The Municipal Historical Archive of Elche is the administrative unit responsible for collecting the documents generated or gathered by the local Administration in the exercise of its activities and functions, from its origins in the Middle Ages. In addition, it preserves other funds from other people and institutions, significant for local history, through donation or deposit agreements. All this "at the service of its use for research, culture, information and administrative management" (art. 59.1 of Law 16/1985, of June 25, on Spanish Historical Heritage)
Although the Archive has been operating as such since the Middle Ages, it will not be until March 20, 1979 that the City Council creates the Municipal Historical Archive of Elche and approves its location in the old Sant Josep Hospital (confiscated Franciscan convent).
The Council's concern for the Archive is reflected from the beginning in the Order Books where the first provisions for the grouping of the funds, the arrangement and the adaptation of the premises intended for the archive are collected. We have news that the first inventory was made, in 1660, by Antonio Siuri and Gaspar Pérez de Sarrió, although the ones we have are from a later date. In 1729, the clerk Carlos Gracia wrote a memorial to the Cabildo to say that since the abolition of the furs the work in the archive had increased considerably by having to form "padrones de equivalente, sal y listas de su cobranza con muchas otras cosas", for which a few years later the first archivist of Elche was appointed: Ignacio Ruiz de Lope. The main archive was closed with three keys: "one was given to the first mayor, the other to the councilor and the third to the archivist". The archive, in addition to keeping the documents, also kept the dresses and the rest of the utensils for La Festa.
The documentation that has reached us has overcome looting, wars and municipal indifference in different eras. During the War of Succession the Chapter Houses were burned and the archive unit was destroyed. In 1837, the Forcadell Faction stormed the Town Hall, taking away its documentation.
Despite the vicissitudes, the archive is now one of the richest in the Valencian Community, undoubtedly thanks to the work of Pere Ibarra. He was hired to take charge of the archive that was suffering from conditions of abandonment, among other things because part of the documentation was sold to pay for municipal works. He also took charge of the archive of notarial protocols. He left a system of document organization that still endures.
The Archive not only collects the documentation produced by the municipal offices, but acts as a documentary heritage center and, throughout its history, has seen its holdings increase with documents from other institutions or individuals.
Documentary funds
Most of the documentation kept in the archive is that produced by the municipal institution to which it is linked and, likewise, it is as wide and as varied as the functions it has had over time.
The oldest documents date back to the 13th century and there are series of documentation that have continued to the present day. They stand out, among the main ones: the Book of Acts (beginning in 1371), documentation on finances (since 1490), Administration of Justice, Hospital and Health, Territory and Population, Industry and Commerce, Elections...
It is difficult to be able to approach the particular value of the documents, but we can say that there are two in the archive that mark a certain importance compared to the rest. One of them is the Book of Privileges or Codex d'Elx, a book in parchment that collects the privileges given by the kings of Castile and Aragon and which served to endow the municipality with a first political-administrative organization. The other document is the Consueta of 1709 for the representation of the Mystery.
After the expulsion of the Moors in 1609, the old Raval de Sant Joan became a university, a minor local entity, with a separate and independent administration from the town, except in civil and criminal justice. Instead of their own property, their income mainly came from the royalties given by the Lord of Elche, the Duke of Arcos who, after the expulsion, distributed the land and houses among new Christian settlers. In 1835, this Town Hall was abolished and the archive, as well as its administrative management, was integrated into that of the town. The documentation we have is between these two dates, although there are few documents from the first period. The fundamental series are: books and record books, documentation related to finances and accounting (royalties, taxes and contributions), amillaramentos, administration of the poor or fifths. The Books of Mostassaf are worth mentioning.
In the same plenary session in which the Municipal Historical Archive is officially named, the Historical Section of Notarial Protocols is created, attached to it. This fund was kept in municipal offices since, on July 7, 1925, the protocols of the notary Joaquín Botella Pascual were moved there, joining other loose protocols that were already in the City Hall. In any case, the ownership of the protocols is exclusive to the notaries, but those that are centenarians are ceded for research.
Libros de Protocolos have been preserved since 1463 and a varied documentary typology is collected in these writings. Physically they also correspond to a unit within the archive and bear the signature SHPN.
A good part of this documentation has been bought, at different times, from the heirs of the administrators of the House of Altamira, the last lords of Elche, although the first books come from the Duchy of Arcos. There are other loose documents from this same administration that entered the archive when collected by Pere Ibarra. Of note are the Capbreus Books, from the 17th and 18th centuries, essential for the study of the repopulation of the University of Sant Joan after the expulsion of the Moors. They are deeds of establishment and sale by letter of grace based on a model where the ownership of the affected land is configured.
Pere Ibarra Ruiz (1858-1934) was municipal archivist. In 1891, he obtained the title of Archivist, Librarian and Antiquarian of the Escola Superior de Diplomatica. He was a tireless researcher and organized his own collection of archaeological pieces and countless documents, bought or collected from other individuals and which, after his death, went to the Municipal Historical Archive, although we cannot specify the amount. Among others, in addition to some personal documents, we can highlight the "Indices de remisiones a Cabildos y Sitiadas", which summarize all the municipal agreements from 1370 to 1923, or collections such as "Tesoro Histórico", which collects pamphlets and posters of very different content, «Papeles curiosos», «Varios» or his photo albums.
Pere Ibarra was greatly influenced by his older brother Aurelià Ibarra (1834-1890), founder of the Democratic Party in Elche, archaeologist, writer and artist. He made important archaeological discoveries that were collected in his book Illici, su situación y antigüedades. His documentation - some handwritten works, personal correspondence, the collection of political papers and also a large part of his journalistic articles collected in the collection entitled "Crónicas Ilicitanas" - became part of the collection of his brother Peter.
When the convents, the Franciscan of Sant Josep and the Mercedarian of Santa Llúcia, were confiscated in 1835, their funds passed to the Town Hall where they were kept with little care. From the convent of Sant Josep we have received documents about censuses and properties, masses for interest, alms and the Book of the Meetings and Blesseds of the Third Order. From the Mercé convent, we keep some loose documents on properties, but we should talk more about the archive of Fr. Agustín Arques Jover, appointed general archivist of the Order since 1782 who has left us a wealth of information on the holdings of the Mercedari Archive.
Until the end of the 18th century, it was the municipal administration that was in charge of managing the Séquia Major, the main irrigation water distribution network in Elche. From then on, it passed to a Royal Water Board, where the owners had a majority stake. The Community of Owners of the Séquia Major del Pantà was created in 1911 and, from that moment on, we can speak of an organization completely independent of the municipality. Although the documentation remained at the City Council, it was kept in a separate cabinet, which is why we can find some municipal documents in this fund as well as water distribution books in the municipal documentation.
The definitive transfer of the documentation to the headquarters of the Community would occur in the 19th century and, in 2006, through the signing of an agreement, it was deposited at the AHME. The inventory that can be consulted was made by Anna M. Álvarez Fortes.
The Séquia de Marxena and the Séquia Major form a hydraulic system that irrigates the countryside of Elche. Both have medieval origins, although we cannot specify exactly when they were built. After the Conquest, Infante Manuel partially repopulated the city and its territory with Christians, and carried out a distribution of inheritances that would affect both the vegetable garden and the dry land. It had to be at this moment when the two historical irrigation systems of Elche were separated: the Séquia Major, which irrigated the main vegetable garden, that of the palm grove, which had been distributed among the Christians, with a supply of water of three quarters of the total (9 threads out of 12); and that of Marxena, much smaller, with 2 threads, which irrigated the lands awarded to the Muslims after the conquest on the right bank (the Horta dels Moros). The Séquia de Marxena was owned by the successive lords of Elche, but the actual organizational management of irrigation and the distribution of water was left in the hands of the aljama of the Mudejars. After the expulsion of the Moors in 1609, management passed to the Council of the University of Sant Joan, which elected every year a superintendent who managed the irrigation. When the aforementioned town council was abolished, in 1835, the government and administration of the Séquia de Marxena passed into the hands of a Community of Owners, regulated by a regulation approved in 1893 and which, except for minor modifications, continues still valid
Although the figure of an archivist did not exist and the documentary fund has passed through different departments, the documents have been preserved respecting the series generated in the exercise of their function by the Community of Owners. On May 20, 2011, in the Board of Governors of this community, the transfer of the archive of the Séquia de Marxena to the Municipal Historical Archive of Elche was approved.
We highlight the documentation on the government of the Séquia (orders, regulations, proceedings of plenary sessions); on the distribution and distribution of water (sale and daily distribution of water, sales contracts, etc.), as well as the series of construction files that affected the layout of the ditch.
The testimonies of anonymous people and other well-known local people make up this collection made up of more than 1,000 cassette tapes. They have been donated to the archive by illegal historian Miguel Ors and collect episodes and experiences about the Civil War, the post-war period and, in general, about everyday aspects of illegal society. This collection undoubtedly completes the documentation of the archive and brings another, more personal point of view to a certain era.
Background inquiry
The documents of the Municipal Historical Archive of Elche can be consulted in the computerized catalog where we have included all the description tools we own, both ancient and contemporary. We are working on normalizing all these records and preparing related and advanced research. At the moment, documents up to 1924 are accessible from the web.
Digitized documents
News from the Municipal Historical Archive of Elche
The techniques of the Archive on the occasion of 8-M 2023
Carmina Verdú Cano
Martina Martinez Lopez
María José Riquelme Sellés
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Address
Placeta Santíssimo Crist de Zalamea, no. 1 - 03204 Elx (Alicante)
