4-02
Bibuography
5. Archivo Histôrico Nacional (Madrid), indice de Ios Documentas del
Monaslerio de Sahagun. Madrid, 1874. Liberal extracts and summaries;
a useful glossary.
6. Barrantes, Vicente. Aparato Bibliogrdfico para la Historia de Extre-
madura. Madrid, 1875-77. 3 v°ls∙ This edition displaces the earlier one
in 2 vols. (1865), which was full of gaps and errors. The present edition
is an exhaustive guide to materials, both ms. and printed, on the great
summer pasturage region of the Mesta.
7. Boissonnade, P. “ Les Études relatives à l’histoire économique de
l’Espagne.” In Revue de synthèse historique, 1910-12.
8. Catalina Garcia, Juan. Datos Bibliogrdficos sobre la Sociedad Econd-
mica Matritense. Madrid, 1877. A scarce but very useful publication;
lists much valuable fugitive material now in the library of that Society.
9. Colmeiro, Manuel. Biblioteca de Ios Economistas Espanoles de Ios
Siglos XVI, XVII, y XVIII. Madrid, x88o. Indispensable.
ɪo. Foulche-Delbosc, R. Bibliographie des voyages en Espagne et en Por-
tugal. Paris, 1896. Convenient in this investigation as a guide to material
on Estremadura.
и. Jordana y Morera, José. Apunles Bïbliogrdfico-forestales. Madrid,
1875. A useful compilation of titles, both printed and ms., on forestry,
with much on stock raising; privately printed.
12. Munoz y Romero, Tomas. Diccionario Bibliogrdfico-Hisldrico de Ios
antiguos Reinos, Provincias, Ciudades, Villas . . . Madrid, 1858. Re-
markable for its thoroughness, accuracy, and utility; one of the two con-
stant bibliographic aids to the present investigation (see No. 15).
13. Pérez Pastor, Crist6bal. Bibliografia Madrilena . . . Siglo XVI.
Madrid, 1891. Supplemented by two later volumes on the early seven-
teenth century; lists the early editions of the Mesta codes.
14. Rada y Delgado, Juan. Bibliografia Numismdtica Espaiiola. Ma-
drid, ι886. This and the preceding item were published by the Biblioteca
Nacional.
15. Ramirez, Brâulio Anton. Diccionario de Bibliografia Agrondmica.
Madrid, 1865. An exhaustive compilation of 2375 titles, including mss.,
analyses of files of obscure periodicals, summaries of early pamphlets, etc.;
a work which will stand comparison with the best of the better known
bibliographies in any language or on any subject.
II. SOURCES
A. Manuscripts
i. The Archive of the Mesla
The Mesta began very early the collection and organization of docu-
ments concerning its various activities. In fact, there are indications
of an informal accumulation of materials for the use of its attorney
as early as 1371, though the first definite evidence of a systematized
archive does not occur until the recognition of the Mesta by Ferdi-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
403
nand and Isabella as one of the administrative arms of the central
government. The Archive was stored at the monastery of Guadalupe,
in the heart of the winter pasturage region, until about 1595, when it
was transferred to Villanueva de la Serena, another of the favorite
towns for the winter meetings of the herdsmen. There it remained
until г 621, when it was removed to Madrid, to be stored in the church
of San Martin until the early years of the eighteenth century. It
was then installed in its present abode in a house on the corner of the
Calle de las Huertas and the Calle de Leon, across the street from the
Royal Academy of History, where it reposed, untouched by his-
torians, for some two hundred years.
In view of all these travels and of its constant use as an arsenal for
the ever busy legal staff of the Mesta, the excellent condition and the
completeness of the files of documents are remarkable. Out of its
total of 6o∞ or more separate manuscript items, several hundred of
which are stout folio volumes, less than twenty sheets are in a seri-
ously damaged condition, and the different series of documents are
marred by no important gaps. The Archive is now well arranged and
accessible, and its value in fields of research beyond the limits of the
present study should prove inviting to other students. Its long and
unbroken files of judicial materials, for example, afford a rare op-
portunity for the examination of mediaeval Castilian judicial proced-
ure and the development of the technique of litigation. The Archive
abounds in sources of tempting possibilities in the field of general
agrarian history: public lands, commons, forests, etc. In general, its
strongest period lies in the sixteenth century, with ample sources both
before and after that golden age of Spanish history.
A word on its completeness, before taking up the different sections
in detail. An examination of the usual Spanish libraries and archives,
both national and local, private and public, brings out at once the
fact that they contain few if any sources on the Mesta: a circumstance
which is probably the explanation of the absence of any careful study
of the subject. For an institution which aroused such prolonged and
vehement hatred, the Mesta is surprisingly uninvestigated. The
credit for this immunity may be ascribed to the craft of a few of that
body’s astute legal agents, who, in 1621, secured a royal order by
which they were authorized to remove from the great archive at
Simancas, and all other public record offices, all documents bearing
on the Mesta. These were deposited in the Archive of that organiza-
tion, where they remain to this day. They were supplemented in