Historical Archive

Collection

Scope and content:: The Municipal Archive of Bergara contains documentation produced and received by the town council of Bergara between the mid-thirteenth and twentieth centuries. The archive gathers several documentary fonds. The “Fondo historico” (Historical Collection) keeps documentation generated and received by the local authorities throughout its history. This documentary fonds is divided into two sub-fonds: Historical and Administrative. This collection is based on medieval documentation that is contained in the historical documentation. It preserves royal (royal privileges and letters, Fueros), legal (provincial, local, and brotherhood ordinances), and procedural (demands and lawsuits) documentation. There are also books of town council minutes, account books, and public and private notarial documentation.

Concerning Jews, there is information on the lease of rents by Jews. For example, Çaçon de Pancorbo sub-farmed from Aby Juçe, major tax-farmer, part of the Bergara “alcabalas” tax for the year 1405. The royal confirmation of the ordinances of the Guipuzcoa province includes the obligation on Jews to wear a distinctive sign (1457). In the “Cuaderno de Ordenanzas de la Provincia de Guipuzcoa” (Notebook of Ordinances of the Province of Guipuzcoa) (1450-1519), Jews, converts, and Muslims are forbidden from settling in the province, and those who have previously done so must leave following the publication of the ordinance.

Archival history:: In the medieval period, the documents were kept in a chest preserved in the Parish Church of San Pedro. At the end of the fifteenth century, custody of the keys lay with the “regidores”. At the beginning of the sixteenth century, there were 34 documents related to tax exemptions, privileges, judicial sentences, and legal texts. In 1689, the documents were distributed between two places: the Parish Church of San Pedro and the town hall. In 1855, the town council decided to transfer the documents kept in San Pedro and other documents guarded in the houses of notaries to the building next to the town hall. In 1857, it was decided to move the archive to San Pedro, and in 1859, it was moved to the old hospital. In 1867, the archive was taken to the Casa de Beneficencia, since the old hospital was going to be demolished. In 1981, the archive was preserved on the ground floor of the Court building, and from there, it was moved to the Palacio de Recalde. Finally, in 1995, the archive was transferred to a new building next to the town hall.

Administrative/biographical history:: The town of Bergara was founded by Alfonso X in 1268. Throughout the fourteenth century, the inhabitants of the former churches of Oxirondo and Uzarraga were welcomed as residents of the town. Bergara was affected by the Pyrenees War, the Peninsular War, and the two Carlist Wars.

Access points: locations:: Arrasate/Mondragón; Bergara; Castile; Pancorbo; Spain

Subject terms:: Antisemitism; Antisemitism--Antisemitic measures; Clothing; Conversion to Christianity; Expulsion; Jewish badge (non-Holocaust era); Privileges; Real estate; Residency issues of Jews; Taxation

System of arrangement:: The collection (“Fondo historico”) contains the following documentary fonds: 01 Administracion municipal; 02 Fomento; 03 Hacienda municipal; 04 Obras; 05 Relaciones del Ayuntamiento y Alcaldia con otras autoridades; 06 Documentacion no municipal; 07 Documentacion municipal no clasificada.

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:: An inventory and a topographic index of the collection are available at the archive. Data on the collection are also available at the website of the Spanish National Archives (PARES).