Trusteeship and Cooperation in the Flemish merchants community in Cadiz: The brotherhood of “San Andrés de los Flamencos” (17th-18th centuries)

This article presents information on the development, over the centuries, of a little known aspect of the communities of foreign Merchants who settled in Spanish cities during the Modern Age. Using previously unpublished documents, relating to the “Ilustre y Antigua Nación Flamenca” of Seville and Cádiz, the article aims to give a description of the charitable activities carried out by the colony of merchants in Seville and, especially, in Cádiz, who were natives of the Southern Low Countries and the Dutch Republic. This merchant community had assigned the administration of a “Patronato” to their brotherhood, which included the control of numerous items of furniture and properties of great value. The description of this religious and benevolent activity gives a no less interesting view, when compared with the purely economic one, of its importance on the integration of these communities into the Spanish society of the 17th and 18th centuries. This research has been made with historical documents from Spanish Archives (Cádiz, Madrid and Alcalá de Henares).