viii
PREFACE
The study of the economic development of Spain, and more
particularly of its declining centuries, has occupied the attention
of many investigators, but their interest has centred chiefly upon
the use of economic conditions as convenient explanations of
political phenomena. This has been especially true of the gen-
eral works dealing with the great days of Spanish absolutism in
the sixteenth century. A clearer understanding of the interrela-
tion of economic and political factors can be possible only after
considerably more attention has been paid to the study of cer-
tain special topics which are illustrative of the economic develop-
ment of the country. Among these lacunae in Spanish histori-
ography there is none more important than the account of the
Mesta. The long and active life of this body from 1273 to 1836
has been a notable and in many ways unique feature of Spanish
economic history. For hundreds of years it played a vital part
in the adjustment of problems involving overseas trade, public
lands, pasturage, and taxation.
The extant descriptions of the Mesta are, for the most part,
based upon prejudiced discussions and fragmentary documents
originating with its numerous opponents. In no case has any
use been made of the rich treasury of the Mesta’s own archive,
which has been in Madnd for nearly three hundred years, un-
touched and practically unknown. Whether the institution
was but a product of strongly intrenched, cunningly directed
special privilege pursuing its selfish ends, is a question which even
the most recent investigators have too readily answered affirma-
tively. In its later centuries it unquestionably did contribute
much to the agricultural decay of the country; but that circum-
stance should not obscure an appreciation of its earlier stimula-
tive and constructive influence, both political and economic.
Present day scholarship has been too ready to accept the point
of view expressed in such seventeenth-century couplets as
“ i Que es la Mesta ?
ɪ Sacar de esa boisa y meter en esta! ”
or
“ Entre très ‘ Santos ’ y un ‘ Honrado ’
Estâel reino agobiado.”
PREFACE
ix
The latter voices the popular contempt for such ancient and once
revered institutions as the Santa Cruzada, the Santa Herman-
dad, the Santo Ofido de la Inquisicion, and the Honrado Concejo
de la Mesta. It would be safer to accept the observation of
Ambrosio de Morales, a distinguished scholar of the period of
Philip llɪ “ What foreigner does not marvel at the Assembly of
the Mesta, that substantial, ably administered body politic ? It
not only gives evidence of the infinite multitude of sheep in Spain,
but a study of it helps toward a better understanding of our coun-
try, if it be possible to understand her.” 1
The almost entire absence of reliable investigations in the field
of Spanish agrarian history has made it necessary to base the
present study very largely upon hitherto unused manuscript
materials, found in the archives of the Mesta and of small towns
in remote parts of Castile. For this reason the references in
the bibliography and footnotes have been made more extensive
than might ordinarily seem necessary, in the hope that sugges-
tions might thus be given for subsequent investigations of such
subjects as the domestic and foreign trade of mediaeval Spain,
the enclosure movement in the peninsular kingdoms, or Castilian
field systems and commons.
The researches upon which this book is based were made
possible through two liberal grants from Harvard University
for studies in Spain and elsewhere in Europe in 1912-14: the
Woodbury Lowery and Frederick Sheldon Fellowships. What-
ever merits the volume may have as the first fruit of the Mesta
archive as a field for historical study are due entirely to the un-
failing courtesies of the Marqués de la Frontera, the late Senor
Don Rafael Tamarit, and their colleagues of the Asociacion Gen-
eral de Ganaderos del Reino of Madrid, the successor of the
Mesta. These gentlemen interrupted the busy affairs of their
efficient organization in order to provide every facility for the
exhaustive examination of the valuable collection in their pos-
session. Without their cordial cooperation and expert advice
uPo∏ Spanish pastoral problems this study could not have gone
l Las Antigiiedades de las Ciudades de Espaiia (Alcalâ de Henares, 1576),
P∙ 40.