Clero - History Lab

Evolution of the economic organisation of the Chapter of Barcelona in the 17th century

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

During the Modern Age, the Catholic Church was one of the main owners of movable and immovable property in Spain. This resource deals with the economy of ecclesiastical institutions through the Cathedral Chapter of Barcelona. Its economic administration was divided into nine bodies, each with its own legal personality and its own sources of funding. The bodies were: the Caritat, dedicated to the control and payment of the canons; the Pia Almoina, oriented towards charity through two subsections, the Administració General and Majordomia; the Beneficis Units, which helped the financial endowment of the canons; the Sacristy and the Obra de la Seo, whose functions were the sacramental administration (the former) and the maintenance of the building (the latter). The income derived from the performance of funerals corresponded to the Manna, and the distribution of bread rations among the staff was the task of the Passtrim. For its part, the chapter did not collect the rents directly; rather, it leased them as a way of obtaining economic benefit or in kind, and each administration was responsible for negotiating its leases. Throughout the 17th century, a process of administrative centralisation took place and progress was made in the professionalisation of management, with a more efficient system which, together with the system of leases, further reduced the organisational infrastructure. The centripetal ecclesiastical economy, with the conception of “dead hands” land ownership, clashed with the new forms of private property that appeared in the transformation from the Ancien Régime to the bourgeois state, and the lands were subject to subsequent confiscations.

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Income from the chaplaincies of the diocese of Salamanca (1779-1783)

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

The resource shows the incomes that the chaplaincies in Salamanca had in the late 18th century, between 1779 and 1783. But what was a chaplaincy? It was a perpetual foundation endowed with material goods with which to cover annual spiritual expenses. Like an entailed estate, the lands of the chaplaincies financed the masses that the founders stipulated, and which had to be officiated by a chaplain, normally a direct member of the founding family who was chosen to enter the clergy as a form of social reproduction. In return, the chaplain received a benefit and financial support, either directly or through the lease of the endowed land. The table shows the importance of land in the income of the foundations: 51.56% in the form of wheat and rye income, far from census income (14.06%), money (11.71%) or urban properties (6.25%). Within these general data for the diocese of Salamanca, there were areas in which, depending on their economic activity, the foundations received different levels of income: in the vicariate of Miranda del Castañar, census revenues accounted for 41.86% and wine income 34.88%, while wheat and rye accounted for a low 2.33%.

The post Income from the chaplaincies of the diocese of Salamanca (1779-1783) first appeared on History Lab.

Typology of offences committed by the clergy of the diocese of Barcelona (1570-1650)

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

The diocese of Barcelona was the second most important and oldest ecclesiastical jurisdiction in the ecclesiastical province of Tarragona during the modern period. The bishops of Barcelona, like their counterparts in other parts of the monarchy, were important agents of cohesion and loyalty to the Crown. The good harmony between the throne and the altar fostered social order, an order in which litigation and crime were not exempt. Analysing the latter, we place ourselves in the period of the Counter-Reformation, after the Council of Trent (1545-1563). The author specifies 873 diocesan processes between 1570 and 1650, of which 106 belonged to the clergy of the diocese of Barcelona. The majority of the offences were for physical aggression (21.69%), followed by adultery (15.09%), carrying weapons (14.15%) and verbal aggression (8.49%). The typological distribution of offences may be related to the structural nature of violence in the Principality of Catalonia in the early modern period. The clergy, no stranger to these dynamics, trained and sometimes collaborated with bandits. This led to the appearance of crimes of assault, rape, fraud and robbery. Also, within the clergy themselves, they had disputes over issues related to parish benefices or the non-return of ornaments and sacred vestments left on loan. Despite the provisions promulgated at Trent, the parish clergy were more immersed in local than doctrinal issues.

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The French Revolution in 15 minutes

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:28:06 +0000

This 14-minute video deals with the French Revolution as one of the most important political and social transformations in Europe at the end of the 18th century. It is one of the most tense and violent periods in which the Ancien Régime was overthrown, leading to the establishment of a new regime in which the bourgeoisie, sometimes supported by the popular masses, became the dominant political force.

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