THE CASTILIAN STATE, 1252-1479
[Sidenote: General character and importance of the era in political
institutions.]
In the relations of the seigniorial elements and the monarchy this was a
critical period for the latter, deciding as a result of the virtual,
though not at the time apparent, victory of the kings that Castile was
to become a power in the world. For that very reason the evolution of
political institutions in this era was important, for on the development
of monarchy depended the conquest of America, but they were also
important because the institutions which were set up in the new world
had noteworthy antecedents at this time. Influenced largely by the
principles of the Roman law the kings aspired to absolute monarchy in a
centralized state, with a view to overcoming the social and political
strife resulting from the diffusion of power inherent in the seigniorial
system. Their most dangerous enemies were the nobles, whose spirit of
independence and self-esteem and whose vast wealth in lands and fighting
men made them a powerful factor in themselves. They were yet stronger
because the kings had to depend on them for military service since there
was no large standing army, and because they in a measure developed a
class consciousness in opposition to absolutism, becoming a nobility
rather than remaining a mere aggregation of nobles. While the
seigniorial ideal was not lacking in the towns, they were not nearly so
dangerous to the monarchy, because they were usually as hostile to the
nobility as the kings were. Often, however, they fought against the
kings, or exacted concessions for their services. The task for the
fulfilment of royal ideals was therefore a difficult one, requiring a
sagacious type of monarch, such as in fact rarely appeared in the
period. Circumstances fought better than the kings, and nowhere does
this show forth more clearly than in a review of the political
institutions of the era.
[Sidenote: Internal decline in the power of the nobles.]
The external vicissitudes of the strife between the nobles and the kings
have already been traced, and it would appear from them that the former
gained the upper hand. In fact, however, their cause was already
internally dead. One symptom of their approaching dissolution was the
change in the practices of the nobles whereby they became more and more
a court nobility, plotting in the shadow of the king (like the
chancellor López de Ayala) instead of being semi-independent potentates
on their own estates as formerly. Despite their class consciousness,
parties arose within their ranks with distinct ideals, apart from
personal ambition, dividing them against one another. Thus in Seville
the Guzmán faction represented conservatism, while the Ponces were
radical. Most important of all were the blows resulting from the social
and economic changes which deprived the nobles of their serfs and
created a new form of wealth in the hands of the middle class, an
element better fitted than the old nobility to acquire and develop the
new resources. The eagerness with which the nobles took up the practice
of primogeniture, leaving their estates nearly intact to their eldest
sons so that their house and their name might not be lost, showed that
they realized the force of the new order of things and were taking
thought for the future. In earlier times, when wealth was territorial
and serfs were numerous, the land-rich nobility had been secure, but
that day had passed.
[Sidenote: The absolutist ideal of Alfonso X.]
The great representative of absolutism was Alfonso X, not that he
invented the idea or was the first to attempt its achievement, but
because he formulated the program more clearly than any of his
predecessors, embodying it in his legislation, and because he received
the first shock in defence of these principles. He enacted that the
legislative, judicial, and military powers and the right to coin money
were fundamental, inalienable rights of the king, who could not give
them away for a period longer than his own life, and declared that the
lords could not exercise any judicial or other sovereign powers on their
estates except those which had been granted to them by the king, or
which they had enjoyed by immemorial custom. His laws also prescribed
certain forms of etiquette which should be employed in treating with the
king, establishing the ceremonial which has always served as such a prop
for monarchy. The divine origin of royal power was asserted.
Independence of the Holy Roman Emperors was specifically proclaimed, but
a measure of subjection to the pope was admitted. The absolutism of
Alfonso X did not pretend, even in principle, that the king might
exercise arbitrary or tyrannical authority; Alfonso declared that the
king was bound to observe the law and deal justly with the people,
acting as their guardian and administrator, and granting them certain
rights to inspect his conduct. Those who wrongly possessed themselves of
the royal power, or made bad use of it, were declared to be tyrants and
not legitimate kings. The people, on the other hand, owed respect,
obedience, and loyalty to the legitimate king, and even a species of
guardianship to prevent his non-fulfilment of obligations. Alfonso X was
not able to sustain his principles in open conflict, but they remained
as the ideal of future kings, even though some of them were modified by
the legislation of later reigns; thus Alfonso XI declared that sovereign
rights might be acquired from the crown by prescription, except the
taxing power and high justice (or the hearing of cases on appeal), and
that the kings could alienate any of their sovereign powers except those
of high justice, coinage, and war.
[Sidenote: Establishment of hereditary succession and development of
court officialdom.]
Two fundamental results of the centralizing, absolutist policy of the
kings were the final establishment of hereditary succession and the
development of consultive and other bodies about the king, the
forerunners of modern bureaucracy. The former has already been referred
to. Alfonso himself was the first to break his own law in this respect,
but after his reign the principle was definitely recognized. The pomp
and ceremonial of royalty increased the number of officials whose
principal functions were those of adding splendor to the court,--such,
for example, as the king’s cup-bearer, butler, and chamberlain. Great
nobles also sent their sons to court to be educated under the protection
and with the favor of the king, and these young men formed a special
royal guard. In addition there began to be an infinity of servants,
notaries, doctors, and others occupying posts of a less ornamental
character. The most important novelty of the period was the development
of the _Consejo Real_.
[Sidenote: _The Consejo Real._]
The kings had long been surrounded by a body of nobles and prelates
called the _Consejo Real_, or Royal Council, which advised them in
matters of government, or sat as the _Cort_, or supreme court, in
appeals from lower jurisdictions, but its membership and functions had
not been very clearly established, for it dealt indiscriminately with
any subject upon which the king might want advice. One important reform
was the introduction of representatives of the popular element in this
body. Different kings, from Sancho IV on, decreed that a certain number
of the council should be “good men,”--or members of the untitled,
secular class,--although the practice did not become fixed. A law of
Juan I in 1385 provided that the council should be composed of twelve
men, of whom four should be plebeians. Two years later it was required
that the last-named should be _letrados_,--that is, men learned in the
law,--and shortly afterward they began to be called _oidores_ (hearers
of cases). Juan II divided the council into two bodies, one of
government, the other of justice. It was not until the time of Ferdinand
and Isabella, however, that the _Consejo Real_ acquired real stability.
[Sidenote: The hierarchy of officialdom.]
There were important developments, too, in the general administrative
and judicial hierarchy, although with a mixture of the two functions.
The hierarchy of officialdom, from the lowest grade to the highest, with
especial regard to comparative judicial authority, ran from the
_alcaldes_ of the towns through _merinos mayores_ or the _adelantados_,
the _alcalde del rey_ (royal _alcalde_) of the court, and the
_adelantado mayor_ (or chief justice of Castile) to the king himself. In
some jurisdictions cases in first instance came before _alcaldes del
rey_ (different from the above-named) with an appeal to _merinos
menores_[43] and _merinos mayores_, or directly to the latter, and
thence upward. The _merinos menores_ limited themselves to jurisdiction
in certain criminal cases. The _merinos mayores_ were, like the
_adelantados_, governors of large districts as well as judges in cases
of appeal, for which latter purpose they were assisted by men acquainted
with the law. They took the place of many of the former _adelantados_.
The _adelantado mayor_ also had administrative functions, as the superior
of the _merinos_ and other officials below him. Alfonso X employed the
old term, _cort_, in the new and more restricted sense of a royal judicial
tribunal which acted for the king. In later reigns this came to be known
as the _chancillería_ (chancery), or _audiencia_,[44]--which latter name
was eventually transmitted to the Americas for bodies exercising similar
functions.
[Sidenote: Diversity of jurisdictions and tendencies toward
centralization.]
Despite appearances, uniformity and order in the administrative and
judicial organization were far from being completely established. Not
only was there a great variety of jurisdictions, but there was also a
great diversity in the law, for one region would differ radically from
another. The towns, nobles, clergy, universities, and the great
corporation of stock-raisers (the _Mesta_) all had officials of their
own and exemption from royal jurisdiction. At the same time, great
_hermandades_, or leagues of cities, were formed for the maintenance of
public security against highwaymen or other disturbing elements, since
royal activity in this regard left much to be desired, and these also
had their separate jurisdictions.[45] The current toward centralization
was very strong, however, being aided by the education in the Roman law
of the _letrados_, whom the king employed as his officials (for these
men were pronouncedly monarchical in sentiment), and by the increase in
powers to which the _adelantados_ and _merinos mayores_ were attaining
at the expense of the semi-independent elements. The successors of
Alfonso X, especially Alfonso XI, furthered this policy of
centralization. Royal judges began to appear in the towns, either taking
the place of the formerly elected officials, or acting concurrently with
them, for the kings took advantage of one pretext or another to make an
opening for their own appointees. Another important reform was the
division of the _audiencia_ into two sections, one of which remained in
Segovia, while the other went on circuit for brief periods in Andalusia.
Under Juan II there appeared in the _audiencia_ the official known as
the _fiscal_, who at this time was a royal prosecuting attorney, but who
later was to become one of the most important all-round administrative
officials in Spanish and Spanish colonial government. As an example,
too, of the extension of royal jurisdiction may be mentioned the
so-called recourse of _fuerza_ in cases of usurpation (by force,--hence
_fuerza_) of lands or jurisdiction by the clergy. The trial of these
cases was ordered to be held in the royal courts.
[Sidenote: Judicial procedure.]
Punishments for crime continued to be atrocious, and torture was still
employed, but only in the case of persons of bad reputation or when the
accused bore the evidences of crime. Privilege still obtained to modify
the punishment of the upper classes. A very notable reform was the
introduction of the _pesquisa_, or inquisitorial investigation, for the
bringing of an indictment, or accusation, of crime. Formerly the state
had intervened when one individual charged another with crime, a process
which resulted to the detriment of the weak, who would not dare to
accuse the more powerful. The _pesquisa_ not only introduced the grand
jury function of an accusation by the state, without necessarily
involving any individual accusers, but it also made crime partake more
of the nature of a public offence than of a mere infringement of
individual rights. The vulgar proofs, with one exception, were
abolished, and the importance of written documents and the testimony of
witnesses became more generally recognized. This also caused the rise of
the lawyers, who, after a lapse of centuries, began again to be a
noteworthy element in judicial affairs. The _riepto_, or duel, a special
form of the wager of battle, was the only one of the vulgar proofs to
remain in existence. This was a special privilege enjoyed only by those
of noble blood. The duel was hedged in by a number of rules, one of
which was that it must take place in the presence of the king. If the
challenger were killed, the innocence of his opponent was proclaimed,
but if the latter were killed, still protesting innocence, he was in
this case, too, declared guiltless. The challenger could win by
defeating his opponent without killing him, in which event the latter
was banished, and half of his goods were granted to the king.
[Sidenote: The new system of taxation.]
Although the expenses of the state were greater than formerly, the
income was also greater. Many new forms of taxation were introduced: the
royal monopolies on salt and mines; the _alcabala_, or tax on sales,
which first became general in the reign of Alfonso XI; stamp taxes; and
the _consumo_, or tax on all merchandise entering the city. These taxes
fell upon goods or upon acts of individuals in connection with the state
(as distinguished from the king) differing radically from the services
of a feudal character, with a multitude of exceptions and privileges,
which had formerly been the basis of the public income. Owing to the
turbulence of the era and the excessive alienation of public wealth by
grants of the kings to the nobles, receipts did not equal the royal
needs, and resort was had frequently to loans, debasement of the
coinage, and arbitrary confiscations of property. Even under the new
system of taxation the nobles and clergy very rarely had to pay any of
the numerous taxes, and privileges and exemptions were granted, much as
before. Nevertheless, the methods employed contained the germ of a sound
financial system, which was to develop in succeeding centuries. The
collection of taxes was rented out as formerly, being given in charge
usually of Mudéjares, Jews, or Marranos. Complaints against these
collectors were so insistent that at one time churchmen were substituted
for them,--without diminishing the complaints, for the fault lay in the
system. There were royal financial officials for receiving the funds and
examining accounts, but no organized treasury department was as yet
developed.
[Sidenote: The army and navy.]
The principal military fact of the era was the increase in the number of
troops sustained by the king, but in other respects there was no
fundamental difference from the preceding period. Technically there were
advances in the art of war,--such as the development of a greater
variety in the branches of the service and the introduction of
powder,--but except for cannon of not very great utility the use of
firearms did not become general. Complete armor came in with the white
companies. The royal navy, initiated by Ferdinand III, was continued
throughout the era, and this was a period of brilliant victories against
the Moslems in the Mediterranean and the English in the north; on one
occasion the Castilian admiral, Pero Niño, ravaged the English coast. No
results of note seem to have proceeded from these victories, however.
[Sidenote: Greatness and decline of the towns in political authority.]
[Sidenote: Advance of the seigniorial towns.]
This was the most flourishing epoch in the history of the free Castilian
towns: their numbers and political importance increased; they received
new privileges; and they made their presence felt in national affairs
through their representatives in the _Cortes_. The most extreme example
of municipal independence was provided by the towns of the north coast,
which recognized the sovereignty of the Castilian king, but in fact
governed themselves, even intervening in foreign affairs through the
agency of their league. In the interior the towns were less independent
politically and administratively, and in the fourteenth century their
authority began to wane. The entry of royal judges into the towns has
already been mentioned. In administration the kings were also able at
length to exercise influence. This came about as a result of a number
of political changes, such as the substitution of a life term in office
for one of a period of years, the usurpation by the _ayuntamiento_ (or
body of municipal officials) of powers formerly exercised by the general
assembly, the limitation of the right to hold office to the _caballeros_
or to specified families, the disturbances at times of election, and the
corruption which occasionally manifested itself in municipal
administration. In the interests of internal peace the towns themselves
often sought intervention by the kings, who did not fail to profit by
the situation. Under Alfonso XI some towns began to be ruled by
officials appointed by the king, and that monarch also created the post
of _corregidor_,[46] a royal agent placed in many towns to watch the
course of local affairs and represent the king, acting with the local
_alcaldes_. The _corregidores_ gradually acquired considerable
influence, thereby reducing the power of the popularly elected
officials. Internal municipal strife continued, but now the great
families fought, not for the favor of the electorate, but for that of
the king, since this had become the surer route to public office. The
greater towns or cities suffered through the breaking away of the
villages and rural districts which had formerly been subordinate to
them. These villages were desirous of local autonomy, because the
municipalities on which they depended were wont to exploit them or to
exclude them from a share in government. The kings granted their
petitions, thus weakening the greater towns, even if they did extend the
institution of chartered municipalities. It should be said, however,
that this decline of the towns, with the incidents accompanying it, was
not uniform, for a number of them still retained their earlier
liberties, including popular election, at the end of the period. In the
seigniorial towns, especially those under ecclesiastical domination,
there were frequent struggles with a view to reducing the lord’s
intervention in local affairs, and these ended almost everywhere in a
victory for the towns, which won a right to name their own officers and
to possess much the same degree of liberty enjoyed by the royal towns.
Here, too, the kings intervened, not only through the practice of
judicial appeals to the royal courts, but also in other ways, even with
armed forces, in order to reduce the power of the lords. The victory of
the seigniorial towns lessened the power of the lords to an appreciable
extent; the struggles of the lords with the kings were thenceforth
maintained only through combinations of nobles, often with Mudéjar
levies, joined at times by some of the towns.
[Sidenote: Great age of the Castilian _Cortes_.]
The institution which most clearly represented the different factors of
Castilian political life, but especially that of the municipalities, was
the _Cortes_, which grew in importance until the fifteenth century, when
it began to show signs of decline. The _Cortes_ was hardly mentioned in
the legislation of Alfonso X, for it did not comport well with his
theories of absolutism, but the later kings paid it great consideration,
seeking the aid of the popular branch against seigniorial anarchy. Its
principal function continued to be economic, rather than legislative,
through the grants of subsidies by the representatives of the towns.
While these were not the only source of royal revenue they were so
urgently needed that the _Cortes_ was able to procure legislation from
the kings in response to its petitions. The fourteenth century was
particularly rich in ordinances of the _Cortes_, especially those
arising from the meetings of 1329 (Madrid), 1348 (Alcalá), 1351
(Valladolid), 1366 (Burgos), 1371 (Toro), 1373 (Toro), 1377 (Burgos),
1379 (Burgos), and 1380 (Soria). In most cases the kings did not put the
ordinances (which should rather be considered petitions) into effect,
wherefore many of them were repeated time and again,--such, for example,
as the legislation requested against the Jews, against the granting of
Castilian benefices by the pope, against the abuses of royal officials
and renters of taxes, and against the royal donations to the lords. In a
number of instances the _Cortes_ got what it asked for, even in cases
affecting the king’s personal authority, such as a law in 1329 which
prohibited the issuing of royal letters, or orders, in blank (whereby
the possessor of the letter might insert anybody’s name he chose,--a
practice which usually served to promote unjust ends, just as in the
case of the _lettres de cachet_ in France prior to the French
Revolution), and another of 1348 extending the prohibition to letters
which the kings were in the habit of granting to individuals empowering
them to marry designated persons, with or without the latter’s consent.
The kings also accepted petitions of a more general character, such as
those asking that steps be taken for the suppression of banditry, the
specification of the powers of royal officers, the correction of various
abuses, the lowering of certain taxes, the regulation of disputes
between the stockmen and the farmers, and the reform of judicial
procedure. It was also affirmed several times,--in 1348, for
example,--that there could be no new tax without a grant of the
_Cortes_. The laws of Alfonso X insisted upon the king’s sole right to
legislate, however, and this principle was maintained by the later
kings, for despite the fact that a law of 1387 declared that the
ordinances of the _Cortes_ were irrevocable, unless by the act of a
_Cortes_ itself, the kings proceeded according to their own pleasure,
apparently regarding the concession of 1387 as purely theoretical. The
ordinances of the various _Cortes_ appeared without method or plan, and
lacked the full force of law, but they demonstrated the enormous
activity of this body, and were in fact a basis for much legislation,
both at the time and in later years. In organization the _Cortes_
followed the general practices of the preceding era. Among the
comparatively few novelties may be mentioned a law of Juan II, fixing
the number of representatives from a town as two, and a law of 1351
granting immunity from arrest to members of the _Cortes_ while that body
was in session. Up to 1301 Castile and León had a separate _Cortes_,
although there were a number of joint meetings before that date. After
1301 there was but a single _Cortes_ for the entire kingdom.
[Sidenote: Diversity in the laws and tendencies toward unification.]
Not only in the ordinances of the _Cortes_, but also in the general laws
of the king without intervention of the _Cortes_, in grants of municipal
charters, and in the innumerable private grants (often modifying the
general law) this period was exceedingly rich in legislation. The fame
of the laws of Alfonso X and of Alfonso XI has obscured the legislation
of other reigns, but the output of the other kings was great in
quantity, if less in importance than that of the two Alfonsos. Diversity
was still a leading characteristic of the legislation. For example, from
Alfonso X to 1299 at least 127 local charters were granted; in the
fourteenth century at least 94; and in the fifteenth, at least 5,
although many were reproductions or slight modifications of certain
typical charters. The _Fuero Juzgo_ continued to be the general law, but
there was very little of it which was not contradicted or changed by
other legislation. A tendency toward unification of the laws manifested
itself in many ways, however. Alfonso X issued a municipal charter in
1254, variously named, but usually called the _Fuero Real_ (Royal
Charter), which was a new model, more complete and systematic than those
which had preceded it, but based on those already in existence and on
the _Fuero Juzgo_, preserving the Visigothic and early Leonese and
Castilian principles of law. The _Fuero Real_ was adopted as
supplementary law for use in cases of appeal to the royal courts, but
was also granted as the local charter of a great many towns, being the
most extensively used of the typical charters, although by no means in a
majority of the municipalities. To bring about unification at one stroke
it is believed that Ferdinand III and Alfonso X projected a code to
apply in all the land. Ferdinand is said to have begun the drawing up of
the _Setenario_ (or Septenary, so-called because it was to be in seven
parts), which was completed by Alfonso after the former’s death. This
code, if such it may be called, was never promulgated, and may rather
have been intended as an encyclopedia of law. A similar compilation of
the reign of Alfonso X was the _Espéculo_ (or _Espejo_) _de todos los
derechos_ (mirror of all the laws), but it, too, never became law,
although used as a reference book by jurisconsults. Yet another such
compilation appeared in this reign, the famous _Leyes de las siete
partidas_ (laws of the seven parts), or simply the _Partidas_, and this
was to attain to a very different lot from the others just named.
[Sidenote: The code of the _Siete Partidas_ and the revival of Roman
principles.]
The _Partidas_ was the work of a number of jurisconsults under the
inspection, and with more or less intervention, of Alfonso himself;
these men began work in 1256 and finished it in 1265. Some of the laws
and customs of Castile,--for example, the _Fuero Juzgo_ and the _Fuero
Real_,--were used as sources, but the preponderant influences were those
of the canon law and the codes of the Roman emperor Justinian,--so much
so that the _Partidas_ amounted to an encyclopedia of these two sources
of law, both of which were Roman in origin and very different from the
customs, Visigothic and otherwise, at that time prevailing in Castile.
Whether Alfonso intended that the _Partidas_ should become the general
law, or merely that it should serve as an encyclopedia, it was not
promulgated in his day, and there were many later laws directly
contradicting it. Nevertheless, it constantly gained ground, favored
especially by lawyers and university men (both of which elements were
strong partisans of the Roman law), being used as a book of reference
and as a text-book. Finally the current in its favor became so strong
that so far as it was not inconsistent with certain specified
compilations it was declared to be law in the reign of Alfonso XI by the
important ordinance of the _Cortes_ of Alcalá (1348). This set forth
that the decisions of that _Cortes_ should be the principal fountain of
Castilian law, followed in order of precedence by the _Fuero Real_, the
other municipal charters, and finally by way of supplement by the
_Partidas_, which was not to be enforced in such parts as it
contradicted the privileges of the nobility, for these also were
confirmed. Despite this lowly position of the _Partidas_ and despite the
vast quantity of later laws which took precedence of the above-mentioned
hierarchy of sources, the ultimate victory of Alfonso’s code was assured
from the time of its official promulgation. Without any statute to that
effect it gradually became recognized, not as a mere supplementary
source, but as the principal law of the land. Reformations of its text
were undertaken to make it conform with the necessities of later times,
but in substance the ideas of the original remained.
[Sidenote: Leading factors in ecclesiastical history.]
[Sidenote: Papal intervention in the Castilian church.]
[Sidenote: Wealth of the church.]
[Sidenote: Pilgrimages.]
Next to the state the church was the most powerful and influential
factor in Castile. This period was one of serious internal disturbance
in the Castilian church and of relaxation in discipline. Despite the
efforts of the popes and some Castilian prelates, the practice of
_barraganía_ continued. There also occurred such incidents as
competitions in beauty between the nuns of Seville and Toledo, such
instances of lack of discipline as the armed resistance of the dean of
Sigüenza to the pope’s appointee as bishop, such turbulent intervention
in politics as that of the bishops of Seville and Toledo in the time of
Henry IV, and such cases of strife and violence as the attack of the
monks of Melón on those of Armenteira, and that of the bishop of
Mondoñedo on the Cistercians of Meyra. The disorder was enhanced owing
to the appearance of the Great Schism in the church at large, in which
Spanish countries were particularly interested, since several of the
popes and anti-popes were of Spanish blood. On the other hand, the popes
intervened more than ever in the affairs of the Castilian church. The
ideas of Gregory VII of the supremacy of the papacy over temporal rulers
did not fail to produce results in Castile. In the _Partidas_ of the
absolutist Alfonso X it was recognized that one legitimate way of
acquiring the crown was by a grant of the pope, and that the latter
might also absolve Castilian subjects from obedience to the king in
certain cases. The election of bishops, normally the act of the
cathedral canons, provoked many disputes between the kings and the
popes, for the latter frequently intervened to impose their candidate,
or even to make direct appointments, while the former claimed that no
election was valid until it had their approval. One of the most
unpopular practices of the popes was the appointment of foreigners to
Castilian benefices, and frequent protests were made against it, but
usually without avail. Although the popes got rather the better of the
dispute over appointments to bishoprics, the kings manifested their
prerogative in other respects, as by banishing prelates who worked
against royal interests, by prohibiting the publication of papal bulls
which might do harm to the state, and by employing the already mentioned
process of recourse of _fuerza_ in cases of ecclesiastical usurpations
of jurisdiction. The _Partidas_ named certain cases where clergymen lost
their right of resort to ecclesiastical courts,--for example, suits
between clerical and lay individuals over lands and inheritances. Even
Alfonso XI, who (though somewhat immoral in private life) was very pious
and notably generous with churches and monasteries, was very strict in
guarding the rights of the state against the intrusions of the church.
On the other hand, he confirmed the jurisdiction of the church courts in
spiritual and related matters, including such cases as those arising out
of church taxation, marriage, births, divorce, adultery, usury, and
robbery in a sacred place, as well as those of a more purely religious
or ecclesiastical character. The wealth of the church in lands increased
greatly, both as a result of royal donations, and through the gifts of
individuals, especially in the fourteenth century when the terror of the
plagues which were sweeping Europe caused many to seek divine favor
through benefactions to the church. There were a number of protests in
the _Cortes_, especially in the case of the monasteries. The objections
were based on social and financial, rather than anti-clerical, grounds,
since the accumulation of landed wealth in the hands of the church
tended to reduce the agricultural classes to a perpetual condition of
mere usufruct or rental of lands, and resulted in vast tracts remaining
uncultivated. Furthermore, these lands as a rule became exempted from
taxation. The _Partidas_ recognized the right of the church to receive
such gifts, and no effectual steps were taken to check them. It may be
mentioned here that this was the golden age of pilgrimages to holy
places, due to religious devotion, or in fulfilment of vows, or from
pure love of travel and adventure. Naturally, Santiago de Compostela was
the chief objective of pilgrims in Spain, and to that place went not
only Spaniards but also many thousands of persons from all parts of
western Europe.