Trashumancia - History Lab

Royal Provision of the Catholic Monarchs to the Concejo de la Mesta, allowing shepherds to dispose of unowned livestock without a known owner

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:32:42 +0000

The Honourable Council of the Mesta was an institution of medieval origin which, throughout the Modern Age, extended its powers and privileges to the benefit of the herdsmen ahead of the farmers. Thus, a law of 1501 came to determine that all land on which transhumant herds had grazed at least once was reserved in perpetuity for grazing and could not be used for other purposes by the owner. In this context, the document contains legislation by which the Catholic Monarchs allowed shepherds to dispose of unowned livestock without a known owner. The Mesta was abolished in 1836.

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Taxation of Vera (Almería) in the apiary and sheep market (1531-1592)

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:30:03 +0000

One of the tools of fiscal control exercised as a measure of social control in the 16th century was that imposed by the councils on the transhumance of beehives, carried out almost exclusively by the Moorish population. The practice of this type of transhumance was common in the Kingdom of Granada, mainly due to a tradition rooted in the Muslim period.
The taxation imposed by the councils was usually much higher than that imposed on other species and transhumant livestock, fixed on the consumption of “grass”, which was often higher for beekeeping than for the consumption of animals, at least when it came to paying certain taxes. As can be seen in the resource, the price of beehives is always higher than that of sheep and goats, except at three key moments, the years 1557-1558, 1562-1568 and after the Moorish period.
However, the equalisations are not due to a decrease in the price of beehives, but rather to the occasional increase in the price of grass for sheep, indicating that this tax burden had more of a social control function than a proportional tax on this economic activity.

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The price of greenhouse leases in Castile (1750-1829)

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:25 +0000

The Report on the Agrarian Law at the end of the 18th century denounced the imbalances in the privileges regarding transhumance, such as the prohibition for farmers to break or mark pastures with the right of possession, directly harming both livestock breeders and farmers, both advocates of a new agrarian policy that would truly address the new needs they had and take into account the characteristics of the available land.
After the Royal Decree of April 1793 was enacted, the owners of the dehesas began a sharp rise in the prices of their leases every time they were renewed, calling into question the traditional uses of the land in the search for a more social than private purpose, causing the transhumance crisis in Castile.

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Office of the owners of transhumant livestock in La Rioja (18th century)

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:07 +0000

Transhumance has been a very relevant activity in the Spanish rural environment in pre-industrial times. Nowadays, knowledge about the work of shepherds is scarce due to a lack of documentation, as the phenomenon of pluriactivity must be taken into account. Had this not existed in the Rioja sierras – mainly through textile activity – the labour relations between stockbreeders and shepherds would have been very different. In socio-economic terms, it is understood that shepherds enjoyed transhumance in three ways: as owners, wage earners and enjoying exemptions granted by the monarchy (free of council offices, quintas and levies). However, it is necessary to clarify which type of shepherds we are referring to, as the hierarchies are not comparable in any field. The “mayorales” included management capacity and initiative, knowledge of the environment, administrators of goods and proxies for the herdsmen. As far as livestock owners were concerned, the ownership of livestock was the least evenly distributed of all. While two thirds of the inhabitants owned land and three quarters of them owned some kind of livestock, the owners of transhumant sheep accounted for only 27% of the inhabitants, being the most exclusive and concentrated asset in the hands of large livestock farmers and shepherds. The table shows the distribution of the flocks in various socio-professional groups. The stockbreeders, who were a handful of neighbours, accumulated 86% of the cattle; the shepherds, almost two thirds of the owners, owned 10% of the cattle in herds of less than 100 head. The rest, which did not exceed 20%, absorbed 3.2% of the livestock.

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Heads and wool production of the Rojas (formerly Robles) herd, in absolute numbers and index numbers (100= 1747-1750)

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:02 +0000

Transhumance in Castile reached its zenith and its decline in the 18th century. Difficulties arose at the end of the 18th century, as the War of Independence dealt a severe blow to the activity (immobilised herds, reduction in numbers, etc.) at the beginning of the 18th century. After the end of the conflict, the herds experienced a rapid and vigorous recovery on an unstable basis. The point of no return was the crisis of 1820, when the new international markets for fine wool became dominant. The Marquis of Villanueva de Duero, Bernardo de Rojas y Contreras, married to Cándida Rosa de Robles -daughter of the first owner Pedro de Robles, knight of the Order of Santiago-, was the owner for more than half of the period under consideration. The importance of the assets as a whole varied with the size and composition of the estate as the links and successions took place, as the income of the house amounted to just over 600,000 reales a year at the end of the century, 55.8% of which was generated by the Rojas estate and the rest by the Villariezo estate. On the other hand, it was customary for farmers to authorise their servants to take a certain number of sheep with them, the production of which was shared out. The sheep herd (leaving aside the temporary hiring caused by the bad years of the 1750s) remained stable at around 20,000 head until the end of the 1770s: from then until the first years of the 19th century, the number of sheep increased by 45%.

The post Heads and wool production of the Rojas (formerly Robles) herd, in absolute numbers and index numbers (100= 1747-1750) first appeared on History Lab.

Costs and income of the Rojas herd, 1746-1808 (in constant reals)

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:02 +0000

Transhumance in Castile reached its zenith and its decline in the 18th century. Difficulties arose at the end of the 18th century, as the War of Independence dealt a severe blow to the activity (immobilised herds, reduction in numbers, etc.) at the beginning of the 18th century. After the end of the conflict, the herds experienced a rapid and vigorous recovery on an unstable basis. The point of no return was the crisis of 1820, when the new international markets for fine wool became dominant. The Marquis of Villanueva de Duero, Bernardo de Rojas y Contreras, married to Cándida Rosa de Robles – daughter of the first owner Pedro de Robles, knight of the Order of Santiago – was the owner for more than half of the period under consideration. As for the structure of costs and income, it is worth noting the low weight of the tithe and other charges, which include: tithes paid to the Leonese mountain; service and montonnage; alcabalas and hundreds; charges in favour of the Honrado Concejo de la Mesta (the Honourable Council of the Mesta). On average, the tithes constituted 78% of the total, although they represented 4.3% of the income obtained from the sale of wool. Although lambs were subject to the tithe levy, the herd did not pay the full tithe. The rule governing the payment of the tithe for transhumant livestock was simple: half was paid in land and half in ends (greenhouses).

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Working life of the transhumant shepherds of La Rioja (Viniegra de Abajo, ca. 1740-1800).

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:02 +0000

Transhumance was a very important activity in the Spanish countryside in pre-industrial times. Nowadays, knowledge about the work of shepherds is scarce due to a lack of documentation, as the phenomenon of pluriactivity must be taken into account. Had this not existed in the Rioja sierras – mainly through textile activity – the labour relations between stockbreeders and shepherds would have been very different. In socio-economic terms, it is understood that shepherds enjoyed transhumance in three ways: as owners, wage earners and enjoying exemptions granted by the monarchy (free of council offices, quintas and levies). However, it is necessary to clarify which type of shepherds we are referring to, as the hierarchies are not comparable in any field. The majorales encompassed management capacity and initiative, knowledge of the environment, administrators of goods and proxies for the herdsmen. Moreover, the mayoral contracts required a power of attorney that enabled them to make decisions on the spot. However, the transhumant shepherds in La Rioja numbered around 2,150, at a rate of five for every thousand people. Of the total number of inhabitants in the La Demanda and Cameros mountain ranges, they accounted for around 30%. These shepherds had an average grazing period of 5.4 years, with 68.3% of those who worked in transhumance for less than five years, which does not allow them to be identified as shepherds. Even less with the 39 who did it for less than one year of service, people who were dismissed or expelled before the time of the first contract was up. In this sense, the herds suffered a significant labour turnover where the labour market of the transhumant herds was a particularly open environment where labour came and went very easily.

The post Working life of the transhumant shepherds of La Rioja (Viniegra de Abajo, ca. 1740-1800). first appeared on History Lab.