El patrimonio rústico de los jesuitas en España. Una aproximación

Abstract

In spice of its late formation, the Company of Jesus managed to amass an important rural patrimony in Spain, more notable for its quality than for its area. In contrast with other religious orders, for whom donations were dominat, purchases played a very important role in the formation of this patrimony. The exploitation of this rural domain, in which direct management was the norm, was oriented primarily towards the commercialization of production and less towards consumption by the religious community itself. Therefore, management was dictated principally by criteria of economic profitability. Finally, after the Jesuit's expulsion from Spain in 1767, their properties were seized by the state and subsequently put up for public auction in a process that anticipates the ecclesiastical demortization of the nineteenth century.