Agrarian Change and Land Confiscation in 19th-Century Spain
The Process of Confiscation and Agrarian Change:
The lands of the nobility were linked so that they could not be sold or divided; they were integrated into the primogeniture. The Church owned large tracts of land; they might or might not be brought into cultivation or leased to farmers as needed. Municipalities also owned land. These were usually of two forms: common-use lands (called *common lands*) and *own land*, which were those leased by municipalities and individuals whose income covered the needs of the corporation. The Church lands and municipalities were considered as retired.
Liberal governments undertook reforms to transform ownership structures and forms of land use. The first tasks were to untie the property of the nobility and Church property and pay back the city.
- The disengagement was a double action: the first was the abolition of the feudal system, and the second was the abolition of primogeniture.
- The confiscation, which first affected Church property and then the municipalities, was done in two steps: first, the seizure by the state of those assets, and second, the sale by auction.
Confiscation as a Historical Process
The confiscation is to be understood as a historical process that covers a wide stage, from which the first property of the Jesuits was sold until 1924, during the dictatorship of General Primo de Rivera. This lengthy sales process was not continuous but the result of several confiscations: during the reign of Charles IV (1788-1808), the courts of Cádiz (1811-1813), and during the regency of Maria Cristina. But it happens that it was particularly important in the process of paying back to the stage of Mendizabal, by its volume and because from that time the seizure was an irreversible process.
The Seizure of Mendizabal
During the regency of Maria Cristina, Mendizabal assumed the presidency of the council of ministers, initiating important reforms. First, he expanded the number of religious institutions and suppressed them by royal decree of February 19, 1836, which stated the property sale of these extinguished communities. Mendizabal continued his disentailment work under the government of José María Calatrava (1836-1837) when he was appointed Minister of Finance. If until now the confiscations had focused on the assets of the secular clergy, a new decree (July 1837), which also abolished the tithe, declared national property subject to sale those belonging to religious orders of women, including the confiscation of property of the regular clergy. However, this decree was not executed until a few years later, during the reign of Espartero (1840-1843). With the seizure of Mendizabal, several objectives were intended to be achieved: to obtain money to finance the Carlist War, reduce debt, change the structure of Church property, and attract to the Liberal ranks the major beneficiaries of the seizure.
The General Law of Confiscation of 1855
In 1855, during the progressive stage of the biennium, the process resumed paying back, this time from the hand of Pascual Madoz. By the general law of confiscation of 1855, common property owned by the municipalities was put on sale.
Effects of the Seizure
The effects of the seizure were, in general, the following:
- Financial results were not obtained, and the state’s public debt did not disappear.
- It was not able to create a large middle class.
- Agrarian interests were sacrificed for an important sector of farmers.
- Relations in rural areas changed.
- The disposal of municipal property brought about the deterioration of living conditions of the small peasantry.
- It favored the expansion of cultivated area and agricultural production.
From a political point of view, the seizure would result in the consolidation of the liberal regime. It also had an impact on the urban terrain, cultural and religious.
Purpose of the Confiscation
Repossessing the same process cannot be valued as a failed attempt at land reform because it did not distribute land to those without it, and it never had that goal. Its purpose was to raise funds to finance the Carlist wars, reduce debt, and fund public finance large public works.
19th-Century Agriculture
During the 19th century, agriculture was the backbone of the economy and the main economic activity. This agriculture is characterized by its secular stagnation. In the mid-nineteenth century, it began to experience an increase in agricultural production due to increased acreage and the intensification and regional specialization of crops. The most backward sector was devoted to extensive cultivation of cereal. In the late nineteenth century, agriculture was in crisis due to the low competitiveness of cereal and due to the phylloxera. Another difficulty can be seen in social tensions.