Fragmented Authority from Ancien Régime to Modernity: a Quantitative Analysis

This paper performs a systematic analysis that examines institutional fragmentation in terms of customs tariffs within states west of the Rhine from 1700 to 1815 and between states east of the Rhine from 1815 to 1871. Internal customs zones are measured in two ways: physical size and urban population. Both methods use 175 sample cities as described by De Vries (1984) in England, France, the Netherlands, and Spain as the basic unit of account. The results indicate that customs zones west of the Rhine were small prior to the French Revolution but grew dramatically from 1789 onwards. They thus provide definitive evidence of divided authority in Ancien Régime Europe. The measurement of external customs zones uses 117 sample cities in the German and Italian territories. The findings indicate a remarkable degree of institutional consolidation between states east of the Rhine over the 1800s

Agrarian institutions and economic growth : was the sale of baldíos responsible of the Castilian agrarian crisis at the end of sixteenth century?

The traditional literature about the Castilian agriculture has interpreted the sale of baldíos as one of the main causes of the decline of Castile during the seventeenth century. The sale obligated the peasant to buy the land if he wanted to continue working on it. Many of these lands were marginal and poor soils, so the growth of production cost would have led many farmers to the ruin and poverty. Many of them had to migrate to other regions, causing a deep fall of agriculture production, the main production activity of Castile's economy at that period of time. This paper shows that Castile entered in decadence not because the baldíos were sold but because the reasons inviting people to use more land and to increase production during the first half of the sixteenth century disappeared around 1590. Instead of seeing exclusively the new costs faced by the farmer after the sale, this paper explores what happened with revenues from plowing more land. Baldíos was an institution that helped an increase of production through expansion of land and labor. Who was the owner of these lands seem to be indifferent in order to explain the amount of production factor used on agriculture. If baldíos was not the reason that provoked a huge migration in the Castilian countryside, then, who was the responsible?. Problems to maintain the returns from agriculture, and not the unexpected increase in the price of land, were the real cause of the final crisis at the end of the sixteenth century

I, the Queen: Power and Gender in the Reign of Isabel I of Castile

The role of women in society, in particular, women in leadership positions, constantly is debated. However, this discussion extends far back in history. As one of the most memorable rulers of Early Modern Europe, the life and reign of Queen Isabella of Spain, more accurately known as Queen Isabel I of Castile and León, can provide answers. Scholars have long grappled with the degree to which Isabel embodied or transcended the gender norms of her time as well as whether she ruled more through the joint monarchy with her husband King Fernando of Aragón or as a sovereign in her own right. The careful examination of primary and secondary documents relating to Isabel’s life, her fight for the throne, the joint monarchy, propaganda used during her reign, and her more notable achievements, reveals her unshakable belief in her own right to be queen and the complexity of her sovereign power. Far from adhering to the expectations of her time period, Isabel challenged gender norms and ruled independently as a sovereign queen. The strength of her independent power shows that even when faced with societal and political adversity, women can successfully hold powerful leadership positions. Female leaders today can learn important lessons from Isabel’s determination and strength

The decline of Spain (1500–1850): conjectural estimates

This article attempts to quantify the decline of Spain over the period 1500–1850. In contrast to earlier estimates that focus almost exclusively on Castilian agriculture, we look at trends in urbanisation and construct new measures of agricultural and aggregate output at both regional and national levels. A distinctive long-run behaviour is found across Spanish regions that rejects the identification between Castile and Spain. Per capita income grew in the sixteenth and early nineteenth centuries, while contraction and stagnation occurred in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. In the long run, output per head did not improve until the early nineteenth century. At the time of its imperial expansion Spain was a relatively affluent nation and, by 1590, was only behind the Low Countries and Italy in terms of per capita income. Spain's decline has its roots in the seventeenth century while its backwardness deepened in the first half of the nineteenth century.Publicad

Evaporite karst geohazards in the Delaware Basin, Texas: review of traditional karst studies coupled with geophysical and remote sensing characterization

Evaporite karst throughout the Gypsum Plain of west Texas is complex and extensive, including manifestations ranging from intrastratal brecciation and hypogene caves to epigene features and suffosion caves. Recent advances in hydrocarbon exploration and extraction has resulted in increased infrastructure development and utilization in the area; as a result, delineation and characterization of potential karst geohazards throughout the region have become a greater concern. While traditional karst surveys are essential for delineating the subsurface extent and morphology of individual caves for speleogenetic interpretation, these methods tend to underestimate the total extent of karst development and require surficial manifestation of karst phenomena. Therefore, this study utilizes a composite suite of remote sensing and traditional field studies for improved karst delineation and detection of potential karst geohazards within gypsum karst. Color InfraRed (CIR) imagery were utilized for delineation of lineaments associated with fractures, while Normalized Density Vegetation Index (NDVI) analyses were used to delineate regions of increased moisture flux and probable zones of shallow karst development. Digital Elevation Models (DEM) constructed from high-resolution LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) data were used to spatially interpret sinkholes, while analyses of LiDAR intensity data were used in a novel way to categorize local variations in surface geology. Resistivity data, including both direct current (DC) and capacitively coupled (CC) resistivity analyses, were acquired and interpreted throughout the study area to delineate potential shallow karst geohazards specifically associated with roadways of geohazard concern; however, detailed knowledge of the surrounding geology and local karst development proved essential for proper interpretation of resistivity inversions. The composite suite of traditional field investigations and remotely sensed karst delineations used in this study illustrate how complex gypsum karst terrains can be characterized with greater detail through the utilization of rapidly advancing technologies, especially in arid environments with low vegetation densities

Ecclesiastical Support to the Master of Avis: An Analysis from the Aclamation Act of 1385

The death of king Fernando of Portugal in October 1383 without male heirs opened a succesion crisis. Despite the studies that have been made concerning the composition of the factions that supported the various pretenders to the throne, in special about the participation of town elites and nobility, there are still few contributions on the participation of the clergy in the conflict. This is a matter of great importance, given the religious character of the royal power in the legitimation of kings and dynasties, in particular in a period marked by the Schism of the Catholic Church. Therefore, starting from the list of signatories and witnesses of the acclamation act of João I, made in the cortes of Coimbra in 1385, our aim is to analyse the participation of the clergy in the fight for the throne, identifying the main protagonists of each party and the reasons for their positions, as well as the consequences for their later ecclesiastic and political careers

Physical and Chemical Controls on Suffosion Development in Gypsic Soil, Culberson County, Texas

In the Gypsum Plain, suffosion processes have encouraged road failure through dissolution and transport of gypsic soils; however, no prior research has been conducted within the Delaware Basin in regard to these processes. These phenomena were evaluated in both field and laboratory settings in order to assess the parameters of suffosion development associated with Ranch to Market (RM) 652 in Culberson County, Texas, where infrastructure extends across Castile and Rustler strata. Field studies simulated surficial ponding in various gypsic soils and correlated suffosion potential with soil composition and thickness. Soluble fractions of gypsic soils were delineated through geochemical analyses, further expanding upon the soil descriptions published in the Culberson County Soil Survey (USDA, 2013). Suffosion modeling replicated processes observed in the field through repeated infiltration of Dellahunt and Elcor soils—soil piping and subsidence were induced within suffosion models. Lineaments inferred as solutional fractures were delineated using color infrared (CIR) images to determine regional suffosion potential. Results obtained from this research were used to form a conceptual model of suffosion development in order to better mitigate damage imposed on infrastructure in evaporite karst terrains. Regions with thick, heterogeneous soils of low to moderate gypsum content (10-70%) and moderate fracture densities (100-800 m/km2) are optimal for suffosion development. This model should be considered for future projects in not only the Gypsum Plain, but for other arid environments with significant evaporite karst and gypsic soils as well

Spiritual friendship in the works of Alfonso X of Castile: images of interaction between the sacred and spiritual worlds of thirteenth-century Iberia

During the Middle Ages the predominant Christian mentality played a fundamental role in establishing the rules according to which both personal and emotional connections between individuals, and the links between humans and the supernatural, were forged. Considering this, the present study will focus on a topic largely unexplored, the medieval Iberian interpretation of friendship, which will be examined through the analysis of the thirteenth‐century production ascribed to Alfonso X of Castile’s scriptorium. In particular, special emphasis will be devoted to the Marian collection of the Cantigas de Santa María together with several references to the legal corpus of the Siete Partidas

Land markets and agrarian backwardness (Spain, 1900-1936)

To what extent were land markets the cause of Spanish agrarian backwardness? This paper uses new provincial data on average real land prices, together with provincial level variation in land productivity, to analyse land markets efficiency. To address this unresolved issue, we test whether land markets were spatially integrated and whether their prices can be explained with the present value model. Our results suggest that land prices converged across provinces and that variations were driven by fundamentals. In consequence, we conclude that institutional failure in land markets was not the cause of the relatively poor productivity performance of Spanish agricultur

A methodological approach to estimating the money demand in pre-industrial economies: probate inventories and Spain in the 18th century

The study of monetary phenomena and the understanding of price determination in Modern Europe are too often limited by the scarcity of good-quality data sets on the evolution across time of variables like money holdings, income, or wealth. In this paper we show that the information contained in probate inventories can be extremely useful to circumvent that problem. In particular, combining a data set of 114 inventories from Palencia (North of Spain) between 1750 and 1770 with census information (Catastro de Ensenada) we make a cross-section estimation of a money demand which is the first one ever produced for any period before the 19th century. The results provide meaningful insights about the relation between money demand and wealth, urbanization and structural change in a pre-industrial economy and highlight the potential of probate inventories to improve our knowledge of the monetary history of Modern Europe