Contribution to the Royal Treasury of Castile made by the Benectine Monasteries of the Congregation of Saint Benedict of Valladolid in the light of some accounting records. Modern times

Abstract

This paper opens with a presentation of the fiscal panorama of the XVII and XIX C. from the institutional perspective of the Hacienda Pública or Royal Treasury, upon which a clear picture is formed of the way in which the ecclesiastical classes in general, and the Monasteries of the Congregation of Saint Benedict of Valladolid in particular, paid their fiscal contributions. In the light of the accounting information belonging to these monasteries - regulated by the norms laid down in the Constitutions of the Congregation -, their accounting records are subsequently analyzed and their links with different accounting entries that affected Church-State relations. The convergence of both sections leads to a set of conclusions that reflect on the use made in the Benedictine monasteries of the accounts information in order to justify their economic contribution to society, which enabled them to negotiate the petitions made by the State for funds, in an attempt to preserve their existing privileges and assets and to continue their active economic role.