Acceso usuarios
The aim of this article is to compare the Obra Pía de los Santos Lugares of Jerusalem, i.e. the Catholic Monarchy’s economic structure in charge of financing the Franciscans of the Holy Land and the various proposals for the foundation of public treasuries and pawnshops between the end of the 16th century and the first three decades of the 17th. The points of contact between these institutions will be highlighted, with a special focus on the Franciscan economic thought of the late medieval age which was decisive in the structuring of both the Obra Pía and the Real Hacienda itself. In order to understand why in one case – the Obra Pía – choices were made that led to the extraordinary development of this economicfinancial institution, while in the other – the foundation of public treasuries and pawnshops – this result was not achieved, we should look more closely at the mechanisms underlying the functioning of the Real Hacienda, how the Crown’s tax collection worked, what were the extraordinary challenges that the sovereign – and in the 1620s the Count-Duke of Olivares – had to face on the international scenario and, last but not least, at the privileges that the Council of Castile defended.
