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Percentage of households with servants in Galicia (1752)

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

The evolution of family economies during the Modern Age was closely linked to the existence of servants. Local elites relied on this type of labour force, either for domestic help or for agricultural or livestock work. The most disadvantaged and dispossessed in the social stratification of the Ancien Régime tended to be the servants; thus, there were relations of master-servant dependency based on labour power and trust. The resource shows the territorial distribution of households with servants in Galicia in the mid-18th century. The author identifies the two areas with a notable presence of servants: inland Galicia, where 22.5% of households had at least one servant, and northern Galicia, with 17%. In inland Galicia, urban centres had more households with servants: near Monforte de Lesmos, the parishes of Santa María Sabadelle, Santa María de Baamorto and Santa María de Tuiriz had 29%, 30% and 31% respectively. The labour needs of the pazos hidalgos, of the clergy lands and of the rectories explain the differences in the demand in the labour market for servants, although there were equally important factors, such as ecological, economic and land ownership.

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The mulatto

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:30:14 +0000

The scene takes place inside a Sevillian house in the early decades of the 17th century and depicts a mulatto maid with various kitchen utensils that reflect the way in which domestic spaces were set up. It should be remembered that at that time only wealthy families were allowed to have a maid. In the portrait, the maid is depicted wearing a loose-fitting dress that bears little relation to the fashions of the day, as well as a coarse, coarse fabric that reveals a lower social status than that of her masters. Various utensils such as jugs, bowls and a mortar and pestle for pounding garlic are arranged on the table, a fact that underlines the type of basic foodstuffs used in 17th-century Sevillian households.

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Servants and the average age of women at marriage in the Crown of Castile in 1787

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

The graph shows that among men there was no direct connection between access to marriage and the abandonment of servant work. The three provinces with the highest number of servants (Madrid without the capital, Toledo and Albacete) show how the age of access to marriage is among the lowest in Castile, only surpassed by Ciudad Real, Extremadura, Andalusia and Murcia. The latter had the lowest percentage of servants; a fact that put it in line with the central and northern regions of the peninsula. Of all of them, Galicia, Asturias, León and Burgos stood out for having few servants and a high rate of marriage access (over 24 years of age). The demography, socio-economic structure and life cycles are reflected and differentiated geographically in this graph.

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Relatives to whom inheritance improvements are given. Albacete, 1760s.

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

The sample shown refers to the testamentary mandates that determined the inheritance of individuals. Despite the supposedly egalitarian inheritance, characteristic of the Castilian area, six out of every ten deeds contained an imbalance that broke with equality by improving certain family members. Of these, 31% were destined for sons and daughters, and of these, there is a greater predominance of males than females. With 17%, it was the servants who obtained an improvement, a significant fact as it reveals bonds of solidarity beyond the mercantile contract between master and servant. At the other end of the scale, only 4% of those who bequeathed more to their siblings were clerics, subject to celibacy, who bequeathed their possessions to siblings and nephews; and parents, with 9%. In the latter case, it was usually the children who died prematurely, without offspring, who improved their parents’ estates. It should be noted that improvements in inheritances were not produced as a means of ostensibly improving a child or relative, but as a type of compensation based on affection, work carried out or esteem. In short, despite the existence of improvements, they do not have a value that decisively breaks the egalitarian inheritance.

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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.

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Pupil cost evolution (1595-1628)

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:25 +0000

From the first half of the 16th century onwards, the University of Salamanca provided accommodation for students who would be tutored by a bachelor so that the young people could progress in their studies while having basic aspects such as food, religious education and board covered.
Not all the boarding schools were of the same social category and did not pay the same price, but it is clear from the figures that the great majority came from privileged social groups with economic possibilities. Parents would commission this boarding as an investment in order to make their children more profitable for them.
As opposed to this complete boarding school, other models emerged, such as the governorship or the camaristas, with more economically accessible services because each one covered their needs with the amounts they could contribute, and not a fixed rate for all of them, with the cost of maintenance being approximately 65% of the total.

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Testamentary practices of Salamancan servants (1601-1650)

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:13 +0000

Attitudes to death are a reflection of the mentality of the time. Between 1601 and 1650, the 106 wills compiled by the author for the socio-professional group of servants in Salamanca give us a clear picture: the majority of servants were women (75% as opposed to 25% men). Despite the predominance of women, only 2.5% were able to sign, while in the male group this rises to 23%. Women were more likely to make offerings (47.5%), to leave their master as executor (57.7%) and their soul as heir (57.5%). The deep religiosity that permeated Ancien Régime society was also evident among male servants. Indeed, up to 38.5% offered their inheritance to their soul to ensure their welfare beyond the earthly life through masses and offices for the souls. It was also common for them to ask to be accompanied at their funeral by a clergyman or by a religious institution, such as the confraternities.

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Burial place of the Salamancan servants (1601-1650)

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:13 +0000

The servants of Salamanca between 1601 and 1650 were predisposed to be buried in the church, followed by places not yet determined, convents or hospitals. This attitude to death is conditioned both by the mentality of the time and by the socio-economic characteristics of the group to which they belonged. Why in the Church? The motivations identified by the author reflect, firstly, the family conscience, as their ancestors were buried there, and secondly, the lower economic cost, as it was cheaper than the other options. Those buried in convents either had a relationship of dependence on them, being servants of these institutions, or had devotions to certain religious orders, which is why there was a higher percentage of men than women who chose this option: 26.9% compared to 22.5%. However, many of the testators (23.75% of women and 34.6% of men) did not specify the place of burial, leaving the choice to their executors, where relatives and masters were the most common choices.

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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.

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Distribution of the group of servants in Jorquera and Casas Ibáñez according to their areas of origin (Albacete, 1753)

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

The resource shows the geographical mobility of the servants to rural towns such as Jorquera and Casas Ibáñez, in the current province of Albacete. During the years of the Cadastre of the Ensenada, the basic mobility was registered in servants coming from the region of the State of Jorquera, where both municipalities are located. In a radial fashion, the further away from the interior, the less strong the power of attraction; thus the province of Cuenca and the Kingdoms of Valencia and Murcia nourished this group in decreasing numbers. Finally, it was the northern areas of the peninsula that were the last to incorporate labour force to Jorquera and Casas Ibáñez. This general tendency of the population to move from north to south in search of work and new opportunities was, as the author points out, a constant during the Modern Age.

The post Distribution of the group of servants in Jorquera and Casas Ibáñez according to their areas of origin (Albacete, 1753) first appeared on History Lab.