The publication ‘Indústria tèxtil i creixement regional: La Vall d’Albaida i El Comtat en el segle XV’ (Textile Industry and regional growth: La Vall d’Albaida and El Comtat in the 15th Century), by Antonio Llibrer, promoted by the Vice-principal Office of Participation and Territorial Projection and the Department of Medieval History was presented last Friday, 27 June, in the Municipal Auditory of Beniganim. The book is the outcome of a long effort of investigation which has lasted over a decade.
The presentation of the forth Congress of the Institute of Studides of La Vall d’Albaida was the frame elected to publicize the book, in an act to which the vice-principal of Participation and Territorial Protection Jose Hermosilla; the vice-principal of Economy and Infrastructures and counselor of Caixa Ontinyent, Juan Luis Gandia; the Major of Beniganim and the president of the Community, Juan A. Puchades; and Josep Albinyana, from the IEVA (Institute of Studies of La Vall d’Albaida.
The vice-principal Juan Luis Gandi was the presenter of the author and the work. He highlighted the opportunity of the study: “It is a reflection of Valencian protoindustry and of the entrepreneurial attitude of these regions”, he noted.
Through 380 pages edited by the Unity of Support of the Vice-principal of Participation and Territorial Projection, Antoni Llibrer’s analysis completes the thematic diversity on the development og rural industries, centering his attention around the Valencian hinterlands (La Vall d’Albaida and El Comtat), relatively well illuminated by the sources but with little attention from the medievalists.
The work deals an ambitious thematic for the comprehension of the history of the work, of the manufactures, the technical diffusion and of the basis of rural entrepreneurs. With a wealthy documentation and methodology, the author has managed a double objective, quantitative and qualitative: on the one hand, he has been able to validate the extraordinary manufacturer concentration in the studied region (he has accounted 600 handmade unities associated to the confection of cloths); and on the other hand. Antoni Llibrer has managed to access the traditional enterprise, its typologies and its origin, its means of business and association and even to its proposals and mercantile strategies.
Antoni Llibrer explained that the investigation for this work has lasted over ten years: it started in 1996 when he defended his bachelor degree thesis “Artesanat i formes d’organització de la producció tèxtil rural: Cocentaina (1469-1485)” (Artisanity and ways of organization of the rural textile production: Cocentaina (1469-1485), and ended in 2010 with the reading of his doctoral thesis, of which he now publishes the central parts.
Llibrer thanked the University of Valencia, in specific the Vice-principal Office of Participation and Territorial Projection and the Department of Medieval History, which have made the publication of this work possible. “Very special thanks to the full university professor of Medieval History Paulino Iradiel Muruga, who has directed and supported me during all these years of investigation”, he pointed out.
The vice-principal Jorge Hermosilla highlighted the marked territorial implantation of Antoni Llibrer’s study and pointed out that it meant a new opportunity of developing academic activities around the Ontinyent Campus.
Moreover, the president of IEVA, Josep Albinyana, emphasized the importance of Antoni Llibrer’s investigations for the region: “With the publication of this work wins the region and so do us as inhabitants of La Vall d’Albaida and El Comtat; with this study, we know more about our history, our economy and out industry”.
The Mayor of Beniganim also eulogized the work and highlighted the satisfaction that, for him and for the municipality represented in it, means to host this book’s presentation.
Last update: 1 de july de 2014 10:14.
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