Transhumant herding systems in Iberia

The topic of medieval transhumance in the Iberian Peninsula inevitably brings to mind La Mesta (beginning in the thirteenth century, La Mesta referred to a complex system of transhumant long-distance paths which allowed shepherds to move large flocks of sheep either southwards to the rich winter commons in Southern Iberia or northwards to the summer pastures in the Cantabrian Mountains; Gerbet, 1991). In addition to the fact that it survived well into the nineteenth century, the importance of La Mesta has made it a centrepiece of medieval stockbreeding studies in Iberia (see Klein, 1920; Bishko, 1963).