Brief Introduction to the Manuscripts Collection

The present collection in hypertext format inspired by the Spanish and Portuguese Historical Society (SPHP) and sustained by Lynn Nelson (University of Kansas), Jack Owens (Idaho State University), and Ignacio López Martín (European University Institute) is since 1996 the first step of a wider project regarding the use of Internet to study Early Modern Iberian history.

The MS collection has so far two main sections:

1. The building of El Escorial.

2. The Eighty Years War between the Spanish Monarchy and the United Provinces.

In the future the collection will be integrated by a larger series of transcribed documents coming from the Archivo General de Simancas (AGS, Valladolid, Spain),  the Algemene Rijksarchief (ARA, The Hague, Holland), the Gemeente Archief Amsterdam (GAA, Amsterdam, Holland), Algemene Rijksarchief Brussels (ARAB, Brussels, Belgium), the Archivio di Stato of Florence (ASF, Florence, Italy), the Archivo Histórico de Protocolos de Madrid (AHPM, Madrid, Spain), the Archivo Histórico Municipal de Cádiz (AHMC, Cadiz, Spain), and the Arxiv d'Eivissa (A.E., Ibiza, Spain). Many documents will deal direct or indirectly with the means of economic warfare developed by the Spanish Monarchy in their war against the Dutch rebels from the 1580s to the 1620s. In general, the documents will include a wide range of topics such as corsarism, contraband, the first Spanish mercantilism, health and labour conditions in the Iberian harbours, etc.

The transcription of the MS started in September 1994. I am currently researcher of the department of History and Civilization at the European University Institute (Florence, Italy), where I am about to present a Phd thesis on Dutch shipping and trade in the Mediterranean 1570s-1620s. At the moment I work as webmaster and publications editor for the Robert Schuman Center for Advanced Studies (Florence Italy).

The WWW is an excellent opportunity to spread this pack of documents. Although the collection represents only a small part of all the material available in the archives above mentioned, its unity and coherence made them perfect to build the first hypertext MS collection on Early Modern Spanish history. The choice of a MS collection concerning the Early Modern Hispano-Dutch history is not a matter of chance. During that period both Spain and The Netherlands were facing an important turning point in their history. I hope this contribution will encourage others to supply further historical MS collections, which could be eventually posted in this site.

It is time in my opinion to rescue historical manuscripts and documents from their "priviledged darkness". In the coming years I would like to see more on-like MS collections.

Iñaki López Martín