La legislación de la trashumancia en Castilla (siglo XVIII)

Abstract

The intention is to present the issue of the Castilian transhumance legislation in the XVIII century from a dynamic perspective and inserted in its institutional and agricultural context. The general ignorance, the diverse and extensive documentation, the absence of specific studies and frequent misinterpretations, according to the assumptions and objectives proposed, force to explain and evaluate the limited validity or infringement of the laws and privileges, without forgetting the Crown’s position. The essence and development of migratory cycles is exposed in order to demonstrate their impact on the rural world. The XVIII century gazed at the decline of migratory conditions and pasture use, this being a period when a large amount of huts dissappeared. Regarding the cañadas and roads, which connected summer pastures with winter pastures, villages and illustrated persisted in denying the consubstantiality of the network of cañadas and transhumance. The law was conclusive: where there were cañadas there was cabañil jurisdiction; therefore, the cabañas were closed, refused, narrowed or changed...