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Fiscal state, regional institutions and foreign migratory policy in times of decline: French immigrants in Aragon, 1635–1697

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 November 2013

JOSÉ ANTONIO MATEOS ROYO
JOSÉ ANTONIO MATEOS ROYO*
Affiliation:
University of Zaragoza.
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Abstract

This study examines the policies applied to French immigrants in Aragon between 1635 and 1697, a period of economic decline and constant conflict between Spain and France. The commercial and tax measures imposed by the Spanish monarchy on French immigrants to support the war effort were opposed and constrained by Aragonese institutions, such as the Diputación or the Corte del Justicia de Aragón. After a period of debate the Aragonese Parliament developed an autonomous policy towards the end of the seventeenth century. In the interests of the Aragonese economy and elites, restrictions on migrants were lowered and revised, until they focused mainly on merchants. This legislation allowed immigrant flows to continue, but it could not counteract the decline of economic opportunities for the French in Aragon.

Fiscalité d'etat, institutions régionales et politique à l'égard des migrants étrangers en temps de déclin: les immigrants français en aragon, 1635–1697

Dans cet article sont examinées les politiques appliquées aux immigrants français en Aragon entre 1635 et 1697, période marquée par une crise économique et de constants conflits entre l'Espagne et la France. La monarchie espagnole imposait des mesures commerciales et fiscales aux immigrants français afin de soutenir l'effort de guerre. Mais les institutions aragonaises, telle la Diputación ou bien la Corte del Justicia de Aragón s'opposaient et résistaient à cette politique. A la fin du XVIIe siècle et après une période de débats, le Parlement aragonais développa une politique autonome. Dans l'intérêt de l'économie et des élites aragonaises, les restrictions concernant les migrants furent levées et révisées, jusqu'à ce que la question touche principalement les marchands. Ainsi cette législation régionale a-t-elle permis au flux d'immigrants de se maintenir, mais il n'était pas possible de contrer le déclin des opportunités économiques pour les Français d'Aragon.

Steuerstaat, regionale institutionen und einwanderungspolitik in zeiten des niedergangs: französische einwanderer in aragon, 1635–1697

Dieser Beitrag untersucht die Politik gegenüber französischen Einwanderern in Aragon zwischen 1635 und 1697, einer Periode des ökonomischen Niedergangs und andauernder Konflike zwischen Spanien and Frankreich. Die Handels- und Steuermaßnahmen, die von der spanischen Monarchie im Hinblick auf französische Einwanderer ergriffen worden waren und zur Unterstützung ihrer Kriegsanstrengungen dienten, wurden von den aragonesischen Institutionen wie z.B. der Diputación oder dem Corte del Justicia de Aragón abgelehnt oder zumindest nur teilweise umgesetzt. Nachdem eine Zeit lang darüber debattiert worden war, entwickelte das aragonesische Parlament gegen Ende des 17. Jahrhunderts eine eigenständige Politik, die im Interesse der eigenen Wirtschaft und der Eliten die Einschränkungen für Einwanderer lockerte und revidierte, so dass sie schließlich nur noch Kaufleute betrafen. Diese Gesetzgebung führte dazu, dass der Strom der Einwanderung weiterhin anhielt, konnte jedoch nicht verhindern, dass sich die ökonomischen Entfaltungsmöglichkeiten für Franzosen in Aragon verschlechterten.

Type
Research Article
Information
Continuity and Change , Volume 28 , Issue 3 , December 2013 , pp. 347 - 375
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

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References

ENDNOTES

1 J. Dupaquier, ‘Macro-migrations en Europe (seizième–dixhuitième siécles)’, in S. Cavaciocchi ed., Le migrazioni in Europa, secc. XIII–XVIII (Firenze, 1994), 65–90; L. Page, Moving Europeans: migrations in Western Europe since 1650 (Bloomington, 1992).

2 E. François ed., Inmigration et societé urbaine en Europe occidentale (seizième–vingtième siécles) (Paris, 1985); D. Menjot and J. L. Pinol eds., Les immigrants et la ville. Insertion, integration, discrimination (douzième–vingtième siécles) (Paris, 1996); P. González-Bernaldo, M. Martini and M. L. Pelus-Kaplans eds., Etrangers et societés. Représentations, coexistences, interactions dans la longue durée (Rennes, 2008).

3 Ibid.

4 T. Herzog, Defining nations: immigrants and citizens in early modern Spain and Spanish America (New Haven, 2003); B. Munck and A. Winter eds., Gated communities? Regulating migration in early modern cities (London, 2012).

5 R. Bonney ed., The rise of the fiscal state in Europe, c.1200–1815 (Oxford, 1999); J. Glete, War and the state in early modern Europe (London, 2002); R. Torres ed., War, state and development. Fiscal-military states in the eighteenth century (Pamplona, 2007).

6 G. E. Aylmer, ‘Centre and locality: the nature of power elites’, in W. Reinhard ed., Power elites and state building (New York, 1996), 59–77.

7 The Crown of Aragon also had territories in Naples, Sicily and Sardinia, which were under the supervision of the Council of Italy.

8 See, for example, the conference proceedings Les Français en Espagne á l'époque moderne (Paris, 1990).

9 J. A Salas, ‘La evolución demográfica aragonesa en los siglos XVI y XVII’, in J. Nadal ed., La evolución demográfica bajo los Austrias (Alicante, 1991), 169–79.

10 D. J. Dormer, Discursos histórico-políticos (Saragossa, 1989, facsimile of the original printed in 1684), 129–33 and Library of the Spanish Royal Academy of History, Nasarre Collection, MS 11-1-1, fos. 547r–562v. Historians and demographers estimate between four and five inhabitants on average for each taxpaying household in the counts prepared for fiscal purposes in medieval and early modern Spain. In this study, we have estimated 4.5 inhabitants per hearth to calculate the stable population living in Aragon during this period.

11 J.-P. Amalric, ‘Franceses en España: una presencia mediadora en el Antiguo Régimen’, in M. B. Villar and P. Pezzi eds., Los extranjeros en la España moderna (Málaga, 2003), I, 23–37.

12 J. Nadal and E. Giralt, La population catalane de 1553 à 1717 (Paris, 1960), 79–87.

13 Salas, J. A., ‘La inmigración francesa en Aragón en la edad moderna’, Estudios 85 (1985–1986), 55–62Google Scholar; Archive of the Diputación, Saragossa (hereafter ADS), MS 457, fo. 310; J. García Mercadal, Viajes de extranjeros por España y Portugal (Madrid, 1959), vol. II, 881.

14 ADS, MS 576, fo. 426r; L. Perdices and J. M. Sánchez Molledo eds., Arbitrios sobre la economía aragonesa del siglo XVII (Saragossa, 2007), 476–7.

15 C. Langé, La inmigración francesa en Aragón (Siglo XVI y primera mitad del XVII) (Saragossa, 1993), 58–61, 69–73.

16 Nadal and Giralt, La population, 97–106. As they came from the same areas of origin, the ‘push’ factors affecting French immigrants to Catalonia and Aragon in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were identical.

17 E. Le Roy Ladurie and M. Morineau, ‘Paysannerie et croissance’, in F. Braudel and E. Labrousse eds., Histoire économique et sociale de la France (Paris, 1977), vol. 1, vol. 2, 929–40.

18 R. Bonney, ‘France, 1494–1915’, in Bonney, The rise, 123–75.

19 French travellers in Spain in the early modern period frequently refer to the idleness and pride of the people. See J. García Mercadal, Viajes, II, 539–40, 633–4, 738; III, 70–1, 140, 988.

20 Solano, E. and Sanz, P., ‘La contribución de Aragón en las empresas militares al servicio de los Austrias’, Studia Histórica. Historia Moderna 18 (1998), 237–64Google Scholar. The French immigrants themselves affirmed that the tax burden was more moderate in Aragon than in France in the early seventeenth century. See García Mercadal, Viajes, II, 84.

21 Municipal Archive of Saragossa, box 27.

22 Langé, La inmigración, 21–52.

23 See note 10.

24 Analysis of a survey carried out in 1637 of 5,315 male French immigrants living in Barcelona and along the coast of Catalonia reveals that 39.1 per cent were engaged in agriculture and animal husbandry, while a total of 61.4 per cent were occupied in unskilled work. A little over half (53.8 per cent) of these immigrants lived in towns. See Nadal and Giralt, La population, 133.

25 Langé, La inmigración, 123.

26 For example, 18.9 per cent of apprentices in the Saragossa textiles industry were of French extraction in the sixteenth century, hailing mainly from Gascony and Béarn. See P. Desportes, La industria textil en Zaragoza en el siglo XVI (Saragossa, 1999), 113.

27 Perdices and Sánchez Molledo, Arbitrios, 285.

28 A. Peiró, ‘Comercio de trigo y desindustrialización’, in the conference proceedings Las relaciones económicas entre Aragón y Cataluña (siglos XVIII al XX) (Huesca, 1990), 36–42.

29 J. A. Salas, La población en Barbastro en los siglos XVI y XVII (Saragossa, 1981), 245–7; Langé, La inmigración, 123.

30 Perdices and Sánchez Molledo, Arbitrios, 299, 316.

31 ADS, MS 429–430, fo. 165.

32 Langé, La inmigración, 122–3.

33 Ibid.; Redondo, G., ‘Las relaciones comerciales Aragón–Francia en la edad moderna’, Estudios 85 (1985–1986), 128Google Scholar; Perdices and Sánchez Molledo, Arbitrios, 355, 476.

34 ADS, MS 734, fos. 276r–280r, 405r–408r.

35 J. I. Gómez Zorraquino, ‘Las colonias mercantiles extranjeras en el Aragón del Antiguo Régimen’, in Villar and Pezzi, Los extranjeros, I, 374.

36 Perdices and Sánchez Molledo, Arbitrios, 168–9, 354–5.

37 J. I. Gómez Zorraquino, La burguesía mercantil en el Aragón de los siglos XVI y XVII (1516–1652) (Saragossa, 1987).

38 The process is clearly explained in ADS, MS 722, fo. 487v. This document affirms that French merchants were relatively few in Aragon until the beginning of the seventeenth century. They would sell their goods to local retailers and then return to France after a year or two's residence.

39 Perdices and Sánchez Molledo, Arbitrios, 253–66, 357, 476.

40 Non-commercial business ventures of the Aragonese bourgeoisie included land purchases from indebted nobles, the lease of property to individuals and lending to the Spanish monarchy. See J. I. Gómez Zorraquino, Zaragoza y el capital comercial: la burguesía mercantil en el Aragón de la segunda mitad del siglo XVII (Saragossa, 1987).

41 A. Alloza, Europa en el mercado español. Mercaderes, represalias y contrabando en el siglo XVII (Salamanca, 2006).

42 Langé, La inmigración, 139–40.

43 Redondo, ‘Las relaciones’, 126, 131; Dormer, Discursos, 23.

44 Archive of the Crown of Aragon, Barcelona, Council of Aragon (hereafter ACA, CA), files 74, 76, 594; ADS, MSS 422, 424, 428, 433. The Catalan Diputación also opposed royal measures taken against French immigrants in the principality in 1639, as it had already done during the reign of Charles V. See E. Moreu-Rey, Els immigrants francesos a Barcelona (segles XVI al XVIII) (Barcelona, 1959), 17.

45 J. Lalinde, Los fueros de Aragón (Saragossa, 1977).

46 Nadal and Giralt, La population, 162–3.

47 ACA, CA, files 74, 76, 150, 504.

48 ACA, CA, files 74, 75.

49 Salas, La población, 251; J. A. Mateos, Auge y decadencia de un municipio aragonés (Saragossa, 1997), 217.

50 ACA, CA, files 74, 76, 189.

51 J. Casey, The Kingdom of Valencia in the seventeenth century (Cambridge, 1979), 232–4; E. Puig, Intervenció reial i resistència institucional: el control politic de la Diputació General de Catalunya i del Consell de Cent de Barcelona (1654–1705) (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Barcelona, 2012), 86–130.

52 Nadal, La population, 83, 85; Escartín, E., ‘La Capitanía General de Catalunya i l`ordre constitucional catalá’, Pedralbes 13 (1993), 95–101Google Scholar.

53 ACA, CA, files 74, 76, 189.

54 Redondo, ‘Las relaciones’, 150–2.

55 Peiró, ‘Comercio’, 49–50. This decline in output suggests that the Aragonese guilds set their face firmly against the spread of technical innovations as described in S. R. Epstein and M. Prak eds., Guilds, innovation and the European economy, 1400–1800 (Cambridge, 2008), and their basic option was thus to seek the exclusion of French artisans and traders from the local market. A state-of-the-art discussion of guild historiography can be found in J. R. Farr, Artisans in Europe, 1300–1914 (Cambridge, 2000).

56 ADS, MS, 523, fos. 215–422.

57 Lalinde, J., ‘De la nacionalidad aragonesa a la regionalidad’, Revista jurídica de Cataluña LXXII, 3 (1973), 537–80Google Scholar; J. M. Pérez Collados, Una aproximación histórica al concepto jurídico de nacionalidad (Saragossa, 1993), 40–2, 75–8. Naturalisation in Catalonia was associated with the same rights as in Aragon and could be granted either by the Parliament or by the Diputación. See Sales, N., ‘Naturalizaçôes catalâs, séculos XV a XVIII’, Ler História 9 (1986), 41–63Google Scholar.

58 Municipal Archive of Daroca (hereafter MAD), Ordinances of 1630, fo. 56r-v, 1647, fos. 217–8, and 1683, fos. 72–3.

59 Redondo, ‘Las relaciones’, 125. The period of residence that was required before the local authorities would grant these rights varied between 1 and 15 years in early modern Europe. See J. S. Amelang, ‘Cities and foreigners’, in D. Calaba and S. T. Christensen eds., Cultural exchange in early modern Europe (Cambridge, 2007), vol. 2, 45–7.

60 M. Gómez de Valenzuela, Estatutos y Actos Municipales de Jaca y sus montañas (1417–1698) (Saragossa, 2000), 354.

61 J. A. Salas, En busca de El Dorado (Bilbao, 2009), 119, note 274.

62 P. Savall and S. Penen, Fueros, observancias y actos de Corte del reino de Aragón (Saragossa, 1866), I, 2–4, 23–4, 30, 256, 416, 455–6, 458, 497–8; Pérez Collados, Una aproximación, 225–9. The Parliaments of Catalonia and Valencia enacted similar laws in the late medieval and early modern periods in order to reserve civil and ecclesiastical office for natives. See note 63.

63 Ibid., and Gil, J., ‘La integración de Aragón en la monarquía hispánica del siglo XVII a través de la administración pública’, Estudios 78 (1978), 239–65Google Scholar.

64 Redondo, ‘Las relaciones’, 127, 129, 134.

65 Though the Cortes of 1626 recognised the titles and honours of members of the petty nobility who engaged in cloth trade without weaving or selling it with their hands in a shop or at home, they sought fresh guarantees of this kind from the Parliaments of 1645–1646, 1677–1678 and 1684–1686. Even so, they could not hold official positions in Aragon or be appointed as representatives of the petty nobility in the Parliament. See Savall and Penen, Fueros, I, 454; 517–18, 531, ADS, MS 451, fos. 1301v–1302v, ACA, CA, file 1369 doc. 54/2 and Spanish National Library, Madrid (Biblioteca Nacional de Española; hereafter SNL&lrpar;, V.E. 209–60.

66 ADS, MS 722, fos. 487–90.

67 ADS, MS 451, fos. 128–31.

68 Savall and Penen, Fueros, I, 492–3.

69 Pérez Collados, Una aproximación, 287–314.

70 Langé, La inmigración, 148–9; Salas, ‘La población’, 254.

71 MAD, Ordinances of 1630, fo. 9; SNL, V.E. 209–147; Gómez de Valenzuela, Estatutos, 482–3.

72 ADS, MS 784, fo. 453; MS 785, fo. 1.

73 Salas, ‘La inmigración’, 75.

74 MAD, Ordinances of 1683, fo. 14; E. Serrano ed, Ordinaciones reales de la villa de Ejea de los Caballeros (Ejea, 1993, facsimile of the original printed in 1688), vol. 2, 24.

75 SNL, MS 9, 825.

76 Perdices and Sánchez Molledo, Arbitrios, 166–8, 257–9, 300–2, 315–16.

77 SNL, V.E. 168–1, 28–40, 209–92.

78 Salas, La población, 304–6; Mateos, Auge, 373–4.

79 For example, daily wages were 14.3 per cent less than those paid to local Aragonese in the town of Caspe in 1653. See Salas, En busca, 66, note 130.

80 Redondo, ‘Las relaciones’, 144–5, 149.

81 Perdices and Sánchez Molledo, Arbitrios, 323–31.

82 Redondo, ‘Las relaciones’, 142–3.

83 SNL, V.E., 28–77.

84 Savall and Penen, Fueros, II, 406–11.

85 Gómez Zorraquino, ‘Las colonias’, 375.

86 Dormer, Discursos, 36–40.

87 Perdices and Sánchez Molledo, Arbitrios, 428–34, 489–96.

88 Ibid., 332–59; Redondo, ‘Las relaciones’, 146–9.

89 Savall and Penen, Fueros, I, 528.

90 J.-P. Amalric, ‘Les migrations françaises en Espagne à l'Époque Moderne (seizième–dixhuitième siecles)', in E. Roel and O. Rey eds., Les migrations internes et à moyenne distance en Europe, 1500–1900 (Santiago, 1994), I, 419–20.

91 Poitrineau, A., ‘La inmigración francesa en el reino de Valencia (siglos XVI–XIX)’, Moneda y Crédito 137 (1976), 117Google Scholar; Nadal and Giralt, La population, 84–7.

92 For Spanish mercantilism, see M. Grice-Hutchinson, Early economic thought in Spain, 1177–1740 (London, 1978).

93 Salas, En busca, 290–9.

94 Langé, La inmigración, 32–46, 111–13.

95 Gómez Zorraquino, ‘Las colonias’, 375.

96 Perdices and Sánchez Molledo, Arbitrios, 357, 457–8.

97 Benedicto, ‘La emigración’, 31; ACA, CA, file 169.

98 Salas, ‘La inmigración’, 76.

99 ADS, MS 594, fo. 163r.

100 Redondo, ‘Las relaciones’, 146–7, 150–1.

101 Ibid.; Mateos, Auge, 217–18.