26 



FUERO 



FUGGER 



Charters granted to attract settlers and those 

 given by the royal power must be distinguished 

 from others ; fueros based on legislation long ante- 

 cedent and flourishing, e.g. those of Lerida (1228), 

 were compiled ' de statutis scriptis et non scriptis, et 

 moribus et usaticis, etiam leglbus Goticis et Rom- 

 anis. ' The term is also applied to the capitulations 

 granted to Moors and Jews, the oldest of which is 

 that of Huesca (1089). (3) Modes and tenures of, 

 property, succession, &c. , nearly equivalent to the 

 French coutumes, usages, or customary law e.g. 

 El Foro de Galicia, Los Fors et Costumas de 

 Beam, &c. The date of the writing down of this 

 class of fueros is no measure at all of their real 

 antiquity. (4) The whole body of legislation and 

 the constitution of certain practically autonomous 

 states and communities in northern Spain and 

 south-western France e.g. the fueros of the pro- 

 yinciasVascongadas, Biscay, Alava, and Guipuzcoa; 

 in a slightly less degree of autonomy, the fueros of 

 Navarre ; and of a still less, those of Aragon, of 

 Beam, &c. 



Groups 1 and 2 we may pass over to be studied in 

 the documents special to each case. Group 3 is of 

 far greater importance. In it we find traces of 

 customs and tenures which have long disappeared 

 from other codes, and the origin of which oelongs 

 to the tribal or pastoral condition of society. There 

 are also anomalies not to be fully explained by our 

 present knowledge, as the derecho consuetudinario 

 of Upper Aragon, identical with the house com- 

 munity of the southern Slavs, though there is no 

 apparent racial or other connection with the Slavs. 

 In the chief region of these fueros, from the borders 

 of Catalonia to Santander, there is no trace in 

 the foral legislation of Gothic or Teutonic influ- 

 ence. Within the states of class 4, and outside 

 them in the same region, were various kinds of 

 autonomies, or local self-governments, muni- 

 cipalities, federations of towns, valleys, districts, 

 communes, each with its own special fuero. The 

 term republican, republiques was often applied to 

 these communities in transactions between them- 

 selves, as also by the kings of Spain in the Cortes 

 of Navarre, to the Basque provinces, and to the 

 separate valleys and communes down to the French 

 Revolution. 



The chief provision of the fueros, whereby these 

 communities preserved their autonomy, was a freely 

 elected legislative body, chosen according to the 

 methods customary in each district, meeting at a 

 given place at given times. This assembly was 

 called the junta in the separate Basque provinces, 

 with the Junta General meeting at the, oak of 

 Guernica in Biscay, Cortes in Navarre, Etats in 

 Beam, Bilzaar in the Labourd, Cort, Tilhabet, &c., 

 in the lesser communities. In these assemblies the 

 right of taxation was jealously guarded. The con- 

 tribution to the king was the last vote taken, after 

 all grievances had been redressed and petitions 

 heard, and then only as a voluntary gift. The 

 repartition of taxes to individuals was in the hands 

 of each separate community. Freedom of com- 

 merce existed, with few or no customs- duties. The 

 levy and command of the military forces of the 

 states remained in their own power ; the number 

 of soldiers was fixed, with no compulsion to serve 

 beyond the confines of the province, unless with 

 consent of the juntas, &c. , and for payment guar- 

 anteed. This did not prevent voluntary service of 

 individuals. Jurisdiction of all kinds was in their 

 own power. In all matters relating to property, 

 land-tenure, inheritance, &c., even in particular 

 families, the local customs or fueros overrode both 

 the general fueros and the general laws either of 

 Spain or of France ; only the nobles or Infanzones 

 were subject to these. Under this constitution 

 the Basque provinces flourished, and supported the 



largest population per square mile in Spain, with 

 the exception of Galicia, until the middle of the 

 present century. On the death of Ferdinand VII. 

 (1833), the liberal regency hesitated to confirm the 

 fueros. Don Carlos, the late king's brother, raised 

 the standard of revolt. The seven years' war was 

 ended by the Convention of Vergara, 30th August 

 1839, and Isabella confirmed the fueros. Don 

 Carlos, grandson of the first, headed the second 

 Carlist war ( 1872-76 ). It resulted in the loss of the 

 fueros of the provinces, which will gradually become 

 assimilated to the rest of Spain. In France, save for 

 the management of the communal property in some 

 parishes, the fors were swept away by the Revolu- 

 tion and the Code Napoleon, though some traces still 

 remain in the habits and customs of the people. 



See the article BASQUES, and the following special books : 

 Marichalar y Manrique, Historia de la Legislation Civil 

 en Espana ( vol. ii. 2d ed. Madrid, 1868 ) ; Muftozy Rivero, 

 Coleccion de Fueros Municipals ( Madrid, 1847 ) ; Catalogo 

 de Fueros y Cartas- Pueblos de Esparia ( R. Academia de 

 Historia, Madrid, 1852) ; Mazure et Hatoulet, Fors de 

 Beam ( Pau, 1842 ) ; G. B. de Lagreze, La Navarre 

 Franfaise ( Paris, 1881 ) ; the last editions of the separate 

 Fueros published in each province at Zaragoza, Pam- 

 plona, Tolosa, Bilbao. 



Fugffer, a remarkable Swabian family, which 

 rising by industry and commerce founded lines of 

 counts and even princes. The ancestor of the 

 family was John Fugger, master-weaver, born in 

 1348 at Graben, near Augsburg. His eldest son, 

 John Fugger, acquired by marriage, in 1370, the 

 freedom of Augsburg ; he died in 1409. But the 

 real founder of the house was John's second son, 

 Jacob Fugger, who died in 1469, and was the first 

 of the Fuggers that had a house in Augsburg, and 

 carried on an already extensive commerce. Of his 

 seven sons, three, Ulrich, George, and Jacob II., 

 by means of industry, ability, and integrity, ex- 

 tended their business to an extraordinary degree, 

 and laid the foundation for the palmy days of the 

 family. They married into the noblest houses, 

 and were raised by the Emperor Maximilian to 

 the rank of nobles. The emperor mortgaged to 

 them, for 10,000 gold guldens, the county of Kirch- 

 berg and the lordship of Weissenhorn. Ulrich 

 Fugger (1441-1510) devoted himself specially to 

 commerce with Austria. Jacob Fugger ( 1459- 

 1525 ) farmed the mines in Tyrol, accumulating 

 immense wealth ; he lent enormous sums to various 

 potentates, and built the magnificent castle of 

 Fuggerau, in Tyrol. 



But it was under Charles V. that the house 

 attained its greatest splendour. Jacob having died 

 childless, and the family of Ulrich being also 

 extinct, the fortunes and splendour of the house 

 rested on the sons of George Fugger, who died 

 in 1506. His two younger sons, Raimund and 

 Antony, carried on the business, and became the 

 founders of the two chief and still flourishing lines 

 of the house of Fugger. The two brothers were 

 zealous Catholics, and with their wealth supported 

 Eck in his opposition to Luther. During the diet 

 held by Charles V. at Augsburg in 1530 the 

 emperor lived in Antony Fugger's splendid house 

 in the Wine Market. On this occasion he raised 

 both brothers to the rank of counts, and invested 

 them with the still mortgaged properties of Kirch- 

 berg and Weissenhorn ; and a letter under the 

 imperial seal conferred on them the rights of 

 princes. The Emperor Ferdinand II. raised the 

 splendour of the house of Fugger still higher by 

 conferring great additional privileges on the two 

 oldest of the family, Counts John and Jerome. 

 The Fuggers continued still as nobles to carry on 

 their commerce, and further increased their im- 

 mense wealth. They attained the highest posts 

 in the empire, and several princely houses prided 



