Both Henry II, the Catholic Monarchs, and Joanna I of Castile granted new privileges and exemptions to the ships and merchants of Hondarribia, with the aim of attracting entrepreneurs to settle a community that was otherwise subjected to almost constant military tensions due to its border location rival powers such as Navarre, Castile, France, and England.
For example, a document signed by Henry II in Toledo on December 12, 1374, ordered that the ten maravedís annually assigned to Hondarribia for the maintenance of its walls be paid from the rights of the ironworks and the tithe of the sea. The Catholic Monarchs issued a similar order in Medina del Campo on March 21, 1489, mandating that the residents and natives of Hondarribia, and their ships, fustas, and vessels, should not have any of their supplies taken or blocked, despite any contrary privilege.
King Ferdinand the Catholic issued another privilege in Zaragoza on July 18, 1498, ordering that Hondarribia receive annually, as long as he wished, 250 gold florins for the town’s sails and the guard of its gates. Another privilege of the same king, dated 1516, granted Hondarribia 112,000 maravedís from the alcabalas for the services rendered by the Guipuzcoans during the Battle of Belate in 1512.
Hondarribia also received a privilege from Queen Joanna in Valladolid (March 18, 1527) ensuring that no ship was given preference for loading over those from Hondarribia, even if larger. Another from the same queen, dated March 22, 1527, ordered that Hondarribia’s ships be free from anchorage, provost, admiralty, and royal duties in all ports of the kingdom.