Mundo Rural - History Lab

Urban Enclaves and Public Disorder in the Kingdom of Navarre (1553-1786)

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:32:25 +0000

The distribution of the urban world in the kingdom of Navarre between 1553 and 1786 shows a predominance in the southern part of the kingdom. The censuses of the aforementioned dates bear witness to this. The 13 towns were: Pamplona, located in the centre, the first link in a chain that descends southwards through Puente la Reina, Estella, Sangüesa, Larraga, Tafalla, Miranda de Arga, Falces, Peralta, Villafranca, Tudela, Corella and Cascante. The author of the appeal analyses it in terms of conflict through public disorder. As he points out, the primary sources reveal a logical result: the existence of more disorder in those urban centres with larger populations. A total of 800 processes of all kinds which, although they occurred with greater frequency and intensity, rural areas were not exempt from them.

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The parish as a central space of social life

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

Once the Reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula for Catholicism was over, new churches and parishes were founded, some where there was already a mosque, others in the central areas of the new population centres that arose. This process of parochialisation had the greatest impact on the configuration of the new Christian society. In the Modern Age, rural communities had the parish as their geographical and social centre, a space that reflected, on the one hand, the political and religious order and, on the other hand, the central point from which to orientate themselves: being in the world. The drawings shown are examples that the author of the resource proposes as forms of representation of the local community, that is, of the very conception of space in the form of churches. Gójar and Calicasas (Granada) were depicted in the Ensenada Cadastre (1753-1754) in the same way that Tomás López, as early as 1786-1789, received a sketch for his Relaciones Geográficas: a church surrounded by houses which, like satellites, mark the form of the structure of the space of the municipality or place. All this reflects the prevailing profound mentality of modernity, which imprinted its everyday values on society.

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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 ports of the Kingdom of Valencia (circa 1250-1520)

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:31:14 +0000

The map shows the Valencian port line with more than 40 ports between 1250 and 1520. The seaways and ports contributed to the economic development of the region. There were 9 important ports: Valencia, Alicante, Denia, Gandía, Gandía, Cullera, Sagunto, Burriana, Castellón and Peñíscola; and smaller ports oriented to the proximity of the rural or semi-urban world. From the latter, products were shipped in kind to the city of Valencia to supply the market, or beyond the borders of the Kingdom. The maritime connection between Valencia and the towns by sea was extremely important during the second half of the 15th century, and there is evidence of the arrival of numerous cargoes in light sailing ships.

The post The ports of the Kingdom of Valencia (circa 1250-1520) first appeared on History Lab.

Smallpox mortality in New Spain. The parish of San Pablo Apetatitlan, 1797-1798

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

During the Modern Age, smallpox was an epidemic that decimated numerous populations on the European continent. America’s joining the world-system meant that this territory also became involved in global problems. The resource shows the incidence in New Spain of the last smallpox epidemic of the 18th century in that viceroyalty through the parish of San Pablo Apetatitlan, in the governorate of Tlaxcala. In this rural parish, between December 1797 and December 1798, a total of 75 deaths from smallpox were recorded, most of them indigenous people from this rural area. The author places the epidemic cycle in October 1797 in the city of Puebla, arriving in the jurisdiction of Tlaxcala in the first week of December. Its arrival led to a dramatic increase in mortality in the first few days of its appearance; 91.42% of deaths from the disease were recorded in one month. After the strong impact, social isolation and quarantines were the measures adopted by the authorities.

The post Smallpox mortality in New Spain. The parish of San Pablo Apetatitlan, 1797-1798 first appeared on History Lab.

Geographical origin of the seminarians of San Pelagio (Cordoba, 17th century)

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

Session XXIII of the Council of Trent (1545-1563) agreed to the creation of centres dedicated exclusively to priestly formation. The centres were to be controlled by the bishops of each diocese and the financial endowment was to come from episcopal and capitular revenues. The loss of income on the part of the diocesan councils, and the opposition of the existing colleges and universities that also trained the clergy, meant that the new seminaries were only slightly established. In the case of the diocese of Cordoba, the Seminary of San Pelagio was established between 1583 and 1600. Where did the new seminarians come from? Of the 352 students that the institution had in the 17th century, the vast majority, 315, were born in the diocese and province of Cordoba (89.49%), followed by the towns also belonging to the bishopric of Cordoba, but not to the civil province (23, 6.54%). A further 13 pupils (3.69%) were born in neither the jurisdiction of the bishopric nor the civil province of Cordoba, and only 1 pupil (0.28%) was from a town in the province, but whose ecclesiastical jurisdiction differed. By origin, the vast majority came from rural areas (294 pupils, 86.73%), and 13.27% were from the city of Cordoba. The author notes that, although the capital of Córdoba accounted for 13.27% of the total, the 45 pupils from that city constituted the largest number of pupils from the same nucleus, followed by rural areas such as Castro del Río (21) and Pozoblanco (18).

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Distribution by head of household of day labourers without property according to age group. Lorca, 1797

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:41 +0000

Social mobility within the group of day labourers without property is determined by the moment in the life cycle in which they find themselves and by the space in which the day labourer’s activity is carried out. The graph shows that in the city the level of social mobility is lower than in the countryside and, above all, than in the huerta. The municipality of Lorca (Murcia) is at an intermediate level due to its characteristics as an agro-city. In short, neighbourhood relations, familiarity, solidarity and proximity are closely related to this phenomenon, which is also linked to the economic conditions of the areas of activity.

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Evolution of the population of Palma de Mallorca (1478-1746)

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

Demographic changes and population trends show a clear tendency towards a general increase in population during the Modern Age. This process can be divided into 3 phases, one of stagnation (1478-1573), another of increase with respect to the beginning of modernity (1573-1600), and finally the maintenance phase with cycles of ups and downs caused by subsistence, climatic and epidemiological crises (1600-1746). The dynamics of Palma de Mallorca were in tune with those of the island. It is calculated that the population of Palma was, in 1503, 30% of the total; a figure that was maintained with small variations during the 16th and 17th centuries (in 1695 it fell to 24% of the total). Consequently, the Mallorcan rural environment was very important, so much so that the population density of the island was among the highest in the Crown of Aragon and Castile at the end of the 16th century.

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Population distribution in Europe (1500-1750)

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

During the European Modern Age, the distribution of population among the different countries of the continent diverged according to their size, population characteristics, demography and socio-economic system. In general terms, the urban world grew quantitatively between 1500 and 1750 in most Western countries, although with varying intensity. England was the most developed in this respect; a development, however, that was already present in some Mediterranean countries, such as Spain and Italy, and others in the north, such as Belgium and the Netherlands. Despite urban growth, the great evolution that the author identifies in relation to population is the exponential development of the non-agricultural rural world. In fact, if in 1500 there were 152 rural nuclei of this type, in 1750 they rose to 236, in contrast to the decrease in the agricultural sphere, from 612 in 1500 to 505 in the middle of the 18th century. The transformation of the rural world was, once again, uneven across the continent. While England, Germany, France, Austria/Hungary and Poland were the communities that most experienced this process, Italy and Spain experienced it with less incidence. In short, the distribution of population in modern Europe meant that the countries where the agricultural revolution developed the earliest grew at the quantitative levels that were already present in the Mediterranean areas.

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Inheritance distribution in the province of León in the 18th century

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

The distribution of inheritance was one of the main concerns of the testators. During the 18th century in the province of León there was a direct relationship between the socio-economic structural framework and the choice of the inheritance model. The egalitarian distribution in the agrarian areas of Cea-Campos, the Vega del Esla and the Páramo stands out. However, despite having a similar agrarian model, the mountain area had some differences with respect to the rest of the province of León: there was a tendency towards the improvement of the third and fifth (between 36.5% and 42.8%) and the testamentary mandates (30.5%-38.5%) which favoured a first-born son in contrast to the rest of the offspring. The limited arable land in these territories marked the family strategy aimed at guaranteeing the biological reproduction of at least one member of the family, without social descent. Indeed, the possible disintegration of the patrimony would condition the marital choice to lower strata; a downward social mobility that the families wanted to avoid.

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