Floridablanca - History Lab

Ordinances of a seminary of education for young women in Vitoria

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:32:30 +0000

Document containing the plan and ordinances designed to found an educational centre in the city of Vitoria for girls. The educational centre was to be run by the Real Sociedad Bascongada de los Amigos del País, which at that time was already running the Real Seminario de Vergara. The document contains a letter from the Count of Floridablanca to the Count of Peñaflorida regarding the founding of the school.

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José Moñino y Redondo, Count of Floridablanca

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:31:59 +0000

Portrait by Goya of one of the most important enlightened politicians of 18th-century Spain. Of humble origins, his key role in the expulsion and extinction of the Jesuits elevated him to the rank of Secretary of State under Charles III and Charles IV. He was an emblem of royalism and enlightened despostism, typical of Bourbon reformism. Goya portrayed him on several occasions.

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Distribution of the population of Extremadura according to the data of the Vecindario of 1591 (in percentages) and distribution of the population according to the data of the Census of Floridablanca (in percentages)

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:28:57 +0000

Between 1591 and 1752 there is no reliable population count available for Extremadura as a whole, so the figures presented must be considered as mere approximate estimates, as this is the only possible way to be minimally reliable. The sample consulted is based on 37 localities (18 in Badajoz and 19 in Cáceres) which accounted for 13.87% of the surface area and 17.47% of the population of Extremadura in 1787. The demographic evolution of Extremadura in the Modern Age can be divided into three main stages. The first comprises 1500-1574 when there was an upward trend; the second from 1575-1651 which, on the other hand, was an intense depressive movement, followed by the period from 1652-1835 with a new population increase. Within the last phase, it is necessary to explain two sub-phases: one of recovery in 1652-1759 until the maximum birth rate of the 16th century was regained, and the real boom, from 1760 to 1835. Prior to these stages, macrodemographic sources such as baptismal records suggest that the number of Extremadurians recorded a notable increase in the first three quarters of the 16th century. From the mid-16th century onwards, the population of Extremadura began a very long period of positive growth which lasted until the end of the Ancien Régime. However, neither wars nor catastrophic mortality seem to be the main reasons for the almost two centuries it took the region to recover the maximum number of baptised people. Without forgetting the migratory movement – of which few results are known – the available evidence points to a demographic collapse that is intertwined with the behaviour of fertility.

The post Distribution of the population of Extremadura according to the data of the Vecindario of 1591 (in percentages) and distribution of the population according to the data of the Census of Floridablanca (in percentages) first appeared on History Lab.

Population of Palma de Mallorca according to the Floridablanca Census (1787)

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:28:52 +0000

During the last third of the 18th century, the Spanish Bourbon administration was concerned on successive occasions to ascertain, for demographic purposes, the number of inhabitants living throughout the national territory. The Censuses of Aranda (1768-69), Floridablanca (1787) and Godoy (1797) provided population figures classified by age, sex and marital status. The 1787 Census was compiled by the State administration, using the data transmitted by the Intendencias, the corregimientos and the municipalities. The Mallorcan population, classified by age, sex and status, amounted to 134,790 souls on that date, to which should be added, following the criteria of the Census, the institutional and community population, which totalled 2,478 people. However, at that time, Palma had a population of 34,073 inhabitants, to which another 2,047 living in communities were added, giving a total of 36,120, representing 26.28% of the total demographic contingent: one out of every four Mallorcans lived in the capital.

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Secondary sector in the council of Avilés, 1797

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

The well-known Godoy Census was a general population count promoted by Manuel Godoy y Álvarez de Faria, First Secretary of State and Office of Charles IV. Published in 1801, it provides valuable data that give an insight into the situation of Spain at the end of the Enlightenment. It is not merely demographic in nature, but also economic, being conceived as an improved version of the previous Floridablanca Census. This tool allows a detailed reconstruction of the activities of the manufacturing sector in Avilés at the end of the Ancien Régime. The town provided employment for trades that either did not appear, or did so in a precarious way, in other parts of the region. An important branch of activity was textiles, especially work linked to the linen industry which, despite Campomanes’ wishes, could not lead industrialisation as it was subject to various limitations and foreign competition. With 117 weavers, the domestic manufacture of linen in Aviles was in the hands of women – it should be remembered that one of the great assets of this census is to highlight women’s work. Another textile speciality was tailoring, represented by 40 men and four women. It also included other trades such as footwear, which, together with tailoring, maintained the employment levels of 1753. However, the real specialisation was in copper working or boilermaking. Together with pottery, these set the tone for Avila’s manufactures at the end of the Ancien Régime. Among the coppersmiths, of which there were ten masters, the census included 45 boilermakers and 60 apprentices. The second most active branch was pottery, as most of the potters, located in Miranda, combined this occupation with agricultural work.

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Service sector in the council of Avilés, 1797

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

The well-known Godoy Census was conceived as a tool for the general population count promoted by Manuel Godoy y Álvarez de Faria, First Secretary of State and Office of Charles IV. When it was published in 1801, it provided valuable data that gave an insight into the situation in Spain at the end of the 18th century. Its main characteristic is based on economic and not demographic knowledge, as it was drawn up as an improved renewal of the Floridablanca Census. This tool allows a detailed reconstruction of the activities of the manufacturing sector in Avilés at the end of the Ancien Régime. In this sense, the service sector highlighted the key role of trade, as Avilés had a mercantile tradition since the Middle Ages. As it was located in a central position in Asturias, which made it a demander of products, a commercial class was consolidated in the region that covered the supply circuits. One of the groups with a certain weight in the council was the military, as Avilés was the capital of the maritime province of the same name (from Gijón to Castropol). Military administration professions such as troops and sailors – active or retired – and others depended on the Navy Commissioner, Rafel Gómez Roubaud, a personal friend of Godoy. Attention to educational institutions is also relevant, when Asturias was at the bottom of the list in terms of school enrolment: 93.5% were boys and 6.5% girls. Likewise, the census reflects the personnel dependent on the Church, including sacristans, those people who lived with the religious (donados and educandas) next to the buildings destined for worship. Finally, it includes domestic service, the bulk of which was carried out by domestic servants, as it was a fundamentally female job.

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Charles III, the best mayor of Madrid

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:27:54 +0000

3.50 minute educational video produced by Academia Play in which, using the Visual Thinking Video technique, the most relevant events of the reign of Charles III are recounted, from his accession to the throne, the Esquilache mutiny, the American War of Independence, and the beautification of the capital of Madrid, among others.

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