El asta de la lanza: los mecanismos de financiación de la guerra durante el reinado de Alfonso XI (1312-1350)

Abstract

To understand how it was possible for Alfonso XI to triumph militarily over his enemies, it is not enough to look at his courage, leadership and military strategies and tactics. One also has to study in depth the mechanisms he used to cover the high costs of his multiple campaigns and ordinary defense costs. In addition to the Crown’s regular fiscal resources and those taxes specifically related to warfare, Alfonso came to depend more and more on extraordinary levies, like monedas foreras, servicios, alcabalas, the temporary suspension of fiscal exemptions at the local level, the wealth of the Church, loans, and the sale of parts of the royal patrimony. These financial mechanisms opened up new sources of revenue to feed his military ambitions and truly constituted one of the most fundamental reasons for Alfonso’s success as a monarch and commander.