CONTENTS

PART ! — ORGANIZATION

CHAPTER I

Origins....................... 3

The pastoral industry of the Moors. The origins of the merino sheep.
Sheep raising in mediaeval Spain. The meetings or meslas of shepherds
for the disposal of strays.

CHAPTER II

Migrations.....................17

Sheep highways in Mediterranean countries. The Castilian canadas.
Traffic routes of the Teamsters’ Gild of Castile. Organization and size of
the Mesta flocks. On the march. Wool clipping.

CHAPTER III

Marketing.....................30

Wool marketing in Italy and Aragon. Early exports of Spanish w∞l to
England. Organization of the export trade by Ferdinand and Isabella.
The Burgos Consulado or Trade House. Its foreign branches. Its con-
tact with the Mesta at the Medina del Campo fair. The Mesta and the
trade with the New World. Organization of the domestic wool trade.

Dealing in ‘ futures.’ Middlemen. Trade policies of the Hapsburgs.

CHAPTER IV

Internal Organization of the Mesta........49

Ordinances. Meetings. Elections. Membership. The President and
other officers. Legal staff. Fiscal agents. Proportion of large and small
owners. Shepherds; their duties and privileges.

xill

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