Economic Power
4.1. The History and Origins of the Mayorazgo, 1507–1841 Established by the thirteenth century in Castile and later in
4.1.1. Family Heritage, Life-cycle and Circulation of Land Property: Wealth Accumulation
The end of the reconquest war against the Nasrid kingdom of Granada in 1492 meant the cessation of violence in formerly fron-tier lands in the Crown of Castile and the end of Muslim incursions that many peasants and labourers had endured for centuries. In addition, families began to work the lands they had received as compensation for their role in the war, or those new parcels that they purchased. Peace and conquest meant the beginning of a process of greater land accumulation for noble landowners in Murcia – including the Riquelme lineage – which they maintained throughout the late medieval and early modern period.
Noble prestige and power revolved around land, and also water when living in a dry region like Murcia, where droughts were common, as in the señorío of Santo Ángel, parts of which the Riquelme had owned since before the mid-fifteenth century, when Diego Riquelme became the first lord of Santo Ángel.16 Santo Ángel contained extensive parts of orchard and fruit trees. Other known lineages had also acquired lands in surrounding areas such as Ceutí, Alguazas, Cotillas, and Archena in the valley of the Segura river, which were also parts of señoríos.17
The lands that the Riquelme began to add to their patrimony after conquest were mostly dry lands of the kingdom of Granada, the lands north of the district of Lorca – largely lands in Campo Coy, next to Caravaca and Cehegín, that the Fajardo donated to the Riquelme lineage at the beginning of the sixteenth century, which they rotated for agriculture with what they already owned in Murcia.18 Still, Coy and other strategic locations such as Celda, Nogalte and Aguaderas had some water sources or fountains, and the nobility carefully selected these sites to enhance their socioeco-nomic status, and came to be known as señores del agua (lords of the water).19 Thus the Riquelme lineage went a step up in the oligarchy when Diego Riquelme Dávalos became first lord of the señorío of Campo Coy and had control over the waters of the Lorca Orchard.20
The family, as the consolidating and transmitting channel of feudal property, was at the centre of the nobility.21 Thereby, the mayorazgo became key to the perpetuation and social reproduction
of these elite landowners. Riquelme property presents such a linear circulation of the land over time – the señorío of Santo Ángel, which was already extensive when founded in 1544 by Don Cristóbal Riquelme de Arroniz (third lord of Santo Ángel) and his wife Doña Nofra Riquelme and passed to their first-born, Nofre Riquelme de Arroniz (fourth lord of Santo Ángel), remained within the lineage for two centuries (see figure 4.3 and table 4.1).22
Although modifications and additions always required the king’s permission, the life path of the mayorazgo was generally linear. Don Luis Riquelme de Avilés (fifth lord of Santo Ángel) inherited all
Diego Riquelme lord of Santo Angel)
Nofra lord of Santo Angel)
Figure 4.3 Señorío of Santo Ángel, fifteenth to seventeenth century
these properties (see tables 4.1 and 4.2) and added them in 1617 to the mayorazgo that Cristóbal Riquelme de Arroniz had founded before.23 Luis Riquelme’s will stated that the properties of the mayorazgo should eventually be in the hands of his nephew Don Cristóbal Riquelme de Arroniz (sixth lord of Santo Ángel), son of Don Cristóbal Riquelme Comontes (fourth lord of Coy) and Doña Antonia de Arroniz Riquelme. In quantitative terms, the value of the Riquelme mayorazgo was significant, and thus their power within the Murcian oligarchy was clear. These possessions and the economic value that they represented were even more important in times of stagnation and scarcity, or when plagues and wars destroyed the crops.
Table 4.1 Properties in the mayorazgo that Don Cristóbal and Doña Nofra Riquelme created
Property Place
1 House Pago of Beniaján (Orchard of Murcia) Main houses Parish of San Bartolomé (Murcia) 1 Heredamiento (called
Mendigol) Campo of Cartagena, Murcia city limits, Pago of Mendigol
Table 4.2 Lists (memorial) of the property linked to Luis Riquelme de Avilés
Fixed Assests
Property Place
Main and other houses plus the ones that he purchased from Don Luis Pacheco de Arroniz (dean of the cathedral)
Parish of San Bartolomé (Murcia)
Three houses purchased from Don Alonso de Tenza Fajardo (knight of Alcántara, lord of Ontanar, Albatán y Espinardo)
Property Place 1 inheritance with main and
secondary houses and a palace Pago of Beniaján, Raiguero de Santa Catalina del Monte, path of La Fuensanta.
1 heredad San Esteban de Mendigo, Campo
de Cartagena, in the jurisdiction of Murcia
118 tahúllas Rincón de Villanueva
31 tahúllas of morerales Pago of Alfande y Condomina (Orchard of Murcia)
40 tahúllas of morerales Pago of El Junco (Orchard of Murcia )
19 tahúllas of morerales
19 tahúllas of moreral and its house Pago of Alfande (Murcia’s orchard)
17 tahúllas of moreral Pago of La Condomina (Orchard of Murcia)
Assests
Textiles Cash Furniture Stock Harvest Luxury items
Other 6 satin
paños 30 ducados from selling Table 4.2 Lists (memorial) of the property linked to Luis Riquelme de
Avilés (Continued)
The señorío of Santo Ángel was diverse, with irrigated lands of great value by the Segura river and drier lands in the Campo of Cartagena. Overall, though there were more dry lands, the señorío was of great value in the mostly dry region of Murcia. Legally it was under an emphyteusis right, which made it, in theory, closer to the type of mayorazgos that existed in the Catalan and Valencian regions.
The Castilian mayorazgos prohibited these practices, for example.24 This clause is what explains Cristóbal Riquelme de Arroniz (sixth lord of Santo Ángel) renting lands from the mayorazgo that Cristóbal Riquelme de Arroniz (third lord of Santo Ángel) founded.25
The lands that Don Diego Riquelme de Comontes (third lord of Coy) and his spouse Doña Beatriz de Bustamante joined in 1590 were partly from the heredamiento of Coy in the city of Lorca next to atalaya and callado llanto, and also part of Cehegín and Caravaca, and of the heredad and hacienda of the youngest son of Nicolás
Textiles Cash Furniture Stock Harvest Luxury items Other
Table 4.2 Lists (memorial) of the property linked to Luis Riquelme de Avilés (Continued)