Last updated 27/06/24: Online ordering is currently unavailable due to technical issues. We apologise for any delays responding to customers while we resolve this. For further updates please visit our website: https://www.cambridge.org/news-and-insights/technical-incident
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 July 2016
Consent to taxation traditionally has been regarded as one of the essential functions of representative assemblies. The distinguished historian of medieval Spanish institutions, Claudio Sánchez Albornoz, has indeed argued that representatives of the towns originally were summoned to the cortes of León-Castile to give their consent to extraordinary taxes. As yet, however, students of the medieval cortes have not carried out detailed investigations of the problem. Evidence to illustrate the taxing role of the cortes during the formative years from 1188 to 1252 is scanty, but it is considerably fuller during the reign of Alfonso X (1252-1284). Inasmuch as he incurred exceptional expenses and frequently summoned the cortes, an inquiry into the role of the cortes in assisting him through taxation should broaden our understanding of the functioning of government in the second half of the thirteenth century. The purpose of this paper then will be to determine when, to what extent, and for what purposes the cortes authorized the king to levy extraordinary taxes.
1 Sánchez Albornoz, Claudio, La curia regia portuguesa. Siglos XII y XIII (Madrid 1920) 154–156.Google Scholar
2 Piskorski, Piskorski, Las cortes de Castilla en el período de tránsito de la edad media a la moderna 1188-1520, tr. C. Sánchez Albornoz (Barcelona 1930) 147–149; Manuel Colmeiro, Introducción a las Cortes de los antiguos reinos de León y Castilla, 2 vols. (Madrid 1883-1884); Francisco Martínez Marina, Teoría de las cortes o grandes juntas nacionales de los reinos de León y Castilla, 3 vols. (Madrid 1813); Roger B. Merriman, ‘The Cortes of the Spanish Kingdoms in the Later Middle Ages,’ The American Historical Review 16 (1911) 476-495, and Nilda Guglielmi, ‘La curia regia en León y Castilla,’ Cuadernos de Historia de España 23-24 (1955) 116-267; 28 (1958) 43-101.Google Scholar
3 See my article ‘The Beginnings of the Cortes of León-Castile,’ The American Historical Review 74 (1969) 1503–1537.Google Scholar
4 Any study of the career of Alfonso X is indebted to the work of Antonio Ballesteros, Alfonso X (Barcelona-Madrid 1963) but he failed to resolve many critical problems relating to institutional development and he did not attempt any systematic investigation of royal taxation. Google Scholar
5 Mansilla, Mansilla, Iglesia castellano-leonesa y curia romana en los tiempos del rey San Fernando (Madrid 1945) 50–59.Google Scholar
6 Crónica de Alfonso X, ch. 1, in Biblioteca de Autores Españoles 66 (Madrid 1953) 3–4.Google Scholar
7 Sánchez Albornoz, Claudio, 'Notas para el estudio del petitum,’ Estudios sobre las instituciones medievales españolas (Mexico 1965) 483–520.Google Scholar
8 Moneda forera can be traced at least to 1202 when Alfonso IX of León in a curia plena at Benavente sold his right to issue new coinage for seven years; that is, his subjects agreed to pay him an extraordinary tribute on condition that he not alter the coinage during that time. He promised to give them the opportunity to offer this subsidy on the same conditions at the end of the term; this seemed to imply that he would have to summon an assembly periodically for this purpose but there is no certain evidence that he did so. Julio González, Alfonso IX, 2 vols. (Madrid 1944) 2.237 no. 167; Claudio Sánchez Albornoz, ‘La primitiva organización monetaria de León y Castilla,’ Estudios sobre las instituciones medievales españolas 471-477. In the Siete Partidas, Tercera Partida, tit. 18, ley 10, ed. San Martín, A., Los Códigos Españoles 12 vols. (Madrid 1872-1873) 3.191 the king's right to moneda forera is especially emphasized because it is a sign of his dominion.Google Scholar
8a Siete Partidas, Segunda Partida, tit. 1, ley 8, vol. II, p. 327.Google Scholar
9 Crónica de Alfonso X ch. 1, p. 4; Jaime Vicens Vives, Historia económica de España (Barcelona 1959) 255–256; Claudio Sánchez Albornoz, España, un enigma historico, 2 vols. (Buenos Aires 1962) 2.72, 127-134, 152-153; Maria del Carmen Carlé, ‘El precio de la vida en Castilla del rey sabio al emplazado,’ Cuadernos de Historia de España 15 (1951) 132-156.Google Scholar
10 Crónica de Alfonso X ch. 1, p. 4. The cuadernos or records of the cortes of 1252 have been published by Antonio Ballesteros, Las cortes de 1252 (Madrid 1911); Ismael García Ramila, ‘Ordenamientos de posturas y otros capítulos generales otorgados a la ciudad de Burgos por el rey Alfonso X,’ Hispania 5 (1945) 179-235, 385-439, 605-650; Matías Rodríguez Díaz, Historia de la ciudad de Astorga (2nd edition Astorga 1909) 697-713; Antonio López Ferreiro, Fueros municipales de la tierra de Santiago (Santiago 1895) 347-372.Google Scholar
11 Piskorski, , op. cit. 196-197 and Ballesteros, Alfonso X 90-91.Google Scholar
12 See letters to Burgos 18 June 1255 and Valladolid 6 November in Memorial Histórico Español (abbr. MHE) 49 vols. (Madrid 1851-1948) 1.68-70 no. 33 and Los privilegios de Valladolid, ed. Agapíto, Juan y Revilla (Valladolid 1906) 48-49 no. 29-XI.Google Scholar
13 See letters to the bishops and chapters of Burgos 30 October 1255 and Palencia 4 November in Ballesteros ‘El Itinerario de Alfonso el Sabio,’ Boletín de la Real Academia de la Historia (abbr. BRAH) 105 (1934) 151–153 and Alfonso X 1072.Google Scholar
14 On 30 June 1256 he promised Rivadavia that he would not demand loans as he and his father had done; on 7 August he declared that the privileges of Oviedo would not be prejudiced in the future by their grant of 1000 maravedis; customarily they owed him only 200 each year. MHE 1. 101 no. 46; Ciriaco Vigil, Colección histórico-diplomática del ayuntamiento de Oviedo (Oviedo 1889) 43 no. 19; Ballesteros, ‘Itinerario,’ BRAH 105 (1934) 174. Google Scholar
15 de Loaysa, Jofré, Crónica de los reyes de Castilla, Fernando III, Alfonso X, Sancho IV (1248-1305), ed. and tr. García Martínez, Antonio (Murcia 1961) ch. 7 p. 68; Crónica de Alfonso X ch. 17 pp. 12-13.Google Scholar
16 Crónica de Alfonso X ch. 18 p. 13. See below p. 387.Google Scholar
17 The cuadernos are published in Cortes de los antiguos reinos de León y Castilla 5 vols. (Madrid 1861-1903) 1.54-63. On the coinage see Crónica de Alfonso X ch. 7 p. 7 and Octavio Gil Farrés, Historia de la moneda española (Madrid 1959) 203-204; Alois Heiss, Descripción general de las monedas hispano-cristianas 3 vols. (Zaragoza n.d.) 1.39-41. Google Scholar
18 Ballesteros, , Alfonso X 225-228 give substantial excerpts from the charters. As far as I can ascertain these are the first charters confirming the exemption of knights originally granted by Alfonso IX in 1202. Cathedral canons had also been exempted but there are numerous charters of Alfonso X confirming their privilege.Google Scholar
19 Ballesteros, , Alfonso X 186-188.Google Scholar
20 References to the cortes of 1259 are found in MHE 1.154-155 no. 71 and Ballesteros ‘Itinerario’ BRAH 106 (1935) 146 no. 2 and 108 (1936) 17 no. 1. On the crusade in Africa and especially the expedition to Salé see Crónica de Alfonso X ch. 19 p. 14 and Ibn ‘Idhārī, al-Bayan al-Mugrib, 2 vols. tr. Ambrosio Huici (Tetuan 1954) 2.260-273; Vigil, op. cit. 50. Google Scholar
21 Díaz, Díaz, op. cit. 751-720 published the cuaderno dated 24 January 1261 at Seville.Google Scholar
22 Crónica de Alfonso X ch. 12 p. 10; MHE 1.210-212 no. 96; Fidel Fita, ‘Madrid desde el año 1235 hasta el de 1275,’ BRAH 9 (1886) 59; Timoteo Domingo Palacio, Documentos del archivo general de la villa de Madrid, 2 vols. (Madrid 1888-1906) 1.95-102; Vigil, op. cit. 59 no. 32.Google Scholar
23 Cortes de los antiguos reinos de León y Castilla 1.64–85.Google Scholar
24 Crónica de Alfonso X ch. 18 p. 13; Ballesteros, Alfonso X 483-489, 510. Colmeiro, op. cit. 1.72, Piskorski, op. cit. 149 and Julius Klein, The Mesta (Cambridge, Mass. 1920) 257 mention the grant of a subsidy at this time.Google Scholar
25 Cortes de los antiguos reinos de León y Castilla 1.85–86.Google Scholar
26 Ballesteros, , Alfonso X 483-489, 510; the letter to Burgos is in his ‘Burgos y la rebelión del infante don Sancho,’ BRAH 119 (1946) 112. A royal letter of 3 December 1271 refers to the ‘cogedores deste servicio que vos demandan.’ Colección diplomática de Cuéllar, ed. Ubieto Arteta, Antonio (Segovia 1961) 67 no. 23.Google Scholar
27 On the legal compilations of Alfonso X see Rafael Gibert, Historia general del Derecho español (Granada 1968) 45–51; Alfonso García Gallo, Curso de Historia del Derecho español, 2 vols. 7th ed. (Madrid 1958) 1.161; idem, Manual de Historia del Derecho español 2 vols. 3d ed. (Madrid 1967). 1.388-390; idem, “El Libro de leyes de Alfonso el sabio,” Anuario de Historia del Derecho español, 21-22 (1951-1952) 345-528.Google Scholar
28 Crónica de Alfonso X ch. 20 pp. 15-17.Google Scholar
29 Ibid. ch. 21 p. 17. Ballesteros, Alfonso X, 531.Google Scholar
30 Crónica de Alfonso X ch. 23-24 pp. 19-21. The nobles also protested the levying of an impost known as the alcabala by the city of Burgos for the repair of the city walls; they charged that they were forced to submit to judgment according to the fueros of the municipalities in which they resided; that the king did not have alcaldes de Castilla in his court to adjudicate their disputes; that settlements made by the king in León and Galicia were contrary to the best interests of the nobles, and so forth.Google Scholar
31 Crónica de Alfonso X ch. 25 pp. 21-22.Google Scholar
32 Ibid. ch. 26 pp. 22-23.Google Scholar
33 The prologue to the Fuero viejo de Castilla, ed. Jordán del Asso, Ignacio and de Manuel y Rodríguez, Miguel (Madrid 1771) 2 states that the Fuero del Libro (usually understood to be the Fuero Real) which Alfonso X gave to the towns of Castile in 1256 was in use until 11 November 1272 when the king restored the traditional fueros of the towns and of the nobles. See García Gallo, Manual de Historia del Derecho español 1.388-390.Google Scholar
34 Crónica de Alfonso X ch. 18 p. 13.Google Scholar
35 See below p. 389.Google Scholar
36 Crónica de Alfonso X ch. 27-40 pp. 23-31 details the king's charges against the nobles and his negotiations with them. In addition to their other demands they insisted that the king stop collecting the servicio de los ganados, a tax on livestock, especially sheep. See Klein, op. cit. 256-257.Google Scholar
37 Crónica de Alfonso X ch. 47 p. 35.Google Scholar
38 Ibid. There is no mention of the presence of bishops or non-noble knights representing the towns, probably because the tax dispute concerned only the nobility. The king's charter is found in Cortes de los antiguos reinos de León y Castilla 1.85-86.Google Scholar
39 Crónica de Alfonso X ch. 50 p. 37.Google Scholar
40 Ibid. ch. 56-58 pp. 44-47. Ballesteros, Alfonso X 659-710.Google Scholar
41 The cortes of Burgos 1274 is not mentioned in the chronicle but Ballesteros, Alfonso X 683-687 believes that the description of the king's preparations for his journey at Toledo, found in Crónica de Alfonso X ch. 59 p. 47 refers to this cortes. He cites a royal charter of 13 April 1274 mentioning the cortes held at Burgos in preparation for the journey. Google Scholar
42 Cortes de los antiguos reinos de León y Castilla 1.87–94. See García Gallo, Manual de Historia del Derecho español 1.388-390.Google Scholar
43 See the charters in MHE 1.305 no. 37; Ballesteros, Alfonso X 691-692, 1105-1106; Palacio, op. cit. 1.119-122; Tomás González, Colección de privilegios, franquezas, exenciones y fueros concedidos a varios pueblos y corporaciones de la corona de Castilla, 6 vols. (Madrid 1829-1833) 5.189-190 no. 59. Google Scholar
44 Crónica de Alfonso X ch. 61-67 pp. 48-53.Google Scholar
45 Ballesteros, , 'Burgos y la rebelión del infante don Sancho,’ BRAH 119 (1946) 118.Google Scholar
46 Ballesteros, , Alfonso X 787, 793, letter of 24 July 1276 to the cathedral of Toledo. A letter of 8 June 1277 ordered the cogedores desta ayuda tercera not to collect the tax from the chapter of Cuenca. Ibid. 838.Google Scholar
47 MHE 1.309–324. On 2 October 1276 the king authorized Zag de la Maleha (Isaac ibn Zadok) to collect all the arrears of taxes such as servicios, fonsadera, martiniega, pedido and pecho throughout the kingdom except in Andalusia, in return for 400,000 maravedis. A week later, with two associates Zag purchased the right to collect the servicio de los ganados and fines for violations of the privileges of the Mesta. The king would receive 200,000 maravedis. On 13 October Zag and Yucef, sons of the almojarife Mair, obtained the right to collect arrears of the servicio de los ganados from 1269 onward, fines payable since the campaign of Niebla, and to recover moneys paid to knights of the towns who failed to perform military service or to come to the host properly equipped. For all this they offered the king 500,000 maravedis. Zag ibn Mair also received authorization on 18 December to collect fines for violation of import-export regulations and promised the king 500,000 maravedis. With his brother Yucef on 3 January 1277 he received the right to collect arrears of the tercias for 70,000 maravedis. From the several contracts the king could expect to receive about 1,670,000 maravedis payable in the coinage of 1252, a comparatively sound money. See Fritz Baer, A History of the Jews in Christian Spain, 2 vols. (Philadelphia 1966) 1.126-128 and Sánchez Albornoz, España 2.214-216.Google Scholar
48 Published by Escudero de la Peña, J.M. in Revista de Archivos, Bibliotecas y Museos 2 (1872) 58–59; Ballesteros, Alfonso X 835-837. The king had made a similar pledge not to alter the coinage at the cortes of Jérez in 1268.Google Scholar
49 For these charters see MHE 1.308-324, nos. 140-141; Los privilegios de Valladolid 55 no. 33-XIV; Diego Colmenares, Historia de la ciudad de Segovia 4 vols. (Segovia 1846-1847) 2.65; Fidel Fita, ‘La Guardia, villa del partido de Lillo, provincia de Toledo. Datos históricos,’ BRAH 11 (1887) 413-444; Toribio Minguella, Historia de la diocesis de Sigüenza y de sus obispos 3 vols. (Madrid 1910-1913) 1.622-624 no. 240; Ballesteros, Alfonso X 838-840, 1111-1112; Colección diplomática de Cuéllar 78-79 no. 34. Google Scholar
50 Crónica de Alfonso X ch. 68 p. 53 says the cortes met at Segovia in 1276 but Ballesteros, Alfonso X 785 has shown that the assembly took place in 1278. Crónica de Alfonso X ch. 69 p. 54 states that the king received two servicios at Burgos in 1277, but I believe this grant was made at Segovia in 1278.Google Scholar
51 An agreement between Burgos and Juca Pimientiella on 6 February 1279 required the city to pay six servicios to the crown in five years, each being equal to a moneda, in return for cancellation of back taxes. MHE 1.339-341 no. 153. While the siege of Algeciras was in progress Infante Sancho intercepted tax moneys collected by Zag de la Maleha and sent them to his mother, Queen Violante, who had taken her grandchildren, the infantes de la Cerda, to Aragon. As a result the king had to borrow money from the merchants of Seville and others. Crónica de Alfonso X, ch. 70-72 pp. 55-56. Letters of October-November 1279 reveal that Burgos balked at paying taxes owed to the crown and objected to the imposition of forced loans. Ballesteros, Alfonso X 908. Google Scholar
52 Régistres de Nicholas III, ed. Gay, Jules (Paris 1898) 338-344 nos. 739, 743.Google Scholar
53 Crónica de Alfonso X ch. 74 pp. 57-58. In September 1280 the king avenged himself upon Zag de la Maleha who had allowed Sancho to divert tax moneys from the blockade of Algeciras; Zag was executed.Google Scholar
54 Letters of Infante Sancho in November 1279 indicate that an assembly of towns was to be held Valladolid and then at Salamanca, probably to discuss the financing of the king's projected campaign against the Moors. The king met with the towns at Badajoz in February 1280 but nothing is known of the outcome. Ballesteros, Alfonso X 909-911. Google Scholar
55 Ballesteros, , 'Burgos y la rebelión del infante don Sancho,’ BRAH 119 (1946) 151–152.Google Scholar
56 Crónica de Alfonso X ch. 75 pp. 59-60; Jofré de Loaysa, op. cit. ch. 28 pp. 101-102.Google Scholar
57 Crónica de Alfonso X ch. 76 pp. 60-62. See the protest of the bishops of Palencia and Burgos at the assembly at Valladolid in MHE 2.59-63 no. 198.Google Scholar
58 Ballesteros, , 'Burgos y la rebelión del infante don Sancho,’ BRAH 119 (1946) 169.Google Scholar
59 MHE 2.78–80 no. 209.Google Scholar
60 Ballesteros, , 'Burgos y la rebelión del infante don Sancho,’ BRAH 119 (1946) 169.Google Scholar
61 Ibid. 188-189. On 10 June 1285 Sancho IV referred to the servicio granted him at Palencia while he was still infante. There are also references in royal accounts to servicios promised in Toro and Palencia. Mercedes Gaibrois, Sancho IV de Castilla 3 vols. (Madrid 1928) 1.clvii, clxxiii; 3. liii-liv no. 83. The hermandad of León and Galicia met at Toro on 12 July 1283 and perhaps granted him a servicio. MHE 2.102-103 no. 224.Google Scholar
62 Ballesteros, , Alfonso X 90-91: ‘casi todas las cortes que tuvieron como finalidad el allegar subsidios no han dejado rastro documental.’Google Scholar
63 See above p. 391.Google Scholar
64 See above p. 390. The text reads: ‘el que ouiesse ualia de diez marauedis de los prietos que diesse diez sueldos de los buenos burgaleses, que se fazen cinco marauedis et tercio de la moneda blanca. Et el que ouiesse diez marauedis de los blancos que de diez sueldos de los blancos.’ Ballesteros, ‘Burgos y la rebelión del infante don Sancho,’ BRAH 119 (1946) 119. The blancos referred to in this text are the coins issued at the beginning of the reign and are also called burgaleses and the moneda de la guerra or de la guerra primera; but I am uncertain whether the buenos burgaleses are the same coinage or perhaps the coinage of Fernando III. The prietos were issued in 1258 and again in 1271. I have not been able to work out any satisfactory equivalences for the different moneys in question, so my estimate of a 20% tax is based upon the last part of the text which puts the tax exclusively in terms of blancos. The Crónica de Alfonso X ch. 40 p. 30 records that the nobles in 1272 demanded that the king not levy moneda forera by head (por cabeza) and ‘que el ome que oviere diez años que peche diez sueldos e tres dineros.’ A tax collected on every man over ten years of age is a tax by head; I think an error in transcription has occurred and that the original text probably read ‘que el ome que oviere diez maravedis que peche diez sueldos e tres dineros.’ Even so it is not possible to calculate the rate of taxation in this case because it is not known which coinage is referred to and the number of sueldos to a maravedi.Google Scholar
65 The rates are set down in a pact between the royal tax collector and the city of Burgos on 6 February 1279. MHE 1.339-341 no. 153. The rate is expressed as follows: ‘Et el que oviere valia de diez maravedis de la moneda prieta que es cinco sueldos el moravedi que de diez sueldos de esa mesma moneda, que facen de la moneda primera treinta cinco maravedis et tercia. Et el que oviere valia de la moneda nueva que es a siete sueldos et medio el maravedi, que de seis [diez, in another copy] sueldos de esa mesma moneda que facen ocho maravedis de la moneda de la primera guerra cinco moravedis et tercia.’ This text seems corrupted to me, but the first article seems clear enough in expressing the tax in terms of moneda prieta. The rate is 20%. The moneda primera is the coinage of 1252. The second article does not state the basic sum on which the tax was to be levied; cinco maravedis et tercia also seems to be tagged on the end of the sentence and as such is meaningless. Moneda nueva refers to the coinage of 1271. On the fluctuations in the value of the coinage see Maria del Carmen Carlé, ‘El precio de la vida en Castilla del rey sabio al emplazado,’ Cuadernos de Historia de España 15 (1951) 132-156.Google Scholar
66 See my article ‘ The Beginnings of the Cortes of León-Castile,’ The American Historical Review 74 (1969) 1529 n. 115.Google Scholar
67 Guglielmi, , 'La curia regia en León y Castilla,’ Cuadernos de Historia de España 28 (1958) 93–101.Google Scholar
68 Post, Post, Studies in Medieval Legal Thought: Public Law and the State, 1100-1322 (Princeton 1964) especially ch. II, III and V.Google Scholar
69 Crónica de Alfonso X ch. 75 p. 59: ‘e envio a toda la su tierra de cada cibdad e cada villa que enviasen y a el sus procuradores con personerías cumplidas para otorgar todo lo que fuese librado antel.’Google Scholar
