Reino de Aragón - History Lab

Shortage of wheat in Lérida increases the price of bread (1797)

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:33:11 +0000

At the end of the 18th century, the Kingdom of Aragon suffered a cereal shortage. The supply decreased, and the Audiencia of Aragon prohibited the export of grain to cities such as Lérida, Tárrega and Balaguer. As a result, the price of bread rose in these territories, forcing the corregidor of Lleida to ask the Council of Castile to allow the little grain that remained to be extracted. The fin-de-siècle crises joined the administrative borders, hindering the distribution of basic resources. The document, dated 1797, refers to this phenomenon and to the inclement weather that reduced the harvest in March due to snow and ice.

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Announcement relating to the edict of expulsion of the Moors from the kingdom of Aragon

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

The expulsion of nearly three hundred thousand Hispanic Moriscos, decided by Philip III on 4 April 1609, was the culmination of the process of eliminating religious minorities that began in our country with the expulsion of the Jews in 1492 and put an end to the more or less peaceful coexistence that had been taking place since the Middle Ages between Christians and Mudejars. The compulsory conversion of the Mudejars, after the conquest of the Kingdom of Granada (1492), now known as Moriscos, brought the conflict to a standstill for a few decades, during which there was equal parts distrust and support, hostility and rapprochement. The different solutions proposed for the assimilation of the Moriscos, ranging from evangelisation to inquisitorial repression, show that doctrinal controversies also involved a political process of repression motivated by the context of the Hispanic Monarchy’s ongoing conflicts with the Turks and Barbary pirates in the Mediterranean. The uprising of the Moors in Granada (1568-1570) marked the end of illusions about the possibility of mutual understanding. The general expulsion sanctioned the triumph of an exclusive Catholicism in Spain. The vicissitudes in which the expulsion took place and the social and economic consequences of forced emigration were suffered throughout the 17th century and are detailed in thousands of documents recorded in volumes and bundles in the Archive of the Crown of Aragon.

The post Announcement relating to the edict of expulsion of the Moors from the kingdom of Aragon first appeared on History Lab.

Map of the areas of single heir predominance in Aragon during the Modern Age

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

During the Modern Age, the Kingdom of Aragon had a system of unequal transmission of inheritance, i.e. the testator had free disposal of his goods to bequeath them in any quantity and amount to the parent or parents he wished, obliged only to reserve 5 sueldos in money and 5 in white lands for each of the legitimate children. In effect, for all those with sufficient movable and immovable property to bequeath, a single heir could be chosen almost exclusively, in contrast to the Castilian system of equal distribution of inheritance. The resource shows the distribution in the Kingdom of Aragon of the areas where the family policy of the sole heir predominated; in the north, the Pyrenean valleys and the Cinca valley, and in Lower Aragon, the districts of Matarraña and Guadalope. For these areas, the author observes that the sole heir used to receive real estate on condition that it formed part of his matrimonial capitulation. However, the rest of the kingdom opted for an equal distribution, although there were several variants depending on family affinity or the carrying out of a “quita”: leaving the inheritance to the spouse and the latter, upon testament, distributing it among those children who showed the best behaviour, or reserving assets to be used for the salvation of the soul through the masses of souls, the foundation of chaplaincies, patronages or pious works.

The post Map of the areas of single heir predominance in Aragon during the Modern Age first appeared on History Lab.

List and period of activity od the successive governors of the Kingdom of Aragon (16th-17th centuries)

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:20 +0000

The governor of the Kingdom of Aragon was an extremely important political post. He was appointed for life and could delegate his functions. His jurisdiction extended over the whole kingdom and he was responsible, among other things, for public order, the guarantee of royal rights and royalties. It became increasingly important, especially after the court moved to Castile following the marriage of the Catholic Monarchs. The election of the governor had to include his membership of the nobility (cloak and dagger). The end of this political office came with the dismantling of the foral system with the arrival of the Bourbons. The support of a large part of the Crown of Aragon for the Austracist pretender led Philip V to put an end to this type of institution on the basis of a legitimate right of conquest.

The post List and period of activity od the successive governors of the Kingdom of Aragon (16th-17th centuries) first appeared on History Lab.

Silver coin issues in the Crown of Aragon (1480-1598)

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

The discovery of America by the Hispanic Monarchy led to the use of Castilian reales in the Crown of Aragon due to the remittances of silver received by Castile. Ferdinand the Catholic sought to increase the legal value of the silver coins of the Aragonese crown so that they would not be annulled, nominally devaluing the vellon to facilitate conversion with the Castilian reales. The monarch refused to reduce the weight of the silver coins during his reign in order to prevent their export. why were the Valencian dieciochenos exported? Their weight in silver exceeded the nominal value which the law recognised. During the reign of Charles V between 1480 and 1598, the weight of the silver coinage in the Crown of Aragon tended to be reduced in the Kingdom of Valencia, without any loss of value. Thus, the weight of the Valencian dieciocheno was reduced by 25.25% in 1522 and by 29% in 1547. Compared to the Valencian money market, the Catalan one was more stable. In fact, the weight of the Catalan croat remained constant at 3.23 grams throughout the 17th century.

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Silver coin issues in the Crown of Aragon (1601-1700)

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

For the Crown of Aragon, made up of the kingdoms of Aragon, Valencia and the principality of Catalonia, the issue of silver coins was one of the main concerns of the monetary economy. If during the 16th century the weight of the Valencian dieciocheno had to be reduced so as not to exceed its legal tender value and thus avoid its export, the 17th century saw similar measures for the Catalan “croat” and real and the Valencian dieciocheno itself. In the first case, the 3.12 grams that the croat had weighed since 1493 was reduced in 1619 to 3.04 grams, reaching 2.81 grams in 1653. The Catalan real fell from 2.5 grams to 2.04 between 1674 and 1698. For its part, the Valencian silver coin ended the century at 1.87 grams, almost half the 3 grams it weighed in 1480. However, the Aragonese real remained at a fixed weight of 3.42 for more than a century: from 1519 to 1652. All these adjustments were carried out as reforms aimed at readjusting the silver to the fleece.

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