The Ecclesiastical Confiscations of Mendizabal and Madoz in 19th Century Spain
Process Steps of the Ecclesiastical Confiscations
The seizure of church property began in 18th-century Spain. It’s estimated that since the first Jesuit properties were sold after their expulsion by Carlos III, around 19,900,000 hectares—39% of the country’s surface—that had been common property were taken over by private owners.
This lengthy sales process wasn’t continuous but resulted from several confiscations:
- Godoy, Minister of Charles IV (1798)
- Cortes de Cádiz (1811-1813)
- Liberal Triennium (1820-1823)
- Mendizabal (1836-1851)
- Pascual Madoz (1855-1924)
Background
- During the reigns of Carlos III and Carlos IV, the first steps were taken, including the confiscation of Godoy’s assets and the repossession of property belonging to the Society of Jesus, hospitals, hospices, and Casas de Misericordia.
- Jose I conducted a minor confiscation that didn’t abolish property but seized its income for war supplies and French troop expenses. This property was returned in 1814.
- During the Liberal Triennium, other unambitious confiscations were carried out but dissolved after the fall of the liberal regime.
1st Ecclesiastical Confiscation: Mendizabal
This affected the property of the regular clergy (religious orders). In return, the Church received substantial compensation, and the State became responsible for clergy maintenance.
2nd Ecclesiastical Confiscation: Madoz
This affected property belonging to the state, municipalities, and other institutions.
The General Confiscation of Madoz
In 1855, Pascual Madoz, the liberal Finance Minister under Espartero, introduced the General Confiscation Act. Although called ‘civil,’ it also affected the clergy. It was termed ‘general’ because it put all common property up for sale, including that of the clergy not sold previously and the towns’ common and private goods. Properties of military orders, guilds, charitable works, shrines, charities, and public instruction were also condemned. The aim was to obtain financial resources for the state.
The sale mirrored Mendizabal’s, but with two key differences:
- The money’s destination: It was dedicated to the country’s industrialization and railway expansion.
- The cash’s ownership: While the state was the owner, the municipalities received the sales proceeds. The state transformed these proceeds into government bonds, becoming the custodian of municipal funds and using them for public good.
In this process, the bourgeoisie and moneyed interests were the primary beneficiaries. The state raised about 8 billion reales, covering the state budget deficit, amortizing public debt, and funding public works, while reserving 30 million annually for church rebuilding and repairs.
The Confiscation of Mendizabal
Juan Alvarez Mendizabal (1790-1853) was a banker and businessman with strong connections to London’s financial circles. He became Prime Minister at a critical juncture for the Elizabethan cause and the liberal revolution. He later held the ministries of State, Treasury, War, and Navy.
In 1835, upon arriving from London to lead the government, his primary concern was ensuring the continuity of Isabel II’s throne and the new Liberal state. This required winning the Carlist War. At that time, Isabel II’s mother, Maria Cristina of Naples, acted as regent during her minority. She was reluctant to sign the confiscation decrees due to religious conscience and pressure from the high clergy at court.
To strengthen the state’s credibility for future credit requests from foreign institutions, it was necessary to eliminate or at least reduce public debt. Given the Treasury’s poor state, Mendizabal sought new funding sources, which were church properties. His time in England familiarized him with the mechanisms of the new capitalist economy. He imported an ideology to Spain that was developing alongside the destruction of the Old Regime and the first steps of a liberal revolution.
Previously, the Inquisition (1834) and the Society of Jesus (1835) were definitively abolished, and convents and monasteries with fewer than twelve professed were suppressed. Their assets were used to pay off debt. In 1835, Mendizábal suppressed religious orders, considering their assets disproportionate to the nation’s resources. He believed it was in the public interest to put their land into circulation to increase state resources and open new sources of wealth.
The decree put all regular clergy property—belonging to monks and nuns—up for sale. Land, houses, monasteries, and convents, including their belongings, artwork, and books, were auctioned after an official appraisal. Payment could be made in cash or with devalued state bonds, which their owners were eager to exchange. In 1837, another law extended the action to include the assets of the secular clergy, cathedrals, and churches, and abolished the tithe, although the latter’s execution occurred later during Espartero’s reign. Sales declined with his fall, were scarce during the Moderate Decade, and resumed during the Progressive Biennium.
Mendizabal aimed to achieve several goals simultaneously:
- Win the Carlist War
- Eliminate debt
- Offer property buyers the option to pay with state-issued bonds
- Enable the Treasury to apply for new loans by enhancing its credibility
- Change the structure of church property from collective and amortized to individual and free
The Church would be reformed and transformed into an institution of the New Regime, with the state committed to supporting and subsidizing the clergy for worship. The Church excommunicated expropriators and buyers, forcing the government to lower prices due to public hesitation.
As the division of lots was entrusted to municipal committees, they manipulated the process to create large lots unaffordable to smallholders. Consequently, small farmers couldn’t participate in bids, and the land was acquired by nobles and wealthy bourgeois.