The embroidery and lace industry in the Campo de Calatrava

Abstract

This article focuses on one of the three main areas of lace production in Spain, the region
around Almagro, in the Castilian plains.
Starting with data collected by Madoz for his Dictionary, according to which 8.038
women and girls of 25 villages worked for the lace factory of Almagro around 1850, the paper
analyzes the origin of lace manufacture in La Mancha and the internal organization of the
production process, controlled by the dealers.
Reconstruction of the economic structure of the region in mid-18th century through
Ensenada's Cadaster, suggests the importance of the rents generated by the work of lace makers,
in an area where land and livestock property was in the hands of few, and wages were available
only few months a year. This makes lace making in the Campo de Calatrava an interesting case
of proto-industrialization, almost invisible in the sources, and suggests new ways to study
domestic work for the market of peasant women.