Mundo urbano - 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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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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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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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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Appointment of guardians and curators in wills. Valladolid, 18th century

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

During the Modern Age, testamentary mandates emerged as strategies of social reproduction aimed at improving the family lineage. Sometimes, the deceased testator bequeathed to his children, minors, the movable and immovable property that he had in his power and administration. However, these assets were placed under the guardianship of an adult, usually close to the family, to administer them until the offspring reached maturity. The choice of the administrators of the inheritance was not a minor matter, but was a major concern of the testator in view of the possible perversion of the person chosen. In Valladolid, 77.8% of those appointed guardians were the spouses of the deceased, followed at a great distance by other relatives (9.3%), siblings (2.9%), children and parents (both with 2.3%), and “others” (5.4%), a concept which brings together numerous categories of individuals related to the family through neighbourhood or spiritual kinship. The city of Valladolid marked the general trend more sharply; in contrast, the nuances of the rural world attenuated the divergent criteria. Differentiated by sex, women chose other relatives (35.8%) rather than their husbands (21.1%) to be the administrators of their children’s inheritance.

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Typology of the family in the province of León in the middle of the 18th century

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

The author gives us the structure of the family in the province of León according to the Catastro de la Ensenada (1752-1754). By areas, the rural world, represented by the counties linked to agrarian models, the nuclear family was hegemonic, with values far higher than in the urban world. These values are attenuated in mountain areas for the nuclear model, in contrast with the growth of the solitary household, reaching levels of 22.7%. In the rest of the province, the number of single people was between 15% and 13%, with Cea-Campos standing out for its low number of single people: 6.7%. The extended household, made up of direct family additions to the nuclear household, was the third most widespread typology, but with more modest values. It stood out in the counties and villages with the lowest percentage of nuclear families; similarly, the multiple household, almost absent, had a greater impact in mountainous areas: Ancares (3.3%) and Montaña (6.4%), and was the protagonist of the rural elites as a compensatory family strategy in the distribution of inheritance.

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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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Structure of the household stock of consumer goods in Palencia, 1750-1840

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

Between the end of the Ancien Régime and the beginning of the Contemporaneity, there was an increase in household consumption in Castile; an industrial revolution without industrialisation that the author, Fernando Carlos Ramos, observes in the province of Palencia between 1750 and 1840. The resource shows that, although consumption patterns remained unchanged among durable and semi-durable goods, household spending did increase. on which products was the largest amount of disposable income spent? In all the periods shown, textiles took up more than 50% of the value of household stock, reaching 60.41% between 1785 and 1800. Within this group, clothing and footwear gradually decreased its weight in overall expenditure, with bed linen increasing. Household goods, on the other hand, were the second most important group in household expenditure. Books, religious and personal objects did not exceed 1%; and jewellery barely reached 2.5% on average between 1750 and 1840. Thus, the importance of textiles was greater than any other good. In terms of consumption patterns, the author has observed how habits developed in the urban world that were “exported” to the rural world, revealing the city as the driving force behind socio-economic change. The increase in household spending was motivated by the economic recovery that took place between 1815 and 1830, coinciding with the favourable evolution of population growth rates, widening the margins of the market.

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Collection of municipal taxes on wine to finance the expenses of the Council and the Crown, Madrid 1606-1700

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

Throughout the 17th century, the costly wars between the Spanish Empire and the European territories led to increased spending by the Treasury. One way to alleviate the budgetary imbalance was to increase the tax burden on citizens and on the products they consumed. Although the new taxation sparked numerous revolts and riots, the tax burden settled down: in Castile, between 1577 and 1666, the Crown’s tax revenue rose from 2.6 million ducats to 5.7 million ducats. In this context, wine, popularly used, was a source of tax revenue. In Madrid, in addition to nourishing the Crown’s treasury, the Conejo added a parallel increase for its municipal benefit. The resource shows the evolution of the collection of wine according to the purpose of the collection and the amount in millions of maravedís obtained. Between 1607 and 1640, the municipal tax payments were used to pay the town’s expenses; it was the introduction of wine from Olivenza in 1644 when part of this collection was destined for the Crown. From that moment on, the tax burden on wine served to cover more and more of the Crown’s needs, rising from 7% in 1644 to 64% in 1700. This rise was paralleled by a steady increase in taxes on the litre of wine: while in 1606-1610 the taxes represented 27% of the price of a litre, between 16666 and 1670 they rose to 65%. Why did the authorities tax wine with special interest? Its wide distribution and inelastic demand made it favourable for securing a constant income. Such was its importance that at the end of the 17th century, wine taxes accounted for 40-45% of the total tax revenues collected in Madrid.

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