42 CHAPTER 2 THE HISPANIC BACKGROUND
corregidores into the towns. These offi cials com-
bined administrative and judicial functions and
steadily usurped the roles of the alcaldes and regi-
dores. Ferdinand and Isabella also carried forward
another practice begun by their predecessors: the
offi ces of alcalde and regidor in towns with royal
charters were made appointive by the crown in-
stead of elective by the householders. Villas de
señorío (towns under noble or ecclesiastical ju-
risdiction) were permitted to function under the
traditional system but with the right of royal inter-
vention if necessary.
The taming of the towns was accompanied by
a decline in the importance of the Cortes. An im-
portant factor in this decline was the large increase
in revenues from royal taxes, such as the alcabala
(sales tax), which freed the crown from excessive
dependence on the grants of the Cortes. The in-
creased supervision of the crown over the munici-
palities also decreased the likelihood of resistance
by their deputies in the Cortes to royal demands.
The Sovereigns summoned the Castilian Cortes
only when they needed money, but when the treas-
ury was full or when peace prevailed, the king and
queen ignored them.
RELIGIOUS AND ECONOMIC REFORMS
In their march toward absolute power, the mon-
archs did not hesitate to challenge the church.
Under their pressure, the weak popes of this period
yielded to them the right of patronato real(the
right of appointment to all major ecclesiastical
benefi ces in the Castilian realms). Although, un-
like Henry VIII of England, Ferdinand and Isabella
never despoiled the church of its vast landed pos-
sessions, they did drain off for themselves a part of
the ecclesiastical wealth by taking one-third of all
the tithes paid to the Castilian church and the pro-
ceeds from the sale of indulgences.
To ensure the loyalty of the church and to
make it an effective instrument of royal policy, the
Sovereigns had to purge it of abuses that included
plural benefi ces, absenteeism, and concubinage.
The pious Isabella found a strong ally in the work
of reform in a dissident faction of the regular clergy
(those belonging to a monastic order or religious
community). This group, who called themselves
Observants, protested against the worldliness of
their colleagues and demanded a return to the strict
simplicity of the primitive church. The struggle for
reform began within the Franciscan order under
the leadership of the ascetic Francisco Jiménez de
Cisneros, whom Isabella appointed archbishop of
Toledo in 1495, and then spread to the other or-
ders. It grew so heated that four hundred Anda-
lusian friars preferred moving to North Africa and
becoming Muslims rather than accept the new rule.
The dispute ended in the complete victory of the
Observants over their more easygoing brethren.
Isabella was less successful in efforts to reform
the secular (or nonmonastic) clergy, but here too
an improvement took place. The great ecclesiasti-
cal offi ces ceased to be a monopoly of the aristoc-
racy. Isabella preferred to select prelates from the
lower nobility and the middle class, taking account
of the morals and learning of the candidates. The
Isabelline religious reform had a special meaning
for the New World: it ensured that the Faith would
be carried to the Indies by an elite force of clergy
who were often distinguished for their zeal, human-
ity, and learning.
The Sovereigns also gave attention to the need
for economic reform. They attempted to promote
Castilian industry and commerce by protection-
ist measures. They forbade the export of gold and
silver, sporadically barred the import of cloth that
competed with native products, and encouraged
Italian and Flemish artisans to settle in Castile. They
promulgated navigation acts that gave preference
to domestic shipping and subsidies to domestic ship-
building. They suppressed all the internal tolls that
had been established in Castile since 1464 and made
an effort to standardize weights and measures. Un-
der Isabella’s predecessors, a serious depreciation of
the currency had taken place. To restore the credit
of the coinage, Isabella suppressed all private mints
and struck her own coinage that had the same value
as foreign coins. All these measures contributed to
an economic expansion and consequently to a rapid
increase of crown revenues, from 885,000 reales
in 1474 to 26,283,334 reales in 1504.
Despite their basically pragmatic outlook, the
Sovereigns had broad intellectual and artistic