Rural context, transhumancia and mesteña institutional reality: the failure of the alcaldes de cuadrilla in the Eighteenth Century

Abstract

The Mesta and the transhumancia in the eighteenth century lost the opportunity to have a fundamental tool in solving agricultural problems and improving migratory conditions: the performance of the alcaldes de cuadrilla. However, the institutional slope made it impossible for the trade reforms needed to face the attacks of the Enlightenment and the opposition of the field. The alcaldes de cuadrilla preserved the structure and function articulated in the XV-XVI centuries, barely changed in the following centuries, hence in the eighteenth century could not replace the alcaldes mayores entregadores delivered to the preservation of laws and privileges of the Real Cabaña. Responsible for safeguarding the livestock and the transhumancia, could not or wanted to correct mistakes, overcome complications, avoid conflicts, control the livestock and ensure the protection of the brothers of the Mesta.