Una aproximación al proceso desamortizador en la españa del siglo xix

Una aproximación al proceso desamortizador en la España del siglo XIX
Abstract
In the present essay we have performed a study about the desamortización in Spain within the period 1795-1874. Desamortización is the alienation of communal real estates, either ecclesiastical or civilian that, after nationalization, can be sold by public auction to the highest bidder, leading to a new privateproperty. Aside from early antecedents in the regime of Godoy, the two most significant desamortizaciones have been studied: Mendizábal’s and Madoz’s ones. The Mendizábal’s desamortización led to very negative findings because the main profit go to the higher bidder, instead of peasants. The Madoz’s desamortización yields to an important weigh down of peasant’s economy and a breaking-off with theChurch.
The desamortización clearly contributed to the transformation of the bourgeois society. This process meant the transfer of a huge amount of land to new proprietaries as well as the fusion of the old feudal aristocracy with the bourgeoisie in order to produce a novel ownerland privileged minority.

Before introduce the topic, some special terms should be suitably defined for the sake ofclearness. Accordingly, we have set the following glossary.

GLOSSARY
This glossary has been carried out by taking definitions from several engine-dictionaries found in the net, for instance www.scholarship.org from the University of California Press.

Baldío: Lands belonging to The Crown for profit of people that cannot be cultivated. These goods cannot be alienated too.
Bienes raíces oinmuebles: Real estate
Censo: An obligation entailing payment of interest and guaranteed by a lien on a piece of real property. C. redimible: a censo, which the debtor may redeem by paying off the capital value.
Latifundio: Pieces of property covering tremendous areas which the kings ceded as rewards to nobility, mercenaries and military orders to be exploited.
Manos muertas: Those goods(aristocratic, municipal or ecclesiastical goods) that cannot be alienated.
Mayorazgo: A legally entailed estate belonging to a lay family.
Realengo: Term applied to a territory or municipality directly under the jurisdiction of the king.
Señorío: The territory under the jurisdiction of a señor, a person to whom, or to whose ancestor, the king has granted hereditary rights of jurisdiction over a certainterritory and who is entitled to specified payments from the residents of the territory.
Terrateniente: Landowner
Vales Reales: Interest-bearing government bonds circulating as legal tender. See Picture 1.

INTRODUCTION

In the realm of Carlos III, some ministers with inclination towards liberal reformism, such as Pablo Olavide, Pedro Rodríguez Campomanes y Melchor Gaspar Jovellanos, ledto the former desamortizacional dispositions. Their procedures intend to satisfy both economical and social needs, that is, to increase the cultivated surface area as well as to provide with job to a lot of laborers. These dispositions affect only to municipal goods.

The process of desamortización consists of the appropriation of goods (real estates) belonging to manos muertas either civilianor ecclesiastical by the State and, after nationalization, are sell by public auction to the highest bidder, leading to a new private property.

ETAPAS Y LEGISLACIÓN

Desamortización was carried out in three stages:

1. The desamortización of Carlos IV as well as the period that embrace from Godoy to Mendizábal (Picture1). The legislation dealt on goods belonging to some extinguishedecclesiastical institutions.
2. The desamortización of Mendizábal (Juan Álvarez y Méndez), which affected to regular and secularized clergy.
3. The desamortización of Madoz (Pascual Madoz) (Picture2) which extends its application to other goods, especially municipal ones.

En la Tabla1 figura el valor de las desamortizaciones eclesiástica y civil desde 1836 a 1857. Puede apreciarse una...