La qüestió de Gibraltar, sobretot del 1704 ençà, ha estat tractada, analitzada i investigada profundament i profusament en termes militars i geopolítics. En canvi, els estudis sobre la població civil establerta al penyal des de l’ocupació aliada en la guerra de Successió i posteriorment sota sobirania britànica han estat més aviat escassos, malgrat la gran riquesa d’orígens. Però això no significa que el tema no hagi suscitat interès dels investigadors. El 1951, de fet, H.W. Howes ja en va publicar la primera gran aproximació, The Gibraltarian. The Origin and Development of The Population of Gibraltar from 1704. I els primers anys 2000, les investigacions de Lawrence A. Sawchuk i Stacie D. A. Burke sobre les epidèmies que hi va haver a Gibraltar al començament del segle XIX van aportar informació de context valuosíssima sobre la configuració social del penyal a l’època.
Per sort, l’historiador gibraltarenc Richard J.M. Garcia ha vingut a tancar definitivament la qüestió, després d’una recerca exhaustiva de quasi dues dècades, amb una obra magna en tres volums sobre la història social del penyal: Forging a civilian community (1704-1749), publicat el 2020; Ordinary life in peace and war (1749-1783), del 2021, i The phoenix rises (1783-1805), del mateix 2021.
El període tractat és el segle i escaig que va de la presa de Gibraltar el 1704 fins a la batalla de Trafalgar del 1805, durant el qual es va forjar en bona mesura la societat yanita actual, multiètnica i multicultural, a partir d’elements mediterranis i britànics. L’exhaustivitat de la recerca de Garcia, gràcies a un buidatge meticulós i rigorós dels arxius nacionals de Gibraltar i de Londres i dels llibres eclesiàstics gibraltarencs, és absolutament fascinant, amb centenars de microhistòries que formen la macrohistòria social d’aquest territori tan singular. L’autor dona tot luxe de detalls de qualsevol aspecte imaginable de la vida quotidiana dels primers habitants del Gibraltar britànic, ja siguin arribats de Gènova, del Marroc, d’Andalusia i d’Anglaterra, d’Irlanda, de Portugal i, també, dels Països Catalans. Perquè un dels aspectes que criden força l’atenció de la trilogia de Garcia és que les referències a catalans, menorquins, mallorquins i valencians són constants a les seves pàgines, una demostració més de l’aportació qualitativa –i de vegades significativa– de la gent del nostre país en la formació de la incipient societat gibraltarenca.
Al primer volum, per exemple, l’autor ens parla dels austriacistes catalans que, seguint el príncep Jordi de Hessen-Darmstadt, van participar en l’ocupació de Gibraltar el 1704:
“The number of Spaniards who chose to live in Gibraltar nevertheless began to increase soon after the exodus of August 1704, and in particular after the siege of late 1704-1705 when the Bourbon pretender tried to retake Gibraltar. Some did indeed come back from the hinterland, notwithstanding that Gibraltar was to all intents and purposes cut off from Spain. They were a mix of young and old. This is clearly reflected in the records of baptisms, deaths and marriages at the church of St Mary the Crowned. They were joined by a number of younger, able-bodied Catalans who came and settled in Gibraltar at this time. They swelled the civilian population, but it remained small with a significant number of old people.”
També hi esmenta els catalans que van anar a defensar la plaça durant el primer setge hispanofrancès, de l’octubre del 1704 a la primavera del 1705:
“The cause of King Charles III of Spain was given a boost with the arrival at Gibraltar of Catalan volunteers from Barcelona on 4 February 1705. The Miquelets, or militia, and the Catalans had come to fight for the Austrian Pretender. Their 30-year old Captain, Jayme Burguy 59, was killed in action on 15 May 1705. This shows that, notwithstanding the end of the siege in March, there was still fighting and military casualties 60. The huts on the isthmus to the north of Gibraltar’s outer defences, were known for many years thereafter as Las chozas de los Miquelets suggesting that they were guard huts used by Catalan troops or huts where they would shelter when on duty protecting Gibraltar’s northern flank. Some of the Catalans who arrived at this time settled in Gibraltar. They added a new dimension to the civilian population of Gibraltar.”
I abans de salpar del penyal rumb a Barcelona, l’estiu del 1705, Garcia ens destaca que el príncep Jordi va deixar l’administració civil de la fortalesa en mans de dos catalans:
“In addition to dealing with property titles, Prince George of Hesse put in place a structure for the civil management of Gibraltar shortly before he was due to leave. On 27 July he appointed a Catalan, Alonso de la Capela, as judge for Gibraltar to administer both civil and criminal law. […] On 27 July 1705 Hesse also appointed another Catalan, Joseph Corrons, as the commander with particular responsibility as Pratique Master. It was his duty to allow ships to enter the port if they were free from sickness, or place vessels in quarantine if a crew member or passenger were sick, or even turn the ship away. His title was ‘alcayde de mar’. He was also referred to as the Sergeant Major, suggesting responsibility within the Spanish Guard, a volunteer body which had responsibility for guarding the land frontier with Spain.“
Josep Corrons, natural de Caldes de Montbui, es va estar en el càrrec fins al 1719, quan per disputes amb el governador britànic va haver de sortir de la plaça. Però al penyal es va quedar la seva muller aragonesa i les seves tres filles. I, com rescata Garcia dels arxius, aquestes últimes les haurien passat magres a la mort de la mare si no fos per haver-se casat l’una amb un mallorquí, l’altra amb un valencià i la tercera amb un català:
“The death of Gracia Corrons [1727] left her three daughters, the youngest of whom was 10 years old, in poverty and distress, and with no income. Their only asset was their house on Main Street, opposite Tuckey’s Lane, which was then in a ruinous condition because it had not been well maintained for many years and it had suffered damage during the siege. The small part of the house that was habitable was used as billets by troops. The marriage of Gracia, the eldest of Gracia Corrons’ daughters, to Antonio Carreras – who was originally from Mallorca – saved the girls from destitution. Carreras took in the two younger Corrons girls, and looked after them at his expense until they married. Isabel married Francisco Valle, who was from Valencia, soon afterwards. Gracia’s youngest sister, Esperanza, married Luis Valles, a Catalan from the region of Barcelona like her parents, twelve years after her mother died, in March 1739.”
Per les mateixes dates de la mort de Gracia Corrons, Garcia també esmenta Tecla Portes, casada amb el sabadellenc Miquel Riera i una de les primeres menorquines documentades als llibres eclesiàstics del penyal. Els menorquins, que durant una bona part del segle XVIII van restar sota domini de Londres arran del tractat d’Utrecht, són destacats sovint al segon i el tercer volums. Com en el cas del grup de mitja dotzena de capellans illencs que trobem, des de la dècada del 1730 fins a la del 1790, al capdavant de la parròquia de Santa Maria la Coronada per decisió dels governadors britànics, decidits a tallar qualsevol escletxa de sobirania espanyola sobre la plaça:
“The solution eventually adopted by successive Governors of Gibraltar to the problem of allowing Spanish priests to head the Catholic community in Gibraltar was to source priests for Gibraltar from British possessions and not from Spain. By 1733, General Sabine had decided that he and not the church authorities in Spain would identify a suitable priest for appointment as Vicar. He turned to Port Mahon, Menorca – then a British possession – to find a suitable candidate. He was 43-year old Dr Francisco Ignacio Ximenes, a Doctor of Philosophy and Sacred Theology. After the Junta of Elders were satisfied with the new priest, they approached the Governor to inform him that Dr Ximenes should take charge of the parish. A ceremony was held in the courtyard of the church of St Mary the Crowned where the Governor handed Dr Ximenes the keys of the church and a mandate to work closely with the Junta of Elders of the church. A similar ceremony was then held thereafter whenever a new Vicar was installed. It was no longer the case that the Bishop of Cadiz appointed the Vicar for Gibraltar, with the Governor’s consent. Now, the military authorities were deciding who should be the principal priest for the Catholic inhabitants and the Governor visibly exercised authority in this sphere. It was only then that the candidate for Vicar could seek the necessary ecclesiastical powers from a Bishop, and more specifically in the case of Gibraltar, from the Bishop of Cadiz.”
De Menorca, a més de capellans, també arriben a Gibraltar centenars de professionals provinents de la zona del port de Maó, de vegades amb la família i tot, fins a formar una comunitat compacta i diferenciada dins la naixent societat yanita:
“Life in Gibraltar was difficult for the ordinary person. It was expensive. The military were in total command and the interests of civilians were often ignored. However, there was something about the town that attracted people to stay, and in some cases to prosper. In the years since Spain lost Gibraltar, the character of the place had changed dramatically. From being a quiet Spanish port town, of no particular importance, it had been transformed into a thriving commercial hub at the centre of international trade. It was a magnet that brought in merchants, traders, artisans, seafarers and labourers from Morocco, Portugal, Spain, Minorca and Genoa. It had become cosmopolitan. […] The civilian population had, at its core, a strong element of persons who had been born in Gibraltar and who could trace their family presence and history in Gibraltar for generations. Some could trace their family back to the time before Gibraltar was taken in 1704. Added to them there was a very large Genoese element. There were also important communities of British people, Jews, Spaniards, Minorcans and Portuguese. There was also a smaller number of persons from other countries including Ragusa (Dubrovnik) and France. The way in which the Gibraltar population grew by attracting persons of different nationalities was now part of the traditional make-up of the territory. They embraced British Gibraltar.”
Finalment, a l’epíleg Garcia esmenta els canvis que havia experimentat Gibraltar entre 1704 i 1805, el període cronològic del seu estudi:
“At a deeper level, the physical composition of the population of Gibraltar had changed. A small number of Spanish inhabitants stayed in Gibraltar after it was taken in 1704, and they were joined by some of those who had originally left and then changed their minds and returned. These early Spanish residents were deemed to have become British by virtue of their long term residence in Gibraltar. The number of Spaniards coming to live in Gibraltar had fluctuated over the years. During the time that Minorca was British, there was an element of migration from there, but it was never large. Other Spaniards had come to live and settle in Gibraltar, but they were no longer the dominant element of the civilian community.”
Tot això, i moltíssimes aventures i desventures de personatges i llinatges com Andreu de Salas, Josep Martí, els Sacases, els Porro, els Messa i els Serra, el mestre Valls, els hortolans Riera, els Abrines i els Mayor de València, ho trobareu a les pàgines dels tres llibres de Garcia, indispensables i imprescindibles per entendre el Gibraltar actual. Una recerca, per cert, coincident en el tema, en el període cronològic i en el temps dedicat a la que vaig dur a terme jo mateix sobre els menorquins a Gibraltar. Sortosament, les dues investigacions paral·leles tenen molts punts concomitants i coincidents, però són del tot complementàries perquè en el meu cas el focus es restringia a una de les nombroses comunitats que es van establir al penyal arran de l’ocupació del 1704. L’altre element que permet diferenciar les dues recerques és que es nodreixen d’arxius diferents: més enllà de recórrer tots dos als llibres sacramentals de Santa Maria la Coronada de Gibraltar, en el meu cas bec sobretot dels arxius locals de de Menorca i de Cadis i, en el cas de Garcia, principalment dels arxius nacionals de Gibraltar i de Londres.
Article publicat l’1 d’agost de 2022
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