Reconquest and Crusade in Medieval Spain by Joseph F. O'Callaghan

Author:Joseph F. O'Callaghan [O'Callaghan, Joseph F.]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: History, Europe, Medieval, Religion
ISBN: 9780812203066
Google: 6fPSBQAAQBAJ
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
Published: 2013-09-09T22:00:00+00:00

Empréstitos

Aside from these advances, Fernando III also demanded forced loans from the towns to finance the conquest of Seville. During the siege, on 21 June 1248, he requested an extraordinary aid or empréstito from all the Galician towns. Twenty-two towns were named individually, including Santiago de Compostela, Orense, Lugo, Túy, and Mondoñedo, all held in lordship by their bishops, and several others dependent directly on the king. Declaring that in laboring for the “exaltation of Christendom,” he incurred greater expenses than any king in Spain, he asked the towns to lend him money at the rate of 5 percent of each individual’s income. Anyone worth 1,000 maravedís would lend 50; the rate on 500 maravedís was 25, and on 300 it would be 15. Nothing was asked of those whose wealth was less than 300 maravedís. He acknowledged that he could not demand this aid as a matter of right.64

He described this as an emprestido or loan, which he promised to repay when he next levied moneda. If moneda forera had been levied in the kingdom of León every seven years from 1202, then it would be collected again in 1251. Consequently, those who lent money in 1248 would have to wait at least three years before being repaid, and the king said nothing about paying interest. Should there be any dispute about anyone’s worth, the municipal council was authorized to elect six jurors from each parish to make the assessment. Anyone refusing to pay would be fined 100 maravedis and his body and goods would be at the king’s mercy. The king’s portero, Domingo Pérez de Toro, was entrusted with the task of collecting the money.65

One cannot ascertain the number of Galician townspeople wealthy enough to contribute. To put this in perspective, the salary of the dean of Astorga was set at 500 gold aurei; the archdeacon received 400; the treasurer and cantor 300 each; the maestrescuela 250, and each canon 100. Two years after his father’s death, Alfonso X fixed professorial salaries in the University of Salamanca as follows: master of civil laws, 500 maravedís; master of decretals, 200; masters of logic, grammar, and medicine, 200 each; a stationer 100; and two conservators, 200 each. The impact that a tax of 50, 25, or 15 maravedís had on an individual can be assessed if those sums are compared with prices set in the Cortes of Seville in 1252, just four years after Fernando III’s demand for an empréstito. The price of arms, saddle, and iron cap was set at 20 maravedís; a saddle, bridle, and breastplate for a warhorse, at 35. The price of a good horse could be 200 maravedís; the toll on livestock was two cows out of every 1,000, each worth 4 maravedís; a woman’s silk headdress was 3 maravedís.66

The royal demand made of the Galician towns in 1248 should not be thought of as an isolated instance. Grassotti argued that the precedent for it was set by Alfonso IX in 1204, when, with the consent of the bishop of Orense, he asked the canons and citizens of Orense for certain sums.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.