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Numerous servants of a nobleman from Villarrobledo in 1753

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:33:23 +0000

The Cadastre of the Marquis de la Ensenada included numerous socio-economic aspects of the individuals of the Crown of Castile. The document presented corresponds to the declaration of the nobleman Fernando Antonio Montoya. Fernando was ordinary mayor of the town of Villarrobledo. In 1753 he was 38 years old, while his wife was 47. His children were 17, 14 and 6 years old. His well-to-do position in the estates led him to have multiple servants in his service. Each servant is described according to his age and marital status. The maids stand out for being orphans, unmarried and varying in age from 40 to 22 years old; the same personal situation had the servant of his own service, Antonio Ruiz, aged 16, all three being completely dependent on the master. However, the servants specialising in farm work were all male and ranged in age from 15 to 50, with a total of 2 labour servants and 9 shepherds. Some of them, such as Felipe de Mora or Antonio Fraile were not residents of Villarrobledo, being counted as residents of Minaya, a few kilometres from the master’s town. For all these reasons, the declaration reflects the sexual roles associated with each gender (maids for the home and servants for field work), age and geographical location.

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Memorial of a widow with children serving in Villarrobledo, 1752

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:33:23 +0000

Memorial made by Josefa Navarro, widow of Bernardo de Moya, informing of her family and patrimonial state. Josefa declares that she is 50 years old and a widow, as well as having 3 sons: Bernardo de Moya, 26 years old and servant boy of sheep herdsman; Sebastián, 15 years old, shepherd; and Juan, 13 years old, blacksmith. The whole family is serving Cristóbal de la Torre. After explaining his family situation, he provides the goods he has: a house in the parish of San Francisco in Villarrobledo, consisting of multiple rooms; livestock in the form of 5 sheep, 7 goats, 13 goats’ laps and 1 lamb.

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Declaration of assets of a servant page in Toledo in 1771

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:33:23 +0000

Document reflecting the situation of a page servant. The declaration is part of those made by the only Royal Tax; it was the responses to the Cadastre of the Marquis de la Ensenada that the monarch ordered to be made in order to take stock of the socio-economic situation of his Kingdom. In this case, he is a servant in the house of Don Nicolás Juan Paniagua, for which he is paid 3 reales a day. He also declares that he lives in his house with his wife, his mother-in-law and a neighbour from Toledo.

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Declaration of assets of a company servant in Toledo, 1771

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:33:23 +0000

The declaration of the servant, Nicasio Cortés, aged 55 and husband of Josefa de Santa, aged 77, in which he states that he is not employed despite working in the house of Águeda Cepeda. He considers that this work, as he does not receive remuneration, does not count as real employment. In the same way, he states that both he and his wife subsist thanks to the wages earned by their son, Tomás Cortés, at the Royal Sword Factory. Why is Nicaso not paid as a servant? Although it is true that his work consisted of keeping company, the objective he could have pursued was to obtain a benefit of material goods after the death of the owner, who for reasons of affection could leave them some belongings as an inheritance.

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Declaration of dependency of a page servant in Toledo, 1771

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:33:23 +0000

Pascual Herráez y Barreda, resident of Toledo, aged 49, is married and has a daughter, Inés Herráez y Barreda, aged 17. Pascual declares to be the servant of Tomás Martínez de la Torre, who is Abbot of Santa Leocadia. His salary is 4.5 reales, although he specifies that he has to eat, dress himself and pay for the house, so the real money he has left is 1 real. He therefore fears that Tomás Martínez could dismiss him from his work or that he would die, leaving him without income. This declaration is one of the declarations made by the Royal Contribution to ascertain the socio-economic state of the Kingdom.

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Statement by a servant about the hardships his family is going through. Toledo, 1771

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:33:23 +0000

The text shows how Francisco Garrido, 56 years old and married to Francisca Díaz, 48 years old, had three children. The first of them was 28 years old, single and worked serving in the house of Juan Gutiérrez; the second was 16 years old and lived with his uncle Esteban Díaz as he could not support him; the third and last was a 14 year old girl who was admitted to the General Hospital in Madrid. The family’s delicate situation meant that the wife worked in different houses washing clothes, although her wages were very low, while the husband tried to earn a living as a servant in a shop.

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Family and servants of a merchant from Villarrobledo in 1753

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

The section chosen is the declaration of the merchant Antonio Carbonel, a native of Villarrobledo. The Cadastre of the Marquis de la Ensenada gives us a glimpse of his family structure. He is 60 years old, and in his charge there are 3 nephews: Antonio Forat, aged 26, Antonio Calier, aged 23, and María Luisona, aged 36. The male nephews are in charge of taking the necessary goods to Carbonel to be sold: cloth, linen and silk mainly. Outside the family, the merchant has several servants at his service. The first of these is Juan Serat, a 28-year-old baker’s servant whose job is to bake bread. Juan is from Alicante. The second servant is a woman, Josefa Corbera, 18 years old, single and a resident of Vara del Rey. The associated gender roles stand out; while the man is dedicated to productive tasks, the woman obeys to service and assistance tasks. Likewise, the master, being a merchant and not subject to a land to till, has to travel to do business, extending his network of relationships spatially: consequently, the servants are from different geographical locations, in contrast to the servants subject to a day labourer master.

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Family and servants of a young farmer from Villarrobledo in 1753

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

In many occasions during the Modern Age servants were young and orphans. These situations made them completely dependent on their masters. Moreover, the work of the servants was often oriented according to their gender. The document shown here is an example of both. Juan Tomás Morcillo y Argumanes, of the general state and farmer, aged 36, married, has Francisca Gómez, single, aged 17 and an orphan, as his servant. He also has a labour servant: Juan Montejano, single, 20 years old. Gender roles are clearly shown by the fact that the woman is dedicated to service and care work and the man to farm work. Gender roles were not only reproduced by farmers, as in this case, but other social groups also showed the same behaviour towards servants.

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Testament and codicils of don Baltasar Rodrigo de Balboa Calvillo, Huéscar, 1647

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

Transcription of the will and codicils of Don Baltasar Rodrigo de Balboa Calvillo, a member of the power elite of Huéscar (Granada), made in 1647. Lord of the villas of Cotillas and Casablanca, he was also the High Constable of the said town and a major constable of the Inquisition. From 1635 he headed the entailed estate founded by Rodrigo de Balboa, his fourth grandfather. The text refers to the lawsuit he was involved in over the Cotillas entailed estate. There are indications of a financial nature, especially referring to deeds of obligation and debts contracted. In this sense, the debts he has with his servants and for the value of 2620 masses stand out. There may be a possible case of bastardy. He justifies that a boy and a girl whose upbringing he assumed in Hellín and Murcia are not his children. The two marriages he contracted are specified, alluding to the value of the dowries, the arras and other commitments. He leaves as his heir his only daughter Doña Elvira de Balboa, as well as another possible son or daughter he might have with his second and current wife Doña Pascuala de Villanueva if she were pregnant at the time of his death. He also encloses a codicil in which he states that the post of major constable of the Inquisition, which he holds “for three lives”, should pass to his brother-in-law Don Juan García de Villanueva, his wife’s brother. And for the “third life” of the post he appoints the person his wife designates. Finally, in the codicil he makes some clarifications and additions, especially in relation to the debts contracted with his servants and other bequests made to them.

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