Nobleza - History Lab

Anonymous manuscript

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:33:46 +0000

Professor David Bernabé Gil analysed an anonymous document among the papers of the University of Orihuela, which he dated approximately 1780. This text is a charge against the liberalising measures that were being put in place in the time of Carlos III. In the fragment of the text cited, three aspects were pointed out which needed to be rectified in Spain and which free trade was aggravating. The first concerns the situation of agriculture, which the author states should be promoted as a pillar of the state. This is the most tangible example of the persistence of a certain type of thinking linked to physiocracy, which pointed to agriculture as the main wealth of kingdoms and states. At the same time, the situation of the peasants was pointed out, whose life was one of misery and indebtedness, a situation that had favoured the merchants who had used free trade to exploit them and leave them in a situation of prostration. The second maxim was to strengthen local arts and crafts. To this end, he proposed raising prices so that they could find a place in the market (local and foreign) without having to resort to imports. In this way, the author understands that imports, apart from weakening local industry, serve foreign interests, normally associated with states that are enemies of the monarchy and that would benefit from Spanish money. As for the last problem, he pointed out the need to cut back on the huge profits of the clergy and the nobility. These privileged groups benefited from free trade by being able to sell grain at a good price, so their wealth had to be curtailed by cutting their rents or imposing taxes on their land.

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On personal desirability in civil society

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:33:40 +0000

In this fragment of the text “De la desigualdad personal en la sociedad civil”, Ramón Campos criticises the very ancient character that noble lineages procure. This type of affirmation derives from the enlightened profile of the author in question, in addition to his partisanship for the bourgeois profile which is capable of generating wealth as opposed to the concept of rent. The figure of Ramón Campos as a Spanish ilustrado is still being discovered, and as Santiago Lorenzo García states, we still need a comprehensive work that deals with his work as a whole. It is one facet of many others of this Spanish Enlightenment thought, often categorised as “second-rate Enlightenment”, following the aforementioned author, a statement which is, however, imprecise and incomplete, given the complex profile of the Spanish Enlightenment figures and the difficulty of categorising them.

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Correspondence sent by the Duke of Lerma to the Aragonese Council in 1609

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:33:35 +0000

The expulsion of the Moors from Spain was an operation designed more for political purposes than with the consequences of this titanic operation in mind. The signing of a humiliating truce with the United Provinces forced the monarchy to save face, the Moorish question being a propitious opportunity. It seemed at last that the monarch was aware of the potential danger of this population (despite the fact that the Ottomans no longer had any appetite for the western Mediterranean as early as 1580). The expulsion was at the same time an opportunity for the Valencian lords, who for centuries had been receiving static rents that had not kept pace with the rise in prices resulting from the influx of precious metals from the Indies. The opportunity to put an end to the emphyteutic contracts and gain access to other more advantageous types of contracts such as leases were some of the reasons for the nobility’s collaboration in agreeing to the expulsion of their Moorish subjects. The idea was that the territories would be repopulated with Old Christians brought from other regions. However, the results were catastrophic. Only the great nobles were somehow able to make up for the Moorish loss. For the rest, not as many repopulators arrived, nor were they all interested in settling under the new conditions. Some of the nobility were ruined within a few years, because they had already had an unbridled standard of living with the Moorish presence and were carrying huge debts. With the expulsion of the Moors, not only were they unable to repay their debts, but they could no longer even support themselves due to the depopulation of their lands.

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Some documents and private letters that belongs to the sencond duke of Gandía in Joan de Borja. Notes for the history of Alexandre V

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:33:35 +0000

The importance of this text lies in the fact that it represents from the primary source the importance given to the entailed estate. The entailed an estate was a group of goods that constituted the patrimony normally created by the nobility and accredited before a notary. It was an indivisible group that sought to maintain the lineage in perpetuity. It was normally assigned to the first-born male. However, the casuistry was extended and regulated in the Laws of Toro in 1505. Most of a nobleman’s property was normally integrated in the estate, but some could be reserved for the second-born of the family. Indeed, as it was indivisible, it passed entirely to the first-born, so that the younger siblings did not have such a guaranteed future as the first-born. For this reason, the nobility tried to place these second-born children in the church and other institutions in order to give them a stable future.

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Fernando VII’s Circular of 1830

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:33:29 +0000

Theatrical performances became very important in cities as dynamic as modern Barcelona. Social mobility and the emergence of new bourgeois groups thanks to remittances from overseas generated an increasingly affluent social class. Theatrical performances became so important that they began to be organised on the initiative of private individuals. The economic power of the patrons allowed the organisation of splendid plays thanks to their access to exclusive costumes and materials. Access to these plays was also a space for recognition among the elite, whether among the nobility or the emerging bourgeoisie (social opulence). In a context such as that of 1830, after the experience of the Liberal Triennium, it is understandable that Ferdinand VII censored this type of meeting, fundamentally for fear of the conspiracies that could be orchestrated against him due to the social nature of this type of clandestine meeting.

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