The communal uses in Guipúzcoa at the end of the 18th century

Abstract

This article describes the principal uses made of the common hill lands in Guipúzcoa during the last third of the eighteenth century. These consist of the use of timber, firewood, pasture and ferns, which were essential resources in the rural economy of the «Ancient Regimen». In spite of the considerable importance of timber in the tradicional economic estructure, the major resource which the peasant communities acquired in the common woods was firewood for domestic consumption. In addition to forest products, the common hill lands were used for pasture and for gathering of ferns, a plant which was transformed into manure, an indispensable fertilizer for the maintenance of traditional agriculture. In this study, reference is also made to the conflicts which often arose in rural communities as a result of the inequal participation of the inhabitants in the use of these resources. The omission of the conflictive aspects in most studies on common property has helped create an idealized image of the function which this form of land tenure performed. Even so, it seems reasonable to consider that the common lands played a fundamental role in Guipuzcoan rural society, not only because they enabled the maintenance of the traditional agricultural economy butalso because communal practices constituted a basic cohesive element in the social framework of the «Ancien Regimen».