Imprenta y gobierno municipal en Barcelona. Sebastián y Jaime Matevat al servicio del Consell de Cent (1631-1644)

Abstract

From the moment when, in 1631, the Consell de Cent of Barcelona granted Sebastian Matevat the right to print his works, he and Jaime Matevat undertook the publication of the ordinances, edicts, royal letters, juridical declarations and briefs defending the interests of the institution during the political polemics against the Crown prior to the Catalan Revolution. From 1640, the revolt extended the editorial needs of the town council and allowed other printing shops to take part in municipal production: Sebastián de Cormellas and Pere Lacavalleria; that year, the latter took charge of one of the editions of Gaspar Salas Proclamación Católica. During the same period, a large number of pamphlets and papers printed to organise the militar defence of Catalonia, appeared the scene: placards, circulars, short letters and passports. Among the sources used in this article are the account books of the Consell de Cent or «Memorial de Comptes del Clavari», which need to be complemented with the records of municipal deliberations and the bibliography that Sebastián and Jaime Matevat printed for the city.