Segovia - History Lab

Distribution of foreign textiles through the port of Bilbao between 1710-1714

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:32:12 +0000

The resource deals with the distribution of foreign fabrics imported from the port of Bilbao during 1710 and 1714, the years in which the War of the Spanish Succession took place. Fabrics destined for Madrid and Toledo paid customs duties in Valmaseda, Orduña, while those bound for the Cantabrian mountain range did so in Vitoria. Taxes were directly proportional to the quality of the fabric: the higher the quality, the higher the tax. From the port of Bilbao they were distributed to wide areas of the peninsular monarchy: the Upper Ebro Valley, the Duero Valley, the Iberian System, Logroño, Soria and Toledo as its extreme points. Where did most of the textiles come from? In the years prior to the war, Holland and England were the two largest exporters (90% of the linen came from Holland). The Royal Order of 3 December 1710 prohibited the importation of Dutch fabrics, thus favouring the British. In the distribution network, Madrid, Toledo, Segovia and Valladolid were the provinces with the highest import ratio, followed by Ávila, Burgos, Palencia, Soria and Logroño. The authors warn us that, due to the war situation, the distribution could have altered with respect to previous years. The Royal Treasury tried to reduce some costs by suspending the payment of pensions, subsidies and other benefits, or by delaying the payment of bureaucratic salaries; this meant that certain privileged groups saw their incomes reduced. At the same time, in Castilian territory, the tax burden on the population was increased. The high taxes and reduced purchasing power led to a lower demand for foreign fabrics.

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Receivers of loans in Segovia (1503-1508)

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:25 +0000

Using the case of Segovia, the author aims to shed light on this urban centre at the beginning of the 16th century, trying to explain rationally why this Castilian city (like many others) grew around 1500 and underwent profound social transformations. The thesis of the article proposes that from the mid-15th century until the end of the 16th century, the Castilian nobility of the cities invested part of their profits in favour of merchants and artisans, seeking to obtain a near return in exchange. The main source of wealth for the nobility – the social group that lent the most – was the rent from land
Thanks to the first notarial protocols preserved in Segovia, it is possible to verify the credit at the beginning of the 16th century and the operations that were carried out. It is striking how little monetary attention was paid to the rural sector, as these neighbours managed to receive only 7.3% of the total money lent, despite the fact that they outstripped the city’s neighbours in terms of operations. Urban merchants, on the other hand, were the group that received the largest amount, close to 40% of the total.

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The price of greenhouse leases in Castile (1750-1829)

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:25 +0000

The Report on the Agrarian Law at the end of the 18th century denounced the imbalances in the privileges regarding transhumance, such as the prohibition for farmers to break or mark pastures with the right of possession, directly harming both livestock breeders and farmers, both advocates of a new agrarian policy that would truly address the new needs they had and take into account the characteristics of the available land.
After the Royal Decree of April 1793 was enacted, the owners of the dehesas began a sharp rise in the prices of their leases every time they were renewed, calling into question the traditional uses of the land in the search for a more social than private purpose, causing the transhumance crisis in Castile.

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Average age at first marriage from Otero de Herreros and Mozoncillo (Segovia): 1710-1849

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:28:52 +0000

On the Spanish matrimonial model of the Modern Age, singularly applicable from the data available to some few areas of the Crown of Castile in the 16th century, Castilian examples were established which could be extended in some isolated cases to other peninsular regions -such as Valencia-. This would prove the Iberian delay in the adoption of the matrimonial pattern common to the Western European civilisation of the Modern Age. The results of the table seem to prove a continuity throughout the 18th century and part of the 19th century of the pattern in force in the 16th century with respect to the ages at the time of first marriage: totally anomalous ages in the context of other areas of Western Europe at the time. For men it is around 24 years of age and between 20 and 22 for women, taking into account the modal ages and not the average ages. Hajnal pointed to a marriage model characterised by two basic components: age at marriage and definitive celibacy. This second consideration was accused as a demographic and social burden in the 17th and 18th centuries, while the constant migratory flow from many areas of the peninsula and the consequent rates of masculinity at different ages could not fail to cause a high proportion of definitive female celibacy. In the second half of the 18th century, the definitive proportion of bachelors and spinsters in the 40-50 age group was 11.9 for males and 11.4 for females in Spain as a whole according to the Floridablanca Census.

The post Average age at first marriage from Otero de Herreros and Mozoncillo (Segovia): 1710-1849 first appeared on History Lab.

Value of cloth sales in Castile, 1614-1616

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

The author, José Ignacio Andrés Ucendo, offers us a statistical overview of the price of different fibres, such as wool, silk and linen, in different territories of the Crown of Castile at a time contextualised by the decline of civil manufacturing at the beginning of the 17th century. Overall, wool was traded more than linen and silk, which were the second and third most traded products respectively. By areas, in Old Castile the predominant fabric was wool, taking 73.6% of the market, this value being lower in Andalusian localities with 44%. Within the woollen cloths, the most traded were those of Segovia, Cordoba, Úbeda and Baeza; logistical centres of production. Thus, the market was divided into two areas: Andalusia and the Northern Plateau. The author notes that Andalusian consumption was greater than that of the north due to the difficulties that the Segovian drapery had in marketing its products; a crisis in demand from which it barely recovered. In the 18th century, consumption patterns were reversed, with linen dethroning wool in Castile. These consumption and marketing dynamics are similar to the data provided for the Catalan area of the Crown of Aragon.

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Evolution of wheat prices in Early Modern Spain

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

During the Modern Age, the availability of food was, to a large extent, a determining factor in the standard of living of the population. One of the great economic efforts for most families was the acquisition of the food necessary for survival, with cereals, especially wheat, and bread, accounting for between 65 and 70% of current expenditure. Because of its importance, the demand for wheat tended to be inelastic. Consequently, changes in its price marked the rise and fall of living standards. At the regional level, the behaviour of the price of wheat showed divergences depending on whether one lived in the centre or on the coast of the peninsula. While the price fluctuation was greater in the Meseta, the coastal areas, with their international trade routes, showed less variation. Thus, throughout the modern period, Barcelona and Valencia had lower prices than in Castilla la Nueva, Segovia or León. Periods of crisis were also important. In Castilla la Nueva, price volatility conditioned the market every 9.8 years; in Andalusia every 10.6 years; in Segovia every 14.1 years; in Navarre every 36.8 years; in Valencia every 38.4 years and in Barcelona every 69 years. Climatic disturbances also affected markets with less international trade capacity. However, from the beginning of the 16th century until the end of the 18th century, the common price tended to fall in parallel with the process of integration of the peninsular markets, a process which, although timid during the first two centuries of modernity, increased with the actions of the Enlightenment reformers.

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Place of residence of the distributors of foreign textile products in the port of Bilbao (1710-1714)

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

During the Modern Age, the importation of textiles into the Crown of Castile was a constant feature. The main importing country was England. Through the ports of Bilbao and Cadiz, a large volume of products such as sagra, cloths, linen and cloths arrived, but who were the Castilian merchants who imported the products? In relation to the port of Bilbao, an analysis of the place of residence reveals that the vast majority of merchants who distributed products in Madrid, Segovia and Toledo were, between 1710 and 1714, from Burgos (62.34%), followed by Álava (19.65%) and Segovia itself (5.05%). The authors point out that none of the transporters were from Bilbao, the port area, but from neighbouring territories; it was those from Burgos who specialised most in the distribution of textiles. The predominance of merchants from Burgos in the whole distribution network, with no major links between merchant, receiver and transporter from the same province, reflected a network of trust not based on family ties or proximity, but based on social capital; on the status and trust shown by the social group from Burgos.

The post Place of residence of the distributors of foreign textile products in the port of Bilbao (1710-1714) first appeared on History Lab.