Lazos personales y redes sociales en la arriería: El testamento de José Franco

Abstract

Muleteering in the Early Modern is a professional activity involving, beyond themuleteer's own labour force, the beast, family negotiation, neighbourhood, gender, commerce, technology and the infrastructures of the road. It is not merely an economic activity and the transport of goods, but a mediator among spaces, individuals or corporations.The aim of this text is to study the characteristics of the muleteering with beasts. As an example, we will start with the case of a muleteer-merchant from the Lecrín Valley (José Franco), a region of the kingdom of Granada marked by three mule tracks as a natural passage between the coast and the city. In this area, the economy of many of its municipalities allowed freeing labour for transport, especially in Pinos del Valle where the Cadastre of Ensenada registers a hundred of them.The notarial documentation will allow us to analyse the interrelation betweenpersonal, commercial and neighbourhood ties, clearly marked by the muleteer work (taking into account the framework of pluriactivity typical of the Early Modern).