Page:Vol 3 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/685

Rh portion of the revenue was derived, namely the bulas de la Santa cruzada, the tithes of the church, and the mint. No more iniquitous system of taxation could be designed than that which was carried out through the instrumentality of the hulas de la santa cruzada, inasmuch as it worked upon the superstition of the people, perverted public morals, and fostered crime. These bulls had their origin in the times of the crusades, and were granted by the pope allowing dispensations to Spaniards who made themselves eminent by their Christian zeal in those wars. In time they were extended only in favor of the kings of Spain to aid them in their wars against the Moors, and were ever afterward continued in recognition of their services to the church.

In 1532 or 1533 the hula de la santa cruzada was first published in New Spain, and in 1578 the virtue of the bulls was extended to a period of two years by sanction of Gregory XIII. The bulls may be divided into two general classes, the bulas de vivos, or those which conferred dispensations and indulgences upon the living, and the bulas de difuntos which friends and relatives of deceased persons purchased in order to rescue their souls from purgatory. By virtue of the first class persons could be absolved from all crimes, special bulls of composition being issued for the benefit of thieves and robbers, by virtue of which they became the owners of the goods they stole. Bulls also were provided for the clergy, granting certain gastronomic indulgences during lent. The price varied