade, while the day labourers and farm labourers remained relatively stable until the age of 45. This structure is influenced by the life cycles of the protagonists; the departure from the family nucleus, where many of the young men’s own tasks were carried out, led them to seek another form of independent life.

The post Life cycle and peasantry in the Sierra de Alcaraz (1753) first appeared on History Lab.

Distribution of land ownership in the Sierra de Alcaraz (1753). Cultivated land.

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:31 +0000

In mountain areas such as the Sierra de Alcaraz, land ownership was conditioned by the orography of the territory. In 1753, 28.3% of the land in this mountain range was under cultivation. Of this figure, almost 50% of the cultivation belonged to only 2% of the owners. Likewise, almost half of the total landowners owned only 2% of the arable land. The marked imbalance of ownership translated into different economic benefits: the concentration of land in a few hands meant that 17% of landowners owned more than 1,000 reals of gross produce, a figure that rose to more than 40,000 for the few individuals who owned the most; again, conversely, more than 70% of landowners owned less than 500 reals of produce. The rest of the uncultivated land, 71.7%, could belong to the Council, which was also controlled by the local elites. Livestock farming, like agriculture, showed the same tendency towards concentration in the hands of a few individuals. The survival and future of the less well-off depended on the leasing of land, either for cultivation or as pasture for livestock. These data are but one concrete example of the inequalities that existed in the Ancien Régime and which were perpetuated throughout southern Spain.

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The post Distribution of land ownership in the Sierra de Alcaraz (1753). Cultivated land. first appeared on History Lab.

Solitary households in inland Spain in 1753 (%)

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:31 +0000

Headship has always been a subject of attention in social science. It determines family patterns, behaviour and policies. In the Spain of 1753, we can see how, in general, women were the head of the family under the parameters of widowhood. From the age of 50 onwards, there was an increase in single-person households headed by women, an upward trend that continued after the age of 65. With the departure of the children from the family and the death of the husband, the woman found her authority in herself, showing more preference for loneliness than for remarriage as long as she could support herself economically.

The post Solitary households in inland Spain in 1753 (%) first appeared on History Lab.

Distribution of children in Jorquera and Casas Ibáñez according to sex and age (1752-1753)

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

During the years of the Ensenada Cadastre, in the municipalities of Jorquera and Casas Ibáñez (Albacete) 78% of the children were under 18 years of age. Of these, 54% were male. Extending the margin up to the age of 25, the age at which they were considered to be of legal age in the mid-18th century, the figures only become more consolidated. From the age of 25 onwards, the number of offspring in the household dropped significantly to only 5%. The author offers us the key to the demographic dynamics of youth: the age of entry into marriage (23 for women and 25 for men). The later entry into marriage on the part of men underpinned their status as offspring belonging to the original family household, as they were conditioned by their father’s apprenticeship in the trade. In the families of artisans, muleteers or small farmers, this help in the workforce was an important added value. On the other hand, during the sample’s childhood, there was a predominance of males over females, confirming the demographic rule that, in general, more males than females were born.

The post Distribution of children in Jorquera and Casas Ibáñez according to sex and age (1752-1753) first appeared on History Lab.

Types of servants in the middle of the 18th century in Jorquera and Casas Ibáñez (Albacete)

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

The servants were, within the households, a productive part of the family economy in the rural world. In this context, the data offered by the author with the analysis of the towns of Jorquera and Casas Ibáñez, in the province of Albacete, go in this direction. The majority of the servants (73 out of 176) were livestock servants, followed by domestic servants (52) and labour servants (40). Thus, the majority of servants were linked to agricultural and livestock tasks (64.2%). It was also common for wealthy families to have servants who served more for ostentatious than productive purposes. They accounted for 29.54%, 80% of whom were named after women. Their work was centred on domestic assistance and care. In contrast to livestock and labour servants, service servants tended to live in their masters’ homes. Finally, in the “others” section of the resource, we find servants serving in the trades of merchants, artisans and other liberal professions, which were in the minority in this rural environment and whose performance did not require a servant so much as an apprentice son. Six per cent, 11 out of 176, corresponded to this type of work.

The post Types of servants in the middle of the 18th century in Jorquera and Casas Ibáñez (Albacete) first appeared on History Lab.

Household structure in Jorquera and Casas Ibáñez (Albacete) by sex and marital status (1753)

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

The family structure of the household provides us with a great deal of information to configure the society of the Ancien Régime. The Cadastre of the Marqués de la Ensenada, one of the main sources of study for the 18th century, offers us a complete vision of the Castilian household. Particularly, in this case, María del Mar Simón’s research on two rural areas on the banks of the river Júcar in La Manchuela Albacetense, Jorquera and Casas Ibáñez, reflects a generalised trend in an environment well defined by its rural dynamics and economy based on irrigated crops, hemp and flax for the production of textiles in the case of Jorquera, and dry crops, such as saffron and cereal, in the case of Casas Ibáñez. In both towns, the number of married households far exceeded the rest of the compositions (77.37% in Jorquera and 69.29% in Casas Ibáñez), highlighting the importance of widows as heads of household (12.10% and 13.19%), while male widowers tended to have second marriages. The male sector stands out, comparatively speaking, in the area of bachelorhood. One of the main reasons for this is the age of marriage, which is later for men than for women. Churchmen, subject to celibacy, also swelled the ranks of single heads of households, although this position is not considered by the author to be statistically significant. In sum, the male-headed household constituted 72.28% of single women compared to 27.72% of single women.

The post Household structure in Jorquera and Casas Ibáñez (Albacete) by sex and marital status (1753) first appeared on History Lab.

Size and composition of the household in the state of Jorquera (Albacete) according to its structure. 1753

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

The towns of Jorquera and Casas Ibáñez are located in La Manchuela albacetense. The former, on the banks of the Júcar, had its economic configuration around irrigated farming, while the latter focused on dry farming, mainly with the cultivation of cereals and saffron. In the mid 18th century, according to data from the Ensenada Cadastre, the heads of the family households were married (72.75% on average of the two towns). This meant that the rest were households headed by bachelors (9.35%) and widowers (17.79%) of both sexes. This resource analyses the composition of these households, which had an average size of 3.76 persons per residential unit in Jorquera, and 3.49 in Casas Ibáñez (excluding servants). These figures are slightly below the demographic context of neighbouring towns: Abengibre with 4.03; Alatoz with 4.09; and Alcalá del Júcar with 4.55. By household typology, the largest size is represented by 4+5 households (extended households and multiple households), followed by nuclear households (type 3), households without structure (2) and solitary households (1). The defining characteristics of the household types themselves set the trends in size, but not in their total number. The primacy of the nuclear household was total and in stark contrast to the solitary, extended and multiple households.

The post Size and composition of the household in the state of Jorquera (Albacete) according to its structure. 1753 first appeared on History Lab.

Age groups, sex and marital status of heads of household in Jorquera and Casas Ibáñez (Albacete, 1753)

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

The marital status of the heads of household, regardless of their sex, is directly associated with the stage of the life cycle. In 1753, according to the Ensenada Cadastre, in the towns of Jorquera and Casas Ibáñez in Albacete, the majority of married people were between 25 and 34 years of age, with men and women entering marriage at an age close to the lower end of the range. Among the single heads of household, there is a majority female presence among young women under 25, while men stand out in the 25-34 age range. On the other hand, the highest number of widowers is found in the 55-64 age bracket, and decreases in the over 65 age bracket (due to remarriage); widows stand out in the same age bracket as men, however, there is a significantly higher figure in the 45-54 age bracket with 32.14% compared to 17.78% for men. In this way we can follow the life cycle of these municipalities of La Manchuela: within the group of young bachelors, men married a few years later than women, women were widowed earlier and tended to be single, while men tended to remarry from the age of 55 onwards.

The post Age groups, sex and marital status of heads of household in Jorquera and Casas Ibáñez (Albacete, 1753) first appeared on History Lab.