Textil - 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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Collection of the Bolla Tax in Barcelona (1599-1695)

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:41 +0000

The so-called “derecho de bolla” was an indirect tax applied to all goods sold in Catalonia during the 16th century until 1769. Within the Catalan market, the textile industry was an important sector. The graph shows a decrease in the collection of the bolla tax from 1599 to 1695. Undoubtedly, as the author points out, the decline of the Catalan textile sector meant lower revenues. The industry of this product lost competitiveness as a result of the counterfeiting that took place, both in the fabric and in the dyes. This was compounded by the massive influx of fabrics from central and northern Europe. Even with margins for modernisation of the sector, the “War of Separation or the War of the Reapers” between 1640 and 1659, with the incorporation of Catalonia into French sovereignty after the betrayal of the Catalan elites to the Spanish Monarchy, led to the numerous imports of French products into this territory, increasing the level of tax collection of the bolla duty despite the detriment of the local product. The demographic decline also led to lower consumption and production; nevertheless, the level of tax collection was bicephalic. Thus, the level of consumption was just as important as the effective collection capacity of the authorities, a capacity that led to collection problems due to political and social instability.

The post Collection of the Bolla Tax in Barcelona (1599-1695) first appeared on History Lab.

Craftsmen. Individuals and rents in Ecija in the mid-18th century

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:28:57 +0000

The growth of Ecija led it to become a town of second rank within the southern urban network, serving as a connecting element between the large cities and the rural areas. Despite the importance of the agricultural sector, where craftsmen were involved in the processing of cotton introduced at the beginning of the 18th century in the market gardens, the craftsmen made up an important group divided into nine sectors. In order to determine the overall data, the table shows the total income of each sector, taking into account the annual salaries at a rate of 120 days per year, the yield of the artisans’ shops (if any) and the machinery (mills, ovens, fulling mills, presses…). The largest contingent is that of workers in the textile sector, which represents 32.05%, followed by extractive works with 19.64% and tanneries with 12.13%. These three sub-sectors account for two thirds of the workers, although their labour importance does not exactly correspond to their contribution to the sector’s income. Despite the high level reached by the textile industry in the 17th century, during the 18th century it experienced a certain decline. During the 17th century, due to competition from foreign cloth, the textile manufactures in cities such as Seville and Cordoba moved to rural areas, free of guild restrictions, which meant that contracting conditions were freer. From the first decades of the 18th century, urban industries were reactivated thanks to the regenerated Indian trade.

The post Craftsmen. Individuals and rents in Ecija in the mid-18th century first appeared on History Lab.

Labour force in cotton spinning in Catalonia in 1842 according to P. Madoz

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

In the wool-producing villages of central Catalonia, the importance of women’s work was very significant. In 1763, in Sallent, 14 women and five men were needed to run a loom. In Castellterçol, wool provided work for 2,300 people, 2,030 of whom were women. Based on the looms declared in the comarca of Bages and the women needed to run them, according to data from the Floridablanca Census, 57.3% and 86% of the women were involved in spinning. Thanks to various reports at the end of the 18th century, many productive activities – both in craft and agricultural areas – were carried out by women, whose labour force could grow and shrink depending on the demand for products. However, the mechanisation of cotton spinning and weaving was significantly reduced by eliminating the manual spinning that took up more labour. Madoz, in his Diccionario, provides a series of data on the textile industry in 1842, giving information on the sex of the workers. Women were in the majority in cotton spinning in Catalonia (61.6%), followed by children of both sexes (33%) and the marginal role of men (5.3%). However, it does not seem that each spinner worked at home and reproduced a proto-industrial model, but rather that the manufacturers tended to concentrate a few machines on the premises: the berguedanas.

The post Labour force in cotton spinning in Catalonia in 1842 according to P. Madoz 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.

The post Value of cloth sales in Castile, 1614-1616 first appeared on History Lab.

Structure of the household stock of consumer goods in Palencia, 1750-1840

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

Between the end of the Ancien Régime and the beginning of the Contemporaneity, there was an increase in household consumption in Castile; an industrial revolution without industrialisation that the author, Fernando Carlos Ramos, observes in the province of Palencia between 1750 and 1840. The resource shows that, although consumption patterns remained unchanged among durable and semi-durable goods, household spending did increase. on which products was the largest amount of disposable income spent? In all the periods shown, textiles took up more than 50% of the value of household stock, reaching 60.41% between 1785 and 1800. Within this group, clothing and footwear gradually decreased its weight in overall expenditure, with bed linen increasing. Household goods, on the other hand, were the second most important group in household expenditure. Books, religious and personal objects did not exceed 1%; and jewellery barely reached 2.5% on average between 1750 and 1840. Thus, the importance of textiles was greater than any other good. In terms of consumption patterns, the author has observed how habits developed in the urban world that were “exported” to the rural world, revealing the city as the driving force behind socio-economic change. The increase in household spending was motivated by the economic recovery that took place between 1815 and 1830, coinciding with the favourable evolution of population growth rates, widening the margins of the market.

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Secondary sector in the council of Avilés, 1797

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

The well-known Godoy Census was a general population count promoted by Manuel Godoy y Álvarez de Faria, First Secretary of State and Office of Charles IV. Published in 1801, it provides valuable data that give an insight into the situation of Spain at the end of the Enlightenment. It is not merely demographic in nature, but also economic, being conceived as an improved version of the previous Floridablanca Census. This tool allows a detailed reconstruction of the activities of the manufacturing sector in Avilés at the end of the Ancien Régime. The town provided employment for trades that either did not appear, or did so in a precarious way, in other parts of the region. An important branch of activity was textiles, especially work linked to the linen industry which, despite Campomanes’ wishes, could not lead industrialisation as it was subject to various limitations and foreign competition. With 117 weavers, the domestic manufacture of linen in Aviles was in the hands of women – it should be remembered that one of the great assets of this census is to highlight women’s work. Another textile speciality was tailoring, represented by 40 men and four women. It also included other trades such as footwear, which, together with tailoring, maintained the employment levels of 1753. However, the real specialisation was in copper working or boilermaking. Together with pottery, these set the tone for Avila’s manufactures at the end of the Ancien Régime. Among the coppersmiths, of which there were ten masters, the census included 45 boilermakers and 60 apprentices. The second most active branch was pottery, as most of the potters, located in Miranda, combined this occupation with agricultural work.

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