The name is absent

284               THE MESTA

its considerable incomes from fines and confiscations, was bought
from the Buendfa family by the Mesta.¹

Thus, within the first decade of the reign of Philip II, the
financial difficulties of that monarch had given to the Mesta
opportunities to acquire a large measure of independence from
its obligations to the crown. The servicio y montazgo still had
to be paid, but the amount was predetermined by long-time
leases, and not, as hitherto, by the caprices and necessities of
the sovereign or his favorites and creditors. Furthermore, the
steady decline in the value of money, due to the influx of Ameri-
can gold and silver and to the debasement of the currency,
greatly reduced the actual burden of the servicio, which, as in-
dicated, was kept at a fixed figure for long periods of years. It
is not surprising, therefore, to find that these transactions of
1563-68 laid the foundations for more than a century of financial
comfort for the Mesta.² Its annual surplus rose with extraor-
dinary rapidity:

CREDIT BALANCE OF THE MESTA

In 1587 the treasurer of the Mesta began to invest its funds in
real estate, buying and selling houses and pasture lands at com-
fortable profits. Because of the mobility of his organization, he
was able, through his collectors and agents, to keep in touch
with and take advantage of differing conditions in various parts
of the kingdom. Heavy investments in juros or annuities,³ and

¹ See above, p. 85.

² Its accounts do not show a debit balance until after ι68o.

’ See above, p. 268.

ROYAL SHEEP TAXES OF THE AUTOCRACY 285
purchases of leases of royal taxes, some of which had nothing
whatever to do with the pastoral industry, explain the fall of
the credit balances in 1590, 1591, and ɪðoo,ɪ The Mesta could
not possibly have survived its stormy conflicts with chancillerias,
towns, and Cortes during the sixteenth and seventeenth cen-
turies had it not acquired these new sources of income. The
ultimate dangers of this policy of buying up the royal incomes
and thereby weakening the one constant defender of the Mesta,
namely the monarchy, should have been apparent. But the
financial difficulties of the crown were too immediate and urgent
to permit of caution, and the Mesta itself thus became an im-
portant contributor to the bankruptcy of its patron, the crown.

The crucial period for the royal exchequer in this century came
about the year 1570. Previous to that time the monarchy was
usually solvent, and, on the whole, the amount of its incomes was
quite satisfactory.² Matters began to change, however, with the
storm of foreign difficulties and the resultant financial demands
which swept down upon Philip from all corners of his empire
during the decade after the peace of Cateau-Cambresis (1559).
His troops were beaten at Los Gebras while attempting to re-
capture Tripoli from the Turks (1560). A costly four years’ war
was then waged against the Barbary corsairs. Trouble began
in the Netherlands in 1562, where open revolt broke out in 1565,
Alva’s administration dating from 1567. The persecution and
revolt of the Moriscos also began in 1567, and resulted in heavy
expenditures and ultimately in far heavier indirect losses to
royal revenues through the impoverishment of the industries.

Funds had to be forthcoming, especially after 1574 when the
foreign creditors of the crown temporarily refused further loans?

¹ Arch. Mesta, Cuentas, September, 1589: purchases of the alcabala of Gua-
dalajara for 12,375,000 maravedis, netting an annual income of over 6 per cent
(750,000); of the/uro de yerbas (taxes on pasturage leases) of the maestrazgos of
Santiago and Calatrava, netting annually 375,o∞ and 275,o∞ maravedɪs, re-
spectively. Ibid., September, 1599: purchase of the jure de a veinle (a form of
half alcabala or twentieth, hence the name) of Mérida, netting 315,000 maravedis
a year, and of a jura de puertos secos on the Portuguese border, netting 36,000
yearly.

² Haebler₁ op. cit._i pp. 121 S.

^, Moncada, Restauracibn politica de Espana (Madrid, 1746), p. 53.

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