Zamora - History Lab

Plan of Benavente and its urban structure in the 16th century

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

The Spanish aristocracy devoted part of its efforts to establishing an urban structure that would identify it as a nobiliary space and would be another part of its propaganda strategy. The ties that bound these power elites obliged them, to a certain extent, to behave in a supportive manner towards the community as part of their social legitimisation. Within this vision, the nobiliary city can be analysed as a material cultural product and as a structuring element of aristocratic power.
During the 16th century, several nobiliary parties tried to exercise power at Court, and their rivalry can be seen in the different cultural features they applied in the cities under their influence: politics, religion and urban structure. Each side systematically applied common architectural criteria in the cities, but these resulted in very different forms of administration and ideologies.
In towns such as Cuéllar, Benavente or Alba de Tormes, the aristocracy established guidelines linked to medieval traditions, such as the dominance of the castle over the rest of the town. Efforts, therefore, were made to modernise the castle on the inside, even reforming it towards more luxurious standards, but maintaining the sober and powerful image on the outside.

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Baptisms and deaths in Villafáfila (Zamora), 1575-1599

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:30:03 +0000

Coinciding with the last years of the reign of Philip II, Zamora experienced a period of demographic and economic crisis, linked to the excessive fiscal pressure of the monarch and a series of bad harvests that condemned the population of Zamora to a marked increase in mortality and a general impoverishment of the population. Through the censuses, censuses, neighbourhoods and lists of trades, a chronological evolution can be established for the inhabitants of Villafáfila, showing a progressive increase in mortality during practically the last quarter of the 16th century, until 1599, when the plague epidemic marked the peak in the mortality rate for the whole period.
With regard to baptisms and births, until 1586 the town managed to maintain a positive vegetative balance, but from this year onwards the balance became negative. This situation was to continue in the last years of the century – between 1593 and 1597 – in which the number of baptisms did not exceed 7 children a year, with between 2 and 3 being baptised during these years. This situation is the clear cause of a great loss of residents and would mark the socio-economic level of the town for the following generations.

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The evolution of old age in Fermoselle (1750-1825)

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:56 +0000

The stage of old age in the rural world had a series of basic needs that needed to be covered and prepared for as long as they enjoyed a certain level of health. These people of 60 or more years of age used to design strategies by means of cessions and donations to close relatives to ensure their own survival during this hard stage of life.
The evolution of the group during the second half of the 18th century is striking, as its quantitative growth did not slow down until the first quarter of the 19th century. Throughout the seventeenth century, the growth in the data can be considered to be due to the fact that these individuals had already overcome the demographic crisis of the previous century, marking a new generation that was better fed and had more adequate health care facilities for their needs, which led to a striking population expansion of this group of elderly people.
In the 19th century, the growth trend of the previous century continued, but was cut short in 1804 due to the mortality crises that devastated Fermoselle between 1804 and 1812, especially affecting the weakest people, including the elderly.

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Sectors and professional groups in Zamora (1561)

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

Based on the analysis of the socio-professional structures provided by some modern-day censuses and neighbourhoods, the author attempts to assess the situation in Zamora in the mid-16th century. The traditional division between primary, secondary and tertiary activities is an artificial resource due to the mixed occupations, but it does help to understand the main occupation within the labour activity of the active population.
In the cities, as opposed to the much more ruralised suburbs, where the primary sector takes precedence over the rest, there is usually a central nucleus dedicated to craft and service trades. It is in this urban case where the demographic weight of the city is maintained, and where the author focuses on analysing the professional structure in more detail. The detailed analysis shows that by volume, the secondary sector accounts for more than half of the active population of the urban area, followed by the tertiary sector with 38.10% and the primary sector employing practically a tenth of the population.

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Conditions and cost of learning a craft in 16th century Zamora

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

At the end of the Middle Ages the control of the guilds lost importance in some places due to the system of free contracting, but where they would continue to have a clear influence was in the apprenticeship period of the crafts, restricting the number of apprentices and thus systematically controlling production.
The apprentice had to pay a certain amount of money to the master to allow him to work in his workshop and also to live with him in his house, having the primary needs such as food, clothing and a place to sleep covered. Payment was usually made in instalments and agreed upon by both parties. It was also common for the apprentice, in addition to working in a trade, to have domestic tasks, depriving him of holiday periods and even receiving fines if he was absent from his work, as is shown in some letters of payment.

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Neighbours, families and secular inhabitants according to the Cadastre of Ensenada (1752)

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

The Cadastre of the Marquis de la Ensenada, carried out in the middle of the 18th century in the Crown of Castile, is one of the main historical sources for the study of demography, economy and territory. It consisted of several books dealing with numerous aspects; the resource shown here corresponds to the Neighbourhood and Census books. By regions, the territories of Andalusia had 1,462,449 inhabitants, Old Castile and León had 1,988,698, New Castile, including Madrid, had 1,040,972, Extremadura had 373,022 inhabitants, while Galicia and Murcia had 1,299312 and 272,057 respectively. A total of approximately 6,436,510 inhabitants for the Crown, where the most populated provinces were Seville (694,771), León (563,689) and Granada (545,285); those with the fewest inhabitants were Zamora (62,304), Toro (79,212) and Ávila (98,873).

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Neighbourhood of 1683, original data and reconstruction

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

In 1683, by order of Charles II, the Vecindario was published, which counted the inhabitants of the Crown of Castile in order to establish a more up-to-date tax system that would allow for more efficient revenue for the Royal Treasury. Who were considered to be inhabitants? Family units were counted as neighbours, so the data does not reflect the number of inhabitants. In order to obtain the total population, the author applies an average coefficient based on the size of the family. The resource shows this demographic data in column “F”, giving a total population of 4,786,882. By region, the North Atlantic coast, Galicia, Asturias and Cantabria had 1,416,200 inhabitants, the largest population, followed by Andalusia (1,117,880) and Castile and Leon (1,087,202). At the provincial level, Seville, Granada and Toledo were the most inhabited areas with 316,800, 304,100 and 241,240 inhabitants respectively. Of all the regions and provinces, Galicia stands out with 950,000 inhabitants, a significant number in relation to the size and type of population. In contrast, the most depopulated territories were Zamora (39,120), Toro (47,576) and Córdoba (65,480). From 1683 to 1753, the years of the Ensenada Cadastre, the general trend continued; although the population increased in all areas, the imbalances were similar.

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