[41] If King James was picked up by historical forces long in full surge, and carried bobbing like a ship in storm into new landscapes and possibilities, Alfonso of Castile was no less the creature and ultimately the victim of general developments in Castilian politics. James rode out his storms, enjoyed a generous portion of luck, and especially lived within a Mediterranean economy that was more flexible and supportive. His ultimate tragedy burst upon him from without, as an alien Islam unraveled his conquests and pushed him to the wall. King Alfonso's ultimate reversal crystallized from within, at the counting-house and Cortes and from mutterings among his populace, until he too stood beleagured upon a battlefield. Both men were brilliant, both gave our world much that survived; and each in the end was harassed and brought low.
On the occasion of his visit to Burgos in 1269 to attend the wedding of Fernando de la Cerda, heir to the Castilian throne, James I of Aragon imparted some memorable words of wisdom to his son-in-law Alfonso X, whom later generations have come to know as "el Sabio." In essence, the king of Aragon counseled Alfonso to strive to retain the affection of the church and of the townsmen; with those estates on "his side, he would be able to overcome the nobility, who were always prone to challenge the authority of the crown. (1) A little more than a decade later, Alfonso had alienated all three estates, thereby contributing to his own downfall and near [42] deposition in 1282. One might charge him with ineptitude or tyranny or blame him for his own troubles, but the circumstances whereby each of the estates was led to abandon him were quite complex. I want to focus only on his economic and financial policies, to illustrate the extent to which they helped bring about the unhappy denouement of a reign brilliant in so many respects. (2)
Alfonso X came to power when the territory of the realm had been greatly augmented by the conquest of Andalusia and Murcia. The prestige and authority of the crown were thereby enhanced, but the king had to deal with a substantial Muslim population now submitted to Christian rule. The newly conquered zones had to be colonized, and provision made for their defense. There were also grave economic concerns. The emigration of thousands of skilled Muslim workers, who preferred to live in an Islamic kingdom, resulted in an abrupt shortage of manufactured goods. Equally skilled Christian replacements were not immediately forthcoming. The colonization of Andalusia, moreover, tended to cause the depopulation of many villages and settlements in the north. (3) Inflation, caused in part by these demographic changes, became a serious problem, never effectively controlled during the reign. (4) Alfonso was also an ambitious ruler, who hoped to carry out an invasion of North Africa to seal the route used by innumerable Muslim armies to invade Spain in the past. By reviving Leonese imperial pretensions, he hoped to dominate [43]his peninsular neighbors while also acquiring the crown of the Holy Roman Empire, to which he could aspire as a grandson of Frederick Barbarossa.(5) In order to achieve some degree of uniformity in the law whereby his dominions were led he was resolved to bring to completion the work of legal codification inspired by his father. (6) Numerous other cultural projects were on his agenda. To achieve success in all of these enterprises would have been difficult for any man. Above all, they required the outlay of substantial sums of money and the careful husbanding of resources. Alfonso, however, perhaps deluded by the weighty tribute promised annually by the king of Granada as a sign of vassalage, was a notorious spender. Aside from expenditures to fulfill the aspirations mentioned above, he also spent a huge sum of money to ransom the son of the Latin emperor of Constantinople, and he doubled the stipends of his nobles.(7) The disappearance of the royal financial records makes it impossible to estimate the balance of expenditures against income. An assessment of the financial circumstances of the crown depends, therefore, upon occasional pieces of documentary evidence and the testimony of the chronicles.
Alfonso recognized the disturbed economic situation of his realm at the very beginning of his reign. In his first Cortes, or parliamentary assembly, held at Seville late in 1252, he laid down the general lines of economic policy that he would follow with some modifications thereafter.(8)The principles established [44] then were largely repeated in the Cortes of Valladolid in 1258 and of Seville in 1261. The enactments of the assembly held at Jerez in 1268 were much more detailed, but did not mark any significant departure from the policy already in place.(9) Claudio Sánchez Albornoz has aptly spoken of "a directed economy."(10) A consideration of the enactments of the Cortes cited above and of other ordinances reveals a conscious effort on the part of the king and his counselors to control the economy in such a way as to alleviate the problem of inflation, to conserve natural resources such as precious metals and livestock, to maintain a favorable balance of trade, and especially to accumulate sufficient treasure to enable the king to carry out his peninsular and extrapeninsular ambitions. Discontent with these policies and with the king's innovations in the law, however, led to a confrontation with the estates of the realm in the Cortes of Burgos in 1272. Although the king temporarily appeased the opposition, his attempts in the ensuing years to harvest every conceivable source of revenue roused an ever-louder chorus of protest and brought about the final crisis of 1281-82. A review, in some detail, of the development of royal economic and financial policies will provide the necessary background for a fuller understanding of those events.
Though Alfonso was known as a prodigal king, the Cortes of 1252 and 1258 attempted to place some restraints upon extravagance at the royal court and to curb the taste for luxury [45] that was becoming more evident at all levels of society. as it was important that the king maintain a dignified appearance, he was encouraged to dress as he thought proper to the occasion; only he was permitted to wear garments of scarlet gauze, or silk, though an exception was made for a new knight or bridegroom (1258:2, 14). Precise limits were set upon the types of clothing worn by the members of his court. Royal scribes, crossbowmen, falconers, and porters (with the exception of the chief officer of each group) were forbidden to wear white garments, scarlet breeches, gilded shoes or spurs, hats with brass markings, saddles adorned with gold or silver, and silken garments. Clerics in the royal household were admonished to wear the full tonsure and to avoid the use of such notable colors as red, green, or rose, as well as open sleeves and cord shoes. They should wear dark breeches and use plain saddles and bridles, though some exceptions were made for clerical procurators and cathedral canons (1258:4-5). In the Cortes of 1252 the use of brass, gold, silver, ribbons, and ermine or otter fur on saddles, helmets, shields, and clothing was prohibited outright or strictly limited (1252:4-6). In 1258 nobles were not allowed to have more than four suits of clothes each year and their squires were only allowed to wear white or black (1258:14-15, 22, 25). Although a bridegroom might be allowed to display himself in finery ordinarily reserved for the king, the Cortes of 1252 limited the amount of money that might be spent on the wedding trousseau, as well as the number of guests who could take part in the wedding banquet, and no wedding was to last more than two days (1252:13, 37; 1258:44-46; 1268:40).(11)
[46] Although the consumption of food also seemed excessive, the regulations imposed in the Cortes of 1252 and again in 1258 could hardly be described as a dieter's delight. As a money-saving measure, the king and queen were expected to spend no more than 150 maravedís daily on meals, though the king was exhorted to eat "as he thinks best for his body."(12) Courtiers were warned to eat more moderately, but only two meat and two fish dishes could be served at a single meal -- a menu scarcely calculated to encourage moderation (1252:12; 1258:1, 3, 13). To what extent these regulations concerning clothing and food were enforced is unknown, but they probably irritated many men who regarded them as unjustified intrusions upon their personal rights.
On a very different plane, steps were taken in the Cortes of 1252 to protect the environment so that animals, birds, fish, trees, and plants could grow and flourish and contribute to the prosperity of the realm. No one was to take the eggs of hawks or falcons, nor to remove the birds from their nests while hatching or taking care of their young (1252:21-22; 1268:17). Hunting partridges, hares, and rabbits was restricted; all hunting was prohibited from the beginning of Lent until Michaelmas (1252:29; 1258:34-35, 41; 1268:16-17). One might suspect that much of this was due to the king's concern to maintain hunting preserves and possibilities, but others would benefit also, if care were taken not to deplete the supply of food and hides too rapidly. Anyone found setting fire to the woods was to be thrown into the fire, and his goods confiscated; no one was to cut down trees belonging to another, nor to injure trees in any way. The poisoning of streams to kill fish was condemned, and no one was permitted to take salmon eggs (1252:30, 33, 39). These articles were repeated with little substantial change in later years (1258:42- [47] 43; 1261:18-21; 1268:20, 39). The Cortes of 1261 did allow local communities to make their own rules (subject to royal approval) concerning the burning of woods, hunting, and fishing except that no one was allowed to poison streams. Plowing animals were not to be killed or taken as pledges for debt, as this would interfere with the agricultural process.
The transhumance of sheep and other livestock was apparently a frequent cause of dispute between the sheepherders and those through whose lands they passed. The Cortes of 1252 enacted some of the earliest laws on this issue, foreshadowing the development of the sheep guild, or Mesta, during the course of the reign. (13) No more than one toll (montazgo) could be levied upon the herds in any given municipal district, nor in more than one place in the lands of the military orders. The amount of the toll was fixed for cattle, sheep, and pigs (two for every thousand -- or eight maravedís, one maravedí, and twenty sols de pepiones respectively). In addition, livestock were subject to the payment of the tithe (diezmo) only once where customary. They were entitled to the use of streams and sheepwalks (cañadas) as in the past, and no one was to enclose lands previously open to pasture (1252:32-33, 43; 1258:40).
The king's determination to control the economy was nowhere more evident than in the area of trade and commerce. He repeated his father's condemnation, in the Cortes held at Seville in 1250, of confraternities or guilds of merchants and artisans (iuras malas, malos ayuntamientos) as injurious to the realm, unless they were of a purely spiritual or social character.(14) To emphasize their innocuous status, disputes among [48]members of confraternities could be adjudicated only by royal or municipal judges (1252:14, 38; 1258:36; 1261:23; 1268:41). Merchants and artisans, moreover, were forbidden to band together to fix prices but were admonished to sell their wares freely on the open market (1252:11, 1258:37; 1261:24; 1268:27).(15) Hucksters who sold fish, chickens, and wood from place to place, and probably defrauded their customers, were restrained (1252:15-16).
On the other hand, the king did not intend that the market should be governed by the principle of laissez faire. The Cortes of 1252 established prices for Frisian cloth, shields, saddles, harnesses, shoes, horses, asses, mules, cows, bulls, hawks, and falcons (1252:1-3, 7-10, 17-18, 23-2S).(16) A more extensive effort to control prices was undertaken in an assembly held at Jerez de la Frontera in the spring of 1268. In response to general complaints of the high cost of living, Alfonso summoned merchants and other good men from Castile, León, Extremadura, and Andalusia to give him counsel. As a result, prices were fixed for metals such as copper, tin, lead, and iron, but were usually higher in Andalusia than in the northern regions (art. 2).(17) Prices were also set for different types of cloth. These included wool, sackcloth, silk, and twill; scarlet, dyed, and undyed cloth; varieties imported from [49] Montpellier, Ghent, Ypres, Cambrai, Rouen, Lille, Saint-Omer Bruges, Tournai, Etampes, Douai, and Rheims in the Low Countries and France; and varieties from Imola, Cremona and Lucca in Italy; as well as domestic cloth produced in Zamora, Avila, Segovia, and the kingdom of Navarre. After Christmas a new schedule of lowered prices would go into effect, but in any case prices were higher in Andalusia than in the rest of the kingdom (arts. 3-5).(18) The cost of mantles, tunics, gowns, and breeches was established, as was the cost of different styles of shields, saddles, and harness; in all these instances prices had risen since 1252 (arts. 9-12)(19) Hides of horses, mules, and asses were reserved for shields and saddles, and could not be used by shoemakers or scabbardmakers (art. 13). (20) Values were placed on hides of goats and cows, rabbit skins, tallow, and wax, as well as on hawks and falcons (arts. 15-16). (21) The list of prices for horses, mules, asses, bulls, cows, sheep, lambs, goats, pigs, boars, hens, chickens, partridges, and rabbits, as well as pike, salmon, lampreys, and eels, is extensive. Livestock prices were generally lower in Galicia and Asturias (arts. 18-20).(22)
An action of particular importance, since it appears to be the first time that it was attempted, was the establishment in 1268 of wages for working men and women. Wages were [50]fixed for servants paid on a yearly basis; they were usually higher in Andalusia, and women there were paid exactly half what men received. (23) Wages were also set for day laborers with hoe and sickle, carpenters, bricklayers, master builders, plasterers, and women and boys hired for the grape harvest, and for the rental of farm animals (1268:32-34). (24) If a laborer refused to work, he would be forced to do so; if he refused to accept the stipulated wages, he would be held until he gave sureties that he would do so. Vagabonds were restrained, and beggars and robbers were given summary justice on the gallows (1268:36). It is not known how effective was this effort to control wages, but the experience of other times suggests that it caused considerable irritation among working men and women.
Among the most significant limitations imposed on trade was the prohibition of the export of certain types of goods -- the so-called cosas vedadas. In the Espéculo de las leyes (4:12, 57), Alfonso remarked that "those who attempt, without his order, to export from the kingdom any of the things that the king forbids, commit a very great madness." The list of cosas vedadas had been established by Alfonso VIII of Castile and Alfonso IX of León, if not before their time, and was repeated now in the Cortes of 1252. (25) Included were horses (caballos), hacks (rocines), (26)hides, cattle, pigs, goats, sheep, hawks, and [51] falcons. A merchant was permitted, however, to take a mule 1aden with merchandise out of the kingdom. This was done, said the king, so "that there will be an abundance of livestock in all my realms" (1252:19-21). The toll (portazgo) on goods in transit through the kingdom was to be levied in the same places as in the time of Alfonso VIII and Alfonso IX; and in Andalusia, as in the time of "Miramamolín," the Almohad caliph routed at Las Navas de Tolosa (1252:37). In the Cortes of 1261, the ban on the export of horses and livestock without royal permission was made operative for ten years (1261:15).These animals would be essential to the war effort, especially to "the affair of the crusade beyond the sea," a projected assault on Morocco that the king proposed to the assembly. The limitation of the ban to ten years may have been in response to complaints from the merchants, who probably viewed it as an objectionable restraint of trade.
Regulations on exports were set forth in much greater detail at Jerez in 1268, because of the king's concern to control the rising cost of living. The lists of cosas vedadas drawn up in 1252 and 1258 were largely repeated, but with some additions. The export of gold, silver, horses, cows, pigs, and other livestock, hides, silk, raw wool, bread, wine, foodstuffs, hawks, and falcons was prohibited (1268:14). Goods for export had to be brought to certain towns, where royal officials (whose names are recorded in the text) would inspect each merchant's manifest to prevent the export of any forbidden items. In addition, merchants were required to import as much as they exported and had to give sureties that they would do so. Customs officials had to inform the masters of foreign ships about these regulations and see that they observed them. Customs stations and ports were established at Santander, Laredo, Castro-Urdiales, San Sebastián, and Fuenterrabía on the Bay of Biscay; at Avilés, Ribadeo, Vivero, Betanzos, La Coruña, Santa María, Cedeira, Ferrol, Bayona, La Guardia, Pontevedra, Padrón, and Noya in Asturias and Galicia; at Seville, Jerez, Huelva, Cádiz, and Vejer in Andalusia; and at [52] Cartagena, and at Alicante and Elche (both later in Valencia) in Murcia (1268:21-25).(27)
With respect to internal trade, Alfonso's determination to establish uniform weights and measures throughout his dominions had special importance. In the Cortes of 1261, he declared that there should be uniformity throughout his dominions, as he had already explained in charters granted to the towns (1261:31). These included charters to Toledo and León on 7 March and 4 April respectively. The principle of uniformity was set down in the Fuero real (3.10.1) and probably was also found in one of the missing books of the Espéculo.(28) Repeating the principle in 1268, Alfonso identified specific weights and measures to be used. The measure for wheat was the cahiz of Toledo (divided into twelve fanegas, each consisting of twelve celemines, and these in turn of twelve cucharas). For wine, the king selected the moyo of Seville (divided into sixteen cántaras); and for wheat, the arrelde of Burgos (divided into four libras). The standard for weights was the marco alfonsí, consisting of eight ounces, a copy of which was sent to each town. (Two marcos equaled a libra, twenty-five libras an arroba, and four arrobas a quintal). The measure for cloth was the vara, which he also sent to the towns at this time. Those who used false weights and measures were subject to heavy fines. Once a week, the municipal fieles were required to check all weights and measures (1268:26). (29)
[53]The need for an acceptable medium of exchange was fundamental to commerce, but this was to prove one of the most difficult tasks facing the king. More than likely he issued a new coinage, the silver burgaleses, in the first year of his reign. This new money (90 dineros to the gold maravedí) had double the value of the coins minted by Fernando III (pepiones, at 180 to the maravedí).(30) As a result, prices rose quickly throughout Castile and León, and the new coins were hoarded or found their way out of the kingdom. The royal chronicle reported that in 1258 the king issued another coinage, the dineros prietos, whose silver content was so reduced as to prompt the description "dark coins." These had the same face value as the pepiones of Fernando III. (31)
The attributing of this event to 1258 cannot be accepted with certainty, given the erratic chronology of the royal chronicle; nor can one take without question the statement that the king then ceased to coin the burgaleses. In any case, the need for a stable, sound money caused the merchants gathered in the assembly of 1268 to persuade Alfonso to confirm for the rest of his life "the coinage of the dineros alfonsís that I ordered to be minted after I began the war." He promised not to increase or diminish it in substance or in value (1268:1). This was a pledge to restore and maintain the silver burgaleses that he had issued at the beginning of his reign. Equivalencies were also fixed for other moneys; thus the gold dobla was worth three maravedís, and the gold maravedí alfonsí [54] (of Alfonso VIII) was worth two maravedís (1268:2). Whether the king halted the minting of the dineros prietos at this time is not known; but the need for a cheap money led him to issue a third coinage, the so-called segundos prietos around 1271, whose value was set at two-thirds of the dineros prietos or pepiones (60 to the maravedí).(32)None of these measures proved to be satisfactory, however, and the coinage remained a major source of controversy.
The lending of money had grown to great proportions by the middle of the thirteenth century. With it, a chorus of protest against excessive rates of interest also rose. Thus Alfonso set the rate at 33 1/3 percent yearly in the Cortes of 1258 (1258:29-30); this was repeated in charters issued in 1260, which the king confirmed in the Cortes of 1261 (1261:16). These regulations applied to Jews and Moors who lent money at interest, though not to Christians, who were forbidden to do so according to law. At Jerez in 1268 the rate of interest was lowered to 25 percent yearly, but the other regulations established in 1260 concerning contracts of this sort were repeated (1268:29, 44). (33)
The actions taken in the Cortes of 1252, 1258, 1261, and 1268 suggest the extent of the economic crisis affecting the kingdom. Efforts were made to restrain extravagance in dress, eating habits, and wedding celebrations, and to protect the environment and natural resources. Prices and wages were fixed at certain levels, weights and measures were made uniform, and interest rates were set far below what the moneylenders usually charged. Foreign trade was regulated so that the realm would not be denuded of natural resources or [55] drained of specie. By requiring that imports counterbalance exports, Alfonso tried to avert an unfavorable balance of trade and the consequent impoverishment of his kingdom.
From one point of view contemporaries might find much to applaud in the royal policy, but that policy was bound to create unrest. In any age, an attempt to regulate prices and wages invariably causes discontent among merchants and workers. High prices and hoarding forced the king to withdraw these regulations in 1256, according to the chronicle. But that is doubtful. (34) Continued royal opposition to guilds, and to collaboration by the merchants themselves in controlling prices, must have been an irritant. The restraints on exports, while not new, surely must have been galling to men seeking to make a quick profit, and especially to those who had developed a taste for comfort and the particular luxuries that could be imported from Flanders and Italy. Attempts to curb the rising standard of living probably were viewed as an unjustified intrusion of royal power into private affairs. The king's personal extravagance, and his monetary policy, must also have aroused grumbling and complaint. To all of this one must add the tax policies of Alfonso.
The imposition of extraordinary taxation, with increasing regularity, was motivated by the king's growing needs; but it had the effect of contributing to the general dissatisfaction in his later years. The clergy were perhaps the earliest victims of royal demands for money. They had contributed generously to the campaign of Las Navas de Tolosa. From the time of Alfonso VIII and Alfonso IX the monarchy had taken the tercias reales, the third of tithe destined for the upkeep of churches, despite papal and episcopal protestations. (35) When Alfonso X came to power, he informed the Cortes (1252:44) that he would review the issue but that until he did so the tercias would be collected as in the past. Then in 1255 at Valladolid he insisted upon the payment of tithes by all obliged to do so, claiming the royal third and justifying himself by [56] citing Christ's acknowledgment of Caesar's right to the tribute money. He argued that the tithe could be used not only for the needs of the church but also "for the service of kings, for their benefit, and for that of their realm when necessary." (36) From time to time he also asked the clergy for extraordinary contributions. In 1255 he asked for a special tax to help him pay his father's debts to the papacy, but he pledged that he would not take this as a matter of right, and that neither he nor his successors would demand it by law or by force. The clergy would be obliged to pay it only "when you wish to give it according to your pleasure and good will." (37) Although they paid, one suspects that they did so reluctantly.
The burden of taxation no doubt fell most heavily upon the townsmen. Not only were they subject to a variety of customary contributions such as fonsadera, a payment in lieu of military service, but they also paid moneda forera, a tax levied every seven years in return for the king's pledge not to alter the coinage during that term. (38) I suspect that Alfonso, even though he issued new coinage in the first year of his reign, also collected moneda forera at that time, though it is unknown whether he made any pledge concerning the coinage or whether he asked the Cortes to consent to this tax. The clergy were subject to moneda forera also, but in 1255 the king exempted the canons of many cathedrals. (39)Moneda forera would [57] seem to be the basis for the extraordinary taxes levied by the king, especially since the servicios or subsidies voted by the Cortes were often expressed as so many levies of moneda forera. In addition, the king from time to time imposed forced loans (emprestitos) upon the towns. In 1255 he admitted that he had taken forced loans during the first three years of his reign, as his predecessors had done; but he now declared that the towns would not be compelled henceforth to make contributions of this sort. (40)
Following his election as Holy Roman Emperor in 1257, Alfonso's financial needs grew by leaps and bounds, and I believe that the Cortes of Valladolid in 1258 consented to the levy of two monedas (la moneda doblada). One of these was due because the seven-year period was coming to an end, while the other was given to enable Alfonso to bring to a happy conclusion "the affair of the empire." (41) In the years following, as the king continued his quest for the imperial crown and proposed to carry out a crusade in North Africa, it is likely that he requested similar extraordinary taxes. (42) The complaint of the townsmen of Extremadura in 1264 against excessive tributes probably reflects this development. (43)
[58] Traditionally the nobles were exempt from direct taxation, but in the Cortes of Burgos in November 1269 they consented to the imposition of a tax upon their vassals. This would amount to six servicios, or the equivalent of six monedas, and would enable the king to "complete the business of the frontier," specifically the settlement of Murcia. (44) During the Cortes of Burgos the king also imposed the servicio de los ganados, a tax on migratory flocks; presumably he did so with the consent of the assembly, though that is not stated. (45) In effect, by 1269 each of the three estates had been called upon to contribute an exceptional tax. As Jofré de Loaysa remarked, the king incurred unbelievable expenses, chiefly because of his imperial ambitions, and had "to ask the men of his kingdom for servicios and to impose unaccustomed levies upon them." (46)
As a consequence, Alfonso X was faced with a hostile opposition in the Cortes of Burgos in the fall of 1272. There his economic and financial policies, as well as his innovations in the law, came under fire. The nobility led the assault, eventually demanding that he cease the collection of servicios altogether, that he abolish customs duties, that he levy moneda forera only every seven years as his predecessors had done, and that "he should never demand other tributes." If implemented, this last extraordinary demand would have compelled the king to live off his customary revenues and would not have allowed him ever to ask for an exceptional tax. The[59] nobles were also incensed by the imposition of the alcabala or sales tax in Burgos, even though, as the king pointed out, they had consented to it. His attempt to profit from the transhumance of sheep prompted the magnates to insist that the pasturage toll (montazgo) be levied only as in his father's time, and that the recently introduced royal toll or servicio de los ganados be abolished. His economic policies were also objectionable. The nobles insisted that the list of cosas vedadas should be restricted to the list in use in his father's time, and that the more detailed lists of 1252, 1258, and 1268 should be abandoned. They also demanded that the exploitation of salt-pits and iron mines, both royal monopolies in which the magnates often were assigned a portion of the revenues, be restored to the conditions prevailing in his father's reign. This final demand was probably the result of his leasing those resources to the Jew, Zag de la Maleha.(47)
The prelates followed the lead of the nobility and made unprecedented demands on the king, so much so that he threatened to expel them from the kingdom. (48) The townsmen appear to have been less truculent in their attitude, but they also joined in the chorus of complaint. Alfonso, anxious to be off on his imperial quest, offered concessions. He confirmed the traditional fueros of the townsmen in return for their consent to the payment of a servicio, the equivalent of a moneda, every year to enable him to gain recognition as emperor. (49) At Almagro in March 1273 the king agreed to the reduction of the six servicios due from the dependents of the nobility to four, and to give up the collection of customs duties after six years. Many of the leading nobles had already abandoned him and had gone into exile to the kingdom of Granada, but they [60] gradually returned to his service. (50) The clergy were pacified by promises made to them in 1275 by the king's son and heir, Fernando de la Cerda, who declared that whatever tax exemptions they had should be observed. (51)
The crisis of 1272 had passed. Alfonso had had to make concessions, affirming the traditional laws and customs of the realm, modifying the tax burden on the vassals of the nobility, and limiting the term for the collection of customs duties. One suspects that he never abandoned the customs duties entirely, however, and that he made no attempt to modify the restraints on trade previously enacted. That his concessions did not represent a significant change of heart is evident from the developments of the next several years. Threatened by an invasion from Morocco, he obtained a special tax from the clergy at the Cortes of Burgos in 1276 and continued to deal with them in such a high-handed manner that Pope Nicholas III in March 1279 denounced him as an oppressor of the church. (52) Among the host of charges leveled against the king was his continued seizure of the tercias without papal approval and his extortion of subsidies from the clergy and their vassals. The townsmen, in the Cortes of Burgos in 1274, persuaded the king to agree to the payment of two servicios in one year to further his imperial ambitions; but in view of their protestations of poverty, he pledged not to levy any servicio in subsequent years. This proved to be a promise ill kept, as it was ill advised. Soon after the failure of his attempt to persuade the pope to acknowledge him as emperor, Alfonso had to deal with the Moroccan invasion and had to ask the towns [61] for an aid (ayuda) amounting to a moneda each year for three years payable in proportion to individual income. (53)
The need for money continued to mount, and caused Alfonso to resort to all kinds of expedients to obtain it. By means of a series of contracts with Jewish tax farmers in October 1276, he hoped to recover taxes owed at least since 1261. (54) When this evoked protest, he came to terms with the townsmen in the Cortes of Burgos in 1277, exempting them from arrears of taxes in return for a servicio payable every year for the rest of his life. (55) At the same time, a petition was addressed to the pope, asking him to release the king from his pledge to maintain the coinage without alteration. The petitioners recalled that the king, in response to pleas for a stronger coinage, had minted the dineros prietos (presumably those of 1271) and pledged to maintain them and not to issue another coinage in his lifetime. The new coinage required large quantities of silver, however, so that only a limited supply of coins was available; and many of the new coins were taken out of the kingdom. The shortage of money was such that people could not pay their taxes, and the king could not provide adequately for the defense of the frontiers. Although the estates assembled in the Cortes asked the king to issue a [62] more common coinage, he would not do so unless the pope released him from his oath to maintain the dineros prietos. No record of a papal response to this petition has been found, but there is reason to believe that eventually an affirmative reply was given. (56)
In the meantime, lack of funds forced Alfonso to lift the siege of Algeciras
in July 1279. For this reason, he tried to exploit every possible source
of income. Fines were imposed on Christians who lent money at interest,
for example, and upon those who failed to use the uniform weights and measures
established at Jerez in 1268. The knights and good men of the towns of
Castile and Extremadura complained to him of these and other matters at
an assembly at Toledo in the spring of 1279. The Infantes Sancho and Manuel
appealed to the king on behalf of his subjects, and he agreed to relieve
them of these burdens, "although this is my right, and a distinct matter
of justice and belongs to sovereignty, and I ought not to cease demanding
it." (57) In the same year, the king also
ordered the arrest of all the Jews in his kingdom and compelled them to
pay a huge ransom. (58)
The organization of the Mesta guild, to which Alfonso extended notable privileges in 1273 and 1278, may also be seen as an attempt to tap the resources of the sheepherding industry more efficiently. Aside from the servicio de los ganados levied in 1269 and probably every year thereafter, the king stood to gain from heavy fines imposed on those who killed or wounded shepherds, broke up or enclosed the sheepwalks, made pastures where there had been none before, or seized any of the sheep illegally. (59)He benefited also from his [63] protection of the merchants both foreign and domestic, to whom, he granted two privileges on 15 and 17 February 1281. In the first of these, he guaranteed that they would have to pay customs duties only once on goods imported or exported, and that they would be exempt from local tolls and customs duties on their personal belongings and those of their families; nor would they be seized for debts, other than personal ones. He insisted that imports must still be balanced against exports, however, and he reiterated the ban on the export of any of the cosas vedadas. Two days later, in return for the payment of a servicio of 100,000 maravedís, a substantial sum payable in the soundest money (la moneda de la primera guerra), the king pardoned the merchants for frauds previously committed in these matters. (60)
As the king's reign began to draw to a close, all the evidence suggests a mounting tension in his relationships with nobles, clergy, and townsmen. The climax came in the Cortes of Seville in 1281 and in the assembly held at Valladolid in 1282. Alfonso was determined to press the war against Granada; but he was also under increasing pressure from the pope and the king of France to make some provision for the benefit of his grandsons, the Infantes de la Cerda, who had been entirely excluded from the succession to the throne. When the king announced his intention to convene the Cortes to Seville, the townsmen of Castile and León appealed to the Infante Sancho to intercede with his father, because "they were very poor and the tributes great." In the ensuing assembly, the king emphasized his need for money for the war against Granada, pointing out that his revenues were greatly diminished, partly because of the debasement of the coinage in his father's reign, the expenses of the conquest of Murcia, and the defense of the realm against the Moroccans.
[64] Rather than impose a new tribute upon the country, Alfonso proposed coining two moneys, one of copper and one of silver, so that merchandise could circulate freely and people would have sufficient money for their necessities -- and, one might add, for their taxes. The assembly responded, "more out of fear than love," that he should do what he thought best. The king apparently believed that all was well, but he made a fatal mistake when he revealed that he intended to resume negotiations with France and the papacy over the future of his grandsons, whom he wished to have a share in his inheritance. On this account he exchanged harsh words with Sancho, whom he threatened to disinherit. (61)
The details of the catastrophe that followed are well enough known, so they need not be repeated here. Suffice it to say that Sancho, mortally offended by his father's intention to dismember the realms for the benefit of the Infantes de la Cerda, raised the standard of revolt, summoning the estates to assemble at Valladolid in April 1282. There, while bishops, abbots, magnates, and townsmen formed confederations (hermandades) in defense of their fueros, the decision was taken to entrust Sancho with the fundamental responsibilities of administering justice, levying taxes, and defending the realm. Alfonso was left only with the title of king. (62) In order to gain the support of all the men of the realm, Sancho confirmed the liberties and privileges of towns, monasteries, and bishoprics, and granted away the revenues of the kingdom to his brothers and the magnates, without taking care to provide adequately for his own needs. The assembly granted him moneda forera, however, even though this tax did not fall due this year. In return he solemnly pledged to restore and to maintain for life the sound moneys that had circulated in the time of his grandfather and great-grandfather, namely the burgaleses, leoneses, pepiones, and salamanqueses. (63)
[65] Meanwhile, Alfonso denounced Sancho as a rebel and disinherited him. Hard-pressed for cash, Alfonso found it necessarv to borrow from the emir of Morocco, his erstwhile enemv who landed troops in the peninsula and ravaged the countryside in the name of the king of Castile. Could the king have remembered the words he spoke in reprimand to his brother Felipe in 1272 for siding with the king of Granada, "the enemy of God, of the faith, of the king and of his kingdoms"? "You," said the king, "as the son of King Fernando and Queen Beatriz . . . ought better to safeguard the lineage from whence you come and the duty that you owe to it." (64)
On reflecting upon the downfall of Alfonso X in 1282, historians have usually focused on the grievances of the Infante Sancho, who feared that the dominions of the crown of Castile-León were about to be torn asunder. I suspect that Sancho's outcry would have been little heeded, however, except for the fact that the men of the realm had long-standing grievances of their own, which they despaired of ever having redressed. In the first place, the king tampered with the good old laws and customs when he promulgated the Espéculo de las leyes and the Fuero real (as I believe he did in 1255), sending copies of the Fuero to each town with the intention of supplanting the older laws. This was unacceptable, and provoked the reaction at Burgos in 1272 that compelled the king to modify his position.
Alfonso developed a comprehensive economic policy, moreover, that seems more sophisticated than we might expect. The king imposed wage and price controls, restricted exports [66] of materials of great value to the domestic economy or war effort, insisted on balancing exports and imports, levied customs duties more efficiently than before, curbed the formation of guilds as a challenge to monarchy and to the dominance of the knightly class in the towns, required the usage of uniform weights and measures, regulated the moneylending business, manipulated the coinage, and levied extraordinary taxes on the clergy, the townsmen, and the vassals of the nobility.
If that were not enough, Alfonso also made a systematic attempt to collect fines from merchants who tried to evade his regulations on foreign trade, from recalcitrant persons who failed to use the royal weights and measures, from Christians who sought to gain by lending money at interest, and from taxpayers who were negligent in fulfilling their obligations. The royal income from fines, I suspect, was substantial. But to the many men who resented any interference with their freedom in the marketplace, or any attempt to take a portion of their wealth in taxes, the imposition of fines must have seemed a particularly bitter insult. Had the king restrained his own expenditures, the cry of protest against his policies would not have been so vociferous. (65) In order to appreciate the intensity of feeling aroused by his policies, I think it important to understand that, whereas today we take it for granted that governments levy extraordinary taxes and tinker with the economy, to the men of thirteenth-century Castile and León these were new experiences, contrary to custom and tradition.
As the Infante Sancho traveled widely through the realm in the late
1270s on his father's behalf, he surely became aware that when the men
of the realm proclaimed their poverty, their protest was not merely a self-serving
plea to avoid taxes, but reflected the reality of the situation. The king,
on the contrary, tended as he became older to remain for longer intervals
at Seville, and so was not as much in touch with [67] public opinion
as he might have been. The men of the realm came to look upon Sancho as
their intercessor with a king who seemed deaf to their pleas. Sancho, who
had been acknowledged as heir to the throne in the Cortes of Burgos in
1276, and perhaps entrusted with even greater responsibility for the government
of the realm in the Cortes of Segovia in 1278, (66)moved
with confidence because he had reason to think his position secure. The
greater was his outrage, then, when his father made known to him his intention
to make some provision for the Infantes de la Cerda. Sancho's grievance
now coincided with the unredressed grievances of the people; but I doubt
that, without the weight of thirty years of accumulated complaints, the
estates would have responded so positively to Sancho's plea for support.
His grievance now became theirs, and "the lord king, Alfonso, who surpassed
in wisdom, intelligence, understanding, law, kindness, piety, and nobility
all other wise kings," was divested of regal authority.(67)
1. Llibre dels feyts, chaps. 497-98.
2. The principal narrative source for the reign is the Crónica del rey Don Alfonso X, ed. Cayetano Resell, in BAE 66, pp. 3-66. There is a convenient collection of Documentos de la época de D. Alfonso el Sabio in MHE, vols. 1-2. The chief study of the reign is Ballesteros, Alfonso X. See also my "The Cortes and Royal Taxation during the Reign of Alfonso X of Castile," Traditio 27 (1971), pp. 379-98; and Evelyn Procter, "Materials for the Reign of Alfonso X of Castile, 1252-1284," Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, 4th series, 14 (1931), pp. 39-63.
3. Julio González, El repartimiento de Sevilla, 2 vols. (Madrid 1951).
4. See the studies by María del Carmen Carlé, "El precio de la vida en Castilla del rey Sabio al emplazado,"CHE 15 (1951), pp. 132-56; Reyna Pastor de Togneri, "Ganadería y precios, consideraciones sobre la economía de León y Castilla (siglos XI-XIII)," CHE 35-36 (1962), pp. 37-55; and Teófilo Ruiz, "Expansion et changement: la conquête de Castille et la société castillane (1248-1350)," Annales:ESC 34 (1979), pp. 548-65.
5. Antonio Ballesteros, Alfonso X, emperador electo de Alemania (Madrid 1918). Socarras, Alfonso X of Castile, above in chap, 1, n. 6.
6. Alfonso García Gallo, "El libro de las leyes de Alfonso el Sabio: del Espéculo a las Partidas,"AHDE 21 (1951), pp. 345-548; and his "Nuevas observaciones sobre la obra legislativa de Alfonso X," AHDE 46 (1976), pp. 609-70.
7. Crónica de Alfonso, chap, 1. Robert Lee Wolff, "Mortgage and Redemption of an Emperor's Son: Castile and the Latin Empire of Constantinople," Speculum 29 (1954), pp. 45-84.
8. Several cuadernos containing the dispositions of the Cortes of Seville, dated from 12 October to 15 February 1253, were published as follows: Antonio Ballesteros, "Las Cortes de 1252," Anales de la Junta para ampliación de tedios e investigaciones científicas 2 (1911), pp. 114-43; Ismael García Ramila, "Ordenamientos y posturas y otros capítulos generales otorgados a la ciudad Burgos por el rey Alfonso X," Hispania 5 (1945), pp. 179-235, 385-439, 605-50 (also including the cuadernos of the Cortes of 1258); Antonio López Ferreiro, Fueros municipales de Santiago y de su tierra (Santiago 1895), pp. 347-72; Matías Rodríguez Diez, Historia de la ciudad de Astorga, 2d ed. (Astorga 1909), pp. 697-713; Vicente Arguello, "Memoria sobre las monedas de Alfonso el Sabio," MRAH 8 (1852), pp. 29-34; and Evelyn Procter, Curia and Cortes in León and Castile, 1072-1295(Cambridge 1980), pp. 273-84, no. 4. I will cite the text edited by Ballesteros, though I have assigned the numbers to each article; these correspond almost exactly to the text published by Garcia Ramila.
9. The cuadernos for 1258 and 1268 are found in CLC, vol. i, pp. 54-85. Rodríguez Diez, Historia de Astorga, pp. 715-20, published the cuaderno for 1261.
10. Claudio Sánchez Albornoz, España, un enígma histórico, 2 vols. (Buenos Aires 1962), vol. 2, pp. 123-24. See also Charles Emmanuel Dufourcq and Jean Gautier-Dalché, Histoire économique et sociale de l'Espagne chrétienne au moyen âge (Paris 1976), chaps. 3 and 5.
11. Fernando III laid down the regulations concerning weddings in the Cortes held at Seville in 1250. See O'Callaghan, "Beginnings of the Cortes of León-Castile," AHR 74 (1969), pp. 1529-31; similar ordinances are found in El fuero de Madrid, ed. Galo Sánchez (Madrid 1963), p. 72, no. 115. See also, for the text of the ordinance dated 25 April 1235, Fidel Fita, "Madrid desde el año 1235 hasta el de 1275," BRAH 9 (1886), pp. 11-13. Alfonso X repeated the regulations concerning weddings in charters to Cuenca (23 August 1256) and Segovia (22 September 1256). El fuero de Cuenca, ed. Rafael Ureña (Madrid 1935), pp. 859-60 (the cuaderno of the Cortes of 1250), 861-62 Amando Represa Rodríguez, "Notas para el estudio de la ciudad de Segovia en los siglos XII-XIV," Estudios segovianos 1 (1949), pp. 290-94. Procter, Curia and Cortes, pp. 271-73, no. 3, published the ordinance granted to Alcaraz in the Cortes of 1250, dated 25 November 1251; the date should be 1250.
12. See Las siete partidas, ed. Real Academia de la Historia, 3 vols. (Madrid [1807] 1972), 2:5.2: "Como el rey debe seer mesurado en comer et en beber." I do not believe there is any reference to this in the Espéculo de las leyes.
13. For the Mesta see Julius Klein, The Mesta: A Study in Spanish Economic History, 1273-1836 (Cambridge, Mass. 1920). See also C. J. Bishko, "The Castilian as Plainsman: the Medieval Ranching Frontier in La Mancha and Extremadura," in The New World Looks at Its History, ed. A. R. Lewis and T. F. McGann (Austin, Tex. 1963), pp. 47-69. On 19 March 1261 at Seville the king tried to effect a compromise between the bishops and the masters of the military orders concerning the collection of the tithe on transhumant sheep. Manuel Segura Moreno, Estudio del códice gótico (siglo XIII) de la catedral de Jaén (Jaén 1976), pp. 202-3, no. 16.
14. O'Callaghan, "Beginnings of the Cortes," p. 1531. Alfonso X repeated the ban on guilds in the privileges granted to Cuenca and Segovia in August-September 1256. See n. 11 above. María del Carmen Carlé, "Mercaderes en Castilla (1252-1512)," CHE 21-22 (1954), pp. 146-328, has shown that there were numerous guilds in the reign of Alfonso X. See also Sánchez-Albornoz, España, vol 2, pp. 128-29. In the fueros granted to Sahagún by Alfonso X on 25 April 1255, the ban on guilds was repeated. Tomás Muñoz y Romero, Colección de fueros municipales y cartas pueblas de los reinos de Castilla, León, Corona de Aragón y Navarra (Madrid 1847), p. 317. See also Siete partidas, 5:7.2.
15. Siete partidas, 5:7.2: "Como los mercaderes non deben poner cotos entre si sobre las cosas que vendieren."
16. For example, a bull was priced at no more than four maravedís; an ox for plowing, five; a cow with offspring at four, and a cow without at three.
17. For example, a hundredweight (quintal) of copper was priced at thirteen maravedís in Andalusia, but at twelve in Castile and León. Iron was priced at two and a half maravedís, but the price increased, depending on the distance transported to market; from Valmaseda to Burgos the price rose to three maravedís, and to the Duero to three and one-half. Iron brought to Seville from Extremadura was set at four maravedís if transported by land; if transported by sea, at three.
18. The best scarlet of Montpellier was priced at six maravedís the vara (about thirty-three inches), of Ghent at four; but from Christmas onward, scarlet of Montpellier would be worth four and one-half maravedís in Castile and León, and in Andalusia four maravedís and six sueldos de dineros alfonsís. Scarlet of Ghent was priced at three and one-half maravedís in Castile and León, but in Andalusia at three maravedís and five sueldos. The king ordered that "estos pannos sobredichos valgan la quinsena parte mas en el Andalusia fasta el puerto del Muradal."
19. Carlé, "El precio de la vida," pp. 136-37, 143-44.
20. Alfonso repeated this on 28 March 1280, noting that shoemakers and other artisans were reported to be using leather contrary to his ordinance, in MHE, vol. 2, no. 170, pp. 18-19.
21. An altered hawk was valued at thirty maravedís in 1252 (art. 23), but at "fifty in 1268 (art. 16). Prices varied depending on whether hawks or falcons were used for hunting, and not on the different kinds of hawks or falcons.
22. For example, the best ox was valued at nine maravedís, except in Galicia and Asturias where the price was thirty sueldos de dineros alfonsís. The best hen was worth four sueldos, except in the northwestern regions where the price was seven dineros alfonsís.
23. Male servants (mancebos) earned a wage of two maravedís yearly in Andalusia, six in the kingdom of Toledo, four in Extremadura, six in Castile, and only four north of the camino francés. Mancebas received six maravedís in Andalusia and elsewhere, "assy como suelen valer." A wet nurse was paid ten maravedís in Andalusia.
24. Carpenters, bricklayers, and master builders were paid a daily wage of four sueldos de pepiones in Andalusia, but in Extremadura two sueldos de dineros alfonsís. In Andalusia women and boys hired for the harvest received one sueldo de pepiones each day, but in the north three dineros alfonsís.
25. Espéculo, vol. 4, pp. 12, 57. The text then goes on to set chancery fees for charters allowing the export of any of the cosas vedadas, viz., gold, silver, mercury, grana, silk, rabbits, skins, hides, wax, cordovan leather, horses, hacks, mules. An example of two merchants caught with cosas vedadas in the reign of Fernando III is in El libro de los fueros de Castilla, ed. Galo Sánchez (Barcelona 1924), p. 72, no. 138.
26. Yves Renouard, "Un sujet de recherches: l'exportation de chevaux de la péninsule ibérique en France et en Angleterre au moyen âge," in Homenaje a Jaime Vicens Vives, ed. Juan Maluquer de Motes, 2 vols. (Barcelona 1965), vol. 1, pp. 571-77. Teófilo Ruiz, "Castilian Merchants in England, 1248-1350, in Order and Innovation in the Middle Ages: Essays in Honor of Joseph R. Strayer (Princeton 1976), pp. 173-85, especially pp. 181-82.
27. Sánchez-Albornoz, España, vol. 2, pp. 130-31. Carlé, "Mercaderes en Castilla," pp. 303-16.
28. On 16 October 1257 Alfonso required the use of "nuestro peso" and imposed fines for false weights and measures, "que manda el fuero," in Sepúlveda. Evidently he had not yet delivered the Fuero real to Sepúlveda, since he remarked that all the matters set forth in this charter should be observed "fasta que les demos el fuero." Los fueros de Sepúlveda, ed. Emilio Sáez et al. (Segovia 1953), pp, 193-94, no. 12. See also Privilegios reales y viejos documentos, 18 fas. to date (Madrid 1963ff.), vol. 1 (Toledo), doc. 8; Ballesteros, Alfonso X, p. 1083, no. 483. Alfonso ordered that all the men of Cuenca use "pesos e medidas derechos" or pay a fine, "como el fuero manda," i.e., the Libro del fuero (11 August 1268). El fuero de Cuenca, pp. 867-68. See Ramón Alvarez de la Braña, "La igualación de pesos y medidas por don Alfonso el Sabio," BRAH 38 (1901), pp. 134ff.
29. Alfonso XI modified these regulations somewhat in the Ordenamiento de Alcalá, 1348 (art. 58), in CLC vol. 1, p. 534.
30. Crónica de Alfonso, chap, 1, described Fernando III's coinage as "tan gruesa e de tantos dineros el maravedí, que alcanzaba a valer el maravedí tanto como un maravedí de oro." Alois Heiss, Descripción general de las monedas hispano-cristianas, 3 vols. (Zaragoza [1865-69] 1975), vol. 1, pp. 38-41, shows eight coins of Alfonso X; he believes that no. 1 is a "burgalés antiguo de buena ley." This coinage is variously referred to as burgaleses, moneda blanca, moneda de la guerra primera de Granada, alfonsís,and bonos alfonsís. Octavio Gil Farrés, Historia de la moneda española (Madrid 1959), p. 203, notes that this was the first of four coinages in billon, a silver-copper alloy, minted by Alfonso X.
31. Crónica de Alfonso, chap. 1. Fifteen dineros prietos equaled a maravedí. Gil Farrés, Moneda, p. 204. Heiss, Monedas, vol. 1, p. 40, suggested that nos. 4, 5i and 6 are the prietos of Alfonso. Ballesteros, Alfonso X, p. 207, cited a document of 24 August 1258 whereby Oviedo and Avilés agreed to receive the king's money; he suggested that they were reluctant to do so.
32. Gil Farrés, Moneda, p. 204, states that there were five sueldos to the maravedí. This coinage was also called moneda nueva por enblanquir, or mondea prieta que non es enblaquida.
33. See the charters of 1 March, 22 April, 1 May, and 29 June 1260. Angel Nieto Gutiérrez, Catálogo del Archivo municipal de León (León 1927), p. 3, no. 6. Leyes nuevas, in Opúsculos legales, vol. 2, pp. 181-83. Archivo Municipal de Béjar, inventario 4, doc. 3. Antonio Ballesteros, "Itinerario de Alfonso X, rey de Castilla," BRAH 107 (1935), pp. 29-31. The Fuero real, 4.2.6 in Opúsculos legales, vol. 2, p. 119, repeated that the rate of interest should be 33 1/3 percent. Ballesteros, Alfonso X, p. 1086, no. 554, cited a charter of 22 March 1264 to Pancorbo concerning usury.
34. Crónica de Alfonso, chap. 5.
35. See O'Callaghan, "The Ecclesiastical Estate in the Cortes of León-Castile, 1252-1350," CHR 67 (1981), pp. 185-213.
36. See José Luis Martín et al. Documentos de los archivos catedralicio y diocesano de Salamanca (siglos XII-XIII) (Salamanca 1977), pp. 341-42, 352-54, nos. 255, 262. Ramón Menéndez Pidal, Documentos lingüísticos de España: reino de Castilla (Madrid 1919), pp. 299-300, no. 228. MHE, vol. 1, nos. 34-35. Ballesteros, "Itinerario," BRAH 105 (1934), pp. 139-40n., 149-50, 155.
37. Ballesteros, "Itinerario," BRAH 105 (1934 bis), pp. 151-52. Luis Sánchez Belda, Documentos reales de la edad media referentes a Galicia (Madrid 1953), p. 327, no. 753. Pedro Fernández del Pulgar, Historia secular y eclesiástica de Palencia, 4 vols. (Madrid 1679-80), vol. 1, pp. 340-41.
38. See O'Callaghan, "Beginnings of the Cortes," pp. 1517-20, and "Cortes and Royal Taxation," pp. 379-80. Procter, Curia and Cortes, pp. 186-90.
39. See MHE, vol. 1, no. 4 (21 February 1253). Fernández del Pulgar, Palencia, vol. 2, pp. 336-38; vol. 3, pp. 27-28. Martín, Documentos de Salamanca, pp. 347-50, no. 260. Juan Loperráez, Descripción histórica del obispado de Osma, 3 vols. (Madrid 1788), vol. 3, pp. 79-81, no. 57. Marius Ferotin, Histoire de l'abbaye de Silos (Paris 1897), p. 102, n. 3. Luciano Serrano, Cartulario del infantazgo de Covarrubias (Madrid 1907), pp. 101-2, no. 58. Diego Colmenares, Historia de la ciudad de Segovia, 4 vols. (Segovia 1846-47), vol. 2, pp. 214-15. Toribio Mingúella, Historia de la diócesis de Sigüenza, y de sus obispos, 3 vols. (Madrid 1910-13), vol. 1, pp. 576-78, no. 211. Menéndez Pidal, Documentos lingüísticos, pp. 384-85, no. 284. Exemptions were granted to the parish clergy of Toledo (1265), Burgos (1273), and Seville (1278); nobles were also exempted, viz., the fijosdalgo of Toledo (1260), Seville (1273), and Cordova (1280). MHE, vol. 1, nos. 119, 132, 150; vol. 2, no. 177. Ballesteros, Alfonso X, p. 1103, no. 887.
40. MHE, vol. 1, no. 33. Julián Sánchez Ruano, El fuero de Salamanca (Salamanca 1870), pp. 166-68. Juan Agapito y Revilla, Los privilegios de Valladolid (Valladolid 1906), pp. 48-49, no. 29x1. Ballesteros, "Itinerario,"BRAH 105 (1934 bis), pp. 138-39, 167.
41. Ballesteros, Alfonso X, pp. 225-28. See O'Callaghan, "Cortes and Royal Taxation," pp. 382-83.
42. Rodríguez Diez, Historia de Astorga, pp. 715-20. After the Cortes, the king besieged and captured in February 1262 the town of Niebla on the southwestern coast. Crónica de Alfonso, chap. 6. In 1276 he contracted with Jewish tax farmers to recover all arrears of taxes due since the capture of Niebla. MHE, vol. 1, no. 140.
43. Colección diplomática de Cuéllar, ed. Antonio Ubieto Arteta (Segovia 1961), PP- 60-66, no. 21.Documentos del Archivo general de la villa de Madrid, ed.Timoteo Domingo Palacio, 2 vols. (Madrid 1888-1906), vol. 1, pp. 95-102. Procter, Curia and Cortes, pp. 286-91, no. 7.
45. See the contracts concluded with the Jewish tax farmers in 1276. MHE, vol. 1, no. 140. Alfonso ordered that the servicio de los ganados should not be collected in the kingdom of León on sheep pasturing near Badajoz (June 1270). Tomás González, Colección de cédulas, cartas patentes, provisiones, reales ordenes y documentos concernientes a las provincias vascongadas, 6 vols. (Madrid 1829-33), vol. 6, pp. 117-18, no. 258. Klein, Mesta, pp. 256-57.
46. Jofré de Loaysa, Crónica de los reyes de Castilla, Fernando III, Alfonso X, Sancho IV y Fernando IV, 1248-1305, ed. Antonio García Martínez (Murcia 1961 and 1982), chap. 7. This is the text edited by Alfred Morel-Fatio as Crónica de los reyes de Castilla, in the Bibliothèque de l'Ecole des chartes 59 (1898), pp. 325-74; Agustín Ubieto Arteta also presents it as the Crónica of Loaysa (Valencia 1971).
47. For the crisis of 1272 see the detailed account in Crónica de Alfonso, chaps. 23-41, pp. 19-32. O'Callaghan, "Cortes and Royal Taxation", pp. 386-88.
48. Crónica de Alfonso, chap. 26.
49. lbid., chap. 47. El fuero viejo de Castilla, ed. Ignacio Jordán de Asso y del Río and Miguel de Manuel Rodríguez (Madrid 1777), prologue, pp. 1-3. For charters granted in confirmation of the fueros of the towns, see Palacio, Documentos de Madrid, vol. 1, pp. 113-17; Los fueros de Sepúlveda, pp. 196-98, no. 13; Privilegios y viejos documentos, vol. 10 (Cuenca), doc. 6; and Archivo municipal de Bejar, carpeta 1, doc. 5.
50. CLC, vol. 1, pp. 85-86. Crónica de Alfonso, chap. 47.
51. Menéndez Pidal, Documentos lingüísticos, pp. 300-2, no. 229. Mateo Escagedo Salmón, Colección diplomática: privilegios, escrituras y bulas en pergamino de la insigne y real iglesia colegial de Santillana, 2 vols. (Santoña 1927), vol. 1, pp. 155-58. Cesáreo Fernández Duro, Memorias históricas de la ciudad de Zamora, 4 vols. (Madrid 1882-83), vol. 1, pp. 462-64.
52. Menéndez Pidal, Documentos lingüísticos, p. 257, no. 201. Régistres de Nicholas III, ed. Jules Gay (Paris 1898), pp. 338-44, nos. 739-43. Peter Linehan, The Spanish Church and the Papacy in the Thirteenth Century (Cambridge 1971), pp. 218-20.
53. Palacio, Documentos de Madrid, vol. 1, pp. 119-22. Ciriaco Miguel Vigil, Colección histórico-diplomática del Ayuntamiento de Oviedo (Oviedo 1889), p. 63, no. 36. González, Provincias vascongadas, vol. 5, pp. 189-90, no. 59. Ubieto Arteta, Cuéllar, pp. 73-74, no. 30. MHE, vol. 1, no. 137. Antonio Ballesteros, "Burgos y la rebelión del infante Don Sancho," BRAH 19 (1946), pp. 115-16, 118-19.
54. MHE, vol. 1, no. 140. Five contracts were concluded for the recovery of arrears of servicios, fonsadera, martiniega, pedido, pecho, the servicio de los ganados (since 1269), and the tercias, as well as fines for violation of the privileges of the Mesta, for failure to come properly equipped as knights for military service, and for violation of the regulations concerning exports and imports.
55. Numerous charters to this effect were granted. MHE, vol. 1, nos. 140-41' Ubieto Arteta, Cuéllar, pp. 75-76, no. 32. Miguel Vigil, Oviedo, p. 75, no. 41. Fernández del Pulgar, Palencia, vol. 3, p. 323. Antonio Ubieto Arteta, Colección diplomática de Riaza (1258-1457) (Segovia 1959), pp. 8-9, no. 3, Francisco Berganza, Antigüedades de España, 2 vols. (Madrid 1721), vol. 2, p. 492, no. 183. Colmenares, Segovia, vol. 2, pp. 228-29. Agapito y Revilla, Valladolid, p. 55, no. 33xiv, Mingüella, Sigüenza, vol. 1, pp. 622-24, no. 240; Nieto Gutiérrez, León, p. 5, nos. 14-15.
56. J. M. Escudero de la Peña, "Súplica hecha al Papa Juan XXI para que absolviese al rey de Castilla, Don Alfonso X, del juramento de no acuñar otra moneda que los dineros prietos," RABM 2 (1872), pp. 58-59.
57. Ballesteros, Alfonso X, pp. 853-56, 875, 880, 885; idem, "Burgos y la rebelión," pp. 137-38.
58. Crónica de Alfonso, chap. 74. One of the Jewish tax farmers who had entered the contracts of October 1276 was Zag de la Maleha; he later allowed Sancho to divert tax moneys from the siege of Algeciras to Queen Violante, so she could return home from Aragon. Alfonso avenged himself by executing Zag in September 1280.
59. Julius Klein, "Los privilegios de la Mesta de 1273 y 1276," BRAH 64 (1914), pp. 202-18. MHE, vol. 1, no. 148. Klein, Mesta, pp. 12-13, described the privilege of 1273 as the foundation charter of the Mesta; but Bishko, "Ranching," p. 61, suggested that it was organized between 1230 and 1263.
60. MHE, vol. 2, no. 179. Ballesteros, Alfonso X, pp. 932-33. Teófilo Ruiz, "La estructura económica del area de Burgos," Boletín de la Institución Fernan González 50 (1976), pp. 821-22. Carlé, "Mercaderes en Castilla," p. 224.
61. Crónica de Alfonso, chap. 75.
62. Ibid., chaps. 75-76, pp. 60-61. Jofré de Loaysa, Crónica, chap. 28. Ballesteros, Alfonso X, pp. 995-96; idem, "Burgos y la rebelión," pp. 164-65. See the protest of Bishops Fernando of Burgos and Juan of Palencia against the transfer of power from the king, 21 April 1282, in MHE, vol. 1, no. 198.
63. Ballesteros, "Burgos y la rebelión," pp. 164-69. Julián García Sáinz de Baranda, La ciudad de Burgos y su concejo en la Edad Media, 2 vols. (Burgos 1967), vol. 2, pp. 218, 439, no. 30. MHE, vol. 2, no. 209. Mateo Villar y Macías, Historia de Salamanca, 3 vols. (Salamanca 1887), vol. 3, pp. 153-54, no. 8. While the assembly was in session, the prelates and townsmen and some of the nobles were forming hermandades in defense of their fueros. MHE, vol. 2 nos. 202-5. Marius Ferotin, Recueil des chartes de l'abbaye de Silos (Paris 1897), pp. 272-73, no. 243. Romualdo Escalona, Historia del real monasterio de Sahagún (Madrid 1782), pp. 616-22, nos. 264-66. Augusto Quintana Prieto, Tumbo viejo de San Pedro de Montes (León 1971), pp. 481-87, nos. 373-75. Luis Suárez Fernández, "Evolución histórica de las hermandades castellanas," CHE 16 (1952), pp. 14-15. Antonio Alvarez de Morales, Las hermandades: expresión del Movimiento comunitario en España (Valladolid 1974), pp. 39-42.
64. Crónica de Alfonso X, chaps. 29, 76. Georges Daumet, "Les testaments d'Alphonse X le Savant, roi de Castille," BEC 67 (1906), pp. 70-99.
65. Evelyn Procter, Alfonso X of Castile, Patron of Literature and Learning (Oxford 1951), pp. 137-39, cites the testimony of contemporaries who benefited from the king's liberal generosity.
66. Jofré de Loaysa, Crónica, chaps. 20-21, Crónica de Alfonso, chaps. 66-68. Procter, Curia and Cortes, p. 143, called attention to a statement of Juan Gil de Zamora to the effect that Sancho began to reign together (coregnare) with his father in 1278.
67. "El libro de las taulas alfonsíes," chap, 1 in Los libros del saber de astronomía, ed. Manuel Rico y Sinobas, 5 vols. (Madrid 1863-67), vol. 4, p. 119.