Mercaderes - History Lab

Printed matter on free trade for Spanish America in the ports of Bilbao and San Sebastián

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:32:51 +0000

In 1765, Cadiz’s monopoly on trade with America was ended, granting freedom of trade to eight Spanish seaports. In 1778 the Decree of Free Trade with America was promulgated. This prompted the regions peripheral to the Court, which had invested in different types of industries to trade with America. In this context, two of the ports that benefited were Bilbao and San Sebastian.

The post Printed matter on free trade for Spanish America in the ports of Bilbao and San Sebastián first appeared on History Lab.

Cadastre of the Ensenada

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:32:42 +0000

Between 1750 and 1754 all the towns in “las Castillas” were subjected to an interrogation consisting of the following 40 questions: Name of the town (question 1); jurisdiction (2); extension and limits (3); types of land (4, 5); trees (6, 7, 8 and 13); measures of surface and capacity used (9, 10); species, quantity and value of fruits (11, 12, 14 and 16); tithes and first fruits (15); mines, salt mines, mills and other “artefacts” (17); livestock (18, 19 and 20); census of population, with neighbours, labourers, solemnly poor (21, 35 and 36), census of clerics (38) and convents (39); houses and other buildings (22); goods belonging to the commons (23), sisas and arbitrios (24), expenses of the commons, such as salaries, festivals, paving, fountains (25), taxes (26 and 27); industrial and commercial activities, with the utility of the goods or services produced: taverns, inns, shops, bakeries, butchers, bridges, boats on rivers, markets and fairs (29), hospitals (30), money changers and merchants (31), shopkeepers, doctors, surgeons, apothecaries, notaries, muleteers etc. (32); masons, stonemasons, masons, stonemasons, blacksmiths, cobblers etc. (33, 34); ships (37); alienated goods (28) and the King’s own revenues (40); the answers to these questions are obtained following a previously regulated process. This panoramic view of the Kingdom is a small part of a larger survey, the so-called Cadastre of the Marquis de la Ensenada, set in motion by Royal Decree of Ferdinand VI on 10 October 1749, as a preliminary step to fiscal reform, replacing the complicated and unjust provincial revenues with a single tax, the so-called Contribution. The Single Tax was never implemented, but it has left an important volume of documentation in our archives, the General Answers are kept in various State Archives. The General Archive of Simancas holds the complete certified copy of the replies of the 13,000 localities of the Crown of Castile. Preservation reasons led to the initiation of the microfilming process. In the 1980s, the 545 books of General Answers kept in Simancas were microfilmed. The frequent consultation of these collections and the need to facilitate access made digitisation advisable, which was carried out by the Document Reproduction Service (SRDAE) from microfilm during 2004 and 2005. The result is 350,000 images of documents with very neat calligraphic handwriting, easy to read and with hardly any abbreviations; very few pages have legibility problems, such as faded inks or ink transfer from the back. These images are now available on this page.

The post Cadastre of the Ensenada first appeared on History Lab.

Origin of the vessels that arrived at the Valencia of the Cernesio family in 1615

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:56 +0000

The Milanese merchant family of the Cernesio family managed to evolve socially during the 17th century to become nobles of the Kingdom of Valencia. Their work as wheat merchants made them well known in the main ports of the western Mediterranean, supplying several cities and almost exclusively the granaries of the islands of Sardinia and Sicily. They also traded in cloth, foodstuffs, steel and horses, among others, showing the diversification of imports that passed through the Valencian ports of the 17th century in their name.
The arrival of the Cernesio family in Valencia was due, on the one hand, to the economic possibilities of such a city, and on the other hand, to the weakness of the local commercial bourgeoisie, which was beset by continuous economic crises.
To emphasise their role in the western Mediterranean, it can be seen from the resource that more than half of the ships that arrived for them came from ports on the Italian peninsula and from the aforementioned islands of Sardinia and Sicily. The data also show the extensive commercial network that involved the Cernesio family, receiving goods from a wide number of ports influenced by the family’s friendships and even resources from their own relatives.

The post Origin of the vessels that arrived at the Valencia of the Cernesio family in 1615 first appeared on History Lab.

Granting of titles of nobility and access to the Royal Navy (1690-1829)

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

During the 18th century there was an enrichment of Cadiz merchants who came to rise socially acquiring noble titles, going from a family culture of merchants to seek new careers for their children through the income in the Royal Navy. One of the main aspects to be considered initially is the situation of trade, looking at the families still in the business and by studying their sources of wealth also at what level they aspired to in this situation.
With the selection of twenty-seven families from the Cádiz trade, it is possible to find out which of their descendants joined the Academies of Marine Guards from the end of the 17th century to the beginning of the 19th century. With the data collected, it is possible to establish the transformations that were taking place within the families themselves and the way in which they adapted to the changes experienced by Cádiz society.
The level of interest in the naval institution remained between three and four throughout the first half of the 18th century, growing exponentially in the second half of the century when the merchants of Cádiz received a greater number of noble titles, decreasing again in the early years of the 19th century, highlighting the strategy of ennoblement that marked the institution in these years.

The post Granting of titles of nobility and access to the Royal Navy (1690-1829) first appeared on History Lab.

Receivers of loans in Segovia (1503-1508)

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

Using the case of Segovia, the author aims to shed light on this urban centre at the beginning of the 16th century, trying to explain rationally why this Castilian city (like many others) grew around 1500 and underwent profound social transformations. The thesis of the article proposes that from the mid-15th century until the end of the 16th century, the Castilian nobility of the cities invested part of their profits in favour of merchants and artisans, seeking to obtain a near return in exchange. The main source of wealth for the nobility – the social group that lent the most – was the rent from land
Thanks to the first notarial protocols preserved in Segovia, it is possible to verify the credit at the beginning of the 16th century and the operations that were carried out. It is striking how little monetary attention was paid to the rural sector, as these neighbours managed to receive only 7.3% of the total money lent, despite the fact that they outstripped the city’s neighbours in terms of operations. Urban merchants, on the other hand, were the group that received the largest amount, close to 40% of the total.

The post Receivers of loans in Segovia (1503-1508) first appeared on History Lab.

Foreign merchants and traders in Spain (1764)

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

Imperial Spain welcomed large numbers of merchants from other parts of the European continent. The resource deals with the number and percentage of these traders on Spanish peninsular territory in 1764. In quantitative terms, the presence of French merchants stands out (913, 61.5% of the total of 1,483). The arrival of the Bourbons to the Spanish throne led to the growth of Spanish-Galician trade with respect to the Habsburg dynasty; Spain was the main market where France placed its products. However, this level of trade declined as the century progressed, but the established French continued to have great negotiating and commercial influence. The Maltese were the second largest group: 214 (14.4%), far behind the Genoese (100, 6.7%) and the Irish (52, 3.5%). Due to the thalassocratic characteristics of the Spanish Empire, merchants tended to settle in port or transit areas.

The post Foreign merchants and traders in Spain (1764) first appeared on History Lab.

Wide looms at work in Toledo in 1692

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

During the Modern Age in the city of Toledo, the silk weaving industry stood out. From its great splendour in the 16th century, it began to decline from the last quarter of the century until its disappearance at the end of the 18th century or the beginning of the 19th century. The legislation in force and the guild’s own constrictions, added to the discrimination against artisans from other cities such as Valencia, led them to paralyse their looms in 1737 as a sign of their discontent.
As the author of the article points out, at the end of the 17th century (in 1690) there were 530 looms in operation in Toledo, falling to 500 a year later and decreasing drastically to 285 in 1692, the time of the appeal. According to testimonies of the time, the cause of this decline was the radical increase in the price of silk; for a few months this raw material did not arrive in Toledo, which forced many manufacturers to cease production directly.
Faced with this situation, the overseers of Toledo asked for methodological and technical exemptions so as not to have to adjust to the weight required for their products, alleging inconsistent guidelines such as the fact that thicker silks did not fit together well or that clothes with a smaller amount of weaving could be of higher quality. In the face of their submissions and evidence, the Board of Trade accepted their tolerance of these modifications. A year later, in 1693, the number of looms in operation rose again to 622.

The post Wide looms at work in Toledo in 1692 first appeared on History Lab.

Fabrics registered in the shops of Murcia (1691-1692)

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

At the end of the 17th century, with the beginning of the Nine Years’ War (1689) between Spain and France, a persecution of French goods, capital and subjects began throughout Spanish territory. In this situation, the smuggling judge Antonio de Torres Prieto visited Murcia and its commercial establishments to carry out a search of the goods present in them, focusing especially on the textile manufactures, thus focusing on their volume, typology and origin.
The source is not without its problems, as the possibility of merchants hiding part of their goods or manipulating the account books is constantly present, although it does provide key information on the stock of goods present in the establishments visited by the smuggling judge, and in order to try to be as accurate as possible, it also relies on the register of goods that entered and left through the customs office in Murcia.
From the visits to the shops in Murcia during the two-year period 1691 and 1692, some forty establishments, it can be shown that 66.3% corresponded to articles made of vegetable fibres (linen, hemp and cotton), 9.6% to silk goods and 23.3% to woollen goods, in keeping with the climatic conditions of the region and the city. The question to be dealt with here is the number of pieces found, since at no point is the question of whether they were sufficient to cover the needs of the inhabitants of Murcia and its immediate surroundings, who had been accustomed for some years to French textile manufactures.

The post Fabrics registered in the shops of Murcia (1691-1692) first appeared on History Lab.

Customs tariffs in the ports of Seville and Cadiz at the end of the 17th century

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

The customs tariffs of the ports of Seville and Cadiz, the main platforms for trade with America, are marked by the struggle of the two cities for tax advantages. During the 17th century, many merchants and traders moved from Seville to Cadiz due to the facilities offered by the port of Cadiz, both in terms of navigation and customs measures and taxes. While Seville collected the almojarifazgo de Indias, the alcabala and the saca, in 1665 the merchants of Cadiz reduced the alcabala from 10% to 4% after buying the right to collect it from the King. In this way, the tax burden in the port of Seville was around 30%, while in Cadiz, as we have seen, only 4% was applied. The author reflects in the resource the different customs tariffs according to the product and represented in reales de vellón. The comparison of prices resulted in the Sevillian protest; in 1666 the monarch ordered the equalisation of the almojarifazgo taxes in all customs offices, a measure that was never implemented. Thus, during the last 20 years of the 17th century, the Customs landlords favoured and benefited the trade of Cadiz: a commercial growth that was reflected in the population, from 2,000/4,000 inhabitants in 1,600 to 40,000 in 1,700.

The post Customs tariffs in the ports of Seville and Cadiz at the end of the 17th century first appeared on History Lab.

Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:28:27 +0000

Age of Empires II features historical campaigns based on a novel storyline that spans a vast period between the 5th and 16th centuries. This definitive edition was released in 2019 to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the original video game released in 1999, making some corrections and technologically improving an already excellent base.
Historically the game features the campaigns of 18 civilisations, starting in the Middle Ages after the fall of the Western Roman Empire and running through to the European Renaissance of the 16th century. The goal is therefore to strategically manage resources to build a vast empire and overcome other enemy factions.
The campaigns take a historical look at the lives and triumphs of different key figures from our past, such as William Wallace, Joan of Arc, Saladin and Genghis Khan, among others. As for the factions, this year’s factions are divided into Western European, Central European, Middle Eastern and Far Eastern factions, each with their own unique units and historically known warriors.

The post Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition first appeared on History Lab.