Parishes of Galicia, from the end of the 15th century to the mid-19th century

Abstract

The only administrative network that covered and linked the whole of Galicia was the one consisting of parishes. Originating in medieval times, the numbers changed very little from the end of the 15th century to the mid 19th century, despite a dramatic population increase. Rights of patronage, very often controlled by the nobility, made it difficult to re-design the map of parishes. Yet although the parochial structure changed little in formal terms, the function of the parish as a key religious defining mark of social life and identity continued to gain strength, as can be seen in the fact that at the end of the Old Regime, demographic and fiscal surveys by the political authorities were still calculated on the basis of parishes, which numbered around 3,800 in the mid-18th century, whilst the number of communities or villages had risen to 30,000. The situation is very similar to that of the Portuguese territory located between the Douro and the Minho.