XVI - History Lab

Militia maintained in Barcelona (1534-1553)

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

The city of Barcelona was characterised by an armed society for much of the modern period. This was due to the city’s strategic location on the border with France, which, together with the statutes that only allowed arming armies for self-defence, led Charles I to grant permission to arm citizen armies in 1544. In this way, the monarchy not only ensured cost savings, but also allowed the area to be well protected against invasion attempts. The possession of arms in this context was much higher in the third estate than among the nobility or the militia, which shows the existence of widespread smuggling. This led to serious public order problems during the reign of Philip II, specifically between 1575 and 1590, when veritable networks of bandits were set up, creating a climate of insecurity that was difficult to remedy.

The post Militia maintained in Barcelona (1534-1553) first appeared on History Lab.

Universities where the future bishops presented by Philip II have studied

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

As we move into the modern age, both the monarchy and the church rely on qualified personnel to staff their administrations. The training of bishops was no exception. Bishops went from having a military and political profile to an academic one, as they were now recruited from the university environment, where they were required to have a legal and bureaucratic background. The importance of the Castilian universities in the recruitment of these bishops, specifically those of Salamanca and Alcalá, was due to the fact that the monarch controlled them better and gave priority to the profile of the bishop they provided. King Philip II gave priority to a certain type of training and advocated that all his bishops should be educated in the same way. This coincided with a time when the monarch forbade study abroad due to the turbulent European context (there were exceptions), giving priority to training in Spain. This reform of the profile of bishops also responded to other needs, such as the existence of the Lutheran reform and the need to have a well-trained ecclesiastical staff with literary skills and the ability to generate more sophisticated discourses.

The post Universities where the future bishops presented by Philip II have studied first appeared on History Lab.

Women prosecuted for the crime of clandestine prostitution (1479-1518)

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

In the 15th century, the city of Valencia was a commercial emporium and a cosmopolitan location in the Mediterranean. The commercial boom of the city, accentuated in the 15th century, also implied an increase in social and economic inequalities and therefore an increase in the population on the threshold of misery. Prostitution also obeyed these general dynamics of misery, but also an opportunity for enrichment, given that the city was a continuous flow of travellers and merchandise, as Pablo Pérez García says. Prostitution was regulated by the kings of the Crown of Aragon, creating an institutionalised building, the brothel, which was under the authority of the cities. For the study of prostitution in Valencia, we have the Llibres de Cédules and the accounting books of the urban court. However, these sources have a number of problems, such as their preservation and the lack of precision of the actors in question (Pablo Pérez García). The practice of prostitution outside the legal channels was punishable and in this sense, records are kept of women who had problems with the justice system, where they were often fined and even imprisoned. The social profile of these women who practised clandestine prostitution, according to Pablo Pérez García, was that of single/widowed women who carried out other secondary jobs such as maids, seamstresses, maids, etc.

The post Women prosecuted for the crime of clandestine prostitution (1479-1518) first appeared on History Lab.