Rentas - History Lab

Cadastre of the Ensenada

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:32:42 +0000

Between 1750 and 1754 all the towns in “las Castillas” were subjected to an interrogation consisting of the following 40 questions: Name of the town (question 1); jurisdiction (2); extension and limits (3); types of land (4, 5); trees (6, 7, 8 and 13); measures of surface and capacity used (9, 10); species, quantity and value of fruits (11, 12, 14 and 16); tithes and first fruits (15); mines, salt mines, mills and other “artefacts” (17); livestock (18, 19 and 20); census of population, with neighbours, labourers, solemnly poor (21, 35 and 36), census of clerics (38) and convents (39); houses and other buildings (22); goods belonging to the commons (23), sisas and arbitrios (24), expenses of the commons, such as salaries, festivals, paving, fountains (25), taxes (26 and 27); industrial and commercial activities, with the utility of the goods or services produced: taverns, inns, shops, bakeries, butchers, bridges, boats on rivers, markets and fairs (29), hospitals (30), money changers and merchants (31), shopkeepers, doctors, surgeons, apothecaries, notaries, muleteers etc. (32); masons, stonemasons, masons, stonemasons, blacksmiths, cobblers etc. (33, 34); ships (37); alienated goods (28) and the King’s own revenues (40); the answers to these questions are obtained following a previously regulated process. This panoramic view of the Kingdom is a small part of a larger survey, the so-called Cadastre of the Marquis de la Ensenada, set in motion by Royal Decree of Ferdinand VI on 10 October 1749, as a preliminary step to fiscal reform, replacing the complicated and unjust provincial revenues with a single tax, the so-called Contribution. The Single Tax was never implemented, but it has left an important volume of documentation in our archives, the General Answers are kept in various State Archives. The General Archive of Simancas holds the complete certified copy of the replies of the 13,000 localities of the Crown of Castile. Preservation reasons led to the initiation of the microfilming process. In the 1980s, the 545 books of General Answers kept in Simancas were microfilmed. The frequent consultation of these collections and the need to facilitate access made digitisation advisable, which was carried out by the Document Reproduction Service (SRDAE) from microfilm during 2004 and 2005. The result is 350,000 images of documents with very neat calligraphic handwriting, easy to read and with hardly any abbreviations; very few pages have legibility problems, such as faded inks or ink transfer from the back. These images are now available on this page.

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Income from the chaplaincies of the diocese of Salamanca (1779-1783)

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

The resource shows the incomes that the chaplaincies in Salamanca had in the late 18th century, between 1779 and 1783. But what was a chaplaincy? It was a perpetual foundation endowed with material goods with which to cover annual spiritual expenses. Like an entailed estate, the lands of the chaplaincies financed the masses that the founders stipulated, and which had to be officiated by a chaplain, normally a direct member of the founding family who was chosen to enter the clergy as a form of social reproduction. In return, the chaplain received a benefit and financial support, either directly or through the lease of the endowed land. The table shows the importance of land in the income of the foundations: 51.56% in the form of wheat and rye income, far from census income (14.06%), money (11.71%) or urban properties (6.25%). Within these general data for the diocese of Salamanca, there were areas in which, depending on their economic activity, the foundations received different levels of income: in the vicariate of Miranda del Castañar, census revenues accounted for 41.86% and wine income 34.88%, while wheat and rye accounted for a low 2.33%.

The post Income from the chaplaincies of the diocese of Salamanca (1779-1783) first appeared on History Lab.

Leases of monopoly rights in Valencia during the 17th century

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

During the Ancien Régime, monopoly rights constituted one of the fundamental pillars of the seigniorial regime. The author shows how monopolies were produced in two Valencian manors, Alfara and Burjasot. The most common places where this right was applied were in the mill, oven, butcher’s shop and orchard. Lease contracts were usually short term; between 4 and 10 years at their longest. In turn, payment was stipulated in annual instalments, although depending on the leased property, these payments could be paid in different numbers: from monthly payments for some mills, to single payments for butcheries, orchards or shops. With monopoly rights, tenants were assured of fixed rents, although this had a negative impact on the development of productive forces as the feudal organisation of production stagnated.

The post Leases of monopoly rights in Valencia during the 17th century first appeared on History Lab.