The Modern Age; 16th to 18th centuries

Introduction

​

With the discovery of America financed by the Catholic Monarchs, began a new era for Spain, which logically will also be the same for Andújar.
Having come to the throne of Spain Carlos I, he needed to gather the Cortes to compel them to raise taxes, in order to be able to be provided with the money necessary to proclaim himself Emperor of Germany. This fiscal pressure bothered many Castilian cities, which in 1520 rose up in arms, constituting the Communities of Castile. Andujar in this historical moment, as a city of state land, remained faithful to the King, who in fidelity yielded the villages of San Vicente, San Julián and Villalva, ordering them to repopulate.

 

Demography

​

During the 16th century the number of residents will gradually increase, to have in 1591 with approximately thirteen thousand inhabitants, who will not be diminished at least in the first half of the 17th century; since the epidemic of 1602 did not cause many human losses; although the 1680 was very deadly, being thousands of lost souls.
The epidemics will be joined by droughts and intense rains that will cause serious damage to agriculture and livestock. So there will be bad harvests that will cause hunger and poverty among the population.
During these centuries the emigration to America of the residents of the province of Jaén was relatively small, so the demographic loss for this reason was small for Andújar. The greatest incidence in this regard was the war in Catalonia, which forced continuous cams.
The inhabitants will be mostly Christian; although they will live converted Jewish, moorish and gypsy, who will live in an urban area configured by the territorial division of the parishes of Santa María, Santiago, Santa María and San Miguel, within the medieval walled enclosure, the latter with a suburb and finally San Bartolomé, corresponding to the urban expansion of the 16th century.

 

The economy

​

The population of Andújar was made up of farmers and ranchers, in addition to a certain number of artisans, the economy being essentially agro-livestock. Industrialization did not yet exist.
Cereal production is very low in these times, which is turns out to be insufficient to supply the city, depending a lot on purchases abroad, promoting the increase in prices that will affect the neighbors.
The nearby town of Arjona and Andújar in 16th century contributed 60% of the oil production of the Kingdom of Jaén, creating farmhouses that concentrated day labor. The next century there will be an abandonment of the fields due to a demographic decline, coupled with periods of poor harvests due to abundant rains and droughts.
The increase in vine cultivation in the 16th and 17th centuries will be detrimental to wheat, caused by atmospheric instability. The advantages in the substitution were several, being the most productive vineyard, yields harvests every year and requires less labor. In Andújar large areas of land were dedicated in Sierra Morena, in the areas of Peñallana, Alcaparrosa and Los Majuelos. Production in the 17th century will be devoted to local consumption, from January to August, while for the other months, better quality Lucena (Córdoba) wine was brought.
The cattle ranch was made up of sheep, goat, horse, pig and cow huts. In the 16th century, 3% of Andújar's population were ranchers. The pastures of the mountain range were dedicated to the pasture of the transhumant cattle, that spent in them the winter. There will also be cattle ranches of brave bulls destined for the bullfighting celebrations that were held in the city, to which there was so much fans.
Trade will be intense in these centuries, favored by the geographical situation of Andújar, an obligatory passage between Castilla and Andalusia.
The mountain will provide hunting and the rivers, especially the Guadalquivir, fishing. The City Council fixed closed seasons.
The union activity of the Low Middle Ages will be increasing in the centuries we study. Dyers, Chandlers, Saddlers, Shoemakers, Sederos, Locksmiths, Blacksmiths, Rejeros, Boilermakers, Shepherds, Tailors, Potters, Watchmakers, etc., whose workshops or shops played a prominent role within the local economy.
During the sixteenth century the union of iron workers reached a great development in Andújar, as in the seventeenth century it will have the sederos, proliferating the cultivation of mulberry trees to feed the worms.

As in previous centuries, the economy was still based on agriculture and livestock, both depending heavily on climatic changes. Locust and sparrow pests will destroy the crops, with the City Council having to order their slaughter.
In 1766 problems occur due to the absence of wheat and the increase in price, which will affect the final cost of bread, the basis of food for the neighbors; which will protest before the local authorities, having to look for grain to fill in a deposit, located in Alhóndiga street, and to carry out experiments mixing different qualities and quantities of flour to lower the final price. In this century, the province of Jaén was the tenth producer of wheat, with insufficient quantities to supply it .; hence the problems noted.
In the seven hundred Andujar will be the main Jaen producer of ceramics, the potters will export their products to Madrid and other places, but the lack of investments, the old of the tools and the scarce technical ability, prevented taking advantage of the opportunity of the moment. To this production must be added the soap and leather tanning factories.
The improvement of the Camino Real, Madrid-Cádiz, will lead Andújar to contribute a large amount of labor in 1788, favoring the stopping of errands, commerce and the installation of a post office.

 

The church

​

The Episcopate of Jaén was divided in the year 1511 into several archpriesties, among which we have Andújar's, made up of five parishes, previously indicated, in addition to the parish churches of the villages in its jurisdiction: La Higuera, Villanueva and El Marmolejo.
A series of hermitages were distributed in the urban area and surroundings and in Sierra Morena.
The local clergy was grouped in the University of Clerics and Beneficiaries, under the brotherhood of San Pedro.
The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries will be times of foundations of religious orders that will come to join the existing ones such as Poor Clares, Minims (1495) and Trinitarians (1244), thus those of Franciscans of Assisi (1514), Trinitarians (1587) were founded. , Carmelites (1590), Hospital of San Juan de Dios (1618), Jesuits, Capuchins (1645) and Capuchins (1682). Another important foundation will be the Casa Cuna (1622) to raise foundling children, the hospital for poor collected women and the hospital for Nuestra Señora de la Cabeza, run by the brotherhood of the same name.
The Council of Trent will promote the increase of the cult to the saints and to their relics. Thus in 1597 a relic of San Eufrasio will be brought from Valdemao (Galicia), to which he was received by Patron. In 1640 it will be one of Saint Potential, which becomes Patroness and was processed every May 15 with that of San Eufrasio.
The annual and occasional festivals will have their highest point in the 17th century, to decrease in splendor in the 18th. Pilgrimage of the Virgen de la Cabeza, last Sunday in April, Corpus Christi, Saint Euphrasius, Easter, bullfights, prayers, etc.
The church in these centuries of the Modern Age will have in Andújar a series of people who stood out for their special virtues. The religious Trinitarian Marcos Criado, victim of the Moors in the Alpujarras of Granada, the preacher of Felipe II, Francisco Terrones del Caño, Bishop of Tuy y León, and the Trinitarian Sor Lucia Yánez, who predicted the epidemic of 1680.
The significant presence of Jewish converts in Andújar, caused the Court of the Inquisition of Córdoba, to act on several of its neighbors.

Outstanding was the attempt in 1747 to transfer the Collegiate Church of Santa María del Alcázar from the city of Baeza to the parish church of San Miguel of Andujar, as the City Council did not successfully end different lawsuits in court. Another negative aspect was the suppression in 1773 of the pilgrimage of the Virgen de la Cabeza, by order of the King, due to frauds at the Royal Treasury Department for the sale of reliable Galician mules.

Illustration; 18th century

The most significant thing for Andújar in the seven hundredth will be the loss of the municipal term when in the reign of Carlos III, in an attempt at agrarian reform, Sierra Morena (1767) was colonized, with colonists from central Europe, Catalonia, Valencia, etc. . For this, our city had to transfer area to found the village of El Rumblar, beginning the delimitation in 1771.
It should also be noted that in 1791 the headquarters of the Municipal Council passed from the Plaza de Santa María to the Plaza del Mercado, coming to occupy the headquarters of the old 17th-century Comedy House.

 

The population
 

This century begins with six thousand five hundred inhabitants, going so far as to rely on at the end of the same one with nine thousand persons. This growth agrees with the general norm of demographic growth for all Spain.
Andújar was the capital of its administrative area, one of the five in which the province of Jaén was divided, as a city of state land, it had a third category Corregidor, and jurisdiction in Marmolejo and Villanueva de Andújar, which it had kept for centuries previous, and that it would not lose until 1790 the second locality and the following year the first of the mentioned ones. Passing both villages to be independent.
In 1737 a Monte de Piedad was founded to benefit the poor children. These are difficult years with epidemics, poor harvests, rising food prices, begging, high infant mortality, etc., leading to emigration to other places, such as Granada.
Some reform measures were positive for Andújar, while the expulsion of the Jesuits caused the closure of their school and the teachers of the City Council were not sufficient to attend to the school population.

Enrique Gómez Martínez Real Academia de la Historia Cronista Oficial de Andújar.