XÀBIA IN THE MODERN ERA - NOTES ON ITS HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT Adapted from: Xàbia en la Modernitat. Apunts sobre la seua evolució històrica by Antoni F. Grau Escrihuela Quaderns del Museu de Xàbia 2. 2018 . ISSN: 2603-6447 Collaborators for English version: Christine Betterton-Jones, Maggie Morgan, Mary Sears, Anne Sefton CONTENTS The Author Timeline 1. INTRODUCTION AND FRAMEWORK 2. XÀBIA AND THE MARQUESATE OF DÉNIA The origins, development and heirarchy of Seigniorialism in the Marina Alta Francisco Gómez de Sandoval i Rojas (1st Duke of Lerma and 5th Marquis of Dénia 1553-1625) The demands of the Lords after the War of Spanish Succession The development of municipal institutions and the feud between Xàbia and Dénia 3. DEMOGRAPHIC DEVELOPMENT AND DAILY LIFE Pirate attacks and the urban development of Xàbia Banditry 4. SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC EVOLUTION A Diverse Society Land Ownership Land Use Social Structure 5. THE END OF THE SEIGNIORIAL REGIME Dénia, but not Xàbia freed from Seigniorial authority Glossary Basic Bibliograpahy The Author Antoni F. Grau Escrihuela (Tavernes de la Valldigna, 1961). Master, Bachelor and Doctor of Geography and History, University of Valencia. Entranced by Xàbia, where he worked in the Adult School for many years, is currently Director of the CFPA Jaume I of Gandia and Professor-Tutor at the Associated Centre of UNED in Dénia, where he teaches Modern and Contemporary History. Besides being the author of numerous books and publications in scientific journals, he has presented papers and communications in history congresses. He has been awarded a scholarship by the Institució Valenciana d'Estudis i Investigació (Valencian Institution of Studies and Research) and by Dénia Town Hall, and has twice obtained the Valldigna Premi de Investigació i Assaig. (Valldigna Prize for Research and Essay.) This study aims to be a synthesis of what is currently known about the history of Xàbia between the Renaissance (14 th Century) and the liberal revolution (19th Century). A good part of the content of comes from the author's doctoral thesis and from works that he has subsequently published. English Version – Editor’s Note: This study is complex and wide ranging both in time and scope. It also assumes some depth of knowledge of Valencian and Spanish history. To help the casual reader, we have therefore included sub-sectional headings, a timeline, explanatory footnotes in text boxes and a glossary of terms. Castilian versions of the names of royalty and the nobility have been used throughout. Timeline Date Events 1238 Christian King Jaime I of Aragon takes Valencia from Muslim rulers. Establishment of Las Cortes del Reino de Valencia (the Cortes) 1244 Muslim Dénia capitulates to King Jaime I of Aragon. The area comes under feudal rule. Territory is organised into districts. Dénia combined with its satellite town of Xàbia is one such terme general . Beginning of the Christian Medieval Age 1261 Establishment of the furs (laws and charters) of Valencia. 1323 King Jaime II of Aragon gives Dénia to his 4th son, Prince Pedro 1327 King Alfonso IV of Aragon (the Benign) succeeds to the throne of Aragon, Valencia and Cerdeña. 1329 The Alfonsine jurisdiction, is granted by the Crown to the holders of small territorial domains in Valencia. 1355 Alfonso de Aragón y Foix (grandson of King Jaime II, also called Alfonso I of Gandía and Alfonso IV of Ribagorza) becomes first Count (Earl) of Dénia. 1387 Pirate attack: looting and abandonment of the Monastery of San Jeronimo de la Plana in Xàbia. 1392 Xàbia allowed to have its own local administrative agencies 1399 Alfonso de Aragón y Foix becomes Duke of Gandia. 1431 King Juan II (the Great or the Faithless) gives the Dénia terme general to Diego Gómez de Sandoval, Count of Castro 1449 Count decrees Dénia to have the monopoly of maritime traffic. 1454 Dénia refuses to accept heirs of Castro as its new lords. King Juan II forcibly imposes the Sandovals on the town. 1479 Queen Isabel I of Castile and King Fernando II of Aragon (the Catholic Monarchs) succeed to their respective thrones effectively uniting the two kingdoms. Beginning of the Modern Era in Spain. 1487 Catholic Monarchs make Dénia a Marquesate. 1520 The Sandovals become Grandees of Spain. 1544 Marquis of Dénia grants judicial independence to Xàbia. Papal bull grants a tithe on first fruits of harvest to the Jesuits in Gandía. 1552 Marquis enlarges Xàbia to the detriment of Dénia – a boundary conflict begins which will last almost 200 years. 1598 Francisco Gómez de Sandoval i Rojas, Duke of Lerma, becomes 5th Marquis of Dénia. 1603 The right of the Marquis of Dénia to set up tuna fish traps is extended to all the Kingdom of Valencia. 1609 Decree of the expulsion of the Moriscos. 1612 Xàbia granted title of Vila Real, Dénia granted status of City; Decree of delegation of signature gives Duke of Lerma power to sign on behalf of the King. 1647-1652 The Black Plague decimates the country of Valencia. 1701 King Carlos II dies childless. War of Spanish Succession between Austrian Habsburg and French Bourbon claimants to the Spanish throne. 1707-1716 Nueva Planta decrees signed between 1707 and 1716 by Bourbon King Felipe V during and shortly after the end of the War. End of the Kingdom of Valencia 1714 Bourbons win. Xàbia on the winning side, Dénia on the losing side. Establishment of l'Equivalente tribute. 1737 Ducal House of Medinaceli signs concord which ends Dénia/Xàbia boundary dispute. 1766 Inspection of Marquesate of Dénia by the Ducal House of the Medinaceli. 1804 Dénia reverts to the Crown, but Xàbia still under seigniorial (Medinaceli) control. 1808 Spanish Kings (Carlos IV and his son Fernando VII) forced to abdicate by Napoleon - War of the French (or Guerra de la Independencia Española – War of Spanish Independence – Peninsular war) begins. 1811 and 1813 Decree of the liberal Cortes de Cádiz dissolves the seigniorial regime. First constitution of Spain (La Pepa) 1812 Capitulation of Valencia and Dénia to the French. 1814 War ends, Spanish administration fragmented, King Fernando IV re- installed and tries to restore autocratic monarchy. 1833 Queen Isabel II succeeds to the throne. During her reign, the Cortes and the Moderate Liberals and Progressives re-establish constitutional and parliamentary government, dissolve the religious orders and confiscate their property (including that of the Jesuits), and try to restore order to Spain's finances. Xàbia finally free of seigniorial control. End of the Modern Era 1. INTRODUCTION AND FRAMEWORK In describing Xàbia in the Modern Era, this study considers chronological and territorial aspects. Firstly the so-called Antiguo Régimen (Old Regime) is described. Secondly, two areas that affected the common man at that time are highlighted: The higher authorities (the Kingdom of Valencia and Monarquía Hispanica (Hispanic Monarchy); and the structure which was most immediate to them: the Marquesado de Dénia (jurisdiction of the Marquis of Dénia, or Marquesate), i.e. the nobility which largely regulated their daily lives. The study is therefore in three sections: the world of the Old Regime, specifically the Kingdom of Valencia under the Hispanic Monarchy; the institutional evolution of Xàbia under the jurisdiction of the Marquis of Dénia and finally an analysis of some aspects of the daily life of its people. The Old Regime refers to the political, economic and social Furs of Valencia were the laws of the organization in Europe between the late feudal period and the Kingdom of Valencia during most of the Middle Ages and early modern Europe. The bourgeois revolutions. It started in the Renaissance, with the laws were a series of charters which, appearance of the Modern State bringing about the together, worked similarly as a modern consolidation of authoritarian monarchies and a centralized Constitution does now. Thus, they defined the position of and checks and balances public administration. Several characteristics defined the class between the Royal House, the nobility, the society which affected all aspects of life. The criteria for social Catholic ecclesiastic and the judicial stratification were not economic, but corresponded more to procedures. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Furs_of_Valen considerations of origin, honour and dignity. Another feature cia was the rigidity of social groups, since social mobility was The Nueva Planta decrees were a number very limited. It was a social model built on legal inequality. of decrees signed between 1707 and 1716 Each social group had specific rights and obligations, so that by Felipe V—the first Bourbon King of the noble and ecclesiastical minority enjoyed privileges that Spain—during and shortly after the end of the War of the Spanish Succession by the were not seen by the rest of the population. Noblemen and Treaty of Utrecht. Angered by what he saw clerics could be tried in special courts which applied lighter as sedition by the Aragonese and taking his criminal procedures and punishments than the regulations native France as a model of a centralised state, King Felipe V suppressed the applied to those without privileged status. They also received institutions, privileges, and the ancient tax benefits, by virtue of which they were exempted from a lot charters (Spanish: fueros, Catalan: furs) of of taxes. Last but not least, they monopolized political almost all the areas that were formerly part of the Crown of Aragon (Aragon, positions. Catalonia, Valencia, and the Balearic Islands). The decrees ruled that all the The Hispanic Monarchy (or Spanish Empire) was the name territories in the Crown of Aragon except the Aran Valley were to be ruled by the laws given to the collection of territories ruled over by the Catholic of Castile ("the most praiseworthy in all the th Monarchs in the 15 century and their successors, the Universe" according to the 1707 decree), Austrians.