Seville Cathedral Chapter: History and Dignitaries

Members of the Chapter taking office in the Cathedral

What the Chapter is

As well as maintaining worship, the Chapter carries out the duties entrusted to it by law or by the bishop. It is a collegiate body with public legal personality in the Church and with civil legal personality in accordance with current legislation.

Origins

From its origins, the Chapter of Seville Cathedral was directly under the protection of Ferdinand III and his successors on the Castilian throne. Ferdinand III and his son Alfonso X were the source of the great privileges and revenues that explain the prominent role of the see of Seville and its Metropolitan Chapter in the following centuries.

Ferdinand III's first endowment for the Cathedral laid the foundations of the chapter clergy's assets, assigning to it the tithe of the almojarifazgo (customs duties) of the city of Seville and its whole archdiocese. Ferdinand III died on 30 May 1252, a few months after endowing the Cathedral, which he also chose as his burial place. His son Alfonso X continued and extended the endowment of the new archiepiscopal see.

The Chapter Archive

The role of the Chapter and the political and economic importance of the see of Seville are documented in its Chapter Archive, which gathered abundant papal, episcopal, notarial and administrative documents for several reasons:

Until the Council of Trent, the government of dioceses usually fell to cathedral chapters, which gave them a rich medieval documentary heritage.
Over the centuries many individuals bequeathed rural and urban properties to the Cathedral, which generated notarial and administrative records. The Chapter was also responsible for collecting tithes and sharing them with the archbishop's revenues (mesa arzobispal).
The Archive holds all the documentation arising from the construction and conservation of a Gothic cathedral up to the present day.

Donations to the Cathedral from clergy and lay people were also numerous.

The Cathedral Archive is an “archive centre” that looks after the Chapter Archive, generated by the Chapter from its establishment by Ferdinand III in 1248 to the present day. It consists of:

Finding aids: indexes and inventories from the 15th century onwards.
Secretariat: the Books of Chapter Acts, the Purity of Blood records —very useful for genealogical research— and correspondence.
Fabric: documents on the construction and conservation of the Cathedral.
General Historical Collection: files and individual documents.
Chapter Revenues (Mesa Capitular): the control of tithes in the former Kingdom of Seville.
Plans and drawings: a series of about 550 items.

The dignitaries of the Chapter

Dean: The “decanus”, the one who takes precedence over all the others.
Archpriest: He was formerly the parish priest of the Cathedral.
Archdeacon: He had great power at first as the bishop's vicar, ecclesiastical judge and visitor of the diocese. Later his power was reduced, and in many cathedrals this dignity was abolished.
Precentor: He led the singing in the choir.
Schoolmaster (Maestrescuela): He was the tutor of the cathedral school.
Treasurer: He looked after the sacred vessels.
Chief chaplain: This dignity only exists in Spanish cathedrals with a royal chapel.