Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-xbtfd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-15T07:31:21.316Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Don Juan de Goyeneche: Industrialist of Eighteenth-Century Spain

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 June 2012

William J. Callahan
Affiliation:
Assistant Professor of History, University of Toronto

Abstract

Part of the eighteenth-century Spanish crown's attempt to restore national power through the promotion of trade and manufacturing was a campaign to eradicate the aversions of the nobility toward commerce and industry. Don Juan de Goyeneche was most often held up as the model of what the state expected of its noblemen. But Professor Callahan concludes that Goyeneche's significance lies more in symbol that in accomplishment.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The President and Fellows of Harvard College 1969

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 For summaries of French legislation see Foster, Charles A., “Honoring Commerce and Industry in Eighteenth Century France” (Ph.D. dissertation, Harvard University, 1950), 110 ffGoogle Scholar; Zeller, Gaston, “Une notion de caractère historico-social: la dérogeance,” Cahiers Internationaux de Sociologie, XXV (19571958), 5369.Google Scholar

2 Libro VIII, título XXIV, ley I. Novísimà recopilación in Codigos Antiguos de España, M. Martínez Alcubilla (ed.) (2 vols., Madrid, 1885).

3 Jacobo María de Espinosa, “Discurso preliminar” in Coyer, François, La nobleza comerciante (Madrid, 1781), lv.Google Scholar

4 Ibid., lvi; Juan Antonio de los Heros, Discursos sobre el comercio (1775) in Semanario erudito (1787–1791), XXV–XXVI, 167.

5 The charter creating the Company of Burgos, for example, declared that investment in the enterprise would never serve as “an obstacle to nobility.” Consulta of the General Junta of Commerce, October 17, 1767. Archivo General de Simancas, leg. 855.

6 de Castro, Juan Francisco, Discursos críticos sobre las leyes y sus interpretes (3 vols., Madrid, 17651770), III, 285–91.Google Scholar

7 de Foronda, Valentín, “Lo honrosa que es la profesión del comercio,” Miscelánea o colección de varios discursos (Madrid, 1787), 1.Google Scholar

8 The original edition: La noblesse commerçante (Paris, 1757). For a summary of Cover's argument, see Hecht, J., “Un problème de population active au xviiie siècle en France: la querelle de la noblesse commerçante,” Populations, XIX (1964), 267–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

9 See particularly Heros, Discursos sobre el comercio, and Espinosa, “Discurso preliminar.” For the influence of Coyer on the Basque nobility, see de Otaola, Ana, “Nobleza comerciante y Sociedades de Amigos del País,” Boletín de la Real Sociedad Vascongada de Amigos del País, XXI (1965), 131–50.Google Scholar

10 Vicens Vives, J. (ed.), Historia de España y América (5 vols., Barcelona, 1961), IV, 5868.Google Scholar

11 Ortiz, Antonio Domínguez, La sociedad española en el siglo XVIII (Madrid, 1955), 78.Google Scholar

12 Marquisof Saltillo, , “La nobleza española en el siglo XVIII,” Revista de Archivos, Bibliotecas y Museos, LX (1954), 418Google Scholar; Garcia-Oliva, Mario, “Oficios mecánicos en la nobleza montañesa,” Hidalguía, IX (1961), 299Google Scholar; Solano, Tomás Maza, Nobleza, hidalguía, profesiones y oficios en la Montaña (5 vols., Santander, 19531956)Google Scholar, passim.

13 Isla, Mercedes Mauleon, La población de Bilbao en el siglo XVIII (Valladolid, 1961), 152–53.Google Scholar The Breton concept of “noblesse dormante” or temporary suspension of nobility while the noble engaged in commerce did not prevail in the Basque Provinces where an hidalgo could engage in maritime trade and retain his noble status intact. For a study of the situation in Brittany see, Meyer, Jean, La noblesse bretonne au xviiie siècle (2 vols., Paris, 1966), I, 135–67.Google Scholar

14 Heros, Discursos, 160

15 Ortiz, Antonio Domínguez, Orto y ocaso de Sevilla (Seville, 1946), 5152Google Scholar; Pike, Ruth, “The Sevillian Nobility and Trade with the New World in the Sixteenth Century,” Business History Review, XXXIX (1965), 446–47, 450.Google Scholar

16 Noticia general para la estimación de las artes (Madrid, 1600), 53 ff.

17 For some French examples, see Foster, “Honoring Commerce and Industry, 182–89; Taylor, George V., “Types of Capitalism in Eighteenth-Century France,” English Historical Review, LXXIX (1964), 495–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar For more general comment on the European situation, see Redlich, Fritz, “European Aristocracy and Economic Development,” Explorations in Entrepreneurial History, VI (1953), 83.Google Scholar

18 Callahan, W. J., “Crown, Nobility, and Industry in Eighteenth-Century Spain,” International Review of Social History, III (1966), 448–49.Google Scholar

19 For French examples, again see Foster, “Honoring Commerce and Industry,” 165–66; Taylor, “Types of Capitalism,” 495–96.

20 Hussey, R. D., the Caracas Company, 1728–1784 (Cambridge, Mass., 1934), 59 ff.CrossRefGoogle Scholar For descriptions of the domestic joint-stock companies, see Mey, Carmelo Viñas, “Las Compañías de Comercio y el resurgimiento industrial de España en el siglo XVIII,” Revista Nacional de Economía, XII (1922), 239–75Google Scholar; Lopez, Angel Canellas, “La Real Compañía de Comercio y Fábricas de Zaragoza,” J. Zurita: Cuadernos de Historia, III (1952), 79102Google Scholar; La Force, James C., The Development of the Spanish Textile Industry, 1750–1800 (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1965), 5167.Google Scholar

21 Thus an economic writer during the reign of Philip V observed that “in companies all may engage in commerce licitly and decently … whatever their state and quality, because the individual does not engage in commerce but only the company.” y Auñón, Miguel Zavala, Representación al Rey N.S.D. Felipe V (Madrid, 1732), 151.Google Scholar

22 Callahan, “Crown and Nobility,” 449.

23 Casariego, J. E., El marqués de Sargadelos o los comienzos del industrialismo capitalista (Oviedo, 1950), 2475Google Scholar; Donapetry, J., “La obra del marqués de Sargadelos,” Boletín del Instituto de Estudios Asturianos, VI (1952), 388404Google Scholar; de la Serna, G. Gómez, “Viaje a Sargadelos,” Revista de Occidente (1964), 2nd ser., no. 18, pp. 304326.Google Scholar

24 Uztáriz, Gerónimo de, Theórica y práctica de comercio y de la marina (3rd ed., Madrid, 1757), 159–61Google Scholar; Feijóo, Benito, Theatro crítico universal (9 vols., Madrid, 17261740), VGoogle Scholar, “Dedication.”

25 Juan Sempere y Guarinos, “Dn. Francisco Xavier de Goyeneche,” in Real Academia de Historia, Colección Sempere y Guarinos, VI, f. 79.

26 The proportion of hidalgos to the rest of the population was not as high in Navarra as in the Basque Provinces. Nevertheless, one out of every twelve persons enjoyed noble status. The proportion of nobles was often higher in certain valleys, including that of Baztán where Goyeneche was born. Domínguez Ortiz, La sociedad española en el siglo XVIII, 95; Iribarren, Manual, Navarra (Madrid, 1956), 379.Google Scholar

27 A distant relation of Goyeneche noted that many hidalgos of Baztán, lacking the means “to display the brilliance of their nobility,” often chose careers in the military and state administration “to find their fortunes.” Goyeneche, Juan de, Executoría de la nobleza, antigüedad y blasones del valle de Baztán (Madrid, 1685), chapter 2.Google Scholar

28 In 1689 Goyeneche married Juana de Balanza. The amount of the dowry is mentioned by Goyeneche in his will. Testamento del Sr. Dn. Juan de Goyeneche, Thesro. de la Reyna, March 16, 1733. Archivo Histórico de Protocolos de Madrid, leg. 16161, f. 66. Goyeneche retained the position of treasurer until 1724.

29 “III centenario de la Gaceta de Madrid, 1661–1961,” Boletín Oficial del Estado, CCCI (1961), no. 50, suplemento, pp. 4–5.

30 Ajuste, convenio y carta de pago entre los Señores Dn. Juan de Goyeneche y Dn. Francisco Xavier de los Ríos, February 1731. Archivo Histórico de Protocolos, leg. 16086, f. 154.

31 750 doubloons of gold (56,470 reals of vellón) were advanced to Monteleone; 18,000 reals of vellón to Asterga; 2,000 escudos of silver (20,000 reals of vellón) to Velasco. Archivo Histórico de Protocolos, leg. 16087, f. 55; leg. 16091, ff. 51–52, 75, 99.

32 Ibid., leg. 16084, f. 105. In 1728, for example, Goyeneche authorized the governor of Santa Cruz de Sierra in New Spain to collect 1,600 pesos escudos of silver owed him by a resident of that locality. Leg. 16085, f. 327.

33 Testamento, ibid., leg. 16161, f. 84.

34 Mention of these companies is made in several documents of 1730–1731 in which Goyeneche sold his rights to the collection of some of the unpaid taxes still outstanding. Ibid., leg. 16086, ff. 38, 188, 192.

35 Testamento, ibid., leg. 16161, ff. 72, 84.

36 Ibid., ff. 71–85.

37 Most of the farmland was suited only for dry farming, and much of it was classified as inferior by Madoz. Madoz, Pascual, Diccionario geográfico-estadístico-histórico de España (16 vols., Madrid, 18451850), XII, 193, 248Google Scholar; XVI, 246.

38 Archivo Histórico de Protocolos, leg. 16084, f. 135.

39 Testamento, ibid., leg. 16161, ff. 71–85; leg. 16087, f. 65.

40 Testamento, ibid.

41 Kubler, George, Arquitectura de los siglos XVII y XVIII (Madrid, 1957), 143.Google Scholar Among Churriguera's other achievements were several works in Salamanca, including the altar screen of San Esteban. His brother, Joaquín, designed a number of university buildings in the same city.

43 These absences were most frequent during the War of Succession. In 1711, for example, we find him with Philip V at Tudela in Navarra. Idoate, Florencio, Rincones de Navarra (2 vols., Madrid, 1954), II, 33.Google Scholar

44 The career of Aguado is interesting in its own right. Like Goyeneche an hidalgo of modest circumstances, he acquired a fortune by supplying provisions to the army of Philip V during the War of Succession. Later, he established a manufacture of woolens in Valdemoro and managed the royal manufacture of woolens established at Guadalajara in 1719. He first met Goyeneche during the 1690's and remained a close friend there after. Larruga, Eugenio, Memorias políticas y económicas sobre los frutos, comercio, fábricas y minas de España (45 vols., Madrid, 17871800), IX, 145, 161Google Scholar; Testimonio de Dn. Joseph Aguado y Correa del Orn. de Calatrava; Pruebas de la … nobleza de Dn. Francisco Miguel de Goyeneche, Pretendiente del habito de … la orden de Santiago. Archivo Histórico Nacional, Ordenes Militares, año 1728, exp. 3594, f.15.

45 Goyeneche financed the publication of a history of the Jesuits in Toledo: de Alcazar, Bartolome, Chrono-historia de la Compania de Jesús en la Provincia de Toledo (Madrid, 1710)Google Scholar, and the Cartas pastorales of Pedro de Lope y Dorantes, Bishop of Calahorra. Both works are cited in Goyena, Antonio, El valle de Baztán (Pamplona, 1957), 66.Google Scholar

46 Feijóa, Theatro crítico universal, V, “Dedication.” Feijóo (1676–1764) was a Benedictine monk and longtime professor in the University of Oviedo. He first applied in Spain the new canons of rational criticism which had already made themselves felt elsewhere in Europe. Volume five of the Theatro crítico, his most important work, first appeared in 1733. Pérez-Rioja, J. A., Proyección y actualidad de Feijóo (Madrid, 1965), 4764.Google Scholar

47 Pérez Goyena asserts that Goyeneche financed the publication of the Obras poéticas (Pamplona, 1724) of Lobo. El valle de Baztán, 66.

48 The work in question was Economía general de la casa de campo (Madrid, 1720).

49 Testamento, Archivo Histórico de Protocolos, leg. 16161, ff. 59–61, 77–79.

50 These were located as follows: crystal, ordinary woolens, hats and silk stockings in Nuevo Baztán; fine woolens and leather goods in Olmeda. The paper mill was situated on the hanks of the River Tajuña.

51 Larruga, Memorias políticas, IX, 183.

52 Ibid., X, 60–61.

53 For a brief discussion of economic conditions in Spain during the early eighteenth century see: Hamilton, E. J., “Recovery in Spain under the First Bourbon,” Journal of Modern History, XV (1943), 192206.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

54 Larruga, Memorias políticas, IX, 184–87.

55 Uztáriz, Theórica, 159.

56 For the text oa the royal cédula granting these privileges see: Larruga, Memorias políticas, X, 54–60.

57 Ibid., 60–61.

58 Ibid., 62; Uztáriz, Theórica, 160.

59 Larruga, Memorias políticas, X, 61.

60 Ibid., 62.

61 Testamento, Archivo Histórico de Protocolos, leg. 16161, ff. 78–79.

62 Freudenberger, Herman, The Waldstein Woolen Mill: Noble Entrepreneurship in Eighteenth-Century Bohemia (Boston, 1963), 7.Google Scholar

63 Goyeneche held eight shares in the Company of Caracas.

64 Goyeneche, Testamento, f. 71.

65 Ibid., ff. 68–69. For a brief discussion of the eighteenth-century campaign against the entailed estate, see Pelayo, Manuel García, “El estamento de la nobleza en el despotismo ilustrado,” Moneda y Crédito (June, 1946), 5255.Google Scholar

66 The title was granted in a royal decree on May 13, 1731. Título de Marqués de Belzunce a D. Juan Goieneche y sus descendientes. Archivo Histórico Nacional, Consejos” leg. 8977, no. 718. Although the title was granted to Goyeneche, it passed immediately to his son.

67 Robles, Luis Ballesteros, Diccionario biográfico matritense (Madrid, 1912), 284–85.Google Scholar The work translated by Xavier, Francisco was Comercio de Holanda, o el gran thesoro histórico y político del floreciente comercio que los Holandeses tienen … (Madrid, 1717).Google Scholar The original was by Huet, P. D., Le grand trésor historique et politique du florissant commerce des Hollandais … (Rouen, Ruault, 1712).Google Scholar

68 Some examples: the Marquis of Ariza who constructed a paper mill; the Count of Aguilar a manufacture of taffetas and stockings; the Duke of Infantado a tapestry works Callahan, “Crown, Nobility and Industry,” 448–49.