282
THE MESTA
be forgotten that the Mesta never lost the semi-religious char-
acteristics of a cofradia de pastores, or brotherhood of shepherds.
It always contributed to various pious causes, to the maintenance
of chapels, and even to pilgrimages to the Holy Land. In fact, to
this day, its successor, the Asociacion General de Ganaderos del
Reino, opens its annual sessions with a mass and with contribu-
tions to the church. The Mesta soon became reconciled, there-
fore, to the heavy burdens of this devout service, especially when
it was realized that the world-wide prestige of Spain was paving
the way for the rapid expansion of foreign markets for merino
wool.
Some of these financial transactions between the Mesta and
the Emperor involved the great Augsburg banking family of the
Fuggers, to whom Charles was so deeply in debt. The Fuggers
had sent a representative to accompany their distinguished young
client to Spain, and before long they had taken over the royal
incomes from the pastures of the maestrazgos or grandmaster-
ships. A few of these maestrazgo perquisites had come into the
Mesta’s possession in 1518 and after, as security for the various
forced loans to the Emperor. Thus it came about that this phase
of the Mesta’s obligations to the crown was transferred to the
Fuggers,1 who subsequently obtained from the sheep owners
on similar maestrazgo securities various loans which they cred-
ited to the royal account.2
The uncertainties and dangerous possibilities of forced loans
had, however, gradually exhausted the patience of the sheep
owners. At their autumn meeting in 1545 they solemnly pro-
tested against all such excessive demands as “ scandalous im-
positions, monstrous and unscrupulous beyond all reason, be-
cause, as your Majesty is well aware, our organization has no
incomes save assessments on our flocks, many of whose owners
are poor shepherds, widows, and others of limited circumstances.”
Charles received this outburst with calm dignity, but it seems to
have made an impression upon him. Thereafter he was quite
ɪ Konrad Haebler, Die Geschichte der Fugger’schen Handlung in Spanien (Wei-
mar, r897), pp. 75 S.
2 Arch. Mesta, Cuentas, August, 1544 ff.
ROYAL SHEEP TAXES OF THE AUTOCRACY
283
satisfied with the concentration of the responsibilities for sheep
taxation in the hands of the Fuggers, and no further forced loans
were exacted from the Mesta. This new arrangement with the
Fuggers was likewise satisfactory to the sheep owners, who much
preferred the business-like dealings of the bankers to the un-
certain and impulsive demands of the Emperor and his impecu-
nious courtiers. In fact, after 1545 the accounts of the Mesta
showed a steadily growing profit from subletting maestrazgo
pasturage. Its annual credit balance exceeded one million mara-
vedis for the first time in x565, when the net profits in its treasury
were i,142,000.
Beside this transfer of a portion of the royal sheep revenues
from the crown to the Fuggers, there came in 1563 a similar
alienation from the royal exchequer to the Duke of Maqueda of
the entire servicio у montazgo, which had long been partially
fanned out but had never been entirely released from royal
control.1 This transfer marked the beginning of the decline of
royal control over the sheep servicio. Although it appears for
many decades thereafter among the incomes of the crown, the
assessment and administration of that tax passed into the hands
of the Mesta, for the latter had promptly purchased the lease
from Maqueda, fixed the tolls, and collected them from its mem-
bers at the puertos. In the same year the sheep owners also
leased from the crown the title to the Iravesio, a royal sheep toll
yielding annually about 6,700,000 maravedis. This was col-
lected from the so-called riberiegos, local non-Mesta flocks mi-
grating only across the borders (riberas) of the jurisdiction of
their home towns, and not passing any royal toll gates.2 Five
years later, in 1568, the office of alcalde entregador, with all of
1 The annual yield to the crown from this servicio lease hereafter approximated
ɪg,ooo,ooo maravedis. Cf. Paris Bib. Nat., Mss. Esp. 359; Brit. Mus., Harl.
Mss. 3315, fol. 30; Arch. Mesta, Cuentas, February, 1563 ff.
2 See above, p. 13. The term Iravesio first appeared in this connection in the
service у montazgo toll code or Quaderno of 1457 (see above, p. 266), and thereafter
it was usually linked with servicio у montazgo as another form of royal sheep tax
on migrants. Early in the sixteenth century, a clearer distinction between the
two, as indicated above, was made necessary, because of the numerous leases of
parts of each tax. Cf. Nueva Recop., lib. 9, tit. 27, ley 3; Concordia de 1783, i,
fol. 287.