Galicia - History Lab

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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Density of population, farms and livestock per inhabitant in Galicia, 1752

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

In trying to explain the evolution of the Galician population between the 17th and 19th centuries, criteria can be established which characterise Galicia as one of the most dynamic areas, with its population doubling between 1591 and 1752, although the key is to study these demographic data throughout these centuries to see the reason for these variations.
In the mid-18th century, Lugo and Tui show the most differentiated values, with the former province being sparsely populated and enjoying a good number of livestock, while Tui has similar data for both people and livestock. The figures for Betanzos, Mondoñedo and Coruña are very similar, with the latter having slightly more population due to its position as the capital. Santiago, on the other hand, shows the weight of the Ulla valley and the coast, with areas with a large presence of terracing that condition the occupation of the land.

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Distribution of military expenditure (1606-1642) (%)

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:20 +0000

In the Hispanic monarchy, armies were raised for different purposes, either to send to a front or to defend coastal settlements. Tax collection to support the military apparatus in Galicia was initially a state initiative. However, as we move into the 17th century, an attempt was made to ensure that the burden of expenditure also fell on the locals. Two aspects are important to highlight in this picture: The first is that army maintenance costs were high during the Pax Hispanica, which contrasts with the period of peace ushered in by the various truces and peace agreements concluded by the monarchy. Philip III’s decision to maintain the armies at a time when it was time to recover would be too costly for the monarchy when the Thirty Years’ War broke out. For while the adversaries had grown stronger, the Hispanic Monarchy had not managed to overcome the exhaustion that became apparent at the end of Philip II’s reign. The second point is the lack of investment in the fortifications, which, according to María del Carmen Saavedra Vázquez, is what explains the constant complaints about their poor state, precisely at a time when they needed to be remodelled.

The post Distribution of military expenditure (1606-1642) (%) first appeared on History Lab.

Population trends in Northern Spain (1600-1857)

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

The territory included in the conceptualisation of northern Spain is, for the author, Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria, the Basque Country and Navarre; some 63,500 km2 which in the mid-19th century was home to almost 22% of the population of peninsular Spain. The resource deals with the demographic evolution of this territory between 1600 and 1857. Divided into maritime and inland areas, the population in the maritime north (Pontevedra, La Coruña, Asturias, Cantabria, Vizcaya and Guipúzcoa) was larger in 1600 than the inland territories (Orense, Lugo, Álava and Navarre), with a territory/population size ratio giving a similar density: 20.8 inhabitants per square kilometre in the coastal provinces, and 20.2 inhabitants per square kilometre in the inland provinces, exceeding the Spanish average of 15. The two and a half centuries of demographic evolution meant that the maritime north gained up to 225% more inhabitants, while the interior gained less: 85%. As a result, the coastal density increased to 62.9 inhabitants/km2, 3 times more than in 1600; a much lower figure than the growth of Orense, Lugo, Álava and Navarre, which reached 37.4. In short, the development of the maritime provinces, tripling their population, elevated them to the regions with the highest densities in Spain, while the interior grew slightly below the national average.

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Evolution of the income of the confraternity of San Roque de Ferrol, 1706-1797

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

During the Modern Age, the confraternities were the most widespread and established associative channel in Spain. Born in the heat of the Middle Ages, the confraternities could have, in their origin, a guild character; a character that would be maintained until the “guild character” and the devotional forms of popular religiosity transformed an association of the aggregated faithful into one of the lay faithful. This step can be concretised in the accounts of the confraternities. The author of the resource exemplifies it with the evolution of the income of the confraternity of San Roque de Ferrol (Galicia) between 1706 and 1797. At the beginning of the century, the guild had an income derived from the economic activity of its members: fishing with 92.8% of the total. In the middle of the century, this figure decreased slightly (87.5%) while income in the form of alms increased (from 4.6% to 8.6%). As the century progressed, the strengthening of devotional forms of religion and the urban growth of the municipality led the confraternity to open up to more social groups; consequently, it lost its guild character and, in the second part of the 18th century, fishing activity became 23% of the income between 1765-1769, and 0% from 1780 onwards. For its part, the quantity and amount of alms increased, making up for the decline in fish, to previously unthinkable levels: 88.4% in 1780 and 82.9% between 1790 and 1797.

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Infant mortality in Spain (per thousand children born). 18th century in mainland Spain

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

Life expectancy is an indicator of the average lifespan of a generation. During the seventeenth century, this was around 28 years, although different authors suggested the possibility of 27 or 25 years. Infectious diseases were responsible for the short lifespan, as they were a scourge for Spanish villages, towns and cities. In addition to this, 1796 saw a fundamental event in the fight against infectious diseases: Jenner’s discovery of antivariol vaccination, which was quickly and favourably known. Infant mortality rates are between 200 and 230 per thousand, with intermediate mortality in regions such as the Balearic Islands, Navarre and Aragon and life expectancy below the Spanish average. The analysis of mortality from the end of the 16th century until the beginning of the demographic transition reveals the existence of trends that favoured the periphery over the interior of the peninsula, becoming more noticeable in the 1860s.

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Nuptiality in mainland Spain estimated from the 1787 census

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

The Christian model of marriage and the development of the family constituted a strong common link in European societies. This model was configured as a strongly hierarchical model where the family was the primary institution where the process of culturalisation and socialisation of the child took place. Its importance was reinforced by the fact that it was, from an economic point of view, a unit of consumption. In addition to its sacred and indissoluble character, marriage was assigned stability and rigidity, where the belief system limited women’s actions to the domestic sphere, as they had to take responsibility for the upbringing of their offspring and the care and maintenance of the unit. However, in the northern peninsular area, extensive and polynuclear family aggregates predominated, with an abundance of solitary domestic groups and no family structure. The trunk family in the north and northwest of the Iberian Peninsula was accompanied by patrilocal or matrilocal post-marital residence patterns. The greater presence of the simple family is confirmed in large areas of the peninsular interior, normally associated with hereditary formulas where egalitarian distribution prevailed. In addition to this, Mediterranean Spain is the most difficult to analyse synthetically, although it is a long way from the complex structures found in other areas of Mediterranean Europe. Thus, the Iberian Peninsula, in addition to the complex family and the patrilocal rule, seems to be associated with late marriage -with the exception of Catalonia-. By making it difficult for sons who wished to marry to stay at home, the trunk family invited a certain percentage of men to leave the farm, which is evident in the higher emigration rates in the North and North-West, which increased in the following century. In much of inland Spain and in the south, women married earlier and this was often associated with a strong nuclear predominance. This led to the existence of a system of high demographic pressure with very high levels of fertility and mortality.

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Life expectancy at birth (second half of the 18th century in mainland Spain)

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

Life expectancy is a synthetic indicator that measures the average lifespan of a generation. During the 18th century, life expectancy was around 28 years, although other authors have suggested the possibility of 27 or 25 years. Infectious diseases were mainly responsible for the short lifespan, and were a scourge of Spanish villages, towns and cities. In addition, 1796 saw a fundamental event in the fight against infectious diseases: Jenner’s discovery of antivariol vaccination, which was quickly and favourably known. However, the above figures do not reflect Spanish levels. There are strong disparities between the territories, always within the parameters of the Ancien Régime. Similarly, there is a wide area of moderate mortality, consisting of a large part of coastal Spain, with a life expectancy of between 29 and 32 years.

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The evolution of generational demographic parameters in Southern Western Galicia (1584-1670)

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

The resource deals with the demographic evolution of four generations, looking at their family composition, number of families, ages of access to marriage and the duration of marriage, among other items, between 1584 and 1670. The geographical area is centred on the south of western Galicia, the Bajo Miño, through the study of the rural parish of San Martín de Caldelas; a North Atlantic demographic model marked by the late age of access to marriage for women (24.5 years), the low level of second marriages (16.7%) and the duration of marriage (25 years) which resulted in a duration of fertility for couples of 13.9 years. The intergenerational synthesis reflected in the resource is reflected in the exponential growth of the parish which, after 100 years, had to be remodelled to increase its capacity to welcome the faithful. The growth, according to the author’s study, was mainly due to the nuptiality; a framework of legitimised fecundity, and the low mortality of those born.

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Shaping the Demographic Parameters of the Differentiated Household in a North Atlantic Model (1584-1670)

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

Rural society in south-western Galicia, in the Bajo Miño region, was part of the North Atlantic demographic system. The study of the parish of San Martín de Caldelas, between 1584 and 1670, shows us the configuration of households according to their economic, material and status level within society: upper, middle and lower families. A first analysis reveals the predominance in number of the lower, more humble families. In these families, the average number of children per family was lower than in the middle and upper families, being 5.79, 7.67 and 6.6 respectively. Another significant difference is the age of entry into marriage, both for women and men, with the poorer families showing a tendency to delay entry due to a late exit from the family, while the upper families had a younger age of marriage for the male than the others. This age difference had an impact on the years of actual fertility, being higher in the more privileged families. The wide variety of information provided by the author helps us to understand the demographic dynamics of families; a structural issue for the analysis and explanation of the society of the Ancien Régime.

The post Shaping the Demographic Parameters of the Differentiated Household in a North Atlantic Model (1584-1670) first appeared on History Lab.