Plácido Barrios (Ponferrada, 62 years old) is passionate about his work and the history of Spain. For this reason, he decided to delve into the notarial protocols to tell his own version – from the Modern Age to the Civil War -, in which slaves, women, marginalized people and even brothels appear. “Notary reality surpasses fiction, notary offices are full of novels,” he explains. The result is (Basconfer), which has just reached its fifth edition with as many expansions.
Ask. What leads a notary to investigate topics such as slavery?
Answer. The curiosity. Slaves were sold in Madrid. The slave was one thing, he had no legal personality, he could not make a will. The writings were very neat and included “blemishes and defects,” and the name of the owner was engraved on them. I take up the case of a mulatto slave bought by a dyer: “I am selling him to you as a drunk, a fugitive and a thief, and I do not insure him against any illness, except for good war.” The price fluctuated, depending on its defects. The woman was more expensive due to her ability to procreate: until 1870, the child of the slave was a slave.
P. What role have notaries played in the colonial apparatus of Spain?
R. When the legislation of Castile was introduced in the Indies, the notaries also went. On all the ships that left Seville there was a ship’s notary who would pick up if a person wanted to make a power of attorney or will, and that document would then be brought to Seville. The first notary of America was , who accompanied Columbus at the time of discovery and attested.
P. How has the role of women been changing?
R. There was legal discrimination. Until 1975, a woman needed a marital license to appear before a notary; She, on her own, could not go unless it was to make a will. Furthermore, women could not be witnesses in wills “due to their natural indiscretion.”
P. What do the protocols say about sexuality?
R. Virginity was highly valued. I mention a case from Almería in which a father who had put his daughter into service, when he wants to recover her, asks a midwife to listen to her and calls the notary to declare that the daughter maintained her virginity. Or a grandfather from Malaga who requires a notary to verify that his granddaughter has broken her hymen while playing. Circumcision was a practice persecuted as heretical, but there were times when I wanted to do it for medical reasons, and then the notary was called to attest. People were much more uninhibited and spoke about this naturally, and the clerk did not see it as strange. Today people are more modest.
P. And about the youths?
R. I found a deed from 1522 in Malaga in which the owner transferred the mancebía and listed the beds where the mancebas were and the price of the transfer. At the time, the mancebías were a business for the municipalities and religious brotherhoods, which had income derived from the exploitation of the “public houses.” These brotherhoods did charitable work and obtained income from the rents paid by the young men.
P. How are the Moriscos portrayed?
R. The Moorish world attracts me because it is a minority. In the 16th century, the Alpujarras rebellion occurred against tax pressure measures, and there is evidence of this discrimination in notarial protocols. I am interested in those who suffer history, not those who write it. That’s why I’m not a Real Madrid fan, because I’m attracted to losers.
P. Are gypsies in that group?
R. The gypsies have been the big losers: they were dedicated to street vending, but after Philip II they could not sell and had to carry a testimony signed by a public notary specifying where they lived and what they sold. The monarchy wanted them to have a fixed residence. Many were condemned and ended up in the galleys. I quote Mary of Egypt, who puts her youngest daughter at the service of a notary in exchange for two ducats to ransom her father, imprisoned in galleys.
P. And the Jews?
R. They were highly criticized by the old Christians because they dedicated themselves to the practice of usury, condemned by the Church. Usury was limited to a maximum of 33.33% annually in Castile, and 20% in Aragon. That created a pretext and a breeding ground that degenerated into pogroms; that of 1391 begins in Seville and Córdoba and reaches Barcelona; There they razed the church and the shops of the clerks—who could not be Jews—because they had the loan documents. I located a man who had participated in the assault on the Jewish quarter of Córdoba and who, in his repentant will, asked his children to compensate the son of a Jew.
P. What were the horned forgiveness letters?
A. Adultery was a crime and carries penalties of up to six years in prison. It was only decriminalized in May 1978. The one who bore the brunt was the woman, who could be convicted with a single offense. One way to avoid the penalty was for her husband to forgive her, with letters of forgiveness from horns. The law established two limitations: that no price could be set and that both the woman and the lover had to be forgiven.
P. How is death approached?
R. Before, death was seen naturally, people said how they wanted to be buried in every detail, because it was understood that the will was a passport for all eternity, and masses and many more things were left in order. Now people see it as less natural.
P. How are gays and lesbians reflected?
R. Homosexuals appear in the documents to be excluded. The estates, in which you left most of the assets to the first-born, excluded homosexuals and hermaphrodites. The punishment was tremendous, death penalty at the stake. Lesbians hardly appear.
P. And the floods?
R. There is evidence of a flood in 1635 that devastated Valladolid; In 1802 the Lorca reservoir collapsed and took away the city; We know this because they were watching over the body of a notary, who appeared 15 kilometers downstream, and the notary who succeeded him recorded it. , the Notarial College of Valencia has enabled a free service for all types of presence certificates with which to claim insurance. Notaries are always in direct contact with people.
