iç6
THE MESTA
Occasionally the reasons for these grants were specified, but
usually they were simply designated as confirmations of long-
standing local privileges. However, Henry’s keen eyes were by
no means blind to the dangers of too liberal a policy in this direc-
tion.
While quite ready to assist the towns in their struggles against
the nobles, he was by no means willing to alienate the advantages
and powers which the work of his father, Alfonso XI, had drawn
to the crown* This is well illustrated by his attitude toward the
Mesta in the course of one of the most crucial legal conflicts of its
long career, namely that which was begun before the king and his
council in 1376 regarding the montazgos collected from migrating
flocks by the archbishop of Toledo.1 The royal decision in this
case declared that no landowner however powerful, whether a
noble, a great ecclesiastic, or a town, was to collect more than one
such tax in any given season from a migrating herdsman, no mat-
ter how often the latter’s flocks might recross the lands of the
collector’s estates. This decision, which brought to life once
more the long-forgotten principle of “ one jurisdiction, one mon-
tazgo,” serves as an important precedent in over two hundred
cases during the succeeding three centuries.
Henry’s patronage of the Mesta may, therefore, be taken as of
unusual significance in the history of that body, especially in
regard to its relations with local revenue officers, both civil and
ecclesiastical. The royal power, which was so constant a refuge
for the Mesta, was doubly appreciated because of its manifesta-
71), 299-300 (1375). Cf. Bolelin Acad. Hist., Ixiv, pp. 2r2 ff. : portazgo exemption.
Most of these were granted as rewards for services against Peter and other rebels,
or for aid in crusades against the Moors.
1 Arch. Mesta, T-2, Toledo, 1376 fl.: a portfolio containing the documents of
fifteen cases regarding fiscal relations between the Mesta and this archbishopric,
during the years 1376 to 1658. In 1371 Henry had already ordered fiscal agents
on the royal demesne to collect only one montazgo — that on the southward march
of the flocks. Cf. Arch. Mesta, Privs. Reales, leg. 5, no. ι. During the civil wars
of 1350-69, the archbishop had taken advantage of the discomfiture of many of the
nobles in his extensive jurisdiction, and had advanced his claims to several of their
tolls on passing flocks. This at once aroused the vigorous opposition of the Mesta,
and, because of the prominence of the parties and of the issue, the case was heard
by the king and his council. After a long and acrimonious suit, the notable sen-
tence described above was handed down in favor of the sheep owners.
TAXES DURING THE RISE OF THE MESTA
197
tion in the midst of these troubled times, especially since it ex-
pressed itself as the protector of the sheep owners against the
fiscal claims of so powerful an individual as the primate of Spain.
Early in his reign (in August, 1371) Henry had taken the first
favorable opportunity to renew the various charters of the Mesta.
Particular care was taken to confirm the important fiscal clauses
of the decree of 1273.1 In fact, his whole attitude toward the
Mesta in the question of local taxes gave strength and official
sanction to the now determined contentions of that body. The
aggressive measures initiated by sheep owners and entregadores
during the unsettled years of Peter’s reign were now encouraged
and redoubled.
The weak, mild rule of John I (1379-90) gave the towns an
opportunity to retrieve part of the ground which they had lost
during the latter part of the reign of Henry II. They soon re-
turned to the prominent position accorded to them because of the
urgent needs of the crown during the recent civil wars. Then
there arose the usual inevitable confusion of contradictory tax
exemptions and privileges. The significance of these decrees soon
dwindled and the long lists of curiously named tolls and dues
enumerated in them are of little interest, save, perhaps, as stimu-
lants to the agile surmises of historically minded philologists.2
The town deputies at the Cortes of Burgos (1379), of Briviesca
(1387), of Palencia (1388), and of Guadalajara (1390) soon won
from the king various concessions which reduced the political
ɪ Arch. Mesta, fcrivs. Reales, leg. ι, no. ι. This confirmation of 1371 is the
oldest original document in the Mesta archive, though, of course, there are copies
of many earlier sources. So far as original materials are concerned, the archive
begins with a good collection for this reign. Alfonso XI, or one of his predeces-
sors, may have been responsible for the origin of such a collection, every vestige
of which disappeared during subsequent civil wars. It seems more probable,
however, that Henry II, in addition to his other assistance to the sheep owners,
gave encouragement to the beginnings of what became the Mesta archive. The
first references to an archivist come a few years later, in the early part of the
fourteenth century. See Bibliography for further comments on the development
of the collection.
2 In addition to the almost universal montazgo and portazgo, many new sheep
taxes, fines, and tolls were levied during this period, and the town ordinances of
the early Middle Ages were searched for ancient imposts which might be revived.
See Glossary, pp. 423-428.