Mayorazgo, vinculaciones y economías nobiliarias en la Navarra de la Edad Moderna

Abstract

Primogeniture was a crucial element in Navarre for the organisation of the nobility’s finance systems during 16th and 18th centuries. This paper traces the evolution of entailed estates in Navarre – their number, economic structure and organisation, legislation – and then focuses on an aspect of great importance: the debts contracted by the nobility during the Modern Age, the willingness of the owners of entailed estates to mortgage or sell their assets, and the close relationship between their behaviour and specific policies implemented by the Crown. The study is based on procedural archives and the permit books from the Royal Accounts section of the General Archive of Navarre.