142
THE MESTA
naturally took the form of penalties levied by the latter for tres-
passes and transgressions by the former. At first the object of
these assessments was purely punitive; but constant repetition
of the offences, and the persistence of the sheep owners in their
visits, led to the gradual hardening of a once elastic schedule of
penalties into a fixed rate of tolls and dues.
The primitive economy of the present day North African tribes
affords an illustration of the nature of this change from fines to
fees, as it very probably took place in the early stages of the in-
dustry in other and economically more advanced areas. In the
pastoral hinterland of Algeria and Tunis the local chieftains still
exact from the migrating flocks a toll of one sheep for every hun-
dred, which is collected “ partly as a penalty for intrusion, and
partly as a guarantee against other fines.” 1 This point of view
regarding sheep dues was representative of the primitive period
when the punitive object of sheep tolls was still conspicuous. It
is interesting to note, however, that the oldest source materials
on this subject, namely those from southern Italy during the
early Roman Empire, reveal a more advanced development of the
fiscal aspect of the industry than that in present day Algeria. In
other words, although the Itahan flocks of classical times were
being fined and penalized by the towns to a limited extent, never-
theless the financial obligations of the herdsmen had gone beyond
that stage, since they were being assessed primarily by the central
government for purposes of imperial revenue. The traditional
hostility between local interests and nomadic sheep owners still
found expression in the fines and penalties collected along the
Apulian highways; nevertheless, the organization of the in-
dustry for state protection and state taxation was its conspicuous
feature.8
An excellent illustration of the local taxation of migratory
flocks is found in the pastoral history of southern France and the
Pyrenees. The sheep industry of these regions was without any
such carefully planned organization as that in southern Italy.
In Provence and the uplands of the Pyrenees the fiscal aspects of
l Bernard and Lacroix, Vivoluiion du nomadisme en Algirie (Paris, 1906), p. 56.
t See below, pp. 254 ff.
SHEEP TAXES IN THE MEDITERRANEAN REGION 143
the industry involved simply the question of local dues Iexded
upon the passing herds by the town officials. There probably was
some sort of primitive organization among the sheep owners,
which was for the sole purpose of protection against unjust ex-
actions by the towns. It lacked altogether that element of facili-
tating taxation by national or royal authorities which was so
conspicuous in Italy.
In Provence the annual march was made over the carraires, or
special highways, with some rudimentary agreement among the
herdsmen for cooperation against aggressive local officials along
the way.1 In the neighborhood of Arles, this custom of defensive
agreements dates back at least to the thirteenth century, and
quite probably to a much earlier period. In fact, it has been sug-
gested that the sheep highways of southern France, which ante-
date the Roman roads in that region, were maintained and used
primarily because of the need for concerted movements by the
flocks to frustrate the Overzealous town bailiffs.2 This is a theory
not without foundation, and one which is strikingly similar to
that advanced by some Spanish scholars to explain the origin and
purposes of the canadas, the Castilian sheep routes.3 With regard
to the fiscal obligations incurred on their highways by the Pro-
vençal shepherds, there are no evidences of taxes being paid
by them to any but local officials. No higher fiscal agents mo-
lested the migrants, though there may have been a tribute or
‘ gift ’ paid in 1232 to Raymond Berenger IV, count of Provence,
for guaranteeing to the Arlesian herdsmen a free passage across
the country to their summer pasturage without the payment of
certain unjust local dues (pasquerages, péages). If this payment
was an annual one thereafter, it might be taken as the beginning
of some centralized influence or control over the fiscal matters of
the industry. There is, however, no direct evidence of this prac-
tice; on the contrary, the documents on Provençal pastoral life
l Fournier, “ Les chemins du transhumance en Provence et Dauphiné,” in
Bulletin de géographie historique et descriptive, 1900, pp. 237-262; Remade, in
Revue de Paris, 1898, p. 843.
2 Comte de Villeneuve, Statistique du département des Bouches-du^Rhone, iii,
p. 642.
s See pp. 18-20.