Record Atlas
8 eras · 1563–2026 · 67 places

La Mancha — Ciudad Real

Almagro, Valdepeñas, Herencia. Which empire held this ground in which years — and, the part that matters, which archive that means.

Whose archive this ground was

YearsWho held itWhose archive that means
1563–1808 Crown of Castile — Toledo and the military orders FamilySearch · PARES

The territory belonged partly to the archdiocese of Toledo, to a lesser extent to the diocese of Córdoba, and in zones governed by the military orders: Santiago through the priorato nullius of Uclés (in Cuenca), Calatrava through the priorato nullius of Almagro. Which applies to a given town is not established here. Parish registers run from the Council of Trent (FamilySearch gives 1545 and 1563); most registers over 100 years old were moved to the archive of the parish's diocese.
1808–1814 Spain under Joseph Bonaparte — Peninsular War FamilySearch · PARES

Joseph Bonaparte's reign is dated from June or August 1808 depending on the source, to 11 December 1813; the Peninsular War ended on 17 April 1814. An 1810 Napoleonic division of Spain into 84 prefectures is recorded.
1814–1833 Kingdom of Spain — monarchy restored FamilySearch · PARES

The war ended on 17 April 1814 and the Bourbon monarchy was restored; the 1822 division of Spain into provinces, made in the Trienio Liberal, was the predecessor of the 1833 one.
1833–1873 Kingdom of Spain — Province of Ciudad Real FamilySearch · PARES

Ciudad Real became a province by the royal decree of 30 November 1833, in Castilla la Nueva; the 1851 concordat planned a diocese of Ciudad Real but no bull was issued. Civil registration is dated from 1871 (FamilySearch's church-records page says 1869), with some municipalities holding records from as early as 1837; the records are still in each municipality's archive, and certificates are requested through the Ministerio de Justicia.
1873–1931 Kingdom of Spain — the Priorato of the Military Orders at Ciudad Real FamilySearch · PARES

The Republic suppressed the military orders on 9 March 1873, and the bull Quo gravius of 14 July 1873 suppressed their jurisdiction and shared their territories among neighbouring dioceses. The bull Ad Apostolicam of 18 November 1875 set up the priorato nullius of the Military Orders, put into effect on 15 May 1876 and promulgated at Ciudad Real on 4 June 1876; for a parish inside its territory the Priorato, not Toledo, is the church authority to ask.
1931–1939 Second Republic — Republican centre FamilySearch · PARES

The Republic kept the central area around Madrid after the July 1936 coup; the last Republican territory was occupied in the final days of March 1939, and the date for Ciudad Real itself is not established here. FamilySearch notes record loss in the Civil War without listing registers. An inventory of one archdiocese (Valencia) put the gap mostly before 1871, so check each parish's diocesan archive.
1939–1978 Spain — Franco's State, then the transition to the 1978 Constitution FamilySearch · PARES

Franco announced the end of the war on 1 April 1939.
1978–2026 Spain — 1978 Constitution FamilySearch · PARES

The Priorato became the diocese of Ciudad Real, a suffragan of Toledo, on 4 February 1980 (bull Episcopus titulo Doritanus); its bishop remained prior of the Orders.

The rings are approximate — deliberately. They exist to shade which filing system a place fell under, not to adjudicate a border. A place near a ring's edge should be checked against both neighbours.

See the whole span, 1563–2026, on the map →

The map takes a range, and a range that crosses one of the rows above is where records get lost: the family never moved, and the archive on the far side of the handover will tell you it holds nothing.

67 places on this ground

47 FamilySearch collections reach this ground

Ranked with the regional ones first — a collection for a province is usually a better lead than a national index, though the national index is often where a name is actually written down. A free account opens the images.

All record regions · The map