22
THE MESTA
should come into constant conflict with the towns over alleged
trespasses in commons and unenclosed local pastures.1
No description, however brief, of the system of national sheep
highways would be complete without at least a mention of an-
other and scarcely less important network of highways which was
used by an organization closely allied to the Mesta. This body
was the Cabana Real de Carreleros, or Royal Association of
Teamsters. It received its first official recognition in 1497, when
Ferdinand and Isabella endowed it with a set of privileges not
unlike those enjoyed by the Mesta. This charter of 1497 guaran-
teed to the teamsters freedom from nearly all local taxes while on
their journeys about the country, the protection of a special
judicial officer (juez conservador), and the right to pasturage on
the common and waste lands in all parts of the realm.
This last point brought the Carreteros into frequent conflict with
the Mesta. In 1730 there was fought out between the two a
notable suit, in the course of which the former revealed the whole
system by which goods were transported about the country.2
This gild of the Carreteros had been favored with royal privileges,
it appears, “ because of its value to commerce within the country
in times of peace, and as an equipment for the transfer of baggage
in time of war.” Charters were granted to the teamsters’ organ-
ization in 1497, 1499, ɪʒɪð, and 1553∙3 ɪts members came from
Madrid, Valladolid, Toro, Zamora, Salamanca, and Tordesillas,
in other words, the same highland towns of northern Castile
where most of the Mesta members lived.
Most interesting of all, however, is the picture of the domestic
commerce of Castile as it was carried on in the ox-carts of the
Carreteros over a regular system or schedule of routes. Accord-
ing to a statement introduced in the above mentioned suit on
behalf of the teamsters, “ they usually spent the winters south of
Toledo, where their oxen rested and regained their strength until
April. On the first stage of their annual journey they carried
loads of charcoal from the woodlands of Toledo to Talavera, the
* See below, p. 319.
i Arch. Mesta1 Prov. iiɪ, 49.
, Nov. Recop., lib. 7, tit. 28, Ieyes 1-6.
MIGRATIONS
23
home of the famous potteries, where they arrived about June.
Thence they journed as far south as Seville [presumably with
tiles, terra cotta ware, etc., for shipment to America]. They then
started north across the Guadiana valley, bringing salt as far as
Coria and Plasencia. Thence their route lay southeast to the
highlands of Alcudia with wood for the mines of Almadén, whence
they carried quicksilver to Seville for transportation overseas to
the Mexican mines. Another circuit, after the wintering near
Toledo, led northward to Madrid, to which point grain was
brought and exchanged for wool at Segovia. This wool was taken
up to Vitoria; and the carts were there loaded with iron for the
north coast, where they took on salt and carried it to Vierzo and
Ponferrada [in the upland sheep country west of Leon]. Then
they returned eastward to Poza, near Burgos, where salt was
loaded for Valladolid, Salamanca, and other parts of Castile.”
This picturesque, though practically unknown, system of internal
trade has further interest because of its connection with the pas-
toral industry, notably in the transportation of wool and salt, and
in the use of wayside pastures by the oxen. In 1750 the privileges
enjoyed by Mesta members in the use of town commons were
extended to the Carreteros.1 This decree was confirmed and ex-
tended several times by Charles III (1759-88), who, it appears,
was as anxious to encourage the organization of transportation
within his realm as he was eager to destroy the Mesta.2 The
teamsters’ association continued to handle the bulk of the
domestic commerce of Castile until well into the nineteenth
century.
We may now turn from this curious organization of migratory
ox-cart traffic to the more intricate details of the flock migrations
of the Mesta. The preparations for the southward march of the
Mesta flocks, which began about the middle of September, did
not include any of the formalities common to the beginning of the
l Arch. Ayunt. Burgos, Ms. no. 3119.
2 Arch. Hist. Nac., Mss. Consejo de Castilla, leg. 158, no 4; leg. 227, no. 9;
ɪɛg. 434, no. 3; leg. 752, no. ɪ; leg. 817, no. 26; leg. 819, no. 2; leg. 877, no. 45;
'eg∙ 1446, no. 8. The last three of these are dated 1797-1818. As is explained be-
low (pp. i32j 293, 345), the hostility of Charles toward the Mesta contributed
largely to the downfall of the organization.