Record Atlas
7 eras · 1243–2026 · 51 places

Murcia and the south-east — Murcia, Cartagena, Hellín

Murcia, Cartagena, Mazarrón, La Unión, Hellín. Which empire held this ground in which years — and, the part that matters, which archive that means.

Where researchers lose records here

1266–1833 — THE TRAP for Hellín. Hellín belonged to the Kingdom of Murcia (a Castilian realm 1266–1833), passed to the lordship of Juan Manuel, and returned to royal jurisdiction after the Marquesado wars of 1476–1480; in 1833 the kingdom was abolished by Javier de Burgos's provincial division and Hellín went to the new province of Albacete, so a search confined to the modern Region of Murcia does not reach it. Parish registers: Trent requires them from 1545/1563, held in diocesan archives.

Whose archive this ground was

YearsWho held itWhose archive that means
1243–1266 Kingdom of Murcia — Treaty of Alcaraz to the Castilian annexation no registers survive

Before parish registers. Hellín was placed in the Kingdom of Murcia by the Treaty of Alcaraz of 1243. A Mudéjar revolt of 1264–1266 brought conquest by Aragon and the return of the territory to Castile, and 1266 is the start of the Kingdom of Murcia as a Castilian realm; how the ground was governed in between is not established here.
1266–1833 Crown of Castile — Kingdom of Murcia PARES · FamilySearch

THE TRAP for Hellín. Hellín belonged to the Kingdom of Murcia (a Castilian realm 1266–1833), passed to the lordship of Juan Manuel, and returned to royal jurisdiction after the Marquesado wars of 1476–1480; in 1833 the kingdom was abolished by Javier de Burgos's provincial division and Hellín went to the new province of Albacete, so a search confined to the modern Region of Murcia does not reach it. Parish registers: Trent requires them from 1545/1563, held in diocesan archives.
1833–1871 Spain — Murcia province; Hellín in Albacete province PARES · FamilySearch

Parish registers stay the main record until civil registration; the old ones are in the diocesan archive.
1871–1936 Spain — civil registration PARES · FamilySearch

Civil registration of births, marriages and deaths begins on 1 January 1871 (law of 17 June 1870; one source gives 1869). The records stay in each municipality, and some municipios hold civil records from as early as 1837.
1936–1939 Spain — Republican rear until the Nationalist occupation of 31 March 1939 PARES · FamilySearch

The Nationalists occupied Albacete on 29 March 1939 and Almería, Murcia and Cartagena on 31 March; in Cartagena, Casado's supporters rose against Negrín's government on 4 March 1939 and were defeated on 7 March, and the Republican fleet sailed for Bizerte on 5 March. Who held each town in July 1936 is not established here. Civil War losses of records are recorded for Spain; how far they reach this area is not established here.
1939–1975 Spain — Franco's dictatorship PARES · FamilySearch

Under Franco's State.
1975–2026 Kingdom of Spain — Constitution of 1978 PARES · FamilySearch

Under the Constitution of 1978. Albacete province, including Hellín, passed in 1978 to the pre-autonomous body of Castilla-La Mancha, so Hellín lies outside the Region of Murcia.

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, 1243–2026, 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.

51 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.

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