Crédito, acreedores y deudores en un pueblo castellano: Castrillo Tejeriego (1334-1335)

Abstract

El registro notarial de Castrillo Tejeriego permite conocer el crédito en un pueblo castellano en 1334-1335, coincidiendo con una importante carestía. Domina la forma más sencilla de deuda, el mutuum, aunque también hay noticias del commodatum. Se trata fundamentalmente de deudas entre cristianos, a corto plazo, que se pagan con la nueva cosecha. La mayoría están ligadas a ventas a crédito de alimentos, pero también derivan de la compra de tierras, de arrendamientos o del pago de tributos. Los principales acreedores, al margen del señor del lugar, comerciaban con cereal, mientras que entre los deudores figura un variado elenco de clérigos y campesinos, de muy diversa solvencia. Las deudas muestran además la solidaridad familiar y vecinal a través de préstamos, fianzas y mancomunados.

The notary’s register of Castrillo Tejeriego sheds light on credit in a Castilian village in 1334-1335, during a period of serious food shortages. The most common form of debt was the mutuum, which was also the simplest, although there is also evidence of commodatum. The debts were mainly short-term ones between Christians, which were paid off with the next harvest. Most were connected with food bought on credit, but some also arose from the purchase of land, rents or tax payments. The main creditors, apart from the local lord, traded in cereals, while the debtors ranged from clerics to peasants of varying degrees of solvency. The debts also demonstrate the solidarity existing between relatives and neighbours through loans, guarantors and joint liability.