The grades of nobility remained much as before, but with a change in nomenclature. The old term of _ricoshombres_ for the great nobles disappeared (though not until 1520 officially), and was substituted by that of _grandes_, or grandees. Among the grandees the title of duke (_duque_) and marquis (_marqués_) now became of more frequent usage than the formerly more general count (_conde_). In the epoch of the Catholic Kings there were fifteen grandees in Castile, but eight of them had been created, with the title of duke, by Isabella. For the nobility of the second grade, the terms _hijosdalgo_ (modern _hidalgo_) and _caballero_, used in a generic sense to denote noble lineage, were employed indiscriminately. Nobles without fortune lived, as formerly, under the protection of the grandees, or took service in the military orders or even in the new royal army.
The situation of the former servile classes of Castile, aside from the slaves, had been rendered very nearly satisfactory from a juridical point of view in the previous era, but their new liberty was insecure and was not freely accorded in practice. The Catholic Kings energetically cut short the greater part of the abuses, and definitely decided that a man adscripted to the land (a _solariego_) could sell or carry away his personalty, and go wherever he willed. In Aragon proper the problem was more serious, because of the social backwardness of that region. The first step toward freedom from serfdom was taken at this time, consisting in the frequent uprisings of the serfs. Ferdinand made some attempts to modify the _malos usos_, or evil customs, of the relation of lord and serf, but found the institutions too deeply rooted in his day for remedy. In Catalonia, Ferdinand inherited the problem of the warfare of the serfs with the nobles and the high churchmen, against the latter of whom, particularly the bishop of Gerona, the wrath of the rural classes was especially directed. At the outset he attempted, as had Alfonso V and Juan II before him, to utilize the quarrel to serve his own political and financial ends, accepting bribes from both sides. Finally, an agreement was reached whereby the king was to serve as arbitrator, without appeal, between the warring elements. The Sentence of Guadalupe, so-called because the evidence was taken and the decision rendered at Guadalupe in Extremadura, in 1486, was the judgment pronounced by Ferdinand. It went to the root of the matter by abolishing the _malos usos_ and declaring the freedom of the rural serfs. Furthermore, the lords were deprived of criminal jurisdiction over their vassals, this right passing to the crown, and the same privileges as that just recorded in the case of the _solariegos_ of Castile was granted to the rural masses of Catalonia. On the other hand, the now freed serfs were obliged to pay a heavy ransom to their lords. The decision satisfied neither party to the issue, but was accepted, and proved in fact the solution of the evil. A rural class of small proprietors soon grew up, while many other persons occupied lands for which they paid rent instead of the former irksome services.