One of the concerns of Don Zenón de Somodevilla y Bengoechea, the first Marquis of Ensenada and minister of finance, war, the Navy and the Indies from 1743 to 1754, was the management and use of woodlands. He was well aware that woodlands were a fundamental asset in the peasant economy as they provided grazing for livestock and game animals for local inhabitants and ensured a supply of firewood, timber and charcoal for villages, towns and cities. He also realized that they needed to be improved, properly managed and protected against misuse as a sine qua non for implementing his ambitious shipbuilding programme. Without quality timber, there can be no ships. And they had to be managed in such a way as to prevent clashes between the traditional uses of woodlands and their increase and conservation for naval purposes, as well as between the agents involved: the councils, the corregidores and the Navy. The forest ordinances enacted in 1749, during his term as minister, encompass both lines of action.1 Many places refer to them in their cadastral declarations when they speak of new plantings or plantings made according to “the new ordinances.”
18. Whether the land is plentiful, or lacking in firewood, and from where they gather provisions, and if it is mountainous, what kind of woodland and trees, and what animals, game and wild species breed and are found in it. […]
24. The grazing land and wood-pasture there is within the confines of the aforesaid village, with the forests and any hunting and fishing grounds there are, and which they are and what they are worth.
18. Si es tierra abundosa, o falta de leña, y de donde se proveen; y si montañosa, de qué monte y arboleda, y qué animales, cazas y salvaginas se crían y hallan en ella. […]
24. Los pastos y dehesas señaladas que en términos del sobredicho pueblo hubiese, con los bosques y cotos de caza y pesca que asimismo hubiese, y cuales son y lo que valen.
6 What forests, woodlands and groves the place has; with what stands it is populated, what they are called, in what cardinal point they are located and how far they stretch.
6ª Qué bosques, montes o florestas tiene el lugar; de qué matas poblado, cómo se llaman, a qué aire caen y cuánto se extienden.
XLIV. If there are woodlands populated with trees or shrubs, their species, destination and uses; and if it is known whether any medicinal herbs are produced, or others which can be used to manufacture any goods, such as soap, dyes or others; whether firewood, charcoal or timber can be harvested without causing them to deteriorate, and to what use the latter can be put; whether these woodlands are public, or to whom they belong; whether they are well or poorly kept, and the causes that influence this.
XLV. If there are woodlands impenetrable to livestock, which only serve as shelter for wild animals, which it would be appropriate to clear, and by what means this can be achieved.
XLVI. If the woodlands are customarily burned, and for what purpose: what damage results from this, and how this excess is usually punished.
XLVII. If the woodlands are stripped of bark, and whether stripping bark spoils them, or whether it is carried out by law; to whom the price of the
bark belongs; if it is to the local residents, how much each arroba produces for them, and what price is paid by tanners. XLVIII. If, on the pretext of cultivating and planting trees in some lands or plots, they have been closed pursuant to royal orders, and in fraud of the latter and to the public detriment they are kept as woodlands to take advantage of grazing, depriving the other residents of them, and their extension or size.
XLIX. If there are any wood-pastures, their number, and to whom they belong; if they are for grazing and farming and if so whether they have been reduced to grazing only, and their size.
L. The plantings or sowings carried out pursuant to royal orders shall be acknowledged, and their state.
XLIV. Si hay montes poblados de árboles ó arbustos, su especie, destino y utilidades; y si se tiene noticia de que produzcan algunas yerbas medicinales, ú otras que puedan beneficiarse en alguna fabrica, como para jabón, tintes, ú otras: si se puede sacar sin deteriorarlos leña de ellos, carbón, ó madera, y qué uso se puede hacer de éstas: si estos montes son públicos, ó á quién pertenecen: si están bien, ó mal cuidados, y las causas que influyen en esto.
XLV. Si hay montes impenetrables al ganado, que solo sirven al abrigo de fieras, que sea conveniente desmontar, y por qué medios se puede conseguir.
XLVI. Si se suelen quemar los montes, y para qué fines: qué perjuicios se siguen de esto, y cómo se suele castigar este exceso.
XLVII. Si los montes se descascan, y si de los descasques resulta su ruina, ó se descascan á ley; a quién pertenece el precio de la casca; si es de propios, quánto produce para éstos cada arroba, y á qué precio sale á los Curtidores.
XLVIII. Si á pretexto de cultivar y arbolear algunas tierras ó terrenos, se han cerrado con motivo de las Reales órdenes, y en fraude de éstas y perjuicio público se conservan de monte, y para aprovecharse de los pastos, privando á los demás vecinos de éstos, y su extensión, ó cabida.
XLIX. Si hay dehesas, su número, y á quién pertenecen; si son de pasto y labor, y si siéndolo se han reducido á solo pasto, y su extensión.
L. Se reconocerán los plantíos, ó semilleros executados en virtud de Reales órdenes, y su estado.
This shows that the court of Extremadura was interested in all aspects of woodlands and their possible uses – be they in a “natural” state, wood-pasture, thinned, cleared of underbrush, liable to be cleared, or newly planted. In other
In view of these antecedents and consequences, does the absence from the cadastral questionnaire of a direct question focused solely and exclusively on wooded areas mean that the woodlands were left out of the major survey promoted by Ensenada or that they were of no interest to the minister? Not at all – quite the opposite, in fact: they are there, but it is necessary to know where to look for them and for information about their floral composition, uses, area and value, bearing in mind that the Ensenada Cadastre is not a single record but a set of documents with different territorial levels, different purposes and differing degrees of data aggregation. As far as those relevant to this essay are concerned, some are local and others are provincial; and some are collective and others are individual. Furthermore, the approach taken to the subject by Tomás López’s questionnaire and, above all, that of the Royal Court gives the impression that they (especially the latter) specifically address all aspects of the cadastral information gathered on woodlands, including the impossibility of putting some areas to any use because their topography or thickness made them inaccessible.
On another note, a point needs to be made before continuing with the information on woodlands provided by the cadastral documentation. When dealing with the Cadastre, besides being aware at all times of the level of the documents they are working with, researchers need to accept that the documentation is highly homogeneous as a whole but heterogeneous detail, as will be demonstrated by a few examples discussed below. This heterogeneity, which is acknowledged by the creators of the Cadastre and yields acceptable results, stems from several factors: the geographical diversity of the vast territory surveyed (just over 372,000 km2), the types of settlement, the types of wooded areas, the characteristics of the social groups and population centres, the economic organization, the human factor (cadastral teams, intendant …). etc. And this heterogeneity means that in many cases the information on forests that appears in the replies given to the various questions of the Interrogatorio general varies in degree of detail depending on the areas, the type of forest, its uses, its importance to the local economy, the cadastral teams (courts) and the intendancy to which they were responsible, among other factors. In contrast, the information gathered in another cadastral document, the Libro de lo real (record of real estate) is more homogeneous and, certainly, more detailed and accurate, as will be seen later.
We will now take a closer look at the different local cadastral documents in which information can be found on the woodlands (montes is the term usually employed in them). It should be noted that where this information is
The local cadastral documentation is made up of the Respuestas generales, the Memoriales, the Libros de lo real, the Libros de cabezas de casa, the Estados locales, the Autos y diligencias to which the enquiry gave rise, and the documentos probatorios submitted as proof of the replies to various questions. These had to be copied literally and are included among the autos y diligencias.8 For the subject studied here, the main, but not the only, sources are the first three. Let us now take a closer look at these documents to find out what information they can provide about the woodlands.9
1 The Respuestas Generales: Textual and Cartographic Information
As their name indicates (general answers), the Respuestas generales are the result of the replies to a 40-point questionnaire (Interrogatorio de la letra A) on a wide range of aspects of the locality: name, boundaries, size, jurisdictional situation, population and settlement, economic activities, industrial facilities,
The copy of the Respuestas kept in the Archivo General de Simancas became more accessible a couple of decades ago when it was made available through the Spanish Ministry of Culture’s PARES portal.13 The ease with which data can be retrieved and handled, given its structure of direct questions on a whole battery of specific topics, makes it the cadastral document on which most work has been carried out since 1957, when Matilla Tascón first brought to attention the extensive group of documents of the Ensenada Cadastre in his book La única Contribución y el Catastro de la Ensenada.14 It was not until several decades later that work gradually began on the Libros de lo real and the Libros de cabezas de casa and subsequently, albeit less intensively, on the Memoriales.
The use to which researchers – chiefly historians and geographers – have put the Cadastre has gone through different stages and has experienced ups and
In any case, scholars from very different branches of knowledge are increasingly turning to the documents of the Ensenada Cadastre to aid them in their research on very different subjects and with very different methodologies and objectives, as a result of which the range of subjects studied has been enormously broadened. This has gone hand in hand with a greater knowledge of this large ensemble of cadastral documentation and of cadastres in general – which are increasingly better catalogued – the ease of consulting them in archives and reproducing them, the possibility of making part of this documentation available on the internet, and current developments in computer software that facilitate the processing of large volumes of data and old maps. All this has made the Ensenada Cadastre in particular and cadastres in general primary geohistorical sources.
It is worth stressing two issues before going on to examine the Respuestas generales: firstly, over the past two decades, researchers from different fields of knowledge, some far removed from the humanities, have been handling the Castilian cadastral documentation; and secondly, work is gradually starting to be carried out on all the documentary levels of the Ensenada Cadastre, albeit with varying intensity and incorporating new topics of study, as in the case of the woodlands.15
They said that this village is called Santo Domingo de Silos, that its limits encompass, without division, the hamlets of Peñacoba, Ynojar and Horte-zuelos; together with this village they all form a Council for the appointment of posts, in both political and economic governance, and in the tax roll for royal taxes. However the urban area and hamlets have the use and exploitation of some woodlands and places for private grazing; which ones they are and in what form is stated in the declaration [Memorial] of the council.
Dijeron que esta población se llama Sto. Domingo de Silos, que comprehende en su término, sin divisa [sic] de el, las aldeas de Peñacoba, la de Ynojar y Hortezuelos, haziendo todas con esta villa un Concejo así para el nombramiento de ofizios, en el govierno político, como económico, y en encavezamiento de tributos Reales, sin embargo que el Casco de villa y Aldeas tienen el uso y aprovechamiento en algunos montes y sitios destinados para pastos privativos a cada una, que lo que son y en la forma que es consta con expresión en el Memorial del Concejo.
grazing within their limits from sunrise to sunset, which produces no income for the community. With the bordering places on the other three sides […] it shares grazing and gathering of firewood in the woodlands and areas which are recorded in this village’s declaration [Memorial], with a specification of their sizes.
comunidad en los pastos de sus términos de sol a sol, sin utilidad a sus comunes. Item. con los lugares de las otras tres confrontaciones […] tiene comunidad en pasto y rozo de leña en los montes y términos que, con expezificación de sus cavidas, constan en el Memorial desta Villa.
shared woodlands, of high and low juniper, and its own, of holm oak, oak and pine, which are stated in the declaration [Memorial], from which neither is charcoal made nor is firewood harvested to sell in or outside this village. And only in the years when its own woodlands of holm oaks produce abundant acorns are pigs brought in from outside to graze and eat the acorns, and in a five-year period this earns the urban area, which exclusively exploits them, 200 reales de vellón.
montes comunes, de enebro alto y bajo, y propios, de encina, roble y pino, los que se hallan expresados en el Memorial, de los que no se fabrica carbon ni se saca a vender leña fuera ni en esta villa, y sí solo en los años que hay abundancia de grana en los de encina, propios de ella, traen de fuera ganado de cerda a hervajar y comer la grana, y en un quinquenio dexa de utilidad al Casco de Villa, por serla este aprovechamiento privativo, 200 reales de vellón.
El Escorial, then in the province of Segovia and now part of Madrid, declared that it had high forests of ash trees, low woodlands of Pyrenean oaks and ash, low rockrose woodland with pasture, and black poplars.20
the types of land there are in the abovementioned parish and within its limits are […] riparian woodlands populated with chestnut trees, woodlands belonging to private owners, woodlands that are shared for grazing, and useless by nature; […] with respect to both the woodlands that are privately owned and those shared for grazing, they produce rye and are cleared of trees every 15 years for those of first-class quality, every 24 for those of second-class quality, and every 36 for those of third-class quality.
las especies de tierra que hay dentro de la referida feligresía y su término son […] sotos poblados de castañales, monte de particulares, montes comunes quanto al pasto, e inútiles por su naturaleza; […] por lo que les respecta a los montes tanto de particulares como comunes quanto al pasto, producen centeno y se rompen, siendo de primera calidad, de 15 en 15 años, de segunda, de 24 en 24, y de tercera, de 36 en 36.
Rainfed lands suitable for growing cereal [tierras de pan llevar], those which commonly yield crops with an interval of one year, though there are some which are poorer in nature and do so with four years’ rest, and they are those which are called cleared land [rozas] […] And in the remainder and centre, as well as in private and common land, there are different areas of barren land, shrubland, scrub, thickets, high forests and low woodlands, all of which neither this village nor its residents put to any uses other than for cutting firewood for their homes, and using them for their livestock, except for the five hundred and seventy-nine reales the community receives from the shared farmland they lease in common, and the income usually obtained from leasing some riparian woodland for hunting, which will be recorded in the declaration [Memorial] submitted by the procurator.
tierras de pan llebar de secano, las que por lo común fructifican con un año de yntermedio, aunque existen algunas que, por ser de peor naturaleza, lo hacen con quatro años de descanso, y son las que llaman rozas […] Y que en el resto y centro, así del término particular como de los comunes expuestos, se encuentran diferentes tierras herías, estepales, vreñas, matorrales, montes altos y bajos, de todo lo qual no tiene esta villa ni sus vezinos otro aprobechamiento que la leña que cortan para la fogata de sus casas y el que tienen con sus ganados, a exzepción de los quinientos setenta y nueve reales que percibe el Común del término que en común arriendan de la Campiña y lo que suele producir el arrendamiento de la caza de unos sotos, que constará en el memorial que por parte del procurador está presentado.
thinned woodland with stands of oak, beech, pine juniper, holly and underbrush, which is not used at all by the community except for grazing and the firewood needed to heat their fireplaces.
monte hueco con matas de roble, aya, pino enebro, acevo y matabaja, que en nada se aprovecha el común, más que de los pastos y la leña necesaria para la calefacción de sus chimeneas.
A water-powered sawmill is owned by a resident of the town, Joseph Bariola, due to the abundance of timber in the area. However, it only operates for three months – March, April and May – because the river is unfit for this use during the rest of the year due to the shortage of water in summer and ice in winter. For this reason, its owner only obtains a meagre annual profit of 250 reales.24
Wood-pasture for grazing, newly planted […], in the meadows there is a portion of scattered oak and beech trees and different black poplars in the grazing wood-pasture, woodlands with the same species … pollarded holm oak woodlands and kermes oak woodlands with some broom that is not cut because it is so ordered, with Scots and mountain pine, and in the naturally unfruitful land, a small quantity of old oak woodland.
Dehesa boyal, nuevo plantío […], en los prados hay una porción de árboles de roble y fresno dispersos y diferentes álamos negros en la dehesa boyal, montes de las mismas especies … monte de encina olibado y chaparral con algo de retama que no se corta por estar así ordenado, con pinar albar y negral, y en la ynfructífera por naturaleza, monte de roble viejo en corta cantidad.
The other question that elicited the most information about woodlands is number 10,27 as it specifically enquired about the areas given over to different uses in the limits of the locality. This question is closely linked to the previous one, number 9, which requested information about the unit or units of measurement of area used in the locality,28 and to number 12, asking for the value of the woodland products to be specified when appropriate.29 As can be seen from the examples provided, these questions are complementary and offer researchers an insight into the use and valuation of the woodlands. For instance, after declaring that there are some 2,475 hectares of land in the
were they to be sold each fanega would be worth thirty-four maravedíes and, with the extraordinary practice of clearing and burning the woodland, wheat, barley and rye are sown in them by the residents at no cost.
si se vendieran valdría cada fanega treinta y quatro maravedíes y en ellas con la extraordinaria cultura de rozar y quemar el monte se siembra trigo, zebada y zenteno por los vezinos sin pagar cosa alguna.
of grazing land populated with pines, oaks and a few holm oaks, known by the name of Sertil, whose grass and wood are made use of, is composed of 6,600 measures. Of woodland populated with the abovementioned trees, called Mata del Horno, whose wood is made use of, 9,110 arrobas. Of wooded land, useless, 550. Of heath with no use, either common or private, 1,000 arrobas. Of rocky and craggy land, 2,000.
de pastos poblada de pinos, robres y algunas encinas, conocido con el nombre del sertil, cuya yerba y madera se beneficia, se compondrá de 6.600 medidas. De monte poblado de esos expresados árboles, llamado Mata del Horno, cuya madera se beneficia, 9.110 arrobas. De tierra montuosa, inútil, 550. De verezales sin utilidad ni en común ni en particular, 1.000 arrobas. De peñascos y riscos, 2.000.
the limits and land and woodland and pastureland of this village, which consists of 16,000 arrobas of land more or less, half of which is populated with pine, 2,000 with tall oaks, and the rest with barren land for grazing, produces 3,500 reales in grass, which the community receives from its leases, and as for the wood which the community sells to residents and outsiders, it produces and receives 500 reales yearly, with no further income.
el término y tierra y monte y pastos de esta villa, que se compone de 16.000 arrobas de tierra poco más o menos, la mitad poblada de pino, 2.000, de robres altos y las restantes de tierra yerma para pastos, produce por lo correspondiente a yerbas, 3.500 reales, que recibe el Común de sus
arriendos y, por lo que mira a la madera que vende el Común a vecinos y forasteros produce y recibe anualmente 500 reales, sin otro útil.34
due both to the good grazing and to the cutting of pines the council does there and sells to both residents and outsiders, whose profits go to the community; the area of all this is four thousand five hundred haces of land, more or less, each composed of one thousand and eighty-nine square paces. Another four thousand five hundred haces of second-class woodland, of this species, which amounts to another league and a half in respect of three thousand haces per league, of which the Council similarly makes use; and two leagues that are of third-class quality as tree cutting cannot be used by the community and privately because it is rough
and brambly, and only pasture is leased by the village for the grazing of transhumant merino flocks.
así por el buen pasto como por la corta de pinos que en ella haze el Conzejo y enajena así a vezinos como forasteros, cuyo útil será cargado al Común, que su cavida de toda ella es de quatro mil y quinientos azes de tierra, poco más o menos, compuesto cada uno de los mil y ochenta y nueve pasos en quadro. Otros quatro mil y quinientos azes de tierra de monte de segunda calidad, en esta espezie, que compone otra legua y media al respecto de tres mil azes por legua, que en la misma forma se aprovecha el Concejo; y dos leguas de tercera calidad por no poderse utilizar en común y particular de la corta de árboles por lo áspero y breñoso y solo el pasto se arrienda por la villa para herbaje de ganados merinos trashumantes.
of the pines that are regularly cut and sold by this village from the 4,500 haces of wood-pasture land, as they are of first-class quality in this species, 400, sold at one and a half reales apiece, fetch 600 reales de vellón every year, and in the 4,500 haces of woodland of second-class quality, every year 273 pines are cut which, at that price, total 490 reales. Grazing is not taken into account as it is enjoyed by the neighbourhood livestock. And this village leases third-class woodland at 5,000 reales per year for the grazing of transhumant merino sheep; and as for pines, the community does not use them for anything because they are in a brambly and rough place; and in the one-third that belongs to this village within the limits of Revenga nothing is used because the livestock of the community enjoy grazing and its firewood is consumed for their homes.
de los pinos que regularmente se cortan y venden por esta villa de los 4.500 azes de tierra que comprehende la dehesa, por ser de primera calidad en esta especie, 400 que, vendidos a real y medio cada uno, producen 600 reales de vellón cada un año y, en los 4.500 hazes de tierra que comprehende el monte de segunda calidad se cortan en cada un año 273 pinos que, a dicho precio, suman 490 reales, y que del pasto no se haze consideración por disfrutarlo los ganados del vezindario, y que el monte de terzera le tiene arrendado esta villa en 5.000 reales cada año para herbaje del ganado merino trashumante; y por lo tocante a pinos, no se utiliza el Común en cosa alguna por lo breñoso y áspero de su sitio; y que en la terzera parte que a esta villa pertenece en el término Rebenga no se utiliza en cosa alguna por disfrutar el pasto los ganados del común y su leña para el consumo de sus casas.
The importance of timber exploitation in the village is also revealed by the existence of two sawmills for sawing wood, one at the river Arlanza, owned by Juan Pérez, which they reckon yields a yearly profit of 1,500 reales, and the other at a stream they call Piavanares (probably the Rialares stream), owned by Antonio Medrano Cuesta, whose taxable base the experts calculate at 900 reales (question 17). A great deal of timber and a large expanse of woodland were needed to construct and repair so many carts, to load them, and to supply the two industrial facilities.
What territory do the village limits cover, how far does it stretch from east to west and from north to south, and what is its circumference, in hours and leagues, what boundaries or borders it has; and what its appearance is, including a drawing in the margin.
Qué territorio ocupa el término, cuánto de levante a poniente y del norte al sur, y cuánto de circunferencia, por horas, y leguas, qué linderos o confrontaciones; y qué figura tiene, poniéndola al margen.
When these maps exist, a detailed analysis of the elements included in them often enables us to identify the presence of wooded areas – on the basis how the relief is represented, because they are actually drawn, because they
Map of the village of Albox included in the Respuestas generales
SOURCE: ARCHIVO HISTÓRICO PROVINCIAL DE GRANADA, CE, LIB. 962
there are different grazing lands and high forest and some low woodland, and different pines and some Iberian holm oaks in the first, though they are few in number, scrubland and useless rocky land.
se hayan distintos pastos y monte alto y algún monte vaxo, y en el primero diferentes pinos y algunas carrascas, aunque estas son de corto número, matorral y tierra inútil de peñascos.
It is likewise stated that there is no wood-pasture land in the village limits. The answer to question 10 expands on and qualifies the information, as of the approximately 1,600 fanegas of land, 700 are high forest and low woodland, that is, 45.75%. Some twelve fanegas more or less are populated with pines, as the few existing Iberian holm oaks are scattered throughout the arable land. The woodland must have been significant and important to Albox’s economy if it was depicted with such prominence in the non-technical map. This hypothesis would appear to be confirmed by the fact that in the answer to question 32 the respondents state that there are different lumberjacks who do a trade with one or two beasts of burden and earn 15 reales per year; this seems to indicate that it is a secondary activity that supplemented these peasants’ economy. It is possible that many of the vecinos (heads of household) who engaged in this activity were among the 35 who lived in the country houses or farmhouses scattered throughout the village. There were also three carpenters and several master cartwrights, all professions linked to the exploitation of firewood and timber. A total of 637 vecinos provided the information for the Respuestas generales, though after the verifications were carried out they were found to amount to 788 laymen and 26 clergy, as reported in Vecindario de Ensenada (census).44 It should be remembered that the data provided in the Respuestas tends to be approximate. Greater accuracy is found in the Memoriales and in the verification conducted by the experts.
As the maps are non-technical, they vary in style of execution and content, depending on different variables. Whereas Albox is an example of maps
Map of Alboloduy included in the Respuestas generales
SOURCE: ARCHIVO HISTÓRICO PROVINCIAL DE GRANADA, CE, LIB. 955
as for the oaks there are in the high forest, they have declared that they cannot assign a particular yield to each tree […] because most of them are kermes oaks and Iberian holm oaks, which produce nothing […], though what can be said is that all of them will produce 300 fanegas of acorns yearly. And as for income from firewood, they cannot produce it either as cutting them is prohibited by the community and naval ministers, who have recognised this.
por lo que haze a las enzinas que ay en el monte alto que dexan declarado no pueden asignarle producto especial a cada árbol, […] porque la maior parte de ellas son chaparros y carrascas, que nada produzen, […] que lo que sí pueden decir, es que producirán el todo de ellas 300 fanegas de
vellota anualmente y que, por lo que haze a utilidad de leña, no la pueden hazer tampoco, por estar prohivida su corta por el Común y demás Ministros de Marina, que lo han reconocido.
After establishing that the price per fanega of acorns amounts to two reales, they state that the community obtains 600 reales annually from the sale of acorns produced in these woodlands.
which, as the terrain was for the most part mountainous, rough and with large depressions, could be walked around in 44 hours.
las que, por ser la mayor parte de dicho territorio montuoso, fragoso y de grandes profundidades, se podrán andar en 44 horas.
Map of the limits of Cazorla and La Iruela included in the Respuestas generales from Cazorla
SOURCE: ARCHIVO HISTÓRICO PROVINCIAL DE JAÉN, CE, LEG. 7.705
Obviously with such a terrain the wooded area must have been important to this village. Indeed, without going into detail about the composition of the flora in the wooded areas, the respondents state in their reply to question 4, after referring to those given over to crop cultivation, that there are rainfed areas which are planted with vines, a few olive groves, forests, pastures, scrub and woodlands. It is interesting to note that in this locality they draw a distinction between forests (bosques) and woodlands (montes), probably because it was among the wooded areas that were designated to supply timber to the Cartagena arsenal, together with the Sierra de Segura area.
It is not until the reply to question 6 that the experts and council of Cazorla refer to the composition of the flora of the wooded areas: “in the Sierra and other arable areas there are mostly holm oaks, oaks and pines with others that are fruitless, which are only good for the consumption of firewood” (“en la Sierra y otros sitios de labor están con mayor número los árboles de encinas, robles y pinos con otros infructíferos, que solo sirven para consumo de la leña”).49
The reply to the following questions supplements this information by providing details about the location of these and a few other species: “the holm oaks, oaks, pines, terebinths, strawberry trees, junipers and other different ones are found in the Sierra of these villages and other rainfed places such as Alcoray, Burunchel, Cañamares and Tramalla” (“las encinas, robles, pinos, cornetas, madroños, henebros y otros diferentes se hallan en la Sierra de estas villas y otros parajes de secano, como son Alcoray, Burunchel, Cañamares y Tramalla”).
The answer to question 10 provides key information about the characteristics, importance and size of the high forest and low woodland within this
Of this area, they reckon that hills, uncultivated land, wood-pasture, woodlands, scrub, stony ground, gullies, paths and rocky land account for some 60,000 fanegas (60 percent of the total area within the limits), including the sources of the rivers, streams, rocky hills and “the sites of those population centres, churches and farmhouses” (“los asientos de dichas poblaciones, iglesias y casas cortijos”).
They go on to explain the composition of this large area, stressing its possible agricultural value if rotation and sowing were practised at some point:
- –4,000 fanegas would be of second-class quality, could be sown and would produce the same quantities yielded by farmland of the same quality. They are not sown due to a shortage of residents of farms able to cultivate these areas or the poverty of their settlers. The respondents explain that the difficult terrain and large expanse of land within the limits call for this scattered interspersion to be able to put it into cultivation.
- –18,000 fanegas are populated with holm oaks, oaks, pines, strawberry trees and other fruitless trees “which are impossible to count due to their abundance and to the crags and crevices in which many of them are found” (“los que es imposible sujetar a cuenta por su muchedumbre, riscos y quiebras en que se hallan muchos de ellos”).
- –30,000 fanegas which are also considered mountainous and other places within the village limits, most of which are only of use as grazing for livestock, although they are rough and uneven, populated with low woodland and high forest and of no use for sowing.
- –The remaining 8,000 of the total of approximately 60,000 fanegas within the limits are rocky hills, with crevices and crags, part of which are impenetrable not only to people but also to livestock.
They end this account by adding that the remainder of the land within the confines up to the 100,000 fanegas given for the whole area within the limits of the two villages, Cazorla and Iruela, is arable, some parts irrigated and others rainfed.
As for acorns, they are neither leased nor sold because it is common for the residents of both villages to consume them with their livestock. Were they sold, they could fetch 1,500 reales yearly for a five-year period, considering that not all the holm oaks and oaks bear this fruit, and the roughness of the mountains inhabited by wolves, for which reason more people and dogs are needed to guard the livestock than would be necessary were there not these disadvantages.
por lo que mira al fruto de bellota, este no se arrienda ni vende porque asimismo es propio de los vecinos de ambas villas para consumirlos con sus ganados y, de haberse de vender, se pudiera dar por un quinquenio 1.500 reales cada un año, en atención a no ser todos los que llevan dicho fruto las encinas y robres, y lo fragoso de dicha Sierra y perseguida de lobos por cuyo motivo se necesita para la guarda del ganado de más gente y perros que el que dejaran de tener a no haber estos inconvenientes.
As for the exploitation or product of pines for construction timber, they also belong to those residents. A timber factory for rigging having been established at the aforesaid sawmill, either by the Royal Treasury or by contractors, it is considered that 2,000 pines could be cut every year, which, paid at four reales de vellón each, according to what appears to be laid down in the Royal Ordinances on woodlands, will provide this
community with 8,000 reales yearly. As with the other products and common resources which are sold or can be sold, one quarter of this quantity belongs to the village of Iruela and the remaining three quarters of all of them to this village. The aforesaid factory for rigging and main timbers is expected to come into operation shortly because in this village there is a person entrusted with this.
por lo que hace al aprovechamiento o producto de los pinos para piezas de construcción, también son de dichos vecinos y, consiguiendo establecer en dicha Sierra fábrica de madera para arboladura o bien de cuenta de la Real Hacienda o de asentistas, se considera podrán cortarse cada un año 2.000 pinos que, pagados cada uno de ellos por cuatro reales de vellón, según parece se previene por las Reales Ordenanzas de montes, tendrá de utilidad este común anualmente 8.000 reales, de cuya cantidad, como de los demás productos y aprovechamientos comunes que se venden o pueden venderse, pertenece a la villa de la Yruela la cuarta parte y las tres restantes de todos ellos a esta villa, la cual dicha fábrica de madera de arboladura y piezas madres se espera en breve poner en egecución a causa de haver en esta población sugeto comisionado para ella.
As for the use of firewood for the consumption of these two villages, both branches and charcoal and the other aforementioned uses are free for their residents and none is sold to other outsiders. And today, with the novelty of the new Ordinances issued by His Majesty and the person who has registered the aforesaid sawmill in his royal name, it is forbidden to cut green firewood, holm oak and oak, except at times when it is permitted to prune these trees, so that it is only possible to use dry firewood, and it is reckoned that this, and that used for the consumption of charcoal, if sold, could fetch 100 ducados de vellón every year.
en cuanto al aprovechamiento de leña para el consumo de estas dos villas así en rama como en carbón ésta [sic] como los demás referidos aprovechamientos son libres a sus vecinos y no hay egemplar se bendan a otros forasteros y oy con la novedad de las nuevas Ordenanzas expedidas por Su Majestad y persona que en su real nombre ha registrado dicha Sierra está prohibido se corte leña verde, encina y robre, a excepción de los tiempos en que se permite la limpia de estos árboles, con que solo se
puede gastar la leña seca y, regulada esta y la del consumo de carbón si se hubiera de vender, en cada año parece pudiera importar 100 ducados de vellón.
Further information about woodlands is provided in the answer to question 13, where it is stated that “each fanega of land populated with holm oaks or oaks, which will grow to 35 feet, will produce 26 fanegas of acorns each year, which are produced in alternate years” (“cada fanega de tierra poblada de encinas o robres, que cogerá 35 pies, producirá cada un año 26 fanegas de vellota, las cuales producen un año sí y otro no”). The respondents also reaffirm the statement made in the answer to question 1: “and it is noted that although there is an abundance of holm oaks and oaks in the mountainous parts of these villages, their use is shared by the residents of both, as stated in the previous question ten” (“y se adbierte de que, aunque en la Sierra de estas villas hay muchedumbre de encinas y robres, es común aprobechamiento de unos y otros vecinos, como va expresado en la pregunta diez antecedente”).
In the answer to the following question, number 14, they state that the price per fanega of holm oak or oak acorns is four reales, exactly double the amount paid for this fruit in Albolodu.
We will end the information on Cazorla by pointing out that the village claims to have some 900 lay heads of household, 700 of whom live in the centre and the rest in country houses, farmhouses and hamlets. There are many ecclesiastical vecinos: 29 priests, six recipients of benefices for their services and eleven chaplains. They all live in some 800 habitable houses located in the village centre, and 300 in country houses in the countryside and mountains. In addition, in the hamlet of Peal there are about 70 dwellings, some with broom roofs, a further 70 in the hamlet of Santo Tomé, and 40 in the hamlet of Thoya y Hornos. The respondents stress that these houses in the village centre, as well as the country houses, are inhabited by vecinos of both villages.51
Before ending the section on the Respuestas generales, it should be borne in mind that in a few specific cases information about woodlands also appears in the answer to question 40,52 generally in connection with royally owned wooded areas, some of which are used to produce timber for shipbuilding.
2 The Libros de lo Real and Memoriales: the Accuracy of the Cadastral Information
Whereas the Respuestas generales provide an overview of each and every one of the Castilian localities, for accurate data on assets, income and encumbrances it is necessary to turn to other cadastral documents: the Memoriales and the Libros de lo real.
The Instrucción annexed to the Royal Decree of 10 October 1749 established that the cadastral territorial unit was “the village” (“el pueblo”)53 and that all taxable persons, natural or legal, were to submit a declaration (Memorial) or list, signed by them or by a witness, of all the assets, income and encumbrances they possess in it; if they were a head of household residing in it (vecino), they should also include full information about their family, in the sense of extended family. Everything they declared was to be checked by the king’s experts and those appointed by the village: lands were to be assayed (“paseadas”) to check their size (“cabida”), use, quality, yields, location and boundaries, etc.; buildings measured by master builders (alarifes); people and livestock counted; annuities from leases (censos and foros) checked against receipts; and with tax revenues alienated from the Crown, their alienation proved by records of their purchase from the Royal Treasury or of their generous donation by the king, etc. Everything had to be reviewed. If a mistake or concealment was detected, the corrections were annotated in the Memoriales and if the declarant agreed to the correction with no further ado it was left at that. We find various corrections in the margins of the declarations and added at the end of documents, with the note “due to oversight” (“por olvido”) when an asset or income had been omitted. The word “verified” (“verificado”) or an alternative manner of
When everything had been reviewed and checked, the information from the Memoriales was compiled and divided into two sections. Demographic information was recorded in the Libro de cabezas de casa (Book of heads of household), entered in two separate books: one for the families of laymen and another for those of clergymen. The assets, income and encumbrances were registered in the Libro de lo real (Book of real estate) which was also double, one for laymen and another for clergy. When all the information had been recorded, it was compulsory to convene a plenary meeting of the council by tolling the bell (“a campa tañida”) and to read out in public the contents of both books and of the Respuestas generales, so that if anyone detected a mistake or concealment they could – and should – point it out. Once everything had been accepted, a record was issued stating that all those present agreed with the contents of both books. This was done to avoid possible future appeals, as had occurred with the cadastre drawn up years earlier in the Duchy of Milan.
called Boyal, which is in the place of La Platera, at a distance of one hundred and fifty paces from this village, and it is populated by oak forest without undergrowth and low woodland of Pyrenean oak, and two thirds are of this species and one is of the aforesaid forest without undergrowth;
the working cattle of the residents graze in it, and after Saint Michael’s day until March the other herds belonging to those residents commonly enter. The grazing land of the aforesaid wood-pasture is of lower quality, is more or less sixty fanegas in size, and the boundaries are not expressed because it is the only one and very well known. It is enclosed all around and for the aforesaid grazing land nothing is paid or contributed to the Council, and from the wood it has, that needed to build residents’ houses is cut, it being given to whoever requests it, for which they pay the aforesaid Council […]. The aforesaid areas of low woodland are cut for charcoal about every ten years, and the income from this and from timber for construction is paid to the Council, which, taking into account years that produce income and those that do not, is reckoned to amount to eighty reales annually.
llamada Boyal, que está al sitio de la Platera, distante de esta población ciento y cincuenta pasos y está poblada de monte hueco de roble y monte bajo de matorrales de rebollo, y de esta especie tendrá dos partes y una de dicho monte hueco, y en ella pastan los ganados bacunos de la labor de los vezinos y después de San Miguel y hasta marzo entran comúnmente los demás ganados de dichos vezinos y los pastos de la citada dehesa son de inferior calidad, tendrá de cavida como sesenta fanegas de tierra poco más o menos y los linderos no se expresan por ser única y muy conocida. Está cercada de pared alrededor, y por dichos pastos ni se paga ni contribuye cosa alguna a el Conzejo, y de las maderas que tiene se cortan las necesarias para los edificios de las casas de los vezinos, dando a el que se le ofrece, por las quales paga a dicho Concejo (…), y las citadas matas de monte bajo se cortan para carbón como de diez en diez años, cuio producto y lo de las maderas de edificios entran en propios del Conzejo, lo cual nos parece importara un año con otro, cotejado el que produze con el que no produze como ochenta reales anualmente.
In the margin of this description is a note, made by the experts who checked the statements: “In the field survey it was found to have one hundred and eleven peonadas and in other respects it was verified, the drawing in the margin” (“En el reconocimiento de campo se halló tener ciento y once peonadas y en lo demás comprovose, su figura al margen”).
Beside this description is a drawing of the land “as it appears to the eye” (“como se aparece a la vista”). The value of its produce is also stated: this would be its taxable base, established by the experts in this inspection. Therefore the expression “eighty reales annually” (“ochenta reales anualmente”) included at
a wood-pasture called Boyal, which is within the limits of the aforesaid place of la Platera, one hundred and fifty paces from the population centre; it measures one hundred and eleven peonadas, and is of lower quality. It is populated with low woodland of scrub and Pyrenean oak and tall oaks, and is used for grazing the working cattle of the residents, it is enclosed on all sides. And these oaks are given freely to the residents to rebuild their houses and the low woodlands are cut every ten years for charcoal and their use is established at eighty reales. The tax class – in this case the twelfth of those established for the land within the limits of this village – is added in the margin.
una dehesa llamada boial, que está en el término de dicho lugar a la Platera, distante a la población ciento cincuenta pasos, cave ciento y once peonadas, es de inferior calidad. Está poblada de monte bajo de matorrales y rebollo y robles altos, la que sirve para pastar los ganados bacunos de la lavor de los vecinos, está cercada de pared a todos aires. Y dichos robles se dan graciosamente a los vecinos para la rehedificación de sus casas y lo de monte bajo se corta de diez en diez años para carvón y su usufructo está regulado en ochenta reales. En el margen, se añade la clase fiscal, en este caso, la 12ª de las tierras del término.56
A juniper woodland of rocky and craggy land which has never been cultivated and cannot be, called Campo la Raposa, Dornajo, Espeluca and Cabeza el Aliagar. It is one quarter of a league wide and three quarters of a league long, it borders to the north with the limits of the place of Contreras, to the east with the road to the aforesaid place, to the southeast
with the holm oak woodland of this village centre, and to the northeast with the limits of the common land of the place of Santiváñez and the said village and all of this amounts to fifty fanegas.
Un monte enebral peñascoso y riscoso que jamás se a cultivado ni puede, yntitulado Campo la raposa, dornajo, espeluca y cabeza el aliagar, el que tiene de ancho un quarto de legua, y de largo tres quartos de legua, surca zierzo término del lugar de Contreras, al solano, camino de dicho lugar, al abregp, monte enzinar propio del casco de esta villa y a regañón, término comunero del lugar de Santiváñez y esta dicha villa y todo él haze zincuenta fanegas.
juniper woodland fifty fanegas of rocky land which they call Campo Raposa, Dornajo, Espeluca and Cabeza de Aliagar, which is only good for shared grazing for livestock. It borders to the north with the limits of Contreras, to the east with the road to that place, to the southeast with the woodland of the village centre, to the northeast with the common land of the place of Santiváñez.
Un monte de enebro de cincuenta fanegas de tierra peñascosa que llaman campo raposa, dornajo, espeluca y caveza de aliagar que solo sirve de pasto común para los ganados, confronta por zierzo con término propio de Contreras por solano con camino que a dicho lugar, por ábrego con monte propio del casco de villa, por regañón con término comunero del lugar de Santiváñez.58
another woodland, which they call Monte Arandilla, or Cantaborricos, which is uncultivated and with no trees at all, one hundred fanegas in size, with no use whatsoever: it borders to the north with the Canta Burras road, to the east with the plot of la Presa, to the southeast with the river Duero and to the northeast with the Picocho plot, at a distance of 500 paces.
Otro monte, que llaman monte Arandilla, o Cantaborricos, que se alla echo herial y sin árbol alguno, de cavida de cien fanegas, sin aprovechamiento alguno; confronta por cierzo camino de Canta Burras, solano, pago de la Presa, ábrego el río Duero y regañón, el pago de el Picocho, dista 500 pasos.
A woodland, which is called El Viejo, which is of Iberian holm oak, with a few tall crowns, which is half a quarter of a league long and wide; and another, which is named Los Montecillos, is of Iberian holm oaks or thickets of holm oaks, and is the same length and width, and inside and outside them are as many as sixty fanegas of sown treeless land and two meadows […] and the grass they produce is only used for the grazing of this village’s livestock; and the firewood of the aforesaid woodlands is cut by the residents […] with great limitations, and for this reason it does not supply them with what they need, and they buy it elsewhere.
Un monte, que se llama El Viejo, que es de carrasca de encina, con algunos pies altos, que tiene de largo y ancho medio quarto de legua; y otro, que
se intitula Los Montecillos, es de carrascas o matorrales de encinas, y tiene el mismo largo y ancho, y dentro y fuera de ellos se comprehenden hasta sesenta fanegas de sembradura de tierra blanca y dos prados […] y la yerba que producen únicamente sirve para pastar los ganados de este pueblo; y la leña de dichos montes, para dar corta a los vecinos […] con mucha limitación, y por lo mismo no les alcanza para la que necesitan, y la compran fuera.
The points discussed above and illustrated with examples underline the type of information the cadastral documents provide about woodlands and their ownership, size, flora, administrative situation and uses. They also show that the establishment of the taxable base – that is, their value with a view to levying the tax – depended on whether their yields (from grazing, firewood, produce, timber, etc.) were a necessary part of the locals’ economy or whether any of them were sold. In the case of the former, their value was considered to be included in that of the productive livestock and arable land, and therefore their valuation for tax purposes was nil. However, if the council and residents obtained revenues of any kind from their woodlands (from cutting and selling wood, leasing pastures, etc.), this income would be subject to the single tax.
This brings us to another issue that is important to stress with a view to comparative studies: the wide range of land measurement units employed in the different parts of the kingdom. The Cadastre recorded the areas in the specific measurement units used in each place, asking the respondents to give the equivalent in square Castilian varas, though not all places managed to provide such information. It was not until the following century that the decimal metric system was adopted. Converting measurements into it is a task that is complex at times but doable, even if only approximately. Furthermore, the fact that it reflects this diversity also makes it a rich source of information, because it enables us to study the territorial distribution of these units and their size.
3 Conclusions
In conclusion, it should be noted that the Ensenada Cadastre (Catastro de Ensenada) is a unique huge collection of information on population, material resources, economy, administrative organization and geography from Castile in the middle of the eighteenth century. This allows researchers to study the forests themselves and their role in the economic activity of the localities in which they are located. However, it must be kept in mind that information on
Webgraphy
Websites that provide access to digitized documentation from the Ensenada Cadastre:
Andalusian Archives Web (Portal de Archivos de Andalucía) https://ws096.juntadeandalucia.es/archivaWeb/
Archivo Histórico Provincial de La Rioja: https://catastrodeensenada.larioja.org/
Familysearch: https://www.familysearch.org/es/home/portal/
PARES: https://pares.mcu.es/Catastro/servlets/ServletController?ini=0&accion=0&mapas=0&tipo=0
Abbreviations
ADBU: Archivo de la Diputación de Burgos
CE: Catastro de Ensenada
AGS: Archivo General de Simancas
CE: Catastro de Ensenada
DGR: Dirección General de Rentas, 1º remesa
AHN: Archivo Histórico Nacional
CE: Catastro de Ensenada
FMH: Fondo Histórico del Ministerio de Hacienda
AHPGR: Archivo Histórico Provincial de Granada
CE: Catastro de Ensenada
AHPJA: Archivo Histórico Provincial de Jaén
CE: Catastro de Ensenada
Acknowledgements
This study has been conducted as part of the Research Projects I+D+i of the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, entitled: Avanzando en el conocimiento del
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Rey Castelao, Ofelia. Montes y política forestal en la Galicia del antiguo régimen. Santiago de Compostela: Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, 1995.
Rey Castelao, Ofelia. “Montes, bosques y zonas comunales aprovechamientos agrícola-ganaderos, forestales y cinegéticos.” In VII Reunión Científica de la Fundación Española de Historia Moderna, coordinated by Francisco José Aranda Pérez, 907–996. Ciudad Real: Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha (2004), vol. 2, pp. 907–66.
Rodríguez Cancho, Miguel. “Interrogatorios del siglo XVIII. Estudio comparativo.” Norba 2 (1981), 221–32.
Rodríguez Cancho, Miguel and Gonzalo Barrientos Alfageme, eds. Interrogatorio de la Real Audiencia Extremadura a finales de los tiempos modernos. Mérida: Asamblea de Extremadura, 1993–1996, 11 vols.
Rodríguez Espinosa, Eduardo and Mª Ángeles Rodríguez Doménech. Mapas mentales y realidad en la Intendencia de la Mancha a mediados del XVIII. Superficie, población y croquis municipales del Catastro de Ensenada. Valencia: Tirant humanidades, 2023.
Rodríguez Espinosa, Eduardo, Mª Ángeles Rodríguez Doménech and Concepción Camarero Bullón. “La representación cartográfica de los municipios manchegos en el XVIII. El Catastro de Ensenada.” Anales de Geografía de la Universidad Complutense 40, no. 2 (2020), 499–540, https://doi.org/10.5209/aguc.72984.
Ruiz Álvarez, Raúl, “Economía de estado: La gestión de los montes del sur peninsular en el siglo XVIII.” In Raíces profundas: un viaje por las fuentes geohistóricas hasta la Ilustración, coordinated by Concepción Camarero Bullón, María S. Gómez Navarro, Alfonso Fernández-Arroyo López-Manzanares, Miguel B. Bernabé Crespo. Cantabria: Editorial Universidad de Cantabria (2024), pp. 419–440.
Sanz Sanjosé, Gloria: “Dinámica de las masas forestales en el territorio de Riofrío (Segovia).” Cuadernos de la Sociedad Española de Ciencias Forestales 16 (2003), 273–78.
Sobrado Correa, Hortensio. “Rozas, estivadas y pan de vedro: el cultivo temporal del monte en la Galicia de la Edad Moderna.” Historia agraria, Revista de agricultura e historia rural 89 (2023), 61–94, DOI:.
Vallina Rodríguez, Alejandro and Nadezda Konyushikhina. “Los interrogatorios de los Catastros españoles de la Edad Moderna: fuentes geohistóricas para conocer los paisajes y las sociedades.” CT Catastro 91 (2017), 39–63.
Ordenanza que Su Magestad, Dios le guarde, manda observar para la cría, conservación, plantíos y cortas de los montes, con especialidad los que están inmediatos a la mar y ríos navegables: método y reglas que en esta materia deben seguir los intendentes de marina, establecidos en los tres departamentos de Cádiz, Ferrol y Cartagena, of 31 January 1748, and Real Ordenanza sobre aumento de plantíos y conservación de montes, of 7 December of the same year.
AHN, Consejos, lib. 1510.
For Spain they are called Relaciones Topográficas and for the Americas Relaciones Geográficas.
The complete questionnaire can be found in Nadezda Konyushikhina, “Los cuestionarios para las Relaciones topográficas de Felipe II y las Relaciones geográficas de Indias de los años 1570,” CT Catastro 89 (2017), 25–8.
Tomás López used his 15-point questionnaire for just over three decades, making only slight changes. The first documented variation dates from 1763, though it was still not fully defined them. The best-known model is that of the 1780s. It was appended in manuscript form to the letters he sent to the villages. The surviving replies are held in the Biblioteca Nacional and are available at the Biblioteca digital hispánica. A reference book on Tomás López’s work is Antonio López Gómez y Carmen Manso Porto, Cartografía del siglo XVIII. Tomás López en la Academia (Madrid: Real Academia de la Historia, 2006).
Concepción Camarero Bullón and Ángel Ignacio Aguilar Cuesta, “La cartografía, instrumento para conocer el territorio, planificar y gestionar las reformas en la España del siglo XVIII,” Manuscrits. Revista d’Història Moderna 42 (2020), 151 and ff.
On the Interrogatorio de la Audiencia de Extremadura, see: Miguel Rodríguez Cancho, “Interrogatorios del siglo XVIII. Estudio comparativo,” Norba 2 (1981), 221–32. The replies from the villages to the audiencia’s questionnaire are published in Miguel Rodríguez Cancho and Gonzalo Barrientos Alfageme, eds. Interrogatorio de la Real Audiencia Extremadura a finales de los tiempos modernos (Mérida: Asamblea de Extremadura, 1993–1996), 11 vols.
Concepción Camarero Bullón and Miguel C. Vivancos: “Con ‘letras antiguas y en latín’: la copia de los privilegios antiguos en el Catastro de Ensenada,” in La Corte de los Borbones: crisis del modelo cortesano, coord. José Martínez Millán, Concepción Camarero Bullón and Marcelo Luzzi Traficante (Madrid: Ediciones Polifemo, 2015), vol. I, 77–119.
For the documentary structure of the Ensenada Cadastre, see Concepción Camarero Bullón, “Vasallos y pueblos castellanos ante una averiguación más allá de lo fiscal: el Catastro de Ensenada, 1749–1756,” in El Catastro de Ensenada. Magna averiguación fiscal para alivio de los vasallos y mejor conocimiento de los reinos, dir. Ignacio Durán Boo and Concepción Camarero Bullón (Madrid: Ministerio de Hacienda, 2002), 194.
Concepción Camarero Bullón, “El Catastro de Ensenada, 1749–1759: diez años de intenso trabajo y 80.000 volúmenes manuscritos,” CT Catastro 46 (2000), 61–88 (Spanish), 141–53 (English). Alejandro Vallina Rodríguez and Nadezda Konyushikhina, “Los interrogatorios de los Catastros españoles de la Edad Moderna: fuentes geohistóricas para conocer los paisajes y las sociedades,” CT Catastro 91 (2017), 39–63.
The Archivo General de Simancas houses a complete copy of the Respuestas generales that were sent to the board. It is only missing the Respuestas generales of Madrid, Villa y Corte, which were not drawn up, and those of the municipality of Madrid, which are held in the Archivo Histórico Nacional. They are published, together with the Estados locales of the Villa y Corte, in Concepción Camarero Bullón, Madrid y su provincia en el Catastro de Ensenada. I. La Villa y Corte, II. Los pueblos (Madrid: Ediciones del Umbral, 2001–2005), 2 vols.
The local documentation in the Ensenada Cadastre that was deposited at the provincial counting houses in the capitals of the former provinces are now housed in the Archivos Históricos Provinciales, except for those of Madrid, which are in the Archivo Histórico Nacional, Burgos, which are in the Archivo de la Diputación de Burgos, and Coruña, which are in the Archivo del Reino de Galicia. The provincial documentation is distributed between the Archivo General de Simancas and the Archivo Histórico Nacional.
They are available at the PARES portal. https://pares.mcu.es/Catastro/servlets/ServletController?ini=0&accion=0&mapas=0&tipo=0.
Antonio Matilla Tascón, La Única Contribución y el Catastro de la Ensenada (Madrid: Ministerio de Hacienda, 1957).
The following are examples of research on woodlands for which the Cadastre was used, in some cases without a very clear idea of its documentary structure and the criteria for gathering the information. Jesús Bravo Lozano, Montes para Madrid. El abastecimiento de carbón vegetal a la villa y corte en los siglos XVII y XVIII (Madrid: Caja de Madrid, 1993); Inocencio Cadiñanos Bardeci, “Los Montes de Sanabria a fines del siglo XVIII y comienzos del XIX,” Anuario del Instituto de Estudios Zamoranos Florián de Ocampo 27 (2010), 237–54; Vicente Casals Costa, “Conocimiento científico, innovación técnica y fomento de los montes durante el siglo XVIII,” In El Siglo de las luces: de la industria al ámbito agroforestal, coord. Manuel Silva Suárez (Zaragoza: Diputación Provincial, 2005), 453–500; Luis Javier Coronas Vida, “Montes y arbolado en los pueblos de la jurisdicción de Burgos durante el siglo XVIII,” Boletín de la Institución Fernán González 232 (2006), 179–222; Concepción Diego Liaño and Juan Carlos García Codrón, “La Corona y los pueblos en la explotación de los montes de Cantabria: deforestación y gestión del bosque en la segunda mitad del siglo XVIII,” Cuadernos de la Sociedad Española de Ciencias Forestales 16 (2003), 215–20; Rafael Fernández Aldana, “Evolución de los hayedos en las cuencas de los ríos Leza, Jubera y Cidacos entre los siglos XVIII y XX, a partir del Catastro de Ensenada, de las Relaciones de Tomás López, del Diccionario de Madoz y de la clasificación y el catálogo de los montes públicos,” Zubía 13 (2001). 113–138; Concepción Fidalgo Hijano and Juan Antonio González, “El entorno de las Lagunas de Ruidera en el siglo XVIII a la luz del catastro de Ensenada y la cartografía de la época,” CT Catastro, 77 (2013), 43–66; Gloria Sanz Sanjosé, “Dinámica de las masas forestales en el territorio de Riofrío (Segovia),” Cuadernos de la Sociedad Española de Ciencias Forestales 16 (2003), 273–78; Jorge Mongil Manso and Javier Álvarez Martínez, “El Catastro de Ensenada y sus aplicaciones en trabajos sobre el medio natural,” Medio Ambiente en Castilla y León 17 (2002), 43–8; Jorge Mongil Manso and Javier Álvarez Martínez, “Análisis de algunos factores determinantes de la superficie forestal de las provincias de Segovia y Soria en el siglo XVIII,” Cuadernos de la Sociedad Española de Ciencias Forestales 16 (2003), 221–25; José Ramón Moreno Fernández, El monte público en La Rioja durante los siglos XVIII y XIX: aproximación a la desarticulación del régimen comunal (Logroño: Gobierno de La Rioja, 1994); Emilio Pérez Romero, Patrimonios comunales, ganadería trashumante y sociedad en la Tierra de Soria. Siglos XVIII–XIX (Salamanca: Junta de Castilla y León, 1995); Ofelia Rey Castelao, Montes y política forestal en la Galicia del antiguo régimen (Santiago de Compostela: Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, 1995); Ofelia Rey Castelao, “Montes, bosques y zonas comunales aprovechamientos agrícola-ganaderos, forestales y cinegéticos,” in VII Reunión Científica de la Fundación Española de Historia Moderna, coord. Francisco José Aranda Pérez (Ciudad Real: Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, 2004), vol. 2, 907–66; Hortensio Sobrado Correa, “Rozas, estivadas y pan de vedro: el cultivo temporal del monte en la Galicia de la Edad Moderna,” Historia agraria, Revista de agricultura e historia rural 89 (2023), 61–94.
“1. What the village is called” (1ª Cómo se llama la Población”).
ADBU, CE, leg. 1912 and AGS, DGR, 1ª remesa, lib. 21.
“4. What kinds of land are there in the village limits: irrigated, rainfed, specifying whether they are of vegetables, arable, vines, pastures, forests, thickets, woodlands and others there may be, explaining whether there are any which produce more than one harvest per year, those that yield only once, and those which need to rest for an intermediate year.” (“4ª Qué especies de tierra se hallan en el término; si de regadío, y de secano, distinguiendo son de hortaliza, sembradura, viñas, pastos, bosques, matorrales, montes, y demás, que pudiera haber, explicando si hay algunas que produzcan más de una cosecha al año, las que fructificaron solo una, y las que necesitan de un año de intermedio de Descanso.”).
ADBU, CE, leg. 1912 and AGS, DGR, 1ª remesa, lib. 21.
The town of El Escorial should not be confused with the Royal Site of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, which was not recorded in the cadastre because the royal sites where the king spent seasonal sojourns and the newly created Royal Site of San Fernando were excluded from the process. This is not true of the rest of the royal sites and the king’s properties, which were recorded along with other localities, for example Soto de Roma, Gózquez and Aceca, among others. See Félix Labrador Arroyo “Protection and Production: Soto de Roma in the seventeenth century,” in Árvores, barcos e homens na Península Ibérica (séculos XVI–XVIII), eds. Rosa Varela Gomes and Koldo Trápaga-Monchet (Zaragoza: Pórtico Librerías, 2017), 1–12; Félix Labrador Arroyo and Koldo Trápaga-Monchet, “La configuración del espacio y la explotación forestal de un enclave singular: el Real Sitio del Soto de Roma durante la dinastía Habsburgo,” Studia historica. Historia moderna 39, no. 2 (2017), 293–327; Concepción Camarero Bullón and Ángel Ignacio Aguilar Cuesta, “Sitios Reales menores y Sitios del Rey en el Catastro de Ensenada del Reino de Granada,” in De reinos a naciones: espacios, territorios y mentalidades, coords. Juan Jimémez Castillo and Manuel Rivero Rodríguez, De reinos a naciones: espacios, territorios y mentalidades (Madrid: Polifemo, 2021), 155–92; Concepción Camarero Bullón and Laura García Juan, “Geografía histórica de los espacios reales: Alóndiga, Aceca y Barciles, despoblados del rey en la vega del Tajo,” Estudios Geográficos 284 (2018), 209–35.
AGS, DGR, 1ª remesa, lib. 546 (San Juan de Arroxo) and ADBU, CE, lib. 1740 (Salas de los Infantes).
ADBU, CE, lib. 1740 and AGS, DGR, 1ª remesa, lib. 21.
ADBU, CE, lib. 1184 and AGS, DGR, 1ª remesa, lib. 13.
When the Cadastre was drawn up in 1753, according to the Respuestas generales Neila had 233 lay vecinos (heads of household), including two disabled people and twelve widows, and five clergy, two or them belonging to minor orders. There are also four inhabitants. The key to its economy is transhumance, an activity in which a very significant portion of the male population was engaged. The village’s merino sheep breeders were part of the sheep owners’ guild (“comprehendida en la Real Cabaña de Merinas”).
AGS, DGR, 1ª remesa, lib. 546.
“6. If there are any plantings of trees in the lands they have declared, such as fruit, mulberry, olive, fig, almond trees, grapevines, carob trees, etc.” (“6ª Si hay alguno plantío de árboles en las tierras que han declarado, como frutales, moreras, olivos, higueras, almendros, parras, algarrobos, etc.”).
“10. What number of measures of land there are in the village limits, specifying those of each species and quality; for example: how many fanegas, or the name of the unit of measurement for arable land, of best quality; how many of medium quality, and how many of low quality; and the same for the other species they have declared” (“10ª Qué número de medidas de tierra havrá en el término, distinguiendo las de cada especie y calidad; por exemplo: tantas fanegas, o del nombre que tuviese la medida de tierra de sembradura, de la mejor calidad; tantas de mediana bondad, y tantas de inferior; y lo propio en las demás especies que huvieren declarado”).
“9. What number of measures of land is used in that village; of how many paces or Castillian square varas it is composed; what is the quantity of each species of grain which is harvested in the village limits, how much is sown in each one” (“9ª Qué número de medidas de tierra se usa en aquel pueblo; de quántos pasos o varas castellanas en quadro se compone; qué cantidad de cada especie de granos, de los que se cogen en el término, se siembra en cada una”).
“What quantity of produce each species yields, from year to year, with ordinary cultivation, a measure of land of each species and the quality of those there are in the village limits, not including any produce from trees” (“12ª Qué cantidad de frutos de cada género, unos años con otros, produce, con una ordinaria cultura, una medida de tierra de cada especie y calidad de las que hubiere en el término, sin comprender el producto de los árboles que hubiese”).
AGS, DGR, 1ª remesa, lib. 323 and AHPJA, CE, lib. 7654.
Pedro Gil Abad, Junta y Hermandad de la Cabaña Real de Carreteros Burgos-Soria (Burgos: Diputación Provincial de Burgos, 1983).
In this locality an arroba of land was equivalent to 202 feet.
ADBU, CE, lib. 396 and AGS, DGR, 1ª remesa, lib. 12.
The Cadastre records about a hundred carts and some 80 individuals who earned a living from transportation. According to the Vecindario de Ensenada (census) the town had 111.5 lay heads of household (vecinos) and 2 who were secular clergy. Widows counted as half a vecino. Using the data gathered from the cadastral survey, in 1759 a census was drawn up – a document not envisaged in the Instructions – listing the vecinos of all the surveyed localities after checking and correcting the information provided in the declarations. That of all the provinces except those of Jaén and León-Asturias still survives. It was transcribed and published in Colección Alcabala del Viento, Concepción Camarero Bullón and Jesús Campos, Vecindario de Ensenada, 1759 (Madrid: Centro de Gestión Catastral y Cooperación Tributaria y Tabapress, 1991), tomo 1, 96).
The local carters had no fewer than 1,023 oxen for transporting and 273 untamed young bulls and cows as replacements. The number of carts registered in the Cadastre was more than 350 and a hundred or so men were engaged in this activity. According to the Vecindario de Ensenada, the town had 155 lay heads of household and 3 who were secular clergy, see Camarero Bullón and Campos, Vecindario de Ensenada, tomo 1, 102; Pedro Gil Abad, introduction, Quintanar de la Sierra 1753, según las Respuestas generales del Catastro de Ensenada (Madrid: Centro de Gestión Catastral y Cooperación Tributaria y Tabapress, 1992).
ADBU, CE, lib. 1497 and AGS, DGR, 1ª remesa, lib. 14.
“What are the trees there are considered to yield per measure of land, according to the form in which they are planted, each in its species” (“13ª Qué producto se regula darán por medida de tierra los arboles que hubiere, según la forma en que estuviese hecho el plantío, cada uno en su especie”).
AHN, Consejos, lib. 1510.
Concepción Camarero Bullón, Amparo Ferrer Rodríguez and Juan Gámez Navarro, “El proceso de elaboración del Catastro de Ensenada en el Reino de Jaén,” CT Catastro 43 (2001), 19–50. Ángel Ignacio Águilar Cuesta, Catastrar las Castillas: racionalidad frente a despilfarro. El coste de la realización del catastro de ensenada en el Reino de Jaén (PhD dissertation: Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 2021).
Concepción Camarero Bullón, “La cartografía en el Catastro de Ensenada, 1750–56,” Estudios Geográficos 231 (1998), 245–83.
Eduardo Rodríguez Espinosa, Mª Ángeles Rodríguez Doménech and Concepción Camarero Bullón, “La representación cartográfica de los municipios manchegos en el XVIII. El Catastro de Ensenada,” Anales de Geografía de la Universidad Complutense 40, no. 2 (2020), 499–540; Eduardo Rodríguez Espinosa and Mª Ángeles Rodríguez Doménech, Mapas mentales y realidad en la Intendencia de la Mancha a mediados del XVIII. Superficie, población y croquis municipales del Catastro de Ensenada (Valencia: Tirant humanidades, 2023).
Mª José Ortega Chinchilla, “Cartografía del espacio vivido: los croquis del Catastro de Ensenada y del Diccionario Geográfico de Tomás López desde el enfoque de la Geografía de la Percepción,” CT Catastro 95 (2019), 9–44. Ana Luna San Eugenio, “Una propuesta para la sistematización y la difusión de la cartografía del catastro de Ensenada,” in Presentar, divulgar, conocer y valorar el patrimonio: Propuestas de trabajo transdisciplinares, dirs. Félix Labrador Arroyo and Pablo Osma Rodríguez (Madrid: Dykinson, 2023), 79–94.
(AGS, DGR, 1ª remesa, lib. 277 y AHPGRA, CE, lib. 962).
Camarero Bullón and Campos, Vecindario de Ensenada, tomo 2, 522.
It is spelled Alboludoi in both the local and the provincial cadastral information.
Camarero Bullón and Campos, Vecindario de Ensenada, tomo 2, 524.
AGS, DGR, 1ª remesa, lib. 279 y AHPGR, CE, lib. 955.
AGS, DGR, 1ª remesa, lib. 324 y AHPJA, CE, lib. 7705. All information regarding Cazorla corresponds to this documentation.
AGS, DGR, 1ª remesa, lib. 279 y AHPGR, CE, lib. 955.
In the 40,000 fanegas of arable land, which are those that they cultivate, they include some 1,000 consisting of several areas of wood-pasture and common land, to whose grazing rights, if sold, they assign a value: “today each fanega is worth in terms of grazing one real de vellón due to the many there are within the limits of this village and the aforesaid wood-pasture and common land are considered to have 1,000 fanegas of land, whose annual yield amounts to 1,000 reales” (“hoy valiera cada fanega por razón de pastos un real de vellón por los muchos que hay en este término y se consideran tener dichas dehesas y ejidos 1.000 fanegas de tierra, que su producto anual ha dicho precio importa 1.000 reales”).
The Respuestas generales provided by Cazorla and the Libro de cabezas de casa can be consulted in Norman Ball, introduction, Cazorla, 1751, según las Respuestas Generales del Catastro de Ensenada (Madrid: Centro de Gestión Catastral y Cooperación Tributaria, 1993).
“40. If, within the locality or village, the king has any estate or revenue that does not come under the general or provincial [tax] revenues, which are to be repealed; which ones they are, how they are administered and how much they yield” (“40ª. Si el rey tiene en el término o pueblo alguna finca o renta, que no corresponda a las generales ni a las provinciales, que deben extinguirse; cuáles son, cómo se administran y cuánto producen”).
The criteria for defining “the village,” the territorial unit, were tithed land (tazmía) and independent land subject to sales tax (alcabalatorio independiente).
Archivo Histórico Nacional (AHN), Fondo Histórico del Ministerio de Hacienda (HMH), Catastro de Ensenada (CE), libro 132.
AHN, FHMH, CE, libro 130.
For how the note on the value is calculated and structured, see Camarero Bullón, “Vasallos y pueblos,” 354–55.
Archivo de la Diputación de Burgos (ADBU), Catastro de Ensenada (CE), libro 6768.
ADBU, CE, libro 6759. The Respuestas generales provided by Aranda are published in the Colección Alcabala del Viento: Pierre Amalric, introduction, Aranda de Duero 1752, según las respuestas generales del Catastro de Ensenada (Madrid: Centro de Gestión Catastral y Cooperación Tributaria y Tabapress, 1990).
ADBU, CE, libro 80.
ADBU, CE, libro 1174.