From the end of the late Middle Ages, the activities related to the cultivation of mulberry and the fabrication of silk have had a deep importance in the Valencian history and culture. Although traditional Islamic fabrics were already manufactured in Valencia with silk proceeding from the Kingdom of Granada, it was a the end of the 14th century when Genovese traders contributed to the spread of the cultivation of mulberry from the south of Italy. Later, they also transmitted the new textile technology that was used in Genoa in the elaboration of “velluto” or silk velvet. That is what made them to collaborate in the “velluters” guild in Valencia in 1479, which soon became the most important profession of the city and played an important role in the Revolt of the Brotherhoods. Nevertheless, the spread of this manufacture was moderated, since Toledo became the main Spanish silk centre of the Habsburg period. In this epoch, the Kingdom of Valencia stood out, especially, as the most important producing area of raw material of the Monarchy. In fact, the Corts Valencianes already proclaimed in 1547 that silk was the “principal fruyt del dit Regne”, since they moved with the creation of a tax that mortgaged the exports to Castille with the objective of financing the surveillance and defence of the littoral against the incursions of North African corsairs.

The spread of the cultivation of mulberry intensified the in the 17th century and reached its peak in the first third of the 18th century, when silk was produced in the 90% of the Kingdom of Valencia’s 500 villages, although the most part of it was gathered in the regions of l’Horta de València, la Ribera Alta and Baixa of the Xúquer and el Baix Segura. Also, as well as being the most important silk producing area in Spain, Valencia became on the 18th in the main manufacturing centre of the country due to the decline that Toledo experienced. The foundations of the expansion laid towards the end of the 17th century. That could be observed in the privilege got by the “velluters” guild in 1686 by which it was granted to them the status of “colegio del arte mayor de la seda”. The market policies adopted after the ending of the War of Succession favoured the manufacturing growth of the activity in Valencia, where around the 94% of the 4000 looms in the Kingdom were gathered in the second half of the 18th century. Although in 1788 worked directly in them 7,764 operators, the previous work of spinning, winding, throwing, tinting, etc., generated an intense activity, since it was estimated that around the half of the population od the city of Valencia worked, directly or indirectly, in the sector. That explains the deep impact of silk, not just on the urban physiognomy and economics, but also the social relations and the cultural manifestations of the city.

Even though the textile manufacturing suffered a serious crisis from the beginning of the 19th century, the cultivation of mulberry and the spinning of silk survived, thus experimenting an important mechanisation process in the first half of the century. Nevertheless, the irruption of the pebrine’s epidemic from 1854 significantly weakened the sector, which basically disappeared at the end of the century. But the testimonies of the over 400 years in which the sector has had an intense spotlight in the Valencian history and culture are very numerous. The Universitat de València wants to contribute to its recovery with this web site and with the scientific and cultural activities that has organised in the framework of the initiatives launched by Les Corts and the Valencian Government on the occasion of the entrance of Spain in the WTO and UNESCO’s Silk Road.

Ricardo Franch Benavent. Universitat de València