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A la cocina
Cooking Pages

Measuring units
in Spain towards the end of the 15th c.

- Introduction
- Volume units
- Weight units
     Subunits of the castillian arroba
- Length units
      Subunits of the castillian vara		 - Volume units in the "old system" of measures (Spanish pre-metric)
- Other volume units
- Sources
- Notes to Imperial British or American unit users

Introduction

I am missing information on the weight and volume units used in Spain at the time during which these recipes would have been popular (end of 15th c.- 16th c.). The appendices to the recipe book [JCC] only mention a few unusual units, so I have had to look elsewhere with generally poor results. This page is based mostly on the conversions given in the work of Pérez *, complemented by the recipe book already mentioned and by the unit conversions given in an old engineering manual, Hütte **/***. I would love to get any hints or bibliography on the subject, especially if it contains references to the use of "jarras" (jugs) or "escudillas" (bowls) used as volume units.

Volume units

Unit Region Divided into: Equivalent to:
fanega   4 cuartillos, 12 celemines  
  Andalusia  
55.5 litres
  Toledo  
44 litres
arroba or cántara of wine    
16.13 litres
arroba of oil    
12.56 litres
azumbre    
2.016 litres [JCC]

In 1496 some measures were unified. The units to be applied to the whole kingdom (of Castille, I suppose) are those of Toledo for wine and those of Ávila for wheat. Thus:

  • Wine: 1 quintal = 4 arrobas = 100 libras (pounds) = 1600 onzas (ounces)
These units survived until relatively recent times (they are in Hütte as belonging to the old system of measures in Spain **)
  • Wheat: fanega of Ávila (equivalente to what?) divided into celemines and cuartos (quarts, fourths).
In the old system of Spanish measures, according to Hütte, 1 fanega is divided into 12 celemines and is equivalent to 56.4 litres. This last equivalence varies from place to place but is generally of between  53 and 56 litres for most provinces.

Weight units

Unit Divided into: Equivalent to: Notes
castillian arroba 25 libras (pounds)
11.5 kg
  
dinero [JCC] 24 granos (grains)
11.52 grams
 (14th c. coin)

JCC also mentions a series of units that seem to me of limited use due to their tiny size:

Escrúpulo or escrépulo: equivalent to 98 mg, i.e. 0.098 grams
Tomín: 12 granos (grains), equivalent to 96 mg, i.e. 0.096 grams
Grano (grain): equivalent to 8 mg, i.e. 0.008 gramos (20 granos of wheat make one escrúpulo, but this would lead to each weighting 0,160 grams).
He could be right but I have my doubts (we're talking 1/3500 of an ounce for one grano!!).
 

Sub-units of the Castillian arroba 

 

arroba 		 (pounds)
libras
cuarterones		 (ounces)
onzas		 adarmes tomines (grains)
granos		 kg grams
arroba
1
25
        
230400
11.50
11500.00 
libras  
1
4
16
      
0.46
460.00 
cuarterones    
1
4
      
0.12
115.00 
onzas      
1
16
    
0.03
28.75 
adarmes        
1
3
  
0.00
1.80 
tomines          
1
12
0.00
0.60 
granos            
1
0.00
0.05 

Pérez* also mentions animal loads as a weight unit. Thus, in Andalusia:
 
maximum load for a mule: 2.5 fanegas 
minimum load for a donkey: 2 fanegas

where 1 fanega of wheat is equivalent to 44 kg

Loads also appear in Hütte**, but as volume units for wine and oil in Catalonia.
 
 

Units of length

Unit Region Divided into: Equivalent to:
legua (league) Castille  
5,57 km
vara Castille 3 pies (feet) or 4 palmos (hands)
83,6 cm

Sub-units of the Castillian vara (yard)

vara
(feet)
pies
(hands)
palmos
(inches)
pulgadas
(lines)
líneas
(points)
puntos
cm
mm
vara
1
3
4
36
    
83.6
836.00
pies  
1
  
12
    
27.9
278.67
palmos    
1
      
20.9
209.00
pulgadas      
1
12
  
2.3
23.22
líneas        
1
12
  
1.94
puntos          
1
  
0.16

 

Volume units in the old spanish system of weights and measures

This are not necesarily period, just pre-metric - I think they're thus better than nothing for estimating things like "jarras" until I can get a proper clue.

Abbreviations used: 
eq. = equivalent / equivalent to
Unit
Equivalent to:
Province
Note
 then     Region
Arroba for wine
litres
           Castilla, León, Asturias, Andalucía, Extremadura
 
15.66 
 Sevilla and Cuenca          
 
15.78 
 Huelva eq. 9 jarros
(jugs)		 1 jarro eq.
1.75
 litres  
 
15.84 
 Cádiz          
 
16.00 
 Ciudad Real and Segovia          
 
16.04 
 Jaén          
 
16.24 
 Granada, Badajoz and Guadalajara          
 
16.30 
 Córdoba and Madrid          
 
16.36 
 Almería          
 
16.72 
 Málaga          
               
 
16.10 
 on average          
               
Cántara of wine              
(arr. of 8 azumbr.)
14.10 
 Burgos          
 
15.64 
 Valladolid          
 
15.76 
 Palencia          
 
15.80 
 Soria and Sant. (Santander?)          
 
15.84
 León          
 
15.92 
 Ávila          
 
15.96 
 Zamora          
 
15.98 
 Salamanca          
 
16.04 
 Logroño          
 
16.24 
 Toledo          
 
18.41 
 Asturias          
               
 
15.97 
 on average          
               
               
Cántara of wine
15.58 
 Coruña         Galicia
 
15.96 
 Orense          
 
16.35 
 Pontevedra eq. 1/2 cañado        
               
Cántara
17.75 
 Vizcaya         Vascongadas
(8 azumbres)
16.35 
 Alava          
 
20.20 
 Guipúzcoa          
               
Cántara
11.77 
           Navarra
               
Cántara of wine
9.93 
 Aragón eq. 8 jarros, 16 cuartillos 1 jarro equivalent to 
1.24
 litres  
 
21.92 
 Teruel          
               
Carga (load) of wine
121.40 
 Barcelona         Cataluña
(eq. 4 barrilones - arminas in Tarragona; eq. 128 porrones or mitadellas, eq. 512 petricones)
138.64 
 Tarragona          
123.80 
 Gerona 1 carga eq. 8 mayales eq. 128 porrones        
91.08 
 Lérida 1 carga eq. 8 cántaros eq. 96 porrones        
        1 cántaro eq. 
11.39
 litres  
               
Cuarta of wine
0.78 
 Baleares         Baleares
               
Cántaro of wine
10.77 
 Valencia         Valencia
(eq. 16 cuartillos -  or michetas in Alicante)
11.27 
 Castellón          
 
11.55 
 Alicante          
               
Arroba of wine
12.73 
 Albacete         Murcia

Other volume units
 
Unidad    
Saxon jug (Jarra de Sajonia) *** 71.19 cubic inches 1 Litre = 0.9356 jarras (jugs)

Notes to Imperial British or American unit users (pounds, yards, etc.):

I have left unit names in Spanish but I have noted English usages where I could spot similarities or known translations. I thus compare the vara with the yard, because even though they are different in size they are both composed of 36 inches.
Modern equivalences are given in the International Metric System. To convert to more familar units use the following values or look them up in any dictionary and multiply or divide accordingly.
 
Metric "Imperial"
kilometre (km) 0.6214 miles
metre (m) 1.094 yards
centimetre (cm)  0.394 inches
litre 1.76 pints (British)
1.82 pints (American, dry)
2.11 pints (American, fluid)
4.2 cups (American cooking)
kilogram (kg) 2.205 pounds
gram 1/28 ounces

Sources: 

* "Isabel y Fernando – Los Reyes Católicos" by J. Pérez, ed. Nerea, Madrid 1997 ISBN 84-89569-12-6

** Hütte, Manual del Ingeniero, vol.1, Gustavo Gili Editor, 1926
Appendix C (Sistema antiguo de pesas y medidas españolas)

*** Hütte, Manual del Ingeniero, vol.1, Gustavo Gili Editor, 1926
Appendix B5 (Equivalencia entre las medidas de varios países y las métricas)

JCC: Glossary to the Nola book, in "La cocina mediterránea en el inicio del Renacimiento" edited by Juan Cruz Cruz, published by La Val de Onsera, Spain 1997.
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