The Fate of the Libraries of the Society of Jesus after their expulsion in 1767, and the Libraries of the Colleges of Córdoba and Montilla

Abstract

During the Modern Age, the history of libraries in Spain was that of the libraries of religious orders. A good part of our bibliographic heritage from those centuries was either printed by or edited within ecclesiastical institutions: its authorship and/or its subject matter was either religious or belonged to ecclesiastical libraries. Within religious orders, the book responds to the need to spiritually form its members on the path to personal perfection, but also to the interest in providing prestige to their institution. In fact, the library is inherent to the establishment of a convent, and the development and increase of collections is closely linked to the fate of said institutions.

During this same period, the schools of the Society of Jesus experienced great developments which would only conclude with their expulsion in 1767. The founding of a school altered the social, economic, and power relations of the population where it was established. It caused changes in cultural life, since the convent generated a great demand for printed books, boosting trade and encouraging the establishment of bookstores and even local printing presses. Very few libraries of the time were able to house the bibliographic wealth of the ecclesiastical orders, and specifically of the Jesuit colleges; not even the private libraries of large noble families or institutions dedicated to teaching and study, such as universities and academies. Furthermore, the community libraries were equipped with a much superior organisation and had library staff, and they served,in one way or another, a much larger percentage of the population than any other, performing in some ways similar functions to a public library.