Spanish Disentailment: Historical Phases and Societal Impact
Background: Spanish Disentailment
Secularization, while considered fundamentally progressive and liberal, had already begun to be applied in the eighteenth century. There are examples of political disentailment and feudal disentailment in Spain, which also took place during the eighteenth century.
However, for some historians, it was the nineteenth century when the phenomenon truly began in Spain, running until the disentailment known as the Municipal Statute in 1924, under José Calvo Sotelo.
Stages of Disentailment
Godoy and Charles IV’s Measures (1798)
These measures involved the sale of property belonging to pious foundations to finance government debt caused by the wars with France and England.
Measures of the Cortes de Cádiz (1811-1813)
Through these measures, the commons attempted to disentail municipal properties to address public needs, urgently assist defenders of the homeland, and provide relief to non-owners. As for church property, during the Revolutionary War, Joseph I had suppressed many religious communities, transferring their property to the Treasury. This led the Cadiz Parliament to decree the sale of the assets of these convents, adding those from the Military Orders and the Inquisition. All this was repealed with the return of Ferdinand VII and the subsequent six years of absolutism. However, the monarch continued the disposal of public lands to clean up the public debt, while respecting the property of religious institutions.
The Liberal Triennium (1820-1823)
During this period, the measures of the Cortes of Cadiz re-entered into force, anticipating the great confiscation of church property with the decree of suppression by the monk that dissolved numerous monasteries, convents, and religious orders, with their goods entering the State for public payment. However, in 1823, with the return of absolutism, Ferdinand was forced to return the confiscated property. Nevertheless, significant disentailment measures were undertaken by Mendizábal (1836-1837) and Madoz (1855), which had a profound impact on Spanish history.
Consequences of Disentailment
Agricultural Production
With disentailment, the overall volume of agricultural product increased, as new owners worked land that had hitherto not been cultivated, increasing the surface area of land from 10 million to 16 million. Technical improvements were few, and Spain continued to lag behind some European countries; poor agricultural yields and low productivity constituted the crux of Spanish agricultural backwardness. Crops were improved and specialized through new investments by the owners. At the end of the century, the agricultural sector faced a crisis (Crisis of the Century): agricultural prices were reduced by the influx of products from the colonies, and the wine sector suffered from the plague of phylloxera.
Spanish agricultural structures, despite the initial momentum from disentailment, remained outdated for an increasingly specialized and mechanized agrarian economy.
Social Aspects
Two issues stand out: first, the consolidation of a rural proletariat, comprising more than two million landless peasants, laborers subjected to harsh living conditions and only seasonal work. Second, the confiscation beneficiaries were the rich and wealthy farmers, the landed aristocracy, and a speculative urban bourgeoisie and advantageous absentee who, with the acquisition of land and property, intended to emulate the old aristocracy.
Ownership Structure
The situation hardly changed, with the lopsided dominance of large estates in central and southern Peninsula and the smallholding in wide areas of the north and northwest.
Cultural and Artistic Heritage Loss
There was a considerable loss of cultural and artistic heritage from many monasteries; paintings and books were sold at low prices and eventually ended up in other countries. Also, numerous buildings of artistic interest were abandoned, leading to their consequent ruin. Other buildings became public property and were preserved for museums or for use by other institutions.
Transformation of City Models
The confiscation of urban properties contributed to the transformation of the city model. It generated large gains. The bourgeois class benefited most from property purchases. This led to a change in central cities, from a convent-centric model (amortized hamlet) to a bourgeois-centric model (characterized by height growth, opening of new avenues, large public buildings, and widenings).