Privilegiados - History Lab

Masked dance

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:30:14 +0000

The image represents the celebration of a masked ball, probably the masked ball held in 1767 at the Teatro del Príncipe in Madrid. In the boxes, a large audience is watching the spectacle of the crowd dancing in the stalls. The feeling of nocturnal festivity and the energy of the mass of people can also be perceived, as these celebrations were awaited with great joy by the population. We know that from the 15th century onwards a variety of entertainment activities, such as court ballet and theatrical performances, were held at royal and stately courts, to which were added new events such as balls and parties known as “saraos”, where knights and ladies danced. However, for the popular classes during the Ancien Régime, the carnival became the most desired festivity, which went hand in hand with other activities held in public squares such as games, competitions, theatres and dances, among others. What was most novel was the curious relationship that was established between the dances and the carnival, giving rise to the masked balls. These celebrations were banned on successive occasions by monarchs such as Philip V, in order to curb disorder and the violence inherent to carnival. In 1767, his son, Charles III, granted permission to hold masked balls, provided that they were held in enclosed premises and complied with a series of strict behavioural measures. As Clara Bejarano Pellicer (2009) explains, the masked ball was nothing more than a proposal for celebrating carnival, alien to Spanish and popular customs, which had a strong courtly influence. For the development of these, in the aforementioned year of 1767 the Instrucción para la concurrencia de bailes de mascara en el carnaval was published in Madrid, where the celebration of these festivities was regulated, with an evident aim of reforming the most irrational customs typical of carnival and popular culture, in order to propose a more refined, literate culture. It should be noted that while the carnival was a festival in which all social classes took an active part, with the plebs playing a leading role, the masked ball implied a privatisation of the festival, as not everyone could attend, as they had to pay an entrance fee, which limited access only to the middle and upper strata of society, thus avoiding the presence of the lower classes. These spaces became spaces for enjoyment, but also for socialising and exhibition.

The post Masked dance first appeared on History Lab.

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.

Family strategies of social groups. The case of Caldelas, Galicia (17th century)

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

The resource presents marriage strategies and social mobility in the Bajo Miño de Calderas region (Galicia) at the end of the 17th century. The author categorises family dynamics according to the social group to which the contracting members belonged. In this way, the families of the local elite show the most common techniques: marriage alliances linked to consanguinity, strong reproductive capacity and social success. Of the 23 elite families studied, 47% continued to maintain middle or higher status, although a significant number of offspring descended to lower families, 43%, reflecting downward social mobility. For their part, middle families followed the same trends as the upper families, albeit mitigating the impact of upward social destination. These two groups of the affluent fed off each other in social endogamy. Upward mobility was achieved by linking into middle-upper alliances; however, middle-lower marriages were a constant half of social reproduction. Lower families tended to maintain their stratum through social inbreeding relationships, with few but existing examples of upward mobility.

The post Family strategies of social groups. The case of Caldelas, Galicia (17th century) first appeared on History Lab.

Nobility and bourgeoisie in the 18th century

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:28:06 +0000

In this multimedia resource, the main theme addressed by Professor of Modern History Luis Antonio Ribot García is the relationship between the Enlightenment, as a cultural movement, and the bourgeoisie as a protagonist of renovation that carries out its definitive consolidation as a social group that harbours great expectations of prominence in the political and economic spheres. Likewise, emphasis is placed on the social ascent of the bourgeoisie, who gradually aspired to form part of the privileged group of the nobility, their objective being, in short, to achieve social triumph.

The post Nobility and bourgeoisie in the 18th century first appeared on History Lab.