Gobierno
Item
Country
ES
Name of institution (English)
General Archive of the City of Madrid
Name of institution (official language of the state)
Language of name of institution
spa
Contact information: postal address
Calle Conde Duque 9 and 11, 28015 Madrid
Contact information: phone number
0034 915885761
Contact information: email
archivocity@madrid.es
Reference number
ES. 28079. AGVM
Type of reference number
Archival reference number
Title (English)
Government
Title (official language of the state)
Gobierno
Language of title
spa
Creator / accumulator
City council of Madrid
Date note
12th century/15th century
Language(s)
spa
Type of material
Textual Material
Physical condition
Good
Scope and content
The “Gobierno” (Government) section of the General Archive of the City of Madrid contains documents produced and received by the city council of Madrid from the Middle Ages to the 12th century. This section contains the documentary series produced and received by the “Pleno,” a corporate body of the main officials of the city council. These documents are the most important and best preserved. The description of this collection is based on the medieval documents preserved.
Royal documents constitute a very important group of 733 documents (issued between 1152 and 1515). The Castilian Monarchs submitted to the city of Madrid all types of royal privileges, provisions, documents, decrees, orders, letters, etc., establishing the rules governing the city council, granting exemptions to citizens, determining the boundaries and even the use of land, informing of news from the Court (royal deaths and births, wars), appointment of public officials, etc. Along with the city charter (“Fuero”) of Madrid (1202), these are also the oldest documents kept in the archive.
The city council minutes, comprising 1,359 volumes (between the fifteenth and twentieth centuries), are the most representative documents in this section. They contain data concerning the meetings of the city council and its agreements and discussions. For the late medieval period, the city council minutes volumes date between 1464 and 1516.
Ordinances. In the last decades of the 13th century, the inadequacy of the city charter led to the promulgation of ordinances that regulated different aspects of municipal life. Beginning in the 15th century, they began to be collected in volumes.
Concerning Jews, through the city council minutes (first volume, 1464-1485), we find references to the location of the Jewish quarter in the second half of the 15th century. In 1480, the city council of Madrid was informed of the segregation of the Jews decreed in the Cortes of Toledo. A year later, it was ordered that the Jews be set apart next to their synagogue. The city council minutes confirm the indigent economic situation of the Jews in the city, who had no economic means to build new houses. Additional information concerning the segregation of the Jews in Madrid was collected throughout the 1480s and until 1492. There was a dispute over whether Jews could keep shops outside the Jewish quarter (1485). The city council allowed the physician Rabbi Jaco to live outside the Jewish quarter (1481). Other anti-Jewish measures include the use of distinguishing marks (1481). It is also mentioned that Jews and Muslims were obliged to participate in the Corpus processions (1481). Concerning Jews and medicine, the Jewish physicians had to submit a letter of license to practice their office (1487). The source also specifies the salary of the Jewish physicians and the tasks they had to perform (1488). Records from 1494 indicate that some Jewish physicians converted to Christianity after the expulsion of the Jews and continued to practice their profession in the city. Information about tax farming is also recorded. For example, Abraham de Sobrado was the major tax-farmer of the “tercias” and “alcabalas” taxes of Madrid and its region in 1483. The Jews also contributed to the city council to repair the municipal walls and bridges (1464, 1486). There is also data on real estate owned by the Jews in Madrid.
Royal documents constitute a very important group of 733 documents (issued between 1152 and 1515). The Castilian Monarchs submitted to the city of Madrid all types of royal privileges, provisions, documents, decrees, orders, letters, etc., establishing the rules governing the city council, granting exemptions to citizens, determining the boundaries and even the use of land, informing of news from the Court (royal deaths and births, wars), appointment of public officials, etc. Along with the city charter (“Fuero”) of Madrid (1202), these are also the oldest documents kept in the archive.
The city council minutes, comprising 1,359 volumes (between the fifteenth and twentieth centuries), are the most representative documents in this section. They contain data concerning the meetings of the city council and its agreements and discussions. For the late medieval period, the city council minutes volumes date between 1464 and 1516.
Ordinances. In the last decades of the 13th century, the inadequacy of the city charter led to the promulgation of ordinances that regulated different aspects of municipal life. Beginning in the 15th century, they began to be collected in volumes.
Concerning Jews, through the city council minutes (first volume, 1464-1485), we find references to the location of the Jewish quarter in the second half of the 15th century. In 1480, the city council of Madrid was informed of the segregation of the Jews decreed in the Cortes of Toledo. A year later, it was ordered that the Jews be set apart next to their synagogue. The city council minutes confirm the indigent economic situation of the Jews in the city, who had no economic means to build new houses. Additional information concerning the segregation of the Jews in Madrid was collected throughout the 1480s and until 1492. There was a dispute over whether Jews could keep shops outside the Jewish quarter (1485). The city council allowed the physician Rabbi Jaco to live outside the Jewish quarter (1481). Other anti-Jewish measures include the use of distinguishing marks (1481). It is also mentioned that Jews and Muslims were obliged to participate in the Corpus processions (1481). Concerning Jews and medicine, the Jewish physicians had to submit a letter of license to practice their office (1487). The source also specifies the salary of the Jewish physicians and the tasks they had to perform (1488). Records from 1494 indicate that some Jewish physicians converted to Christianity after the expulsion of the Jews and continued to practice their profession in the city. Information about tax farming is also recorded. For example, Abraham de Sobrado was the major tax-farmer of the “tercias” and “alcabalas” taxes of Madrid and its region in 1483. The Jews also contributed to the city council to repair the municipal walls and bridges (1464, 1486). There is also data on real estate owned by the Jews in Madrid.
Archival history
This archive was first mentioned in a Royal Provision by Charles V (1525), although the so-called three keys ark, a medieval repository for official parchments and documents, is repeatedly mentioned in the city council minutes beginning in the fifteenth century. The Archive was finally set up in the 18th century. The first professional archivist was appointed in 1748. The first regulations and operating instructions for the archive were approved in 1753, and it became a Public Office by virtue of a Royal Decree (1781). This Institution was opened for research in 1844. It has transferred its headquarters several times: the Tower of San Salvador Church and Monastery of Santo Domingo (15th-17th centuries), first City Hall of Madrid (17th century-1868), second City Hall “Casa Panaderia” in Plaza Mayor (1868-1987), and Conde Duque cultural center (currently). The custody of the materials was never interrupted, not even during either the Peninsular War (1808-14), or the Spanish Civil War (1936-39).
Administrative / Biographical history
Madrid joined the Crown of Castile in 1085 during the campaign that culminated in the conquest of Toledo. The granting of the “Fuero” (city charter) in 1202 brought about the consolidation of the city council, an open municipal institution in charge of the administration, government, justice, and finances of Madrid and its municipal boundaries. In 1346, a royal decree issued by King Alfonso XI restricted the popular participation in the Villa Council, which would be composed of 12 members (“regidores”) for life. Isabel I and Fernando V added a new permanent public position: the “corregidor” or royal representative that presided over the city council.
Access points: locations
Access points: subject terms
Access points: document types
Access, restrictions
Free access regulated by the current legal environment on access to Spanish historical archives (law 16/1985 of Spanish Historical Patrimony).
Finding aids
Indexes based on this collection are available online and at the archive. 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
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| Title | Alternate label | Class |
|---|---|---|
| Archivo General de la Villa de Madrid | Collections (official language of the state) |