Spanish Empire II

“Where in 1500 there had been few towns of over 100,000 inhabitants (only Paris, Naples, Venice and Milan), by 1600 there were at least nine (Antwerp, Seville, Rome, Lisbon, Palermo, Messina, Milan, Venice, Amsterdam), and three of over 200,000 (Naples, Paris, London). By 1700 these last three had half a million each, and Madrid, Vienna and Moscow had joined the ranks of those with over 100,000.”(Kamen 2000: 23) Kamen, Henry. 2000. Early Modern European Society. London: Routledge. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/7QW688B5 Date rounded up here to give an estimated population at the beginning of the polity period, 1716.

The total size of the Spanish Empire’s territories across the globe between 1780-1810 was 13.7 million km2, making it one of the largest in history.(Taagepera 1997: 499) Taagepera, Rein. 1997. "Expansion and Contraction Patterns of Large Polities: Context for Russia." International Studies Quarterly 41(3): 475-504. https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/5A6JA43D “Even if the last Bourbons had been competent or popular, the Spanish Empire might not have survived the conflicts of the Napoleonic Age. The collapse of the monarchy in 1808 forced most of the American colonies to govern themselves, and by 1838 Spain’s overseas empire had been reduced to Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines.”(Maltby 2009: 18) Maltby, William S. 2009. The Rise and Fall of the Spanish Empire. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/SUSVXWVH

The total population of Spain and Spanish held lands in 1787 is estimated at around 10,318,000 inhabitants.”(Casey 2002: 21) Casey, James. 2002. Early Modern Spain: A Social History. New York: Routledge. https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/2SNTRSWT

: 1. Capital city
:: 2. Main cities
::: 3. Towns
:::: 4. Villages
::::: 5. Farmstead/Hamlets

“About one in ten Spaniards lived in towns which, at one time or another between 1500 and 1800, reached the 10,000 mark. This was slightly higher than the European average. There were two giants: the political capital, Madrid, which reached its maximum of about 150,000 in the middle of the seventeenth century, and the gateway to the New World, Seville, which also had 150,000 people before the plague of 1649 and the fading of its economic hegemony. Then came a scattering of provincial capitals—Granada, Valencia, Barcelona—with around 40,000–50,000 inhabitants each, before one reached the average city, with its bishop and royal judge (corregidor), of 10,000–20,000 people. The city was in part a market, but it provided a wider range of services than that.”(Casey 2002: 111) Casey, James. 2002. Early Modern Spain: A Social History. New York: Routledge. https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/2SNTRSWT

: 1. Pope
:: 2. Cardinal
::: 3. Archbishops
:::: 4. Bishops
::::: 5. Priests
:::::: 6. Abbots
::::::: 7. Monks
:::::::: 8. Friars
::::::::: 9. Nuns
:::::::::: 10. Missionaries

“In Solorzano’s argument, it was crucial that, among many other ceremonies, the viceroys continued to exercise the right to be received under a canopy when they first arrived in their dominions. Bishops and archbishop should also meet them on the steps in front of cathedrals and churches.”(Eissa-Barroso 2017: 42) Eissa-Barroso, Francisco A. 2017. The Spanish Monarchy and the Creation of the Viceroyalty of New Granada (1717–1739). Leiden: Brill. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/XNET89MW “‘Building bridges, making roads’ is a ‘pious work’ as good as any other, commented Ponz at the end of the Old Regime, as he gave reference after reference to bishops setting up workshops, distributing spindles, wool and flax to the poor. He cited with approval the letter of the archbishop of Toledo to the priests of his diocese in 1779, urging them to take an interest in the material welfare of their parishioners. His great friend Jovellanos, in his treatise of 1795 on economic reform, doubted whether the church needed so many friars (or chantry priests) as in the Middle Ages.”(Casey 2002: 248) Casey, James. 2002. Early Modern Spain: A Social History. New York: Routledge. https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/2SNTRSWT “This state of affairs, however, did not last long. Slowly, but surely, Alberoni gained the confidence of the new queen and, through her, that of the king. By the end of 1716, the abbot, soon to be cardinal, had succeeded in replacing Giudice as the leading figure of a new government.”(Eissa-Barroso 2017: 114) Eissa-Barroso, Francisco A. 2017. The Spanish Monarchy and the Creation of the Viceroyalty of New Granada (1717–1739). Leiden: Brill. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/XNET89MW “Clearly, the church was on the defensive during the Bourbon eighteenth century, but the extent of its decline should not be exaggerated. Efforts to reduce the sheer number of clergy got nowhere, so that in 1788 Spain had 68,000 monks, 33,000 nuns, and 88,000 secular clergy, or a total of about 200,000 ecclesiastics in a population of 10,000,000, representing a percent¬ age two or three times of that in France, for example.”(Bergamini 1974: 92) Bergamini, John D. 1974. The Spanish Bourbons: The History of a Tenacious Dynasty. New York: G. P Putnam’s Sons. https://archive.org/details/spanishbourbons00john. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/5A2HNKTF

: 1. King
:: 2. Officers
::: 3. Knights
:::: 4. Foot soldiers

“As the agent of divine will and natural law, the king’s primary functions remained as they had been in the Middle Ages: to provide justice and to lead the country in war. As warlord, he enjoyed broad, and largely unquestioned, discretionary powers.”(Maltby 2009: 88) Maltby, William S. 2009. The Rise and Fall of the Spanish Empire. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/SUSVXWVH “The knights and foot-soldiers who comprised the bulk of the crusading armies were rewarded with variable amounts of land, based on the ‘ox-gang’ (yugada), which was the field that a pair of oxen could plough in a day and which ranged in size from 3 to 22 hectares, according to the lie of the terrain and the depth of the soil.”(Casey 2002: 87) Casey, James. 2002. Early Modern Spain: A Social History. New York: Routledge. https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/2SNTRSWT

There will undoubtedly be more military levels but at present they have not been found in the sources consulted.

_In Spain_
: 1. King
:: 2. Veedor General
::: 3. Secretaries of State
:::: 4. Captain-Generals
::::: 5. Intendants (province governors)
:::::: 6. Sub-delegates
::::::: 7. Administrators

“Philip V, who was now keenly aware of the problems he faced, put Orry in charge of military finance. The king knew, however, that Spaniards would resent the domination of foreign counselors as they had done in the time of Charles V and was in any case inclined to vacillate in matters that did not involve foreign affairs. Court intrigues caused Orry to be dismissed in 1706. When he returned in 1713 he packed the councils with new appointments to dilute their opposition to his ideas. Four new secretaries of state assumed responsibility for many conciliar functions. The king then appointed intendants to govern the 21 provinces. Secretaries and intendants alike reported to Orry who, in his capacity as veedor general became the equivalent of prime minister. These reforms extended to the kingdoms of Aragon and Valencia whose fueros had been abolished when they were re-conquered in 1707. The viceroys of these kingdoms were replaced by captains-general who presided over the audiencias of Saragossa, Valencia, Barcelona, and Palma de Mallorca. The Cortes of Aragon and the Corts of Valencia had also been abolished in 1709; the Corts of Catalonia followed in 1724.”(Maltby 2009: 173) Maltby, William S. 2009. The Rise and Fall of the Spanish Empire. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/SUSVXWVH

_In Overseas Territories_
: 1. King
:: 2. Viceroys
::: 3. Captain-Generals
:::: 4. Intendants (governors)
::::: 5. Sub-delegates
:::::: 6. Administrators

“Defense inspired some of the reforms recommended by Gálvez, but most sought to increase the crown’s revenue and its administrative control over the colonies. Cuba became a captaincy-general in 1764, immediately after its restoration by the British. What is now Colombia had long been governed by the viceroy of far-distant Peru; Venezuela by the equally inaccessible Viceroy of Santo Domingo. Philip V created the viceregal Kingdom of New Granada with its capital at Bogotá in 1719, dissolved it in 1723, and restored it in 1739, primarily in response to Vernon’s attack on Cartagena but also because the viceroyalty of Santo Domingo had been unwilling or unable to control the coast of Venezuela. Caracas and Cumaná had experienced rapid growth in the first half of the century. Their commerce, however, was still dominated by Dutch traders operating out of Aruba and Curaçao. The new vicreroyalty was not at first a success. Its capital, remote, conservative Santa Fe de Bogotá, was far away in time and spirit from bustling Venezuela. In 1777, on the recommendation of Gálvez, Caracas became a captaincy-general within the viceregal jurisdiction of New Granada. When the new arrangement failed to create effective government or even to pay for itself, the crown dispatched a visita to install the intendant system and reform finance.”(Maltby 2009: 84-85) Maltby, William S. 2009. The Rise and Fall of the Spanish Empire. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/SUSVXWVH “The government’s response to the revolt combined utter ruthlessness with a willingness to address rebel grievances. By 1784 it had abolished the repartimiento and introduced the intendant system to Peru. Sub-delegates, who reported to the intendants, replaced the corrupt and often uncontrollable corregidores and alcaldes mayores. Cuzco, which had been the center of the revolt, received an audiencia of its own in response to Indian demands. Unfortunately, the sub-delegates could no more survive on their meager salaries than had their predecessors, and a variant of the repartimiento de bienes soon revived. In general, the intendant system, which was introduced to New Spain in 1786 as well, achieved its greatest success in urbanized areas where enhanced supervision produced improvements in infrastructure, public services, and—perhaps—official probity.”(Maltby 2009: 86-87) Maltby, William S. 2009. The Rise and Fall of the Spanish Empire. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/SUSVXWVH

“The creation of a new army and navy was an impressive achievement. During the centuries of world predominance the nation, like others in Europe, had no permanent military forces and recruited armies only when required. Now, for the first time in its history, it began to maintain a powerful standing army. The new Bourbon army, recruited with great difficulty because of the objections everywhere (especially in the Crown of Aragon) to military service, inevitably involved important administrative and fiscal reforms. We have seen that the poor condition of the Spanish forces in the War of Succession made it necessary at every stage to have the support of foreign troops and foreign generals. Philip had decreed a few limited reforms during the war, mainly in order to obtain recruits. But the problem of securing a good standing army remained unresolved. Fortunately, many of the foreign soldiers and officers who had served in the war continued their career under the Spanish crown. As a result, in the 1720s up to one third of the infantry of Spain consisted of foreigners who chose to continue the old tradition of serving the Spanish crown. In 1734 there were thirty thousand foreigners in service, mainly Belgians, followed in number by Swiss and then by Irish. In effect, the astonishing number of Belgians serving in the Spanish army meant that the famous Army of Flanders had reconstituted itself in the peninsula. The annual cost of the army in 1725 was nearly five and a half million escudos, a massive sum that had no precedent in the history of the Spanish treasury.”(Kamen 2003: 451) Kamen, Henry. 2003. Empire: How Spain Became a World Power, 1492-1763. New York: Harper Collins. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/YRK2VXUS “American defense had long been entrusted to the navy and to colonial militias commanded for the most part by Creole officers. The new orders increased the size of the militias but also created a standing army of full-time soldiers officered by professionals from Spain. New Spain eventually supported more than 6000 of these troops. A further 2000 were stationed in Peru while smaller garrisons protected the chokepoints of the American trade: Havana, San Juan, Cartagena, Portobello, and Vera Cruz. The new force proved to be both expensive and relatively ineffective. As was often the case with eighteenth-century armies, only the desperate were drawn to the low wages and harsh discipline offered by the king. Their peninsular commanders, rarely the cream of the Spanish officer corps, were resented by Creoles who wanted the commands for themselves. The expanded militias remained largely under local control, but often lacked training or decent weapons. Although colonial troops could display extraordinary courage and proved effective in suppressing colonial rebellions, they would remain vulnerable to better-trained, better-equipped forces from Europe in the event of a major crisis.”(Maltby 2009: 84) Maltby, William S. 2009. The Rise and Fall of the Spanish Empire. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/SUSVXWVH

The Catholic Church had a full-time priesthood in Spain and its territories.

To the high honors associated with the military profession, were joined three other characteristics which help to explain the predominance that military officers acquired in governmental positions during the reigns of Philip V. The first one was that military officers, perhaps more than any other class, owed all their promotions and rewards to the king alone. With the reduction of the Council of War to the role of a military appeal court and the exclusion of viceroys and captains-general from appointing or recommending individuals for promotions above the rank of sargento, the position of military officers was made increasingly dependent upon direct decisions from the king, a situation which was accentuated for members of the royal guards.”(Eissa-Barroso 2017: 109) Eissa-Barroso, Francisco A. 2017. The Spanish Monarchy and the Creation of the Viceroyalty of New Granada (1717–1739). Leiden: Brill. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/XNET89MW “The creation of a new army and navy was an impressive achievement. During the centuries of world predominance the nation, like others in Europe, had no permanent military forces and recruited armies only when required. Now, for the first time in its history, it began to maintain a powerful standing army. The new Bourbon army, recruited with great difficulty because of the objections everywhere (especially in the Crown of Aragon) to military service, inevitably involved important administrative and fiscal reforms. We have seen that the poor condition of the Spanish forces in the War of Succession made it necessary at every stage to have the support of foreign troops and foreign generals. Philip had decreed a few limited reforms during the war, mainly in order to obtain recruits. But the problem of securing a good standing army remained unresolved. Fortunately, many of the foreign soldiers and officers who had served in the war continued their career under the Spanish crown. As a result, in the 1720s up to one third of the infantry of Spain consisted of foreigners who chose to continue the old tradition of serving the Spanish crown. In 1734 there were thirty thousand foreigners in service, mainly Belgians, followed in number by Swiss and then by Irish. In effect, the astonishing number of Belgians serving in the Spanish army meant that the famous Army of Flanders had reconstituted itself in the peninsula. The annual cost of the army in 1725 was nearly five and a half million escudos, a massive sum that had no precedent in the history of the Spanish treasury.”(Kamen 2003: 451) Kamen, Henry. 2003. Empire: How Spain Became a World Power, 1492-1763. New York: Harper Collins. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/YRK2VXUS

“Finally, the crown seems to have actively sought to provide tangible and enticing rewards to those provincial governors who served faithfully in Spanish America, either by promoting them to more important and reputed posts within the Indies, or by granting them distinctions and appointments in Spain. Upon his return to the Peninsula in 1731, Antonio Manso Maldonado, was appointed interim, and then proprietary, governor of Ceuta; he received a promotion to the rank of teniente general of the Spanish armies in 1734 and was finally appointed captain-general of Guipuzcoa in 1739.”(Eissa-Barroso 2017: 214) Eissa-Barroso, Francisco A. 2017. The Spanish Monarchy and the Creation of the Viceroyalty of New Granada (1717–1739). Leiden: Brill. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/XNET89MW

“Moreover, between 1800 and 1802, a set of new regulations placed the marine registry and the bureaucrats who ran it under centralized military control, replacing local civilian administrators.”(Philips and Philips 2010: 200) Philips, William D. and Carla Rahn Philips. 2010. A Concise History of Spain. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/ZT84ZFTP “Working from zero, and with the help of a new bureaucracy organized on the French pattern, Philip V’s government achieved a spectacular rise in tax income, derived almost entirely from national rather than overseas sources.”(Kamen 2003: 448) Kamen, Henry. 2003. Empire: How Spain Became a World Power, 1492-1763. New York: Harper Collins. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/YRK2VXUS

“In 1771, for example, the former Jesuit Colegio Imperial de Madrid became the Reales Estudios de San Isidro, with a new curriculum stressing experimental physics, logic, and the law of nature and nations, all to be taught “according to the lights given by modern authorities and without scholastic disputes.” The king decreed that study of natural law was to be a prerequisite for a law career…”(Bergamini 1974: 92) Bergamini, John D. 1974. The Spanish Bourbons: The History of a Tenacious Dynasty. New York: G. P Putnam’s Sons. https://archive.org/details/spanishbourbons00john. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/5A2HNKTF “The Conspiracy of San Bias uncovered just before that saint’s day in February, 1795, was an exception: a schoolmaster, a lawyer, and a doctor were involved in a pathetically private effort to collect arms and print propaganda in favor of a Spanish republic. Nonetheless, such conspiracies on top of the military defeats decided Godoy to make peace.”(Bergamini 1974: 120) Bergamini, John D. 1974. The Spanish Bourbons: The History of a Tenacious Dynasty. New York: G. P Putnam’s Sons. https://archive.org/details/spanishbourbons00john. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/5A2HNKTF

“Also in 1717, the crown established the Real Factoría de Indias, an institution controlled by the intendente general of the navy on behalf of the king… The Factoría would also generate sufficient funds for paying the return voyages of its own ships without having to wait endlessly in the Indies, to pay the salaries of the judges of the Casa de Contratación and to constitute a source of loans for the crown in emergencies.”(Eissa-Barroso 2017: 136-137) Eissa-Barroso, Francisco A. 2017. The Spanish Monarchy and the Creation of the Viceroyalty of New Granada (1717–1739). Leiden: Brill. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/XNET89MW

In practice, the law of 1592, as amended in 1594, seems to have been a dead letter for much of the seventeenth century, during which the only curtailment of social mobility may have been the decline of wealth within Spanish society. In any case, a fresh attempt was made to stabilise the social hierarchy with the advent of the new Bourbon dynasty in 1703.”(Casey 2002: 143) Casey, James. 2002. Early Modern Spain: A Social History. New York: Routledge. https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/2SNTRSWT “Moreover, the new viceroy was to ‘rule and govern’ his viceroyalty ‘in the same manner in which those [viceroys] of Peru and New Spain do, with the same powers granted to them by the Laws, Cédulas and Royal Decrees, and enjoying the same prerogatives and exemptions styled, practiced and observed in both kingdoms’. Thus, the real cédula explicitly acknowledged that the newly created office of viceroy of the New Kingdom of Granada was to operate within the same legal framework as the other Spanish viceroys in the Americas, participating in the same ceremonies and replicating the same government dynamics developed over nearly 200 years of viceregal rule.”(Eissa-Barroso 2017: 23) Eissa-Barroso, Francisco A. 2017. The Spanish Monarchy and the Creation of the Viceroyalty of New Granada (1717–1739). Leiden: Brill. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/XNET89MW

“What gave order to Granada, thought its chronicler Bermúdez de Pedraza (1638), was ultimately the network of markets—the plazas or squares, ‘the stomach of this commonwealth, from which food is distributed throughout its members’. It was an important task of the corregidor, affirmed Castillo de Bobadilla, to regulate these activities—to separate out ‘the things which give off an evil odour, from which the air usually grows foul and plague ensues’. So, butchers’ shops, tanneries, oil presses, ponds for retting flax, stables, ‘even ovens for baking bricks’, must all be kept to the edge of town. Even respectable trades, like tailors, shoemakers and blacksmiths, ‘who as well as cluttering up the street, foul it with their rags and waste’, should not be allowed to set up their stalls at street corners.”(Casey 2002: 114) Casey, James. 2002. Early Modern Spain: A Social History. New York: Routledge. https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/2SNTRSWT “As Joseph entered the second year of his reign in the summer of 1809, he was in a position to initiate an extensive program of reforms… He brought progress in city planning, notably the building of covered sewers, and organized market areas.”(Bergamini 1974: 143-144) Bergamini, John D. 1974. The Spanish Bourbons: The History of a Tenacious Dynasty. New York: G. P Putnam’s Sons. https://archive.org/details/spanishbourbons00john. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/5A2HNKTF

“In order to increase peasant landownership, the government attacked the Mesta and large landowners, and reforestation plans and irrigation schemes inevitably overruled traditional uses of Spain’s natural resources at the local level.”(Philips and Philips 2010: 190) Philips, William D. and Carla Rahn Philips. 2010. A Concise History of Spain. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/ZT84ZFTP

“Throughout Spain there was a long tradition of peasant self-government. Benlloch described in 1756 the town hall of Llombai (209 families), with its ground floor a storehouse for the grain needed for sowing or alms to the poor, its upstairs a council chamber where the records were carefully locked away in two cupboards.”(Casey 2002: 101) Casey, James. 2002. Early Modern Spain: A Social History. New York: Routledge. https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/2SNTRSWT

“Alberoni’s factory for woolens at Guadalajara was intended to end a shameful dependence on England for cloth, and a considerable cotton industry was stimulated by the prohibition of the import of foreign calicoes in 1718. Not since Fernando and Isabel was so much money and effort spent on creating a network of prime arteries, in this period a star of wagon roads from Madrid to key ports matching the governmental centralization in the capital.”(Bergamini 1974: 75) Bergamini, John D. 1974. The Spanish Bourbons: The History of a Tenacious Dynasty. New York: G. P Putnam’s Sons. https://archive.org/details/spanishbourbons00john. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/5A2HNKTF

“By 1717, Patiño’s navy was spending more than 4 million escudos per year. Ships and dockyards had been built, and more ships were leased from other powers to mount a massive and successful invasion of Sardinia.”(Maltby 2009: 173) Maltby, William S. 2009. The Rise and Fall of the Spanish Empire. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/SUSVXWVH “Building on the policies of Philip V, his successors gradually relaxed trade restrictions until by 1789 every port within the empire had the right to trade with any of the others. The flota system had been abandoned by 1740, but within the empire, Bourbon policy remained decidedly protectionist.”(Maltby 2009: 82) Maltby, William S. 2009. The Rise and Fall of the Spanish Empire. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/SUSVXWVH

"Putting the new economic doctrines into practice, Carlos III and Aranda ordered dramatic new public works such as the Canal of Aragon, they inaugurated regular stagecoach service to the major cities, and they established a royal school of agriculture at Aranjuez. Through their efforts, Spain had its first census in 1786, before even Britain.(Bergamini 1974: 93) Bergamini, John D. 1974. The Spanish Bourbons: The History of a Tenacious Dynasty. New York: G. P Putnam’s Sons. https://archive.org/details/spanishbourbons00john. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/5A2HNKTF

“Yet, as this achievement became a reality, the definition of the ‘godly commonwealth’ itself was beginning to change, as more emphasis was put on good citizenship rather than on storming the heavens with prayer. ‘Building bridges, making roads’ is a ‘pious work’ as good as any other, commented Ponz at the end of the Old Regime, as he gave reference after reference to bishops setting up workshops, distributing spindles, wool and flax to the poor. He cited with approval the letter of the archbishop of Toledo to the priests of his diocese in 1779, urging them to take an interest in the material welfare of their parishioners.”(Casey 2002: 248) Casey, James. 2002. Early Modern Spain: A Social History. New York: Routledge. https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/2SNTRSWT

Silver and gold mines in the Americas. “The mines of New Spain were now increasing their production of silver, thanks to receipts of Spanish mercury from Almaden. Production figures of five million pesos a year at the opening of the century doubled by the 1720s, and remained at that level during the reign of Philip V.”(Kamen 2003: 448) Kamen, Henry. 2003. Empire: How Spain Became a World Power, 1492-1763. New York: Harper Collins. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/YRK2VXUS “From 1700, bullion that came to Cadiz from the Spanish colonies (including gold from the increased production in New Granada) was supplemented by substantial quantities of gold that came to Lisbon from Brazil. Spain continued to be the centre of an international market, but its role in respect of colonial wealth had changed radically: it now became a centre for the re-export of precious metals. From 1640 to 1763, almost all the bullion reaching the peninsula was re-exported to other European countries and to Asia.”(Kamen 2003: 449) Kamen, Henry. 2003. Empire: How Spain Became a World Power, 1492-1763. New York: Harper Collins. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/YRK2VXUS “The royalists of Upper Peru defeated an army sent against them in 1811, thereby retaining control of the silver mines.”(Maltby 2009: 100) Maltby, William S. 2009. The Rise and Fall of the Spanish Empire. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/SUSVXWVH

Writing was widespread. Royal and government documents, literature, letter writing, books, newspapers, periodicals etc. “The English traveller Joseph Townsend found the professional letter-writer busy at his trade in the 1780s: ‘When the market square is not taken over by the preachers, the scribes take up their positions with their tables, near which they sit with ink, quill and paper to draw up and read out letters of all kinds.’”(Casey 2002: 194) Casey, James. 2002. Early Modern Spain: A Social History. New York: Routledge. https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/2SNTRSWT “A critical periodical press made its appearance in this era. The weekly El Pensador in the 1760’s was typical of the nev/ Journalism, which attacked the foibles of the nobility and the ignorance of the clergy. In the 1780’s the government’s own Imprenta Real published a Correo Literario de Europa to keep the reading public abreast of the latest developments in science and letters. Despite frequent cases of censorship, on balance the government gave its approval to a huge volume of publications, including many key works of the foreign Enlightenment.”(Bergamini 1974: 93) Bergamini, John D. 1974. The Spanish Bourbons: The History of a Tenacious Dynasty. New York: G. P Putnam’s Sons. https://archive.org/details/spanishbourbons00john. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/5A2HNKTF

Spanish is a phonetic language.

Science; mathematics; economics. “Charles III, who has been described (perhaps unwisely) as an “enlightened despot” on the model of Frederick the Great and Joseph II, also supported the formation of local societies known as Los Amigos del País to discuss schemes for improving their regional economies. By the end of the reign there were 54 of them in the peninsula, although no more than half ever became truly active. In some regions the societies’ commitment to change aroused the opposition of the church and of local elites who saw nothing wrong with the status quo. Periodicals sanctioned by the crown to further scientific and economic interests rarely found more than a few hundred subscribers.”(Maltby 2009: 179-180) Maltby, William S. 2009. The Rise and Fall of the Spanish Empire. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/SUSVXWVH “Court culture included an affinity for the mathematical and scientific interests of the Jesuits as well as the early stirrings of the Spanish Enlightenment, most notably in the writings of the Benedictine monk Benito Feyjóo. Lamenting that Spain had fallen behind its European neighbors in intellectual pursuits, Feyjóo argued tirelessly for a new spirit of inquiry, particularly in the sciences. Although his writings met with strong criticism from traditionalists, Feyjóo enjoyed the steadfast support of the king.”(Philips and Philips 2010: 185) Philips, William D. and Carla Rahn Philips. 2010. A Concise History of Spain. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/ZT84ZFTP

The Roman Catholic Bible.

“The emphasis of the church on the individual and its concerns about the exclusive loyalties associated with the kin group find an echo in Spanish literature. Echoing Saint Augustine, the sixteenth-century Dominican theologian Pedro de Ledesma justified the church’s basic reluctance to see cousins marry each other: ‘The reason is in order for amity to be extended and propagated to more people’— to foster social harmony and avoid the old perils of the kin feud. ‘The intrinsic aim of marriage,’ wrote the Franciscan moralist Antonio Arbiol in his treatise of 1715, ‘is the conjoining of souls.’ Echoing other theologians, he stressed the sacred nature of the union between a man and a woman, an unbreakable bond whose prime purpose was to strengthen each on the path to eternal life. ‘No one after God must a woman love or esteem more than her husband, nor a husband more than his wife.’”ref>(Casey 2002: 504) Casey, James. 2002. Early Modern Spain: A Social History. New York: Routledge. https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/2SNTRSWT

“Agriculture is an art, wrote Jovellanos in 1795, and like other arts ‘draws its principles from science’. Early modern Spain produced a number of distinguished writers, whose work is at once a reflection of the scientific orientation of their society and of the practical challenges facing the farmer.”(Casey 2002: 45) Casey, James. 2002. Early Modern Spain: A Social History. New York: Routledge. https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/2SNTRSWT “Inculcating self-discipline was of increasing concern to writers during the early modern period, and those who discussed the well-ordered commonwealth found it useful to devote at least some of their attention to the family. Some of the leading Spanish humanists—Luis Vives, Fray Luis de León—devoted entire books to aspects of the topic. But in their case, as in others of the Renaissance period, advice on family matters tended to be addressed directly to women, whereas for men it figured usually as one part of a wider treatise on good citizenship. Alternatively, as in the case of the famous Cordoban Jesuit Tomás Sánchez, whose ‘Ten Books of Controversy on the Holy Sacrament of Matrimony’ (1592) became a cornerstone of marriage law throughout Catholic Europe, the clergy wrote in Latin for confessors. Admittedly, things were changing in this respect, and the Jesuits—like Sánchez’s contemporary Gaspar Astete—played a key role in Spain as elsewhere in bringing the family forward as a topic of discussion in books and preaching. By the eighteenth century—certainly rather later, one may feel, than in Protestant Europe—the household was seen as a major source of moral formation of the individual, and the Jesuit Matías Sánchez’s treatise of 1740 could now carry the significant title: ‘The Father of a Family Briefly Instructed in his Many Obligations’.”(Casey 2002: 192) Casey, James. 2002. Early Modern Spain: A Social History. New York: Routledge. https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/2SNTRSWT

“Educated Spaniards first learned of the Enlightenment from Benito Gerónimo Feijóo, a Benedictine monk and professor of theology. His Teatro critico universal (9 vols., 1726–1739 and Cartas eruditas (5 vols., 1739–1759, republished in 15 editions by 1786), contained essays on a wide variety of subjects and embodied the spirit of critical rationalism without rejecting religious beliefs. Feijóo’s emphasis on science and its practical applications appealed to the leaders of eighteenth-century Spain, who hoped to encourage material progress without offending the country’s innate conservatism.”(Maltby 2009: 179) Maltby, William S. 2009. The Rise and Fall of the Spanish Empire. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/SUSVXWVH “The count of Floridablanca, the king’s chief minister and a leading supporter of the Enlightenment under Charles III, tried to prevent news of the revolution, and revolutionary literature in general, from reaching the Spanish public. The presence of banned books in libraries as far away as Peru indicates that he failed, but with the exception of a handful of sophisticates, most Spaniards remained indifferent to enlightened ideas and were horrified by events in France.”(Maltby 2009: 190) Maltby, William S. 2009. The Rise and Fall of the Spanish Empire. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/SUSVXWVH

Census; encyclopaedias. “Military and fiscal reorganisation under the Bourbons in the eighteenth century created new sources for the demographic historian. Taxes on income led to inventories of the manpower of the Crown of Aragon, listing in some cases individuals and not just households. This was the model which the marquis of Ensenada tried to follow in Castile between 1750 and 1754, listing persons and ages in one of the most complete censuses for any pre-industrial population (though the proposed income tax could not be implemented). The famous Enlightened minister, the count of Aranda, was responsible in 1768 for the first survey of Castile and his native Crown of Aragon together. But the first modern census of Spain as a whole is reckoned to be that of his successor, the count of Floridablanca, in 1787.”(Casey 2002: 20) Casey, James. 2002. Early Modern Spain: A Social History. New York: Routledge. https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/2SNTRSWT “Putting the new economic doctrines into practice, Carlos III and Aranda ordered dramatic new public works such as the Canal of Aragon, they inaugurated regular stagecoach service to the major cities, and they established a royal school of agriculture at Aranjuez. Through their efforts, Spain had its first census in 1786, before even Britain.”(Bergamini 1974: 93) Bergamini, John D. 1974. The Spanish Bourbons: The History of a Tenacious Dynasty. New York: G. P Putnam’s Sons. https://archive.org/details/spanishbourbons00john. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/5A2HNKTF “The great Encyclopedie, which had its troubles in France, was banned in 1759; but copies of it were available in Madrid, and lesser scientific encyclopedias were widely circulated.”(Bergamini 1974: 93) Bergamini, John D. 1974. The Spanish Bourbons: The History of a Tenacious Dynasty. New York: G. P Putnam’s Sons. https://archive.org/details/spanishbourbons00john. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/5A2HNKTF

“Feyjoo’s skeptical spirit was a tonic for the newly founded Royal Academy of History of 1738, which set about to index the sources of Spain’s past and to eliminate the fables. This was just one of numerous learned societies and educational institutions that came into being under Felipe V, such as the National Library, the Academy of Languages, and the Academy of Medicine and Surgery.”(Bergamini 1974: 75) Bergamini, John D. 1974. The Spanish Bourbons: The History of a Tenacious Dynasty. New York: G. P Putnam’s Sons. https://archive.org/details/spanishbourbons00john. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/5A2HNKTF

Ballets; plays; operas. “Because both the king and queen had a passion for music, orchestral and vocal performances and multi-media spectacles occupied an important place in court entertainments. Domenico Scarlatti, the son of Alessandro Scarlatti, had served as the queen’s music tutor in Portugal and came to the Spanish court with his royal patroness. He spent the rest of his life serving the royal couple and composing hundreds of compositions for them. The queen also patronized Father Antonio Soler, a notable Spanish composer who studied with Scarlatti. To organize the elaborate spectacles and outings that defined the life at court, the royal couple hired Carlo Broschi, the famous castrato singer better known as Farinelli. As the court traveled from palace to palace on a regular annual round, taking advantage of the seasonal attractions in each venue, Farinelli made sure that they had sufficient amusements to distract them from the tedium of daily life and political responsibilities.”(Philips and Philips 2010: 181-182) Philips, William D. and Carla Rahn Philips. 2010. A Concise History of Spain. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/ZT84ZFTP

Spain had adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1582.(Kamen 1998: 248) Kamen, Henry. 1998. Philip of Spain. New Haven: Yale University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/Z2SSCBKS

Gold; silver; copper. “The link between religion and economic or social forms struck Joseph Townsend, a Wiltshire rector and sharpeyed, though fair-minded, observer of Spain in the course of his perambulations through the country in 1786–7. The excessive ornamentation of the churches in Barcelona, he thought, was due to the gold and silver of the Indies, which ‘came upon them by surprise, and found them unprepared to make a proper use of the abundant treasure’.”(Casey 2002: 2) Casey, James. 2002. Early Modern Spain: A Social History. New York: Routledge. https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/2SNTRSWT “The passing of the imperial age is surely symbolised by the transition from the peso—the ‘piece of eight’ (that is, eight reals, or ten after 1728) —to the little peseta of two reals, a silver coin which could pay a labourer’s wages for half a day. That is, silver no longer flowed abroad so much in payments to bankers and soldiers but could be used at home; so vellón could be partly phased out, and from 1680 its face value was reduced by three-quarters. This stabilisation of the currency no doubt fostered the revival of the Spanish economy in the eighteenth century, contributing to a spread of the internal market. Silver coins themselves, of course, were notoriously vulnerable to hoarding and theft, and the growth of the economy also depended on some extension of credit facilities.”(Casey 2002: 70) Casey, James. 2002. Early Modern Spain: A Social History. New York: Routledge. https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/2SNTRSWT “A ban on imported iron and copperware in 1775 greatly strengthened the Basque metalworking industry, which soon found markets in Europe as well as in Spain and its colonies, and Basque shipbuilding revived as well.”(Maltby 2009: 83) Maltby, William S. 2009. The Rise and Fall of the Spanish Empire. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/SUSVXWVH

“The strongbox of the new bank was kept in the sacristy of the cathedral, and when in 1628 the clergy protested against keeping it so close to the relics of the saints it was shifted just a short distance away to a special chamber upstairs. Neither it nor its equivalent of the same name in Barcelona were supposed to do anything with the treasure other than keep it under lock and key, issuing the depositor with an albarà—a certificate of his holding. In time the albarans began to circulate as a kind of currency, transferring deposits from one citizen to another to whom he owed money. But this nascent paper currency was largely aborted in the seventeenth century, as the Taula began to spend more money than it had in reserve. The successive bankruptcies of 1614, 1634 and 1649 in Valencia led to the conversion of the promissory notes (the albarans) into non-redeemable bonds on the municipal treasury.”(Casey 2002: 70) Casey, James. 2002. Early Modern Spain: A Social History. New York: Routledge. https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/2SNTRSWT

“The passing of the imperial age is surely symbolised by the transition from the peso—the ‘piece of eight’ (that is, eight reals, or ten after 1728) —to the little peseta of two reals, a silver coin which could pay a labourer’s wages for half a day. That is, silver no longer flowed abroad so much in payments to bankers and soldiers but could be used at home; so vellón could be partly phased out, and from 1680 its face value was reduced by three-quarters. This stabilisation of the currency no doubt fostered the revival of the Spanish economy in the eighteenth century, contributing to a spread of the internal market. Silver coins themselves, of course, were notoriously vulnerable to hoarding and theft, and the growth of the economy also depended on some extension of credit facilities.”(Casey 2002: 70) Casey, James. 2002. Early Modern Spain: A Social History. New York: Routledge. https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/2SNTRSWT

A postal service had been established in the previous period: A regular postal service was set up between Valencia and Madrid in the early sixteenth century, with riders guaranteeing to cover a minimum of ten leagues a day, and, if they were paid extra, up to twenty leagues (112 kilometres), which seems to have been regarded as a kind of physical limit. By the early seventeenth century the ordinary mail left Madrid on Sunday and arranged to get to Valencia by Wednesday. The king’s business could be dispatched a little faster.”(Casey 2002: 14) Casey, James. 2002. Early Modern Spain: A Social History. New York: Routledge. https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/2SNTRSWT

A postal service had been established in the previous period: A regular postal service was set up between Valencia and Madrid in the early sixteenth century, with riders guaranteeing to cover a minimum of ten leagues a day, and, if they were paid extra, up to twenty leagues (112 kilometres), which seems to have been regarded as a kind of physical limit. By the early seventeenth century the ordinary mail left Madrid on Sunday and arranged to get to Valencia by Wednesday. The king’s business could be dispatched a little faster.”(Casey 2002: 14) Casey, James. 2002. Early Modern Spain: A Social History. New York: Routledge. https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/2SNTRSWT

“ In time Ursins heard stories of the princess’ willfulness, but her courier was unable to halt the marriage by proxy of Felipe V and Elizabeth Farnese in the Cathedral of Parma on September 16, 1714. Henceforth she would be known as Isabel Farnese.”(Bergamini 1974: 50) Bergamini, John D. 1974. The Spanish Bourbons: The History of a Tenacious Dynasty. New York: G. P Putnam’s Sons. https://archive.org/details/spanishbourbons00john. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/5A2HNKTF