Seccion Institucional
Item
Country
ES
Name of institution (English)
Cathedral Archive of Cuenca
Name of institution (official language of the state)
Language of name of institution
spa
Contact information: postal address
Plaza Mayor de Pio XII, 16001 Cuenca
Contact information: phone number
0034 969222505
Contact information: web address
Contact information: email
archivocapitular@catedralcuenca.es
Reference number
ES.16078.AC/1.1
Type of reference number
Archival reference number
Title (English)
Institutional Section
Title (official language of the state)
Seccion Institucional
Language of title
spa
Creator / accumulator
Cathedral chapter of Cuenca
Date note
1182/20th century
Language(s)
spa
Extent
More than 2,500 documents
Type of material
Textual Material
Physical condition
Good
Scope and content
The Seccion Institucional of the Cathedral Archive of Cuenca contains documentation from the 12th to the 20th centuries. The Bull of the founding of the Diocese of Cuenca (1182) is its oldest document. The documentation is kept under the designation "Institutional," since the cathedral chapter has historically considered it the most important collection of the archive. In other cathedral archives, this section is called the more general "Parchments" or "Historical Archive." These documents legitimized the properties and privileges granted to the cathedral chapter, and in the Middle Ages they were kept as part of the cathedral treasure.
The Seccion Institucional gathers the parchments that are the material as well as the spiritual basis for the foundation of the cathedral and the cathedral chapter of Cuenca. Royal, pontifical, and ecclesiastical privileges, particular deeds and other documents that witness the configuration of the cathedral chapter's patrimony (donations, exchanges, purchases, and sales, etc.), compose this collection.
Concerning Jews, sales made by them to the cathedral chapter of Cuenca are preserved, such as the one made by Yehuda, son of Abraham de Cuenca, of a plot in the town of Villalba del Campo (1265). There are also sales between Christians and Jews. For example, some Christians made sales of plots in the town of Noheda to Salomon Abulafia (1361, 1375, 1376 and 1377). Some sales are transactions related to loan contracts.
Documentation regarding litigations, such as documentary proofs and judgments, is preserved, such as the judgment issued by the Supreme Court (Royal Audience) of Castile on the litigation between the cathedral chapter of Cuenca and Abraham Buhardo, tax farmer of the Fuentelmanzano and Monteagudo royal salt flats (1384).
There are royal provisions dealing with various matters. In one of them, Pedro I gave instructions to carry out the judgment issued on the lawsuit that the cathedral chapter had initiated against the Jewish Aljama of Cuenca related to the damage of some cathedral chapter houses located in the Jewish quarter (1363). In another provision, the cathedral chapter of Cuenca was compelled to acknowledge a debt for the purchase of salt owed to Simuel Aventuriel, from Ucles (1362).
Regarding tax farming, the cathedral chapter kept a document compelling itself to deliver to Samuel Levi, the Royal Chief Treasurer, the amount owed for a tax division (1358).
The Seccion Institucional gathers the parchments that are the material as well as the spiritual basis for the foundation of the cathedral and the cathedral chapter of Cuenca. Royal, pontifical, and ecclesiastical privileges, particular deeds and other documents that witness the configuration of the cathedral chapter's patrimony (donations, exchanges, purchases, and sales, etc.), compose this collection.
Concerning Jews, sales made by them to the cathedral chapter of Cuenca are preserved, such as the one made by Yehuda, son of Abraham de Cuenca, of a plot in the town of Villalba del Campo (1265). There are also sales between Christians and Jews. For example, some Christians made sales of plots in the town of Noheda to Salomon Abulafia (1361, 1375, 1376 and 1377). Some sales are transactions related to loan contracts.
Documentation regarding litigations, such as documentary proofs and judgments, is preserved, such as the judgment issued by the Supreme Court (Royal Audience) of Castile on the litigation between the cathedral chapter of Cuenca and Abraham Buhardo, tax farmer of the Fuentelmanzano and Monteagudo royal salt flats (1384).
There are royal provisions dealing with various matters. In one of them, Pedro I gave instructions to carry out the judgment issued on the lawsuit that the cathedral chapter had initiated against the Jewish Aljama of Cuenca related to the damage of some cathedral chapter houses located in the Jewish quarter (1363). In another provision, the cathedral chapter of Cuenca was compelled to acknowledge a debt for the purchase of salt owed to Simuel Aventuriel, from Ucles (1362).
Regarding tax farming, the cathedral chapter kept a document compelling itself to deliver to Samuel Levi, the Royal Chief Treasurer, the amount owed for a tax division (1358).
Archival history
The documents indicate the “archival” work that the cathedral chapter of Cuenca has been carrying out intermittently since the thirteenth century. The first inventory was made in the 1480s, of which only a few parchment leaves have survived. In the inventory, some previous “catalogue cards” were collected, which had been created in the mid-fifteenth century by a team of canons. In the second quarter of the sixteenth century, the cathedral chapter reassembled a set of documents that, because of different circumstances, had been left outside the cathedral, and the chapter members agreed to produce a new inventory. In the seventeenth century and up to the eighteenth century, there is not much information related to the organization of the fonds. The room where the archive was located became too small to keep all the documents, and it was necessary to add another room. The documents were transferred to the new offices that had been built in the northern part of the Cloister. The “Plan para el arreglo del Archivo de la Santa Iglesia de Cuenca” (1789) has been preserved, and it was very useful for the reorganization of the cathedral chapter collection. Since the end of the 1980s, cathedral archivists have been working on the organization of the archive.
Administrative / Biographical history
The Cathedral Archive of Cuenca appears with the establishment of the Diocese by Pope Lucius III and the consequent organization of the cathedral chapter by the bishop-elect at the end of the 12th century. Cuenca and its diocese were an important location in both Castilian expansive and defensive policies against Muslim powers and against Aragon's expansionist strategies.
Access points: locations
Access points: subject terms
Access points: document types
Access, restrictions
The access to the archive is free upon the presentation of an identification document. The consultation of the documents will be subject to the legal regulations in force regarding access and may be restricted depending on the documents’ state of preservation.
Finding aids
Data on the collection are also available at the website of the Spanish National Archives (PARES).
Links to finding aids
Author of the description
Linked resources
Filter by property
| Title | Alternate label | Class |
|---|---|---|
| Archivo Catedralicio de Cuenca | Collections (official language of the state) |