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The Sevillian Nobility and Trade with the New World in the Sixteenth Century*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 July 2012

Ruth Pike
Ruth Pike
Affiliation:
Associate Professor of History, Hunter College
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Abstract

Seville was the first and, for most of the sixteenth century, the only European community permitted to trade directly with the New World. That members of her nobility, who were traditionally aloof from trade, were intimately involved testifies to the wealth to be gained and its revolutionary economic and social effects.

Type
Articles
Information
Business History Review , Volume 39 , Issue 4 , Winter 1965 , pp. 439 - 465
Copyright
Copyright © The President and Fellows of Harvard College 1965

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References

1 The discovery of America, more than anything else, transformed Seville from a provincial Andalusian port city into a prosperous international metropolis — a “new Babylonia” as she was called by contemporary writers. “Was not Seville and all Andalusia before this event the furthest point and the end of all land, and now it is the middle to which come the best and most esteemed of the Old World … to be carried to the New.” Mercado, Fray Tomás de, Summa de tratos y contratos (Seville, 1587), p. A2.Google Scholar

2 The Spanish dramatist Lope de Vega described Seville in these terms in his El peregrino en su patria, quoted in Saavedra, Miguel de Cervantes, Rinconete y Cortadillo, ed. Marín, Francisco Rodriguez (Madrid, 1920), p. 10.Google Scholar For a description of the city see my article, “Seville in the Sixteenth Century,” Hispanic American Historical Review, vol. XLI (Feb., 1961), pp. 1–30.

3 Spanish medieval concepts completely separated riches from nobility. A rich man was ingenious [capaz], powerful, and, above all, virtuous. The highest grade of medieval nobility was formed by the ricos homes and ricas hembras and money did not allow one to belong to this class. Valdecasas, Alonso García, El hidalgo y el honor (2nd ed., Madrid, 1958), p.71.Google Scholar

4 Lope de Vega expressed the new feeling in his La prueba de los amigos:

No dudes que el dinero es

todo en todo:

Es príncipe, es hidalgo, es caballero

Es alta sangre, es descendiente godo.

In Carpio, Félix Lope de Vega, Obras escogidas, ed. Robles, Federico Carlos Sáinz de (Madrid, 1952), II, i, 1429.Google Scholar

5 Morgado, Alonso de, Historia de Sevilla, reprinted by the Hispalense, Sociedad del Archivo (Seville, 1887), p. 166.Google Scholar

6 Alemán, Mateo, Guzmán de Alfarache, in Ángel Valbuena y Prat, La novela picaresca española (Madrid, 1956)Google Scholar, Part II, Book III, chap. 7, p. 551.

7 See Sedas, Santiago Montoto de, Sevilla en el imperio, siglo XVI (Seville, 1938), pp. 194–203Google Scholar, for a list of the noble families of Seville in the sixteenth century.

8 Mercado, p. A2. Fray Tomás de Mercado is the author of the best treatise on business methods practiced in his native Seville.

9 The reference here is to Francisco de Quevedo's satirical poem, “Poderoso caballero es don Dinero.” See Villegas, Francisco de Quevedo, Obras completas, ed. Marín, Luis Astrana (Madrid, 1952), p. 82.Google Scholar

10 As Alarcón stated in his El semejante a sí mismo:

Es segunda maravilla

Un caballero en Sevilla

Sin ramo de mercader.

Alarcón, Juan Ruiz de, Obras completas, ed. Carlo, Agustín Millares (Mexico, 1957), vol. I, p. 298.Google Scholar

11 Mercado, p. A2. The wealth of the Sevillian merchants was proverbial. “There are merchants,” wrote Morgado, “who are so rich that they could easily purchase three good villas outside of Seville, provide a dowry of 24,000 ducats for their daughters, while at the same time keep their arms free for greater concerns.” Morgado, p. 172.

12 Mercado, p. A2.

13 Vives, Jaime Vicens, Historia social y económica de España y América (Barcelona, 1957–1959), vol. Ill, p. 112.Google Scholar

14 There were 36 veinticuatros in Seville in the sixteenth century. To hold this position one had to be a denizen of Seville, noble, and be named by the king. The veinticuatros received an annual salary of 3,000 mrs. and had to reside in the city for at least four months a year. In reality, they governed the city. Traditionally, the office of jurado had been elective, 2 being selected by the denizens of each district. In 1552, they numbered 56. Like the veinticuatros, they enjoyed exemption from royal and municipal taxes and had special legal privileges. Montoto de Sedas, pp. 61–63, 213.

15 AMS, Actas Capitulares, siglo XVI, cabildo de 8 April 1598. The usual price of an aldermanship was 7,000 ducats.

16 Traditionally, no one except nobility was permitted to use the title of “Don” except by royal permission. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the use of Don by ennobled merchants of common origin provoked satire among the contemporary writers. Polo de Medina censures the Don of a wealthy merchant as follows:

El ver que ayer Juan de Vilches

De mercader tuvo tienda,

Y, haciendo linaje el trato,

Don Juan Mercader se mienta.

Medina, Salvador Polo de, Poesías, ed. Castro, Adolfo de (Madrid, 1884), XLII, 182.Google Scholar

17 Marqués de Tablante, Anales de la Plaza de Toros de Sevilla as quoted in Montoto de Sedas, p. 187–190.

18 Braudel, Fernand, La Méditerranée et le monde méditerranéen à l'époque de Philippe II (Paris, 1949), p. 619.Google Scholar

19 Figueroa, Cristóbal Suárez de, El pasagero, ed. Marín, Francisco Rodríguez (Madrid, 1913), p. 201.Google Scholar

20 Linaje, Joseph de Veitia, Norte de la Contratación de las Indias occidentales (new ed., Buenos Aires, 1945), p. 161.Google Scholar Veitia stresses the difference between the wholesale and retail trade, a point that was emphasized in a famous decision in 1622. At that time, Philip IV decided to award Admiral Antonio de Alliri, of hidalgo origin, with the habit of Calatrava despite the fact that the rules of the religious-military orders debarred those whose ancestors (in this instance, grandfather) had traded. The controversy over this case led to a subsequent papal decree that closed the orders except with papal dispensation to “aquellos comerciantes ó mercaderes que bien ellos ó sus padres ó abuelos tuvieron ó hubieron tenido tienda abierta y vendieron en la tienda, dicha mercancía, bien por sí, bien por personas designadas por ellos; pero que de ninguna manera deben ser excluidos aquellos que causa lucrí inviertan su dinero en el comercio de por mayor como dice vulgarmente (ad grossum) y no vendan sus géneros en tienda, ni los hagan vender al menudo (ad menutum).” Laurencío, Marqués de, “El Admirante don Antonio de Alliri en la Orden de Calatrava,” Boletín de la Real Academia de Historia, vol. XLVIII (1906), p. 331.Google Scholar

21 Solórzano, Alonso de Castillo, La Garduña de Sevilla y anzuelo de las bolsas, ed. Morcuende, Federico Ruiz (Madrid, 1942), p. 21Google Scholar; Carpio, Félix Lope de Vega, El premio del bien hablar in Obras de Lope de Vega Carpio, ed. Cotarelo, Emilio y Mori, , XIII (Madrid, 1930), I, 376Google Scholar; ibid., La esclava de su galán, XII, primera jornada, p. 135.

22 Both groups corresponded to the medieval ricos homes. The only difference between them was that the grandees were called cousins by the king and could remain covered in his presence while the titulos were called relatives. Vives, p. 62.

23 The Chronicler Lucio Marineo Siculo gives some interesting statistics as to the annual incomes of the magnates of Seville in his Cosos memorables de España (Alcalá de Henares, 1533) as quoted in Montoto de Sedas, p. 234:

24 During the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries magnates such as the Dukes of Medina Sidonia and Medinaceli and the Marquis of Cadiz, as lords of the most important Andalusian ports and shipowners in their own right, invested their wealth in voyages which aimed at both trade and privateering against Moorish shipping and the coastal towns of Granada and Northern Africa. It should also be remembered that the Duke of Medinaceli was able and had been willing to outfit the Columbus expedition but was forced to withdraw because of the opposition of the Catholic Sovereigns. Generally, the crown, distrusting the nobility, tried to exclude the Andalusian feudal lords from undertaking expeditions to America for their own account and risk. Konetzke, Richard, “Entrepreneurial Activities of Spanish and Portuguese Nobleman in Medieval Times,” Explorations in Entrepreneurial History, vol. VI (1953–1954), pp. 116, 118.Google Scholar This, of course, did not prevent them from owning the ships that carried on the trade between Seville and America.

25 The information presented in Table 2 is drawn solely from the Sevillian Notarial Archives. As such, only an approximate value can be given to it. It would be difficult, however, to obtain a more complete list since the ships registers published by H., and Chaunu, P., Seville et l'Atlantique, 1504 à 1650 (Paris, 1955–1960)Google Scholar only infrequently mention the owners of the vessels.

26 Fernández Duro, C., Armada española (Madrid, 1895), vol. I, p. 327.Google Scholar Bazán was required to supply within two months 6 galleases of a combined displacement of at least 2,000 tons, 3 of the new sort and 3 of the older. He was then to begin the construction of 6 galleases, 3 to take the place of the 3 old-type galleons and complete them as soon as possible; so that in the end there might be 3 newly constructed armadas of 2 galleases and 1 galleon each. These armadas were to sail to Vera Cruz, Nombre de Dios, and Santo Domingo, respectively. Haring, Clarence, Trade and Navigation between Spain and the Indies in the Time of the Hapsburgs (Cambridge, Mass., 1918), p. 264.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

27 Fernández Duro, vol. I, p. 440; APS, 1 June 1551, Oficio XV, Libro I, Alonso de Cazalla, fol. 506; ibid., 9 June, fol. 649.

28 In a document of October 1518, Juan Armero admitted that he had “fraudulently with-held from Luis Ponce de León 7,000 pesos that he bad brought to Seville in two trips from the Indies where he was serving along with Fernando de laTorre as factor of the above said Luis Ponce de León.” APS, 22 Oct. 1518, Oficio X, Diego López, fol. Registro Indias, núm. 19.

29 Ibid., 28 Feb. 1509, Oficio IX, Libro I, Luis García, fol. Principio del legajo. “… Diego Vicent, vezino de Cádiz, maestro de lanao San Telmo surta en el puerto de las Mulas en Seuilla en nombre de la muy magnífica señora doña Francisca Ponce de León muger de don Luis Ponce de León señor de Villagarcía, señora que es de la dicha nao.” San Cristóbal, Chaunu, I, year 1508. Ownership of a vessel by a woman was rare in Seville in the sixteenth century except in the case of widows who placed its management in male hands or minor daughters under guardianship.

30 The Santa Elena, for example, APS, 8 Oct. 1525, Oficio V, Libro III, Francisco de Castellanos, fol. 592.

31 Ibid., 28 Oct. 1550, Oficio X, Libro III, Melchor de Portes, fol. Primer tercio del legajo.

32 One of the privileges of the Sevillian nobility in the Middle Ages was their right to defend and fortify certain Parish churches. This was of great importance during periods of civil strife between rival noble bands, particularly in the first half of the fifteenth century, but by the sixteenth century had become merely a ceremonial privilege. The Prados controlled the church of Santa Lucía, and the Barreras, that of Santiago. Both families also had their family vaults in their respective churches. See Montoto de Sedas, p. 202.

33 As early as 1509, interest rates were so high that the Archbishop of Seville tried to prohibit these transactions but was deterred by King Ferdinand who sanctioned them on grounds of economic necessity. By mid-century, 80 to 90 per cent was taken from shipmasters and 50 to 60 per cent from passengers in need. Sayous, A., “Le rôle des Génois lors de premiers mouvements réguliers d'affaires entre l'Espagne et le Nouveau-Monde (1505–1520),” Comptes rendues des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-lettres (July-Sept. 1932), p. 296Google Scholar; Mercado, p. 220.

34 APS, 9 March 1551, Oficio XV, Libro I, Juan Franco, fol. 1136. The commercial partnerships or compañías used in the sixteenth-century trade between Spain and the New World have been described by Padre Mercado. In its simplest form the compañía was an association between two individuals in which one party furnished the capital and remained at home while the other carried the investment to its destination. Since the traveling associate contributed only his services, he received a percentage of the profits, usually one fourth. When “all invested both money and labor,” the profits were divided. Mercado, ch. ix.

35 The ducat (ducado) was a gold coin used in Spain until the end of the sixteenth century whose value was equivalent to 375 maravedís. Enciclopedia universal ilustrada (Barcelona, 1928), vol. 182, p. 2323.

36 APS, 9 March 1551, Oficio XV, Libro I, Juan Franco, fol. 1136.

37 In 1568 Juan de la Barrera and his first wife, Elvira de Herrera, denizens in the district of Santiago, established a mayorazgo for their grandson Juan de la Barrera, second son of their only child Ana de la Barrera and Melchor Maldonado de Saavedra. After Doña Elvira's death, Councilman Barrera married Mayor Farfán. This second marriage also produced a daughter, Ana de Farfán. See Montoto de Sedas, p. 203 and APS, 4 Sept. 1586, Oficio I, Libro I, Diego de la Barrera, fol. 87v.

38 APS, 19 Sept. 1537, Oficio XV, Libro II, Alonso de Cazalla, fol. 970; 23 Jan. 1549, Oficio XV, Libro I, Alonso de Cazalla, fol. 184; 21 Feb. 1548, Oficio XV, Libro I, Alonso de Cazalla, fol. 413; 23 Oct. 1549, Oficio XV, Libro II, Alonso de Cazalla, fol. 966; 29 Oct. 1549, Oficio XV, Libro II, Alonso de Cazalla, fol. 1012.

39 Oviedo, Gonzalo Fernández de, Historia general y natural de las Indias (Madrid, 1959), I, 79.Google Scholar

40 Haring, Clarence, The Spanish Empire in America (New York, 1947), pp. 256–257.Google Scholar

41 APS, 14 Oct. 1538, Oficio XV, Libro II, Alonso de Cazalla, fol. 1129.

42 Ibid., 30 May 1536, Oficio I, Libro I, Alonso de la Barrera, fol. Sin folio, Registro núm. 10; 28 April 1548, Oficio X, Libro III, Melchor de Portes, fol. 360, cuaderno suelto.

43 Pedro Martínez del Alcázar took part in the reconquest of Seville from the Moslems in 1248 and received lands in the subsequent repartimiento of the city. González, J., El Repartimiento de Sevilla (Madrid, 1951), vol. II, pp. 135, 205, 228.Google Scholar

44 Francisco del Alcázar was married to Leonor de Prado. Five children resulted from this marriage of whom Pedro was especially active in the American trade. APS, 4 Oct. 1550, Oficio X, Libro III, Melchor de Portes, fol. Primer tercio del legajo; Alcázar, Baltasar del, Poesías, ed. Marín, Francisco Rodríguez (Madrid, 1910), p. xii.Google Scholar

45 In 1519 he purchased the villa of Palma and the fortress of Alpizar from Diego Columbus for 11,700,000 maravedís of which he paid 7,500,000 immediately. APS, 7 Nov. 1519, Oficio X, Libro II, Diego López, fol. 14, cuaderno de noviembre. He also held the territories of Gelo, Cullera and Puñana, Alcázar, p. xii.

46 Freighting contract, APS, 11 May 1508, Oficio V, Libro único, Juan Alvarez de Alcalá, fol. 246; Sales credit, APS, ibid., 6 Nov., Oficio XV, Libro II, Bernal González Vallesillo, fol. Tercer tercio del legajo.

47 For example Fernando de Castillo and Pedro de Padilla, ibid., 25 Aug. 1509, Oficio I, Libro I, Mateo de la Cuadra, fol. 757.

48 Ibid., 3 Nov. 1508, Oficio XV, Libro II, Bernal González Vallesillo, fol. Segundo tercio del legajo. He owned one-third of the San Salvador, the remaining two-thirds being held by Alonso de la Barrera and Cristóbal Rodríguez, the ship's master. See Table 2.

49 Luis del Alcázar, “veinticuatro de Sevilla y receptor generalde los almojarifazgos de Indias,” APS, 25 Feb. 1590. As a younger son, Luisdel Alcázar did not receive any rich inheritance at the death of his father. His marriage to Leonor de León Garabito helped to improve his financial status. Alcázar, p. xv.

50 APS, 2 Feb. 1576, Oficio XV, Libro I, Diego Hernández, fol. 11; ibid., 19 Dec. 1580, Oficio XVII, Libro VI, Francisco de Vera, fol, 1207, cuaderno suelto num. xciv. The Alcázar or royal castle of Seville dates from the time of Pedro IV (1350–1369) who engaged Moorish architects to build it.

51 There is no evidence that the poet was directly engaged in the trade with the New World, but he did invest in business in Seville. A document in the Municipal Archives of Seville, dated 1592, contains a petition by Alcázar soliciting permission from the City Council to build a mill on the banks of the Tagarete, a small stream that formed a moat at Seville and there emptied into the Guadalquivir. SAM, Escribanía del Cabildo, sección tercera del siglo XVI, tomo 11. núm. 83. He also sold pearls and linen. In a notary deed of Feb. 1597 Juan Asensio, a pearl merchant, promised to pay him 3,271 reals for pearls, and in Jan. 1559 Juan Bautista Merelo and his wife obligated themselves to pay him 812 reals for 83½ varas of linen cloth. Alcázar, pp. xxxix, xl–xliii.

52 APS, 7 Nov. 1522, Oficio XV, Libro II, Pedro Fernández, fol. Registro de noviembre. The district of Santa Cruz, with its buildings constructed against the walls of the Alcázar, was originally the Jewish quarter of Seville. In the fourteenth century it was opened up to Christian, settlement and became one of the most exclusive districts in the city.

53 In 1508, for example, he sent the following cargo to Santo Domingo: “12 varas de trenzas de Valencia, 4 varas y media de veinticuatreños, 6 varas de chamelotes y 100 pares de alpargatas.” Ibid., 19 April 1508, Oficio XV, Libro I, Bernal González Vallesillo, fol. Tercer tercio del legajo; ibid., 28 Sept. 1508, Oficio I, Libro II, Mateo de la Cuadra, fol. 327, cuaderno 12. The Castilian tonelada or ton was equal in weight to 20 quintals or hundred-weight, and in Spanish vessels of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries was estimated to represent a space of something over 56 cubic feet. Haring, Trade and Navigation, p. 284.

54 APS, 28 Sept. 1542, Oficio XV, Libro I, Alonso de Cazalla, fol. 945.

55 In 1546, García de León intervened in a controversy between the wealthy merchants, Gonzalo and Gaspar Jorge, and the Officials of the Casa de Contratación. APS, 11 Aug. 1546, Oficio XV, Libro II, Alonso de Cazalla, fol. 377. For his other activities and successors, see ibid., 7 Nov. 1551, Oficio XV, Libro II, Alonso de Cazalla, fol. 1887, 17 Sept. 1580, Oficio XVII, Libro I, Francisco de Vera, fol. Principio del legajo, 28 June 1586, Oficio III, Libro II, Gonzalo Ramírez, fol. Registrada Indias, 16.

56 See Vives, II, p. 521.

57 Ibid., III, pp. 108, 112–13; Braudel, pp. 619–24.

58 It was not unusual for the younger sons of the old nobility of Seville to go to America as commercial agents for trading members of their families. The Catàlogo de pasageros a Indias durante los siglos XVI y XVII, 3 vols. (Seville, 1940–1946), hereafter cited as CPI, shows numerous instances of this. For example, in 1513, Diego de la Sal, a younger son of the old noble family of De la Sal, went to America as a factor for his brother. CPI, vol. I, num. 1342. For Jerez and Vêlez, see ibid., vol. III, nums. 3348 and 1844.

59 In 1551 Ruiz and Fernando Pérez entered into a partnership with a resident of Puerto Rico for the “trade of merchandise and slaves between San Juan and Seville for a period of four years.” APS, 27 July 1551, Oficio XV, Libro II, Alonso de Cazalla, fol. 897. Pérez was also his associate in the renting of a sugar mill in Puerto Rico. Ibid., 10 June 1551, Oficio XV, Libro I, Alonso de Cazalla, fol. 655v. Francisco Ruiz' wife was Mencía Ortiz, a member of the old nobility. Ibid., 21 March 1549, Oficio XV, Libro I, Alonso de Cazalla, fol. 595.

60 Ibid., 14 Feb. 1506, Oficio XII, Libro I, Fernando Ruiz, fol. Principio del legajo; 11 March 1506, Oficio VII, unico libro, Gonzalo Alvárez de Aguilar, fol. Tercer tercio del legajo; 7 Oct. 1508, Oficio XV, Libro II, Bernal González Vallesillo, fol. Segundo tercio del legajo; 3 Dec. 1516, Oficio I, Libro II, Mateo de la Cuadra, fol. 793; 3 Dec. 1523, Oficio I, Libro I, Alonso de la Barrera, fol. 1173; 13 Feb. 1524, Oficio V, Libro I, Francisco de Castellanos, fol. 83; 23 Jan. 1526, Oficio V, Libro I, Francisco de Castellanos fol. 283v. The loan to Columbus was cancelled on 23 Aug. 1530.

61 Ibid., 11 Feb. 1512, Oficio I, Libro I, Mateo de la Cuadra, fol. 232.

62 Ibid., 18 Feb. 1508, Oficio XV, Libro I, Bernal González Vallesillo, fol. Primer tercio del legajo; 27 Feb. 1514, Oficio X, Libro I, Diego López, fol. Cuaderno núm. 2, fol. 7v; 7 April 1517, Oficio XV, Libro I, Bernal González Vallesillo, fol. 295.

63 According to Las Casas, ‘EI piloto Roldán edificó una renglera de casas para su morada y para alquilar en las cuatro calles. Luego un Hierónimo Grimaldo, mercader y otro llamado Briones y otros, y cada día fueron creciendo los edificios.” Casas, Bartolomé de las, Historia de las Indias (Mexico, 1951), vol. II, p. 235.Google Scholar See also, APS, 27 Jan. 1514, Oficio X, Libro I, Diego López, fol. Cuaderno núm. 2, fol. 7v.

64 Ibid., 10 Jan. 1512, Oficio I, Libro I, Mateo de la Cuadra, fol. 60; 11 July 1514, Oficio V, Libro I, Francisco de Castellanos, fol. Primer tercio del legajo, Francisco de Escobar; 16 May 1515, Oficio V, Libro II, Francisco de Castellanos, fol. 215, Fernando Díaz de Santa Cruz; 3 Nov. 1515, Oficio XV, Libro II, Bemal González Vallesillo, fol. 845; 24 March 1516, Oficio XV, Único libro, Bernal González Vallesillo, fol. 238v; 30 Dec. 1525, Oficio I, Libro II, Alonso de la Barrera, fol. 978. No record of Briones' trips of 1512 or 1525 can be found in CPI.

65 The merchant Alfonso de Nebreda, for example, granted him general powers to take charge of his business in the Indies. Ibid., 27 June 1526, Oficio V, Libro II, Francisco de Castellanos, fol. 509.

66 Ibid., 8 Nov. 1537, Oficio XV, Libro II, Alonso de Cazalla, fol. 1442v.

67 Ibid., 5 Aug. 1513, Oficio V, Libro II, Francisco de Castellanos, fol. 883v.; 16 April 1509, Oficio V, Libro I, Bermal González Vallesillo, fol. Primer tercio del legajo; 20 Oct. 1511, Oficio XV, Libro II, Bernal González Vallesillo, fol. Segundo tercio del legajo; 23 Jan., Oficio V, Único libro, Pedro de Córdoba, fol. Primer tercio del legajo (a sales credit for 200 arrobas of olive oil and 16½ quintals of sea biscuit); 19 May 1515, Oficio V, Libro II, Francisco de Castellanos, fol. 240 (“40 casks of wine, 40 casks of flour, and 167 arrobas of olive oil” on the San Miguel to Santo Domingo); 26 July 1513, Oficio V, Libro II, Francisco de Castellanos, fol. 861; 13 Aug. 1513, Oficio V, Libro II, Francisco de Castellanos, fol. 870v.; 19 Aug. 1513, Oficio V, Libro II, Francisco de Castellanos, fol. 900; APS, 10 Oct. 1515, Oficio X, Libro I, Diego López, fol. Indias, 4.

68 Ibid., 21 July 1509, Oficio IV, Libro III, Manuel Sigura, fol. 2333, Pedro de Isla; 7 July 1513, Oficio X, Libro I, Diego López, fol. 206, Indias, 2, Fernando de Isla; 26 July 1514, Oficio V, Libro I, Francisco de Castellanos, fol. Primer tercio del legajo; 19 Aug. 1549, Oficio XV, Libro II, Alonso de Cazalla, fol. 446, Francisco Núñez de Silva; 27 July 1551, Oficio XV, Libro II, Alonso de Cazalla, fol. 901v., Antón Ruiz Ortiz; 20 May 1580, Oficio XVI, Juan Rodríguez de la Torre, fol. Cuaderno suelto, Registro núm. xxvii, Pedro de Sepúlveda y Leyva.

69 Mercado, fol. 91.

70 Colección de documentos inéditos … de ultramar (Madrid, 1897), vol. X, p. 445.

71 APS, 29 Jan. 1509, Oficio XV, Libro I, Bernal González Vallesillo, fol. Primer tercio del legajo, Manuel Cisbón; 10 Oct. 1512, Oficio XV, Libro II, Bernal González Vallesillo, fol. Tercer tercio del legajo, Jácome de Grimaldo. In Nov. 1514, Bernardino de Isla sent 40 toneladas of merchandise to Fernando to sell on Hispaniola. Ibid., 7 Nov., Oficio XV, Libro II, Bernal González Vallesillo, fol. Segundo tercio del legajo. See also, ibid., 10 Oct. 1512, Oficio XV, Libro II, Bernal González Vallesillo, fol. Tercer tercio del legajo; 22 Feb. 1527, Oficio XVII, Pedro Tristán, fol. 359.

72 Ibid., 21 July 1509, Oficio IV, Libro III, Manuel Sigura, fol. 2333; 7 May 1510, Oficio XV, Libro I, Bernal González Vallesillo, fol. Segundo tercio del legajo.

73 Las Casas, vol. II, p. 353. After 1514, the Sevillian Protocols speak of “the heirs of Pedro de Isla” although Isla is not mentioned as being “deceased.” APS, 20 Feb. 1514, Oficio III, Libro I, Juan Ruiz de Porras, fol. 746. During this same period, Las Casas himself suddenly awoke to the inequity of the system under which he profited, gave up his lands and Indians, and for 52 years fought for the Indians of America. See Hanke, Lewis, The Spanish Struggle for Justice in the Conquest of America (Philadelphia, 1949), pp. 21–22.Google Scholar

74 In the years following the discovery of America all of the Lesser Antillesin addition to the Bahamas and Bermuda were called the “islas de los lucayas.” Fernández, Manuel Giménez, Bartolomé de las Casas, vol. II (Seville, 1960), p. 472.Google Scholar For the Isla expedition, see Las Casas, pp. 353–54.

75 APS, 21 July 1509, Oficio IV, Libro III, Manuel Sigura, fol. 2333; 7 Nov. 1510, Oficio XV, Libro II, Bernal González Vallesillo, fol. Segundo tercio del legajo; — 1511, Oficio V, Libro único, Pedro de Córdoba, fol. Primer tercio del legajo; 30 March 1512, Oficio XV, LibroI, Bernal González Vallesillo, fol. Tercer tercio del legajo. At Bernardino's death in 1520, an inventory of his property lists houses in the city of Santo Domingo that “were built by the said Councilman and his factors” and several mule teams. Ibid., 13 Nov. 1520, Oficio IV, Libro IV, Manuel Sigura, fol. Registro “Indias,” Segundo tercio.

76 Ibid., 27 April 1525, Oficio V, Libro II, Francisco de Castellanos, fol. 84.

77 del Carmen Carié, M., “Mercaderes en Castilla (1252–1512),” Cuadernos de historia de España, XXI–XXII (1954), p. 290.Google Scholar

78 “Hidalgo de ejecutoria: El que ha litigado su hidalguía y probado ser hidalgo de sangre. Denomínase así a diferencia de hidalgo de privilegio: El que lo es por compra o merced real”. Alonso, Martín, Enciclopedia del Idioma (Madrid, 1958), vol. Il, p. 2264.Google Scholar In Burgos they called themselves “mercaderes caballeros.” See M. del Carmen Carié, p. 289.

79 Calerón gives the following picturesque description of an ejecutoria:

Si vierais mi ejecutoria,

primas mías, os prometo

que se os quitaran mil canas.

Vestida de terciopelo

Carmesí, y allí pintados

mis padres y abuelos,

como unos santícos de Horas!

Barca, Pedro Calderón de la, Obras completas, ed. Briones, Ángel Valbuena, vol. II (Madrid, 1956), jornada primera, p. 1300Google Scholar.

80 APS, 22 Feb. 1510, Oficio I, Libro I, Mateo de la Cuadra, fol. 67, cuaderno 3; 16 Sept. 1546, Oficio XV, Libro II, Alonso de Cazalla, fol. 700v. During the sixteenth century, insurance premiums oscillated between 5 and 7 per cent. At times due to war or the increased activity of pirates, they reached 30 per cent. Carande, R., Carlos V y sus banqueros (Madrid, 1943), p. 280.Google Scholar See also, APS, 19 Feb. 1551, Oficio XV, Libro I, Juan Franco, fol. 1059v.

81 Lope de Vega, El premio del bien hablar, vol. I, p. 375.

82 APS, 22 Oct. 1518, Oficio X, Diego López, fol. Registro “Indias,” núm. 18; 4 Jan. 1518, Oficio X, Diego López, fol. Registro núm. 1; 12 Feb. 1518, Oficio X, Diego López, fol. Registro “Indias,” núm. 6; 24 June 1516, Oficio XV, Libro único, Bernal González Vallesillo, fol. 535; 12 May 1515, Oficio XV, Libro II, Bernal González Vallesillo, fols. 370 and 369v.; 22 Oct. 1518, Oficio X, Diego López, fol. Registro “Indias,” núm. 18; 24 April 1525, Oficio I, Libro I, Alonso de la Barrera, fols. 663v., 664, 715.

83 Mercado, p. A2.