Córdoba - History Lab

Women’s Monastic Spaces in Cordoba (1811)

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:32:25 +0000

The women’s monasteries had a significant influence on the urban structure of Cordoba from the end of the Middle Ages until the end of the Modern Age. This is partly due to the presence of large oligarchic families at the origins of these buildings, influencing the typology, artistic trends and the disproportionate size of some of their spaces. The Christian recovery of these southern territories during the late Middle Ages led to the formation of different lordships, which, being endowed with extensive lands, eventually allowed the establishment of this type of religious foundation.
During these years, the 17th century was undoubtedly the most prolific, as no less than six female cloisters were added to the existing ones. The first of this century was the convent of Corpus Christi in Santa María, which was founded in 1608 by order of Bishop Fray Diego de Mardones in his quest to establish in Córdoba a convent for nuns belonging to the Order of Saint Dominic. From then on, it was not until 1635 that the formation of new convents continued in this century.
Thanks to this resource, a total of twenty female cloisters can be recorded, which, together with the large number of male communities, turned Cordoba into a convent city. Taking as a reference the Map of the French of 1811, the first map of the city of Cordoba to be drawn, the location of the monasteries of nuns at the end of the Modern Age can be seen, with a clear chronological separation between the late medieval foundations – in red – and those belonging to the modern period – in dark tones.

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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.

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Geographical origin of the seminarians of San Pelagio (Cordoba, 17th century)

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

Session XXIII of the Council of Trent (1545-1563) agreed to the creation of centres dedicated exclusively to priestly formation. The centres were to be controlled by the bishops of each diocese and the financial endowment was to come from episcopal and capitular revenues. The loss of income on the part of the diocesan councils, and the opposition of the existing colleges and universities that also trained the clergy, meant that the new seminaries were only slightly established. In the case of the diocese of Cordoba, the Seminary of San Pelagio was established between 1583 and 1600. Where did the new seminarians come from? Of the 352 students that the institution had in the 17th century, the vast majority, 315, were born in the diocese and province of Cordoba (89.49%), followed by the towns also belonging to the bishopric of Cordoba, but not to the civil province (23, 6.54%). A further 13 pupils (3.69%) were born in neither the jurisdiction of the bishopric nor the civil province of Cordoba, and only 1 pupil (0.28%) was from a town in the province, but whose ecclesiastical jurisdiction differed. By origin, the vast majority came from rural areas (294 pupils, 86.73%), and 13.27% were from the city of Cordoba. The author notes that, although the capital of Córdoba accounted for 13.27% of the total, the 45 pupils from that city constituted the largest number of pupils from the same nucleus, followed by rural areas such as Castro del Río (21) and Pozoblanco (18).

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Value of cloth sales in Castile, 1614-1616

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:28:46 +0000

The author, José Ignacio Andrés Ucendo, offers us a statistical overview of the price of different fibres, such as wool, silk and linen, in different territories of the Crown of Castile at a time contextualised by the decline of civil manufacturing at the beginning of the 17th century. Overall, wool was traded more than linen and silk, which were the second and third most traded products respectively. By areas, in Old Castile the predominant fabric was wool, taking 73.6% of the market, this value being lower in Andalusian localities with 44%. Within the woollen cloths, the most traded were those of Segovia, Cordoba, Úbeda and Baeza; logistical centres of production. Thus, the market was divided into two areas: Andalusia and the Northern Plateau. The author notes that Andalusian consumption was greater than that of the north due to the difficulties that the Segovian drapery had in marketing its products; a crisis in demand from which it barely recovered. In the 18th century, consumption patterns were reversed, with linen dethroning wool in Castile. These consumption and marketing dynamics are similar to the data provided for the Catalan area of the Crown of Aragon.

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Neighbourhood of 1683, original data and reconstruction

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

In 1683, by order of Charles II, the Vecindario was published, which counted the inhabitants of the Crown of Castile in order to establish a more up-to-date tax system that would allow for more efficient revenue for the Royal Treasury. Who were considered to be inhabitants? Family units were counted as neighbours, so the data does not reflect the number of inhabitants. In order to obtain the total population, the author applies an average coefficient based on the size of the family. The resource shows this demographic data in column “F”, giving a total population of 4,786,882. By region, the North Atlantic coast, Galicia, Asturias and Cantabria had 1,416,200 inhabitants, the largest population, followed by Andalusia (1,117,880) and Castile and Leon (1,087,202). At the provincial level, Seville, Granada and Toledo were the most inhabited areas with 316,800, 304,100 and 241,240 inhabitants respectively. Of all the regions and provinces, Galicia stands out with 950,000 inhabitants, a significant number in relation to the size and type of population. In contrast, the most depopulated territories were Zamora (39,120), Toro (47,576) and Córdoba (65,480). From 1683 to 1753, the years of the Ensenada Cadastre, the general trend continued; although the population increased in all areas, the imbalances were similar.

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Cordoban silversmiths in the Modern Age

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:28:11 +0000

A historical dissemination channel under the coordination of the creator of the seminar, Dr. Antonio J. Díaz Rodríguez, where historians with a consolidated career and young researchers from different universities present to the public a particular journey through Cordoba and Andalusia in the 16th and 17th centuries. This initiative is the result of the collaboration of the Laboratory of Judeo-Converso Studies of the University of Cordoba with the Provincial Historical Archive of Cordoba. Conversos, slaves, wine smugglers, prized Andalusian horses, swords from Toledo, Inca nobility, literati, gardeners, document forgers, Moors and much more are shown in these seminars via Youtube. In this case, the conference talks about the life and work of the Cordovan silversmiths in the Modern Age. It shows in detail how the concentration of their activity in specific areas of the city determined their consolidation as a guild and institution from a professional point of view.

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The Time Archive

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:27:41 +0000

Historical dissemination channel under the coordination of the creator of the seminar, Dr. Antonio J. Díaz Rodríguez, where historians of consolidated trajectory and young researchers from different universities present to the audience a particular journey through Cordoba and Andalusia in the 16th and 17th centuries. This initiative is the result of the collaboration between the Laboratory of Judeo-Conversion Studies of the University of Cordoba and the Provincial Historical Archive of Cordoba. Conversos, slaves, wine smugglers, prized Andalusian horses, swords from Toledo, Inca nobility, literati, gardeners, document forgers, Moors and much more are shown in these seminars via Youtube.

The post The Time Archive first appeared on History Lab.