[27] The systematic exploitation of convict labor on the galleys in the sixteenth century opened the way for the use of convicts in the mercury mines of Almadén. The unwillingness of free laborers to work in those mines and the increased need for mercury to be used in the refining of silver (the patio or amalgamation process was introduced into the Mexican mines in the 1550s) led to the consignment of criminals who had been condemned to the galleys to sentences at Almadén instead. ⁽¹⁾ The initiative for this action came from the German bankers, the Fuggers of Augsburg, who, in return for loans to the Spanish government, administered the properties of the Military Order of Calatrava to which the mines belonged. As early as 1559, the Fuggers petitioned the king to grant them a number of forzados to be used in the mines, but royal fears of conferring authority and jurisdiction on private individuals -- and in this case, powerful banking interests -- delayed approval. It was only after the Fuggers failed to meet their stipulated mercury quotas that the king reluctantly agreed in 1566 to assign them a contingent of thirty prisoners (increased to forty in 1583). ⁽²⁾

According to the terms of the concession, the Fuggers were given full powers over the forzados condemned to the mines, including the right to render justice to them. In return, they were required to feed and clothe the prisoners and minister to their physical and [28] spiritual needs. Forzados who died before the termination of their sentences could not be replaced until affidavits were filed describing the causes of their deaths, and all requests for replacements had to be made directly to the king. Any prisoners who escaped through the negligence of the Fuggers or their employees had to be recaptured at their expense. Furthermore, the Fuggers were especially enjoined not to try to retain prisoners after the completion of their sentences, as was done on the galleys, but despite this prohibition, that is exactly what they did during the initial years of the grant. Complaints soon reached the court, and in 1569 a royal decree ordered the Fuggers to cease interfering with the normal release of prisoners and to free immediately all those who had completed their sentences . ⁽³⁾

Forzados destined for Almadén were to be chosen from among the condemned criminals awaiting transportation to the galleys in the jail of Toledo. Preference was to be given to those serving limited sentences and who appeared to be most suited for work in the mines. Once selected, the forzados were handed over to an agent of the Fuggers and then placed in a chain destined for Almadén. ⁽⁴⁾ At the end of February, 1566, the first group arrived at Almadén to begin serving their sentences, and thus was inaugurated another experiment in the use of convict labor in early modern Spain.

At Almadén, as on the galleys, penal servitude and slavery coexisted throughout the early modern era. In this respect, Almadén was a faithful reproduction of the galleys, but on a more restricted scale, because only small numbers of slaves and forzados were utilized there. Aside from the reluctance of the government to allow the Fuggers control over more convicts than absolutely necessary, the enterprise did not require a large working force. What was needed at Almadén was a continuous supply of a limited number of workers who could be exploited without consideration of the hazards to health and life that existed in the mercury mines. While convicts were ideally suited to such circumstances, slaves generally were too valuable to be wasted in this manner, but this was not true for those at Almadén. These slaves, who were mainly North Africans, were purchased directly from private slaveholders for service in the mines. They were unwanted and rejected by their owners because they were insubordinate and rebellious or had committed misdemeanors [29] that required punishment. Instead of donating them to the king for the galleys, which meant a total loss, owners could gain some compensation by selling them at lower prices for use in the mines of Almadén. Statistics for the sixteenth century are not available, but in the first half of the seventeenth century slaves were purchased for the mines at thirty to eighty ducats a head at a time when the common market value for an able-bodied slave was 100 ducats. Even in the second half of the seventeenth century, when slaves' prices rose on the Iberian Peninsula, recorded prices at Almadén were still below the competitive market price. ⁽⁵⁾ Given the circumstances, these slaves were as expendable as the convicts.

As in the case of the galleys, much of the source material for a study of penal servitude in the mines of Almadén has disappeared. One of the most valuable collections of extant documents can be found in the Archivo Histórico Nacional in Madrid. Among the papers belonging to the Order of Calatrava are three bundles of documents relating to an investigation of the mines in 1593 that was conducted by a royal commissioner who was none other than the famous sixteenth-century writer, Mateo Alemán, author of the picaresque novel Guzman de Alfarache This inquiry was occasioned by a steady current of complaints that reached the king in the 1580s about the treatment of the forzados at Almadén. The documents in this collection consist primarily of lists containing the names, sentences, dates of entry, and release or death of all forzados who served in the mines from 1566 to 1593. Transcripts of sentences, copies of appeals, and other legal papers belonging to the men provide further details about them. Additional information can be derived from the "Información Secreta" -- some 189 folios of oral testimony taken from twelve prisoners still serving there in 1593. ⁽⁶⁾ There were actually thirteen prisoners, but one of them was unable to testify because of illness. That meant that there were twenty-seven vacancies (all caused by death) that the king refused to fill until the results of the investigation were known.

According to the official lists, some 220 convicts labored at Almadén during the period 1566-93 (including the men still there at the latter date). Given the loss of records for the early years, this figure represents perhaps some three-quarters of the men who served there; at least this is the impression that emerges from a study of the [30] sworn statements of the administrators of the mines in 1593. Moreover, several of the convicts noted in their testimonies that at times, especially in the late 1580s when the Fuggers tried to increase output, there were more than the stipulated number of forzados working in the mines. ⁽⁷⁾

The origins of the forzados are difficult to determine because only one-half of them are listed with their places of birth or residence. It does seem that most of the prisoners came from the big cities (with over 2,000 householders) and the larger towns (fifty to 2,000 householders) of Castile, Andalusia, and Extremadura. There was also a substantial group from the judicial districts of Ciudad Real and Almagro, because justices in this region, due to the proximity of Almadén, preferred to send men to the mines rather than to the galleys. As for their professions, once again the lists seldom mention this kind of information, but on the basis of what information does exist, it seems that most forzados belonged to the menial trades, service industries, or unskilled working class of the towns and cities. Some of the occupations frequently indicated are those of carters, coachmen, barbers, bakers, blacksmiths, butchers, and servants. There also were two notaries and four friars. Only four of the forzados were of foreign origin (Flemish, German, Italian, and Portuguese), and all had been condemned to Almadén for capital crimes. ⁽⁸⁾

More than half of the forzados at Almadén were serving sentences of from four to six years; the remainder, from one to four years. Only fourteen prisoners had been condemned for more than five years (six to ten years), and in these cases homicides were involved. Forty-two percent of the men completed their sentences and were subsequently released, and 24 percent died before their release dates. Some 8 percent were either freed before the expiration of their terms (men who were still appealing their sentences or en depósito), or escaped and, when recaptured, were executed or sent to the galleys. Fourteen men (6 percent) were still serving their sentences. The fate of the remaining 20 percent is unknown. It seems likely that some died before completing their sentences, but their deaths purposely were not recorded. ⁽⁹⁾

Escapes were infrequent; during the twenty-seven-year period from 1566 to 1593, there were only seven of them -- two were [31] successful, and one, involving several prisoners, partially so. The convicts and slaves were well guarded and kept chained together when going to the mines from the building that served as their sleeping quarters. Once inside, the central chain that linked them together was removed (but not their individual chains), and it was not replaced until they were ready to leave the building to work in the mines. As on the galleys, guards and overseers were personally responsible for the loss of any of their charges, that is, they had to recapture them at their own cost or, failing that, had either to pay for slaves to replace them, or else serve in their stead. ⁽¹⁰⁾

The only jailbreak involving a number of forzados took place in 1588 and provoked a serious controversy between religious and secular authorities over the right of sanctuary in church buildings. Four prisoners who were being forced to work in the mines at night overpowered their guards, killed an overseer, and then escaped through a ventilation shaft. They fled to a nearby Franciscan monastery where they asked for asylum. The friars not only honored their request, but also helped them to remove their chains and gave them new clothing to replace their prison garb. When the guards from Almadén arrived, the friars refused to surrender the prisoners to them. The administrator of the mines, fearful of the consequences of forcibly breaking the inviolability of church sanctuary, allowed them to remain there indefinitely. Eventually, two of the men were recaptured after they had voluntarily left the monastery, and one of them was subsequently tried and executed at Almadén for the murder of the overseer. ⁽¹¹⁾

The majority of forzados at Almadén were either thieves or men sentenced for both theft and vagrancy. Since work in the mines was considered less severe than on the galleys, murderers generally were not sent there. Only eight of the total number of prisoners had been convicted of homicide; two of them were wife-killers. Another prisoner serving a life sentence for murder was an Augustinian friar whose clerical status apparently saved him from the gallows. In the early years there were some forzados who had been sent to Almadén by the Inquisition for moral lapses and transgressions (bigamy, adultery, sodomy), but they were always an insignificant number. Ruffians, army deserters, bandits, Granadine Moriscos, and gypsies made up the rest of the convicts at Almadén. ⁽¹²⁾ [32]

Among the prisoners, the most numerous were the cattle thieves, housebreakers, and burglars, followed by a substantial representation of pickpockets and sneak thieves. They included men of all ages. Pascual Abril, who was convicted of stealing two mules, is typical of the first category. At the time of his arrival at Almadén in 1586 to begin serving a six-year sentence, he was described in a notation on the official entry list as "a man of forty years of age with few teeth and a large knife mark on one cheek and a fierce expression." ⁽¹³⁾ Clearly a professional, Abril early attempted escape. Less than a month after his arrival he fled the mines, but got only as far as the town of Agudo (some twenty-two kilometers away), where he was recaptured after a brief struggle. Two years later, his death "from natural causes" was officially recorded, and within a month another thief was brought from the jail of Toledo to take his place. ⁽¹⁴⁾

Among the best representatives of the sneak thieves and pickpockets were two boys who could have stepped out of any of the picaresque novels of the period. Francisco de Baena (alias Diego de Madrid) and Juan Martín had been practicing their professions at court in Madrid for some time before their arrest. Although the usual penalties for minors were flogging and banishment, the long criminal records of these two youths convinced the court that they were incorrigible and that sentences to the galleys were justified. It is not clear what tasks they performed at Almadén, because as on the galleys, minors could not undertake the hard labor assigned to the convicts. Both survived the rigors of their service at Almadén, four and five years, respectively, and they were released after completing their sentences. ⁽¹⁵⁾

Almost none of the forzados at Almadén had been condemned there for simple vagrancy, although the laws provided for such sentencing. With only two exceptions, Almadén prisoners described as vagrants had been convicted also of some other crime, mainly theft, but this was true on the galleys as well. Contemporary opinion held that vagabondage and theft went hand-in-hand, and therefore those apprehended for the first offense also were accused of the second even when there was little basis for such a charge. ⁽¹⁶⁾ This was the case in regard to the gypsies, who also could be found at Almadén, although in fewer numbers proportionally than on the [33] galleys. They were not usually sent to Almadén, because they were not considered suitable for labor in the mines, a belief well confirmed by their high mortality rate there. Indeed, most of those serving in the mines came from the surrounding judicial districts and were there en depísito. Typical gypsy forzados were Vicente Vizcaíno and Melchor del Campo, who were condemned to the mines on this basis for vagrancy, theft and resisting arrest. According to the transcript of their sentence, they were found hiding at night on the town commons of Almagro, and when ordered to surrender themselves resisted by throwing stones and shouting their defiance at the constables. What appeared to be stolen property was found on them. These charges resulted in a six-year sentence to be served at Almadén. ⁽¹⁷⁾

Resisting arrest was a frequent charge connected with vagrancy for gypsies and others, especially those called jácaros or rufos (ruffians) in the official documents, who were among the most typical representatives of the underworld in this period. At their lowest level, rufos were nothing more than hired thugs and professional assassins who usually ended their lives on the gallows. Many of them also acted as procurers and lived off the earnings of prostitutes. This was the group most often seen at Almadén and on the galleys. ⁽¹⁸⁾ One of the first prisoners to arrive at the mines in 1566 was Antonio López Peláez, who was sentenced to six years at hard labor for being a ruffian and procurer. Like Morón (the protagonist in Francisco de Lugo y Dávila's novel of the underworld, De la hermanía, López Peláez "traveled around the country with his mistress and other women who supported him from their earnings in the brothels." ⁽¹⁹⁾

Four members of religious orders served at Almadén during the years 1566-93 for crimes ranging from apostasy to murder. One of them, Juan de Pedraza, an Augustinian friar, had been convicted of murder and sentenced to the mines for ten years. The transcript of his sentence describes how, "consumed with passion for Elena de Portilla, an innkeeper's wife from the town of Ledesma, he waylaid her husband at night in the open countryside and killed him." ⁽²⁰⁾ When the royal commissioner, Mateo Alemán, interviewed him in 1593, he had been in the mines for six years, an unusually long period of survival for a prisoner there (the average was four years). [34]

The secret of his endurance was that he was not actually working in the mines. His labor services were being performed by a slave that his family had sent to him. Unfortunately for the friar, knowledge of this arrangement eventually reached royal authorities, who ordered the Fuggers to see to it "that he was put to work in the mines immediately, and if this was not possible, to send him to the galleys for life." ⁽²¹⁾

A substantial number of forzados were Moriscos, some of whom had been condemned for actual crimes and others for having disobeyed the laws governing their relocation after the Alpujarras Rebellion of 1568-70. A special category among this group was the Valencian bandits -- intransigent Moriscos who resisted the pressures placed upon them by taking to brigandage. For their crimes they were made royal slaves and sentenced to serve the rest of their lives in the mines. Two of them, Jerónimo de Valencia and Pedro de Meduar, who testified for Alemán in 1593, were the only survivors of a contingent of ten such Morisco bandits brought to Almadén in 1587. ⁽²²⁾

More numerous than the bandits were those Granadine Moriscos who had been resettled in the town of Almadén after the relocation of 1570, but had subsequently fled the district in an attempt to return to Granada. A royal decree of 1572 prohibited Granadine Moriscos from leaving their assigned places of residence and returning to Granada under the penalty of death or enslavement. Notwithstanding this legislation, the Almadén Moriscos (like their compatriots elsewhere) continued to abandon their new homes, and when recaptured were condemned by the justices at Almadén to serve in the mines, "in view of the pressing need for workers." ⁽²³⁾ In addition to the Morisco forzados, there also were free Morisco laborers at Almadén who had been lured there by the promise of higher wages as recompense for dangerous work. They worked for short periods of time (twenty to thirty days) at the furnaces, where the risk of mercury poisoning was especially high. When they became ill, they left, often to return again after they had recovered. Other free Moriscos labored in peripheral jobs in and around the mines, such as clearing the land and preparing it for the excavation of mercury ore. Finally, there were Moriscos who were permanently employed at [35] Almadén as guards and overseers -- they accompanied the forzas into the mines and supervised their work. ⁽²⁴⁾

Living conditions at Almadén were, in the words of one of the risoners interviewed by Alemán in 1593, "not such that a man could not survive." ⁽²⁵⁾ The diet, for example, was far superior to that on the galleys. Instead of the beans, oil, rice, and biscuit that were standard fare on the galleys, the forzados at Almadén received a daily ration of meat, or fish on meatless days, two and one-half pounds of bread, and a pint and a half of wine. ⁽²⁶⁾ The clothing allotment also was satisfactory -- a pair of breeches, a doublet, stockings, two shirts, four pairs of shoes, and a hood were distributed to the men each year. Medical care was available at the infirmary, and all forzados questioned by Alemán declared that they were satisfied with its services. The staff consisted of a physician, a surgeon, and one or two male nurses. Medicines were readily supplied (the infirmary had its own apothecary), and special diets were prepared for the sick. One forzado, Miguel del Aldea, for example, told Alemán that when he was in the infirmary he had received four purges, several different kinds of medicine, and a light diet of chicken, eggs, and veal. ⁽²⁷⁾

Despite the existence of adequate medical services, the danger of death from mercury poisoning was always present, and few escaped its effects. All those interviewed by Alemán had spent time in the infirmary suffering from severe pains, which could afflict any part of the body. Some of the forzados and slaves trembled in every limb. Others lost their sanity, as did two men who died "foaming at the mouth and raving like madmen." ⁽²⁸⁾ Work at the furnaces was very dangerous, and this was one of the principal occupations of the forzados. Most of the men who labored continuously at the furnaces died from mercury poisoning. One even asserted that he saw as many as twenty-five men die there in the year 1590-91 because of overexposure to mercury through constant toil. ⁽²⁹⁾

Bailing water out of the mines to prevent flooding was another one of the tasks performed by the forzados and slaves. Although there was less danger of mercury poisoning, the work was so strenuous (even with an additional food ration) that many became ill from exhaustion or were so weakened that they easily fell victim to infectious diseases such as dysentery and tuberculosis. Many of the [36] abuses that led to the royal investigation of 1593 occurred here or at the furnaces during the years 1589-91, when the production of mercury reached new heights. According to the declarations of the prisoners interrogated by Alemán, each work gang of four men was required to bail out 300 buckets of water without resting, and those who could not meet the quota were whipped. Even sick prisoners were treated in this manner --one forzado, for example, who fainted while bailing because he had not eaten for four days due to the sores in his mouth, was taken out twice within one hour to be flogged. Moreover, the men who customarily worked from dawn to dusk with one and one-half hours for lunch at noon were compelled to return to the mines and work at bailing all night without any opportunity for rest. ⁽³⁰⁾ Under this treatment, the mortality rates among forzados and slaves soared to their highest levels.

For most of the prisoners, the rigors of their daily existence were somewhat ameliorated by the cultivation of their spiritual life within a religious confraternity to which all members of the Almadén community belonged. This confraternity was similar to the one that existed on the galleys. It was founded originally to provide decent burials for its members, but it also supervised their religious life. Its operations were conducted by a prior -- who was the administrator of the mines for the Fuggers -- and several officials chosen from among the most devout forzados. The magistrates held nightly devotions and were charged with seeing that all brothers attended mass on Sundays and feast days. Nonattendance was punished by a fine of four maravedís. The activities of the brotherhood were supported by money collected from these fines, as well as from the proceeds of the sale of clothing worn by the prisoners at the time of their arrival and from the tallow made from the animals slaughtered for food. Most of the funds went toward the arrangement of elaborate funerals for brothers, and burial in the church of Almadén. In addition, the brotherhood paid for a specially sung mass to be celebrated on the third Sunday of each month and another high mass on the feast day of San Miguel, patron of the Confraternity, that included a procession and sermon. On that occasion, all the brothers received lighted tapers that they held in their hands during the divine service. The Confraternity also underwrote the cost of an additional food ration [37] on the feast of San Miguel -- another pound of bread, one-half pound of pork, and an extra pint of wine. ⁽³¹⁾

The festivities and religious observances sponsored by the Confraternity brought a few bright moments into the lives of the forzados, but they could not change the basic realities of life in the mines. Although royal officials had assumed originally that being sentenced to the mines represented a less severe punishment than service on the galleys, the contrary proved to be true. ⁽³²⁾ The better diet, living conditions, and medical services available at Almadén were cancelled by the constant exposure of the prisoners to mercury. As the convicts themselves realized, the chances of survival were far greater on the galleys than in the mines of Almadén. ⁽³³⁾ For offenders in early modem Spain, consignment to the mercury mines of Almadén did not represent merely a term of years at involuntary servitude; it frequently meant condemnation to a slow and painful death. Yet, regardless of the cost in human lives, the convicts were deemed to be as necessary at Almadén as on the galleys. In both instances, the principal reason for their utilization was the problem of labor procurement. As the Fuggers stated in their original petition to the king and repeated often thereafter, it was extremely difficult to attract free laborers to Almadén, and those who were recruited either refused outright to work at dangerous jobs or would do so only for a short period of time and at high wages. Penal labor guaranteed a continuous supply of workers at reduced cost, and it enabled the Fuggers to work the mines profitably as well as to meet the growing demand for mercury. Figures for mercury production at Almadén illustrate this point. In 1565, one year before the introduction of the forzados, the mines of Almadén produced 1,000 quintals of mercury; seven years later, the yearly output had reached 2,100 quintals; and by 1594 production had tripled to 3,500 quintals. ⁽³⁴⁾

Despite the success of the Almadén mines in the last quarter of the sixteenth century, the demand of the New World mines for mercury soon began to surpass the ability of Almadén to produce it. In the first half of the seventeenth century production fluctuated greatly, and after 1630 it entered a period of steady decline. ⁽³⁵⁾ There were many reasons for Almadén's difficulties -- primitive technology, inefficient administration, the waning finances of the Fuggers -- but one of the most important was the chronic shortage of labor. [38] Mercury poisoning caused high mortality rates and resulted in steady decimation of the labor force. At the same time, the king refused to increase the quota of forzados because of the continuing need for them on the galleys. The only solution was to make up the deficiency with slaves. By 1613, slaves already outnumbered forzados by a ratio of two to one. ⁽³⁶⁾ Although slaves purchased for service at Almadén were cheaper than average, their expanded use at a time when the enterprise was beset with technical and organizational problems increased costs and reduced profits, which further depressed the industry.

In 1645 the Fugger concession was cancelled, and the mines were taken over by the state to be managed by royal officials. In 1648, there were 200 slaves and forzados working in the mines, but exact figures for each category are unknown. ⁽³⁷⁾ In the eighteenth century, despite the declining need for forzados on the galleys there was no increase in their numbers at Almadén. Magistrates continued to sentence men automatically to the galleys and, whenever possible, to the North African presidios, where a continuous scarcity of workers and soldiers required the use of convicts. Labor shortages at Almadén resulting from the opening of new pits in the period 1696-1709 and in the following years were met by using more slaves. In 1701, the superintendent of the mines suggested that the forzados be replaced entirely by slaves, since they were better and stronger workers than the convicts and more docile. According to this plan, the slaves were to be promised their freedom after ten years of service so as to prevent them from committing desperate acts from fear of interminable labor. Although this idea was not accepted, the slave contingent at Almadén continued to grow in subsequent years. This trend continued until the abolition of the galleys in 1748, when it was decided to send a part of the forzados who remained on the galleys, that is, the most serious offenders, to complete their sentences at Almadén. In the following year, the courts were ordered to sentence all those guilty of capital crimes and meriting the penalty of the galleys to Almadén, while lesser offenders were to be sent to the North African presidios. ⁽³⁸⁾ This legislation was in effect for two years, during which it became increasingly clear that neither the enterprise nor the facilities at Almadén needed or could accommodate a large convict population. Once the king became convinced [39] that Almadén could not replace the galleys as a penal institution, he revoked the decree of 1749 and ordered that henceforth all prisoners sentenced to hard labor be sent instead to the naval arsenals or the North African presidios. ⁽³⁹⁾ Magistrates, especially those in the neighboring Extremaduran judicial districts, continued to sentence men to Almadén, however, and several times during the course of the eighteenth century royal orders were issued directing the courts to send specially designated offenders to the mines of Almadén. ⁽⁴⁰⁾ In 1755, two disastrous fires that caused widespread damage were blamed on the forzados. Consequently, they were removed from the underground operations and set to work above ground in such peripheral jobs as cleaning and excavation.

In the last quarter of the eighteenth century, the penal contingent at Almadén decreased sharply as the state satisfied its pressing labor needs in the naval arsenals, North African presidios, and public works projects with convict workers. In addition, improvements in technology during this period made the mines safer and reduced the hazard of mercury poisoning. It became possible to attract free workers, who gradually replaced the forzados and slaves. By the opening years of the nineteenth century it was no longer necessary to maintain a penal establishment at Almadén, and in 1801 it was closed, and the few remaining forzados were transferred to the presidio of Ceuta. ⁽⁴¹⁾

Some Spanish penologists, notably Fernando Cadalso, have minimized the importance of Almadén in the history of penal servitude in Spain, mainly because the punishment of hard labor in the mines of Almadén never existed as a separate penalty in Spanish criminal law. ⁽⁴²⁾ All those who served at Almadén were condemned originally to the galleys, and then in response to utilitarian needs their sentences were commuted to the mines of Almadén. Contemporary legal opinion held that, from the judicial point of view, sentences at Almadén and on the galleys were identical. The concept of Almadén as a kind of "terrestrial galleys," or the land equivalent of the galleys, was incorporated into the architecture of the building constructed to house the slaves and forzados. The interior of this edifice was designed in the form of a galley, with a long narrow central corridor in imitation of the midship gangway (crujía) and with the bunks of the inmates located on either side like [40] the benches on the galleys. At night the men were chained to their bunks just as the oarsmen were attached to their benches. The building also contained an infirmary, chapel, and patio, and the whole complex was surrounded by a strongly fortified wall. In the eighteenth century the term crujía customarily was used to refer to this edifice, and it was not until the last years of the century that it became known as the "jail of the forzados and slaves of Almadén." ⁽⁴³⁾

Cadalso also has argued that Almadén was insignificant in the historical evolution of penal servitude in Spain because, unlike the galleys, only small numbers of convicts were employed there ⁽⁴⁴⁾ On the contrary, despite its limited penal population, Almadén played an important role, for it set the example for the kind of penal labor that reached its fullest development in Spanish America. In contrast to the galleys and the presidios, where prisoners labored in the service of the king and under direct military control, the Fugger concession at Almadén, 1566-1645, represented the exploitation of penal labor by private interests, which became one of the most characteristic forms of penal servitude in the New World. ⁽⁴⁵⁾ In the Spanish colonies, royal judges sentenced men to terms of service at hard labor and then turned them over to private employers who used them in mines and factories just as had been done at Almadén. It seems likely, therefore, that the system of penal labor used in Spanish America for three centuries owed as much to the experiment at Almadén as it did to the galleys.

1. The mercury mines of Almadén are located near the town of Almadén some sixty-seven miles from the city of Ciudad Real. The town was recaptured from the Moslems by Alfonso VII of Castile in 1151 and was given to the Order of Calatrava, which exploited the mines. In 1512 the territories belonging to the military orders were incorporated into the royal domain; with them came the mercury mines of Almadén.

2. A. Matilla Tascón, Historia de las minas de Almadén (Madrid: Gráfieas Osca, 1958), p. 94; AHN, Ordenes Militares, Arehivo de Toledo, expediente 37.887. ff. 14-36.

3. AHN, Ordenes Militares, Archivo de Toledo, exps. 37.887, 37.888; Matilla Tascón, Historia de las minas, p. 95.

4. AHN, Ordenes Militares, Archivo de Toledo, exps. 37.887, ff. 29-29v.

5. Antonio Domínguez Ortiz, "La esciavitud en Castilla," pp. 398-402; Matilla Tascón, Historia de las minas, pp. 202-6.

6. AHN, Ordenes Militares, Archivo de Toledo, exps. 37.887, 37.888, 37.889. Germán Bleiberg has studied the "Información secreta" in relation to Alemán's literary formation. See Gormán Bleiberg, "Mateo Alemán y los galeotes," Revista de Occidente 39 (1966): 330-63.

7. The conclusions in this paragraph are drawn from AHN, Ordenes Militares, Archivo de Toledo, exps. 37.887, 37.888.

8. Ibid., exps. 37.887, 37.888, 37.889.

9. Ibid.

10. Ibid., exp. 37.887, f. 149v; exp. 37889; exp. 37.887, f. 152

11. For a description of this jailbreak: ibid., exp. 37.887, último cuademo.

12. Ibid.

13. Ibid., exp. 37.889. See also ibid., exp. 37.887, f. 152; exp. 37.887, f. 147v; exp. 37.888; exp. 37.889, 1. 148v.

14. Ibid., exp. 37.887, f. 148v.

15. Ibid., exp. 37.888.

16. For the relationship between vagabondage and thievery, see the petitions of the Castilian Cortes for the sixteenth century in Cortes de León y Castilla, vols. 4, 5; and Pérez de Herrera, Amparo de pobres.

17. AHN, Ordenes Militares, Archivo de Toledo, exps. 37.887, f. 150; exp. 37.889.

18. For a description of sixteenth-century ruffians, see Ruth Pike, Aristocrats and Traders: Sevillian Society in the Sixteenth Century (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1972), pp. 195-96.

19. AHN, Ordenes Militares, Archivo de Toledo, exps. 37.887 f. 149; exp. 37.889; Francisco de Lugo y Dávila, De la herinanía, in Teatro popular, ed. Emilio Cotarelo y Mon (Madrid: Librería de la Viuda de Rico, 1906), p. 133.

20. AHN, Ordenes Militares, Archivo de Toledo, exps. 37.887, f. 150; exp. 37.889.

21. Ibid., exp. 37.887, f. 137; exp. 37.888

22. Ibid., exp. 37.887, f. 194v.

23. Matilla Tascón, Historia de las minas, pp. 116-17.

24. Ibid., pp. 96, 117, 125, 166.

25. AHN, Ordenes Militares, Archivo de Toledo, "Información secreta," exp. 37.888.

26. Almadén was located in an important pastoral zone. This probably accounts for the presence of meat in the diet of the prisoners. For the economy of this region see Carla R. Phillips, Ciudad Real, 1500-1750. Growth, Crisis and Readjustment in the Spanish Economy (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1979), pp. 44-48.

27. This prisoner was a Catalan bandit serving an eight-year sentence. His statements and those of his fellow prisoners regarding the food, clothing, and medical services available at Almadén can be found in the "Información secreta." See also Matilla Tascón, Historia de las minas, pp. 166-67.

28. AHN, Ordenes Militares, Archivo de Toledo, "Información secreta," exp. 37.888.

29. Ibid.

30. Ibid. Figures for the increase in mercury production during these years are from Matilla Tascón, Historia de las minas, p. 111.

31. Information on the Confraternity of San Miguel is taken from a description of the mines in 1613 published by Matilla Tascón, in Historia de las minas, pp. 166-68. The mines of Almadén were known officially as the mines of San Miguel; thus, the designation of the Confraternity.

32. This point of view was originally stated in the first asiento of 1566. AHN, Ordenes Militares, Arehivo de Toledo, exp. 37.887, f. 29.

33. Ibid., "Información secreta," exp. 37.888.

34. Matilla Tascón, Historia de las minas, p. 111. The annual consumption of mercury in the Mexican mines grew from 263 quintals in 1559 to 1,387 in 1569, and varied between 3,000 and 3,700 quintals in the period 1597-1606. For additional figures on mercury consumption in the American mines see Pierre and Huguette Chaunu, Séville et l'Atlantique (1504-1650), vol. 8 (Paris: S.E.V.P.E.N., 1959), Pt. 2, pp.1958-80.

35. M. F. Lang, "Las minas de Almadén bajo la superintendencia de Miguel de Unda y Garivay," Hispania: Revista española de historia 120 (1972): 263.

36. Matilla Tascón, Historia de las minas, p. 165.

37. Cadalso, Instituciones penitenciaria, p. 103.

38. AGS, Marina, leg. 699, Nov. 16, 1748-Oct. 11, 1749.

39. AHN, Alcaldes de Casa y Corte, year 1787, f. 305, June 2, 1749.

40. Ibid., year 1775, f. 671; year 1787, f. 681.

41. Cadalso, Instituciones penitenciarias, p. 113; for improvements in technology at Almadén, see AGS, Guerra Moderna, leg. 4958, year 1781.

42. Salillas, Evolución penitenciaria, p. 3; Cadalso, Instituciones penitenciarias, p. 115.

43. Cadalso, Instituciones penitenciarias, p. 114. The term jail (cárcel) is used here in its original meaning of a depository for keeping prisoners.

44. Ibid., p. 115.

45. See Charles Gibson, The Aztecs under Spanish Rule (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1964), pp. 244-46.