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The Impact of a New Capital City: Madrid, Toledo, and New Castile, 1560-1660

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2010

David Ringrose
David Ringrose
Affiliation:
Rutgers University
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Extract

The economic development and decline of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Castile has been the subject of considerable research in the last few years, and it has long been assumed that the rise of Madrid played an important role in dislocating the economy of the region. Yet little direct attention has been paid to the actual processes whereby a distinctive type of urban growth, the development of a political capital, undermined the relationship between town and country which was the basis of the economic activity of sixteenth-century Castile. The rapid growth of Madrid, in fact, coincides with the equally spectacular decline of Toledo, the largest urban center in the region until 1600. The interaction between the two cities, and between the urban sector and the countryside, during the period of prolonged economic stress at the close of the sixteenth century, helps to explain the severity of the crisis which Spain experienced in the seventeenth century.

Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of Economic History , Volume 33 , Issue 4 , December 1973 , pp. 761 - 791
Copyright
Copyright © The Economic History Association 1973

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References

1 The conceptualization of the structural differences is essentially that suggested long ago by Max Weber, The City, (New York: Free Press, 1958), pp. 68–70.Google Scholar

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13 Carla Rahn Philips, “Ciudad Real in the 17th Century,” paper presented to the Society for Spanish and Portuguese Historical Studies, New Brunswick, New Jersey, April, 1972.

14 Domínguez Ortiz, El siglo XVII, pp. 90–95.

15 Gentil da Silva, En Espagne, p. 110; Domínguez Ortiz, El siglo XVII, p. 113.

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17 An important aspect of this development which has not been discussed is the expulsion of the Moriscos (1609–11). Current findings suggest that from 3,600 to 4,100 persons, or about 5 percent of Toledo's population, were expelled. If this included skilled textile workers, the connection with the decline would be important. If, however, the Moriscos were primarily truck gardeners, peddlers, and rural laborers as in Valladolid, the event recedes in importance. Work currently under way by Michael Weisser of the City University of New York promises more precise information on this topic. See Peyre, Henri La, Geographie de l'Espagne morisque, (Paris: S.E.V.P.E.N., 1959), pp. 158, 200, 212Google Scholar; Baroja, Julio Caro, Los moriscos del Reino de Granada, (Madrid: Instituto de Estudios Politicos, 1957)Google Scholar; Ramon Carande, “Los moriscos de Henri Lapeyre, los de Julio Caro y algun morisco mas,” Moneda y Crédito, no. 78 (1961), 9–26.

18 These demographic estimates are based on accounts of mortality typical in London, Paris, Amiens, and Valladolid in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries as well as a number of generalizations on European towns. These were compared with descriptions of the conditions in seventeenth-century Madrid and evidence about the city's demographic patterns in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. See, respectively: Wrigley, E. A., Population and History, (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1969), pp. 114–115, 125–26Google Scholar; Deyon, Pierre, Amiens—capitale provinciale: étude sur la société urbaine au XVIIe siècle, (Paris: Mouton, 1967), pp. 35–44Google Scholar; Bennassar, Bartolome, Valladolid au siècle d'or; une ville de Castille et sa campagne au XVIe siècle, (Paris: Mouton, 1967), pp. 157–160, 183–189Google Scholar; Mols, Roger, Introduction a la demographie historique des villes d'Europe du XIVe au XVIIle siècle, (3 vols.; Louvain: Publications Universitaires, 1954), IIGoogle Scholar, 329–338, III, 203–232; Weber, The Growth of Cities, pp. 230–237; José Piñuelo, Deleito y, Solo Madrid es corte (La capital de dos mundos bajo Felipe IV, (Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, 1953), pp. 127–138Google Scholar; Isla, Maria Carbajo, “Primeros resultados cuantitativos de un estudio sobre la poblacion de Madrid (1742–1836), Moneda y Crédito, no. 107 (1968), pp. 71–91.Google Scholar

19 For complaints on specific problems, see: AHN, Sala de Alcaldes y Corte, año, 1598, f. 160, año, 1609, f. 406, año, 1614, ff. 22–23.

20 For a theoretical exposition of this locational problem and a summary of its development beginning with von Thünen, see: Dunn, Edgar S. Jr, The Location of Agricultural Production, (Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 1954), especially pp. 56–70 and 99–104Google Scholar; Henshall, Janet D., “Models of Agricultural Activity,” in Socio-Economic Models in Geography, Chorley, Richard J. and Haggett, Peter, eds. (London: Methuen, 1969), pp. 443–45.Google Scholar

21 Burial registers do not begin in this area until the mid-seventeenth century, but such 20 percent declines are suggested by a comparison of baptisms vs. burials for Ventas con Peña Aquilera (1647–49) and Los Yebenes (1684–85) in Weisser, “Crime and Subsistence,” pp. 333, 336.

22 The price series are based on Earl Hamilton, whose sources for this period were institutions in Toledo, with some data interpolated from Alcalá de Henares. See Hamilton, Earl J., American Treasure and the Price Revolution in Spain, 1501–1650, (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1934), pp. 144, 149, 213CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Fourastie, Jacqueline, Les formules d'indices de prix, (Paris: Colin, 1966), p. 108.Google Scholar

23 Unfortunately, no consumption data on other cereals were available, but an idea of their role can be hypothesized from Labrousse, Ernest, Fluctuaciones económicas e historia social, (Madrid: Tecnos, 1962), pp. 119–37.Google Scholar This is a condensation of Labrousse's famous Esquisse du movement des prix et des revenus en France au XVIIIe siècle, (Paris: Dalloz, 1933).Google Scholar See also, Anes, Gonzalo, “Las fluctuaciones de los precios del trigo, de la cebada y del aceite en España (1788–1808), un contraste regional,” Moneda y Crédito, No. 97 (1966), 69–150Google Scholar; and Gonzalo Anes and Flem, Jean Paul le, “Las crisis del siglo XVII: produccion agrícola, precios eingresos en tierras de Segovia,” Moneda y Crédito, No. 93, (1965), 3–55. Composite cereal indices are in Hamilton, American Treasure, pp. 390–92.Google Scholar

24 This estimate is based on Madrid's demand for 180,000 to 200,000 fanegas, of wheat in 1598, a 20 percent increase in the population of Toledo, 1575–1600, comparable populations in 1598. See Tables 1, 2, and 4, and the comments on population growth.

25 Larraz, Mercantilismo, p. 60.

26 Hamilton, American Treasure, pp. 391–92; see also note 6 above. In the later eighteenth century, when transport was better organized, a fanega, of wheat costing 25 reales, in Palencia incurred 20 reales, in transport costs plus commissions and handling costs during the trip to Madrid.

27 Weisser, “Crime and Subsistence,” pp. 299–311, 328–36.

28 Ringrose, David R., “Madrid y Castilla, 1560–1850: Una capital national en una economía regional, Moneda y Crédito, No. 111 (1969), 78–82, 85–86.Google Scholar

29 Ringrose, Ibid.;, Bennassar, Bartolmoé, “L'alimentation d'une capitale espagnol au XVIe siècle: Valladolid,” in Hémardinquer, Jean-Jacques (ed.), Pour une histoire de l'alimentation, (Paris: Colin, 1970), p. 57.Google Scholar

30 Weisser, “Crime and Subsistence,” pp. 299–311, 328–336. Also: Weisser, Michael M., “Les marchands de Tolède dans l'économie castillane, 1565–1635,” Melanges de la Casa de Velazquez, VII (1971), pp. 223–36.Google Scholar

31 The background for this is thin, since we know little about sources of meat, the size of the Mesta flocks after the 1560's, or the price of wool. See Salomon, Nouvelle Castille, pp. 319–321; Klein, Julius, The Mesta, A Study in Spanish Economic History, 1273–1836, (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1920), p. 27CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Jean Paul le Flem, “Las cuentas de la Mesta, 1510–1709,” Moneda y Crédito, No. 121 (1972); Hamilton, American Treasure, pp. 228–29.

32 Larraz, Mercantilismo, pp. 47–48.

33 Sella, Domenico, “Les mouvements longs de l'industrie lainère á Venise au XVIe et XVIIe siècles,” Annales: Economies, Sociétés, Civilisations, XII (1959), 29–45Google Scholar; Deyon, Piere, “Variations de la production textile aux XVIe et XVIIe siècles: Sources et premiers resultats,” Annales: Economies, Sociétés, Civilisations, XVIII (1963), 939–55CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Castillo, “Richesse,” p. 730.

34 Estimates as to the size of the Mesta flock show that the average total declined steadily in the first third of the seventeenth century, while Mesta financial records show a precipitous decline in yearly profits from 1635 to 1652. See Le Flem, “Las cuentas de la Mesta,” pp. 70, 77–80.

35 Larraz, Mercantilismo, pp. 38–39.

36 Chaunu, Huguette et Pierre, Seville et l'Atlatique, (8 vols; Paris: S.E.V.P.E.N., 1956), vol. VI, part I, pp. 328–30.Google Scholar

37 On the migration to Madrid, see: Domínguez Ortiz, El Siglo XVII, pp. 131–35. On Toledo's decline as a regional entre-pot, see: Weisser, “Les marchands.”

38 Figure 6 probably overstates this because of the incompleteness of the series for that period.

39 Weisser, “Les marchands.” Professor Weisser is currently developing demographic material on Toledo which suggests that the population of many of the predominantly Spanish parishes was drifting downward from the 1570's while that of the predominantly morisco, parishes was increasing.

40 Larraz, Mercantilismo, pp. 38–39.

41 AHN, Alcaldes, año, 1598, ff. 160, 169–70; año, 1609, f. 406; año, 1614, f. 44; año, 1610, ff. 570–72; año, 1625, ff. 49, 73.

42 AHN, Consejos, leg., 6780.

43 Larraz, Mercantilismo, pp. 46–47.

44 Ringrose, David R., “Madrid y Castilla, 1560–1850: Una capital national en una economía regional,” Moneda v Crédito, No. 111 (1969), appendix.Google Scholar

45 It is anticipated that the data in question will appear in a volume to be published by Editorial Tecnos, Madrid, within a year.

46 AHN, Consejos, leg., 511–5; AHN, Alcaldes, año, 1623, f. 545; Archivo de la Villa de Madrid, Secretaría, 2–307–9, 2–487–18, 3–19–4, 3–11–1. Further indication of the nature of some of the duties can be found in Herrera, Antonia Heredia, “Los corredores de lonja en Sevilla y Cádiz,” Archivo Hispalense, 2aepoca, Nos. 159–164 (1970), 183–98.Google Scholar

47 See: Ringrose, David R., “Perspectives on the Spanish Economy in the Eighteenth Century,” Historia Ibérica: economia y sociedad en Espana, siglos XVIII y XIX, (New York, Madrid: Anaya-Las Americas, 1973), pp. 59–106.Google Scholar

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49 For a brief comment on the problems of developing and using such series, see: Braudel, Fernand, “Pour une histoire serielle: Seville et l'Atlantique (1504–1650),” Annales: Economies, Sociétés, Civilisations, XVIII (1963), 541–553.CrossRefGoogle Scholar