44 CHAPTER 2 THE HISPANIC BACKGROUND
nothing of the kind happened in the economic
sphere.Concentration of land in noble hands ac-
tually in creased during their reign. The Cortes
of 1480, which forced the nobility to surrender
about half the lands and revenues usurped from
the crown since 1464, explicitly authorized the
nobles to retain the vast holdings acquired prior
to that date. A policy of assigning a lion’s share of
the territory reconquered from the Muslims to the
grandees also favored the growth of land monop-
oly. After the War of Granada, moreover, the great
nobles used their private armies and increased
political infl uence to expand their territories and
seign eurial control. This “aristocratic offensive”
met with little resistance from the crown. As a re-
sult, about 2 or 3 percent of the population owned
95 percent of the land by 1500.
This land monopoly reduced the great major-
ity of the Castilian peasants to the condition of ten-
ants heavily burdened by rents, seigneurial dues,
tithes, and taxes. Although serfdom in the strict
sense had apparently disappeared from most partsMOROCCOOviedoMedina del CampoValladolidCoruña
Santiago de
Compostela León
Vigo BurgosOportoViseu
CoimbraCrato
Cintra
Lisbon BadajózSantander
BilbaoPamplonaSaragossaSalamanca Segovia Molina
AvilaGuadalajara
Madrid
ToledoSevilleCalatravaAlcantaraGranadaMálagaAlicante
Murcia
Cartagena
AlmeriáBaeza
JaénGibraltarJerez de
la FonteraAlgecirasValenciaBarcelonaPerpignanTarragonaera
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TaviraCádizBay of BiscayATLANTIC
OCEANDueroR.TagusR.Gua
diana
R.GuadalquivirR.Ebro
R.Mediterrane
anSe
aANDALUCÍA
ALGARVEKINGDOM
OF CÓRDOBAKINGDOM
OF
GALICIAKINGDOM
OF JAÉNPRINCIPALITY
OF ASTURIASPRINCIPALITY
OF CATALONIAROUSILLON
CERDAÑAKINGDOM
OF MURCIAES
TR
EM
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UR
AKINGDOMOFVALE
NCIASPANIS
HAL
GARVEFRANCEMinorca
Majorca
Iviza
FormenteraCape St.
Vincent0 150 Mi.0 100 150 Km.
10050
50Kingdom of Castile and León
with its dependencies
Kingdom of Aragón with its
dependencies
Kingdom of Navarre
Kingdom of Portugal
Kingdom of GranadaSpain in the Time of Christopher Columbus