Poblamiento y frontera en el Obispado de Málaga a fines del siglo XV: introducción a su estudio

Abstract

The Bishopric of Malaga went through the Mussulman domain to the Castilian one by means of the booting which follows any military conquest. This change was not just for the owner of the land but also for those working on it —the Mudejars— because, on the other hand, the land would lose a great part of its value. As the fidelity of the conquered has been obtained by force, only will it be possible to maintain it. The military guards will be necesary for it, that, very soon, they are going to be a difficult charge for the Royal Finance of Castille. The only way of reducing the military expenses is to offer the abandoned lands to some settler-soldiers capable of subtituting those military guards. The repopulation is the result of a military necesity and the immigrants will receive their portions in relation to their economic capacity and social condition. This inequality, which existed when the distribution was made, together with the desproportion that there was between the amount of lands for distributing and the number of complainants ordered by the Crown, all this will have as a consequence the creation of a new very discontented society with its quality, in spite of the tax exemptions that, in some cases, the State will offer. This situation, which deteriorated from its beginning, will get worse when the Crown offers mercies to certain members of the nobility, which will be maximu principal beneficiary of the conquest: directly by the properties received: indirectly because of its participation in the legal benefits collected by the State in the land of Malaga. The settlers will not fulfil their military obligations when the Mudejars rebel at the beginning of the XVI century, and an antifeudal feeling begins to demonstrate itself during those years, and will finish in the rebellions of 1516.