The Ballestero de Monte (mountain

crossbowman An arbalist, also spelled arbelist, is one who shoots a crossbow. Background An extensive list of archaic words for medieval crossbowmen is given by Payne-Gallwey. Richardson, in his 1839 dictionary, did not make specific reference to the cross ...

) or Fiel de rastro (marksman of the trail), was a member of a body which provided vigilance in the mountains of

Murcia Murcia ( , , ) is a city in south-eastern Spain, the Capital (political), capital and most populous city of the autonomous community of the Region of Murcia, and the Ranked lists of Spanish municipalities#By population, seventh largest city i ...

, Lorca, Cartagena and

Orihuela Orihuela (; ''Corpus Toponímic Valencià''. Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua. 2009, València.) is a city and municipality located at the foot of the Sierra de Orihuela mountains in the province of Alicante, Valencian Community, Spain. The c ...

as well pursuing

bandits Banditry is a type of organized crime committed by outlaws typically involving the threat or use of violence. A person who engages in banditry is known as a bandit and primarily commits crimes such as extortion, robbery, kidnapping, and murder, e ...

from the

Kingdom of Granada The Emirate of Granada, also known as the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada, was an Islamic polity in the southern Iberian Peninsula during the Late Middle Ages, ruled by the Nasrid dynasty. It was the last independent Muslim state in Western Europe. ...

when they attacked. These groups operated between the 13th and 15th centuries.

Functions

Monitoring the mountains

Their primary function was to patrol the communal

grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominance (ecology), dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes such as clover, and other Herbaceo ...

and mountainous areas of the Kingdom of Murcia. These patrols were designed to control

illegal logging Illegal logging is the harvest, transportation, purchase, or sale of timber in violation of laws. The harvesting procedure itself may be illegal, including using corrupt means to gain access to forests; extraction without permission, or from a p ...

, grain harvesting, fires and charcoal production. They were prohibited from engaging in these activities as well as preventing others from doing them. They faced penalties if they failed, resulting in damage being done to the lands of Cartagena.

Search and pursuit of criminals

Their knowledge of the terrain and tracking skill led to their secondary function which was to hunt down

Moorish The term Moor is an exonym used in European languages to designate the Muslim populations of North Africa (the Maghreb) and the Iberian Peninsula (particularly al-Andalus) during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a single, distinct or self-defi ...

looters who seized travelers on the road in order to obtain plunder are prisoners for ransom.

Requirements

Membership in this group required three basic criteria: good physical condition; knowledge of the terrain; and tracking skill. On 24 January 1385, their efficiency led King Juan I of Castile, upon request from the Council of Murcia, to stipulate that they were to be exempted from paying taxes. His declaration stated, in part, "Since in that land there are men who know how to follow the trails of those from the land of the Moors who enter to hurt and damage our kings were it not for the mountain crossbowman...we have by good and it is to our favour that there are in that location, six mountain crossbowmen, to follow the said trails and that they be relieved of money for ever." Because of the dangerous working conditions and high physical demands, the active life of ballesteros was short, due to either retirement or premature death. Therefore, a system of generational rotation was employed to ensure new young men could be trained and substituted for the older veterans in a timely fashion.

Levels

Each group had a leader, chosen democratically by its members, and potentially had several levels. Men were grouped by their skill, with the lowest being "el mancebo" (the youth), who was being apprenticed to learn the trade. The levels were as follows: * Old mountain crossbowman * Young mountain crossbowman * Youth

References